Working Class Calendar

Gerrit van der Veen Assassinated (1944)

Sat Jun 10, 1944

Image: Gerrit Jan van der Veen. Photo in a series with his family, 1942 [Wikipedia]

Gerrit van der Veen (1902 - 1944) was a Dutch anti-fascist sculptor who was assassinated by the Nazis on this day in 1944, following a failed attempt to free his comrades from prison. Van der Veen helped forge more than 80,000 ethnic identity papers.

Dutch historian Robert-Jan van Pelt has written the following about van der Veen:

"In 1940, after the German occupation, van der Veen was one of the few who refused to sign the so-called "Arierverklaring", the Declaration of Aryan Ancestry. In the years that followed, he tried to help Jews both in practical and symbolic ways.

Together with the musician Jan van Gilse and the (openly homosexual) artist, art historian, and critic Willem Arondeus, van der Veen established the underground organization De Vrije Kunstenaar (The Free Artist).

Van der Veen and the other artists published a newsletter calling for resistance against the occupation. When the Germans introduced identity documents (Persoonsbewijzen) that distinguished between Jews and non-Jews, van der Veen, Arondeus and the printer Frans Duwaer produced some 80,000 false identity papers."

Van der Veen tried to escape his comrades from prison in May 1944, but the attempt failed and van der Veen was paralyzed after being shot. He was arrested a few weeks later and then executed on June 10th, 1944. In May 1946, he was awarded the Dutch Cross of Resistance.

• Date: 1944-06-10
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, gerritvdveen.nl.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Giacomo Matteotti Assassinated (1924)

Tue Jun 10, 1924

Image: **

Giacomo Matteotti was an anti-fascist Italian socialist politician. After publicly denouncing Mussolini in 1924, he said "now start composing your oration for my funeral" and was assassinated by fascists on this day in 1924.

As a young adult, Matteotti was active in the socialist movement and the Italian Socialist Party. He was imprisoned in Sicily for opposing Italy's entry into World War I (and was interned in Sicily during the conflict for this reason).

Matteotti spoke openly against Italian Fascism and Benito Mussolini, and for a time was leader of the opposition to the National Fascist Party (NFP). In 1921, he denounced fascist violence in a pamphlet titled "Inchiesta socialista sulle gesta dei fascisti in Italia" ("Socialist enquiry on the deeds of the fascists in Italy").

On May 30th, 1924, speaking in the Italian Parliament, he alleged that the Fascists committed fraud in the recently held elections and denounced the violence that they used to gain votes. On this day that year, Matteotti was kidnapped and killed by fascists.

After Matteotti's body was discovered, Mussolini took full responsibility for the murder as head of the Fascist party (although whether he gave a direct order for the murder remains uncertain) and dared his critics to prosecute him for the crime. This challenge went unaccepted.

After the Second World War ended, Italian fascists Amerigo Dumini, Giuseppe Viola, and Amleto Poveromo were sentenced to thirty years in prison for their involvement in Matteotti's murder.

• Date: 1924-06-10
• Learn More: primolevicenter.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.britannica.com.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Assassinations, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Johanna Kirchner Assassinated (1944)

Fri Jun 09, 1944

Image: **

Johanna Kirchner was a German anti-fascist and Social Democrat who was executed by the Nazis on this day in 1944 for having "treasonably rooted herself in the evilest Marxist high-treason propaganda".

Kirchner was born into a family with social-democratic traditions, and Kirchner herself joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) at the age of eighteen.

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Kirchner, a known anti-fascist and opponent of the Nazis, fled to France. While there, she collaborated with Eleonore Wolf, organizing the emigration of many officials of the workers' movement out of the Third Reich.

In 1942, Kirchner was arrested by the Vichy Régime and handed over to the Gestapo. Although she was initially sentenced to ten years' hard labor for treason, her case was brought back before the Volksgerichtshof in 1944, and she was sentenced to death for "treasonably rooted herself in the evilest Marxist high-treason propaganda" and "treasonably gathering cultural, economic, political, and military intelligence and communicating" Marxism.

On the day of her death, she wrote to her children in her diary: "Keep Goethe's words in mind, 'Die and become'. Don't cry for me. I believe in a better future for you."

• Date: 1944-06-09
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.gdw-berlin.de.
• Tags: #Labor, #Marxism, #Assassinations, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Battle of Menstad (1931)

Mon Jun 08, 1931

Image: Picture from Aftenposten on June 9th, 1931. Shown top right is a jet from one of the water hoses that the police used against protesters. [snl.no]

On this day in 1931, the Battle of Menstad began near Skien, Norway when 2,000 striking workers fought and overwhelmed a group of police officers protecting scabs at Norsk Hydro's Menstad plant. The battle took place in the context of drastic pay cuts during the Great Depression.

Historian Knut Dørum has written that Norway's biggest industrial disputes ever took place that year, beginning with a six month lock-out in the iron industry, involving up to 86,000 workers and causing a loss of 13 million working days.

At Menstad, Norsk Hydro and Union & Co hired strike-breakers to replace the striking workers. The workers responded by chasing away the strike-breakers in the days before the battle. The strikers returned on June 8th with police protection that was quickly overwhelmed by protesting workers. In response to the violence, the government deployed troops and ships from to the area.

Afterward, 28 strikers were arrested and put on trial, 20 of whom were sentenced to prison. Most of those arrested were members of the Norwegian Communist Party and the Norwegian Labour Party. Worker organization did not prevent mass unemployment during the Great Depression; in the winter of 1932–1933, up to 40% of the trade unionists were unemployed.

• Date: 1931-06-08
• Learn More: snl.no, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Freedom Riders Arrested (1961)

Thu Jun 08, 1961

Image: Kwame Ture (formerly known as Stokely Carmichael), Gwendolyn Green, and Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. Source: "Breach of Peace" by Eric Etheridge. [zinnedproject.org]

On this day in 1961, Freedom Riders protesting segregation, including Kwame Ture, Gwendolyn Green, and Joan Trumpauer Mulholland (shown), were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi and taken to Parchman Prison. Others arrested included Jan Triggs, Rev. Robert Wesby, Helen Wilson, Teri Perlman, Jane Rosett, and Travis Britt.

The Freedom Rides were a series of protests in response to Boynton vs. Virginia, a Supreme Court ruling that declared that busses and trains should be desegregated. Despite segregation being illegal, many southern states still maintained segregated public transit systems. Protesters challenged this by joining together in multi-racial groups and traveling on the busses.

• Date: 1961-06-08
• Learn More: www.zinnedproject.org, snccdigital.org.
• Tags: #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Women Ford Machinists Strike (1968)

Fri Jun 07, 1968

Image: A group of women Ford employees with a large banner that reads "FORD MACHINISTS SAY WE WANT RECOGNITION FOR OUR SKILL" [workersliberty.org]

On this day in 1968, all 187 women employees working at a Ford factory in Dagenham, East London went on strike to demand equal pay for equal work, eventually leading to the Equal Pay Act of 1970.

At the factory, female workers were classified as unskilled workers (Category B), paid both less than "skilled" (Category C) workers and Category B male workers. Even teenage boys sweeping the floors were paid more than the women working there.

In response to this, all 187 women went on strike on June 7th, demanding equal pay for equal work. Despite their labor being classified as unskilled, car production halted within a week. The factory was forced to come to a complete standstill, eventually costing the company over $8 million. Despite this, Ford refused to negotiate.

The strike ended after Barbara Castle, the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, intervened, beginning a set of negotiations at which men were not allowed. The strike ended with an immediate increase of their rate of pay to 8% below that of men, rising to the full Category B rate the following year. In 1984, following an additional strike, the women were categorized as Category C.

The labor action is considered key to the passing of the Equal Pay Act 1970 prohibited inequality of treatment between men and women in Britain in terms of pay and conditions of employment. In 1978, despite its passage, women's relative position in the UK was still worse than in Italy, France, Germany, or the Benelux countries in 1972.

• Date: 1968-06-07
• Learn More: libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Israeli West Bank Occupation Begins (1967)

Wed Jun 07, 1967

Image: A map showing the expansion of Israel's borders from 1967 to 2016 (marked "Today" in the photo) [rac.org]

On this day in 1967, the Israeli Army occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, claiming emergency powers with a military decree that greatly restricts the rights of the occupied. The ongoing occupation is the longest in the modern era.

The Israeli Army action took place in the context of the Six Day War, fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states. The status of the West Bank as a militarily occupied territory has been affirmed by the International Court of Justice and, with the exception of East Jerusalem, by the Israeli Supreme Court.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the military proclamation issued by the Israeli Army on June 7th, 1967 permitted the application of the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945.

These regulations empowered, and continue to empower, authorities to declare as an "unlawful association" groups that advocate for "bringing into hatred or contempt, or the exciting of disaffection against" the authorities, and criminalize membership in or possession of material belonging to or affiliated, even indirectly, with these groups.

HRW goes on to state that these and other broad restrictions on the occupied population violate international law: "The Israeli army has for over 50 years used broadly worded military orders to arrest Palestinian journalists, activists and others for their speech and activities - much of it non-violent - protesting, criticizing or opposing Israeli policies. These orders are written so broadly that they violate the obligation of states under international human rights law to clearly spell out conduct that could result in criminal sanction."

Following the military occupation of the West Bank, Israel began expropriating the land and facilitating Israeli settlements in the area, broadly considered a violation of international law. While Israelis in the West Bank are subject to Israeli law and given representation in the Israeli Knesset, Palestinian civilians, mostly confined to scattered enclaves, are subject to martial law and are not permitted to vote in Israel's national elections.

This two-tiered system has inspired comparisons to apartheid, likening the dense disconnected pockets that Palestinians are relegated to with the segregated Bantustans that previously existed in South Africa when the country was still under white supremacist rule.

• Date: 1967-06-07
• Learn More: www.hrw.org, en.wikipedia.org, rac.org.
• Tags: #Colonialism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Marian Wright Edelman (1939 - )

Tue Jun 06, 1939

Image: **

Marian Wright Edelman, born on this day in 1939, is an American children's rights activist who became the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar and founded the Children's Defense Fund in 1973.

The Children's Defense Fund, a group which lobbies to overhaul foster care, support adoption, improve child care and protect children who are disabled, homeless, abused or neglected.

Edelman was active in the civil rights movement, contributing to the organization of the Poor People's Campaign in 1968 and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She also participated in sit-ins, getting arrested along with fourteen other students at one of the largest sit-ins at the Atlanta City Hall in 1960.

"Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time."

- Marian Wright Edelman

• Date: 1939-06-06
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.childrensdefense.org.
• Tags: #CivilRights, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Philadelphia General Strike (1835)

Sat Jun 06, 1835

Image: Journeyman House Carpenters' Association of Philadelphia banner promoting the ten-hour day, 1835. A carpenter points to the clock indicating to his co-worker that it is time to quit work. Created by V.A. Van Schoik of the Journeymen House Carpenters' Association of Philadelphia [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1835, the first recorded general strike in North America broke out in Philadelphia when striking Irish dock workers were joined by city workers. A wave of successful strikes followed, standardizing the 10 hour day.

The strike involved around 20,000 workers, demanding a ten-hour workday and increased wages. The strike ended in complete victory for the workers.

Influenced by labor agitation in Boston, the Philadelphia General Strike began with unskilled Irish workers on the Schuylkill River coal wharves going out on strike for a ten-hour day. The dock workers patrolled the picket line with swords, threatening any scab who attempted to unload coal from the 75 vessels waiting in the water.

The coal heavers were soon joined by workers from many other trades, including leather dressers, printers, carpenters, bricklayers, masons, house painters, bakers, and city employees.

On June 6th, a mass meeting of workers, lawyers, doctors, and a few businessmen, was held in the State House courtyard. The meeting unanimously adopted a set of resolutions giving full support to the workers' demand for wage increases and a shorter workday, as well as increased wages for women workers and a boycott of any coal merchant who worked his men more than ten hours.

The strike quickly came to a close after city public works employees joined the labor action. The Philadelphia city government announced that the "hours of labor of the working men employed under the authority of the city corporation would be from 'six to six' during the summers season, allowing one hour for breakfast, and one for dinner."

On June 22nd, three weeks after the coal heavers initially struck, the ten-hour system and an increase in wages for piece-workers was adopted in the city. A wave of successful strikes across the United States followed this victory. By the end of 1835, the ten-hour day had become the standard for most day city laborers.

• Date: 1835-06-06
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, journals.psu.edu.
• Tags: #Labor, #GeneralStrikes.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Eugen Leviné (1883 - 1919)

Thu Jun 05, 1919

Eugen Leviné, assassinated on this day in 1919, was a German revolutionary communist who briefly led the Bavarian Council Republic, giving luxury apartments to the homeless and factories to the workers during his short reign in power.

Eugen Levine was born to wealthy Jewish parents in St Petersberg, Russia, and became exposed to radical politics after moving to Heidelberg, Germany at a young age. In 1905, Leviné returned to Russia to participate in the failed revolution of 1905 against the Tsar and was arrested and exiled to Siberia.

After World War I ended, Leviné joined the Communist Party of Germany and helped to create a socialist republic in Bavaria. Leviné eventually rose to power as the communists assumed control of the government.

He attempted to pass many reforms, such as giving the more luxurious flats to the homeless and giving workers control and ownership of factories. Leviné also planned reforms for the education system and to abolish paper money, but did not get the chance to complete either.

The German Army, assisted by the right-wing Freikorps paramilitary invaded and quickly conquered Munich on May 3rd, 1919. Leviné himself was arrested and shot by firing squad in Stadelheim Prison.

Ex-Soviet agent Whitaker Chambers cited Leviné as an inspirational figure, writing "During the Bavarian Council Republic in 1919, Leviné was the organiser of the Workers' and Soldiers' Soviets. When the Bavarian Council Republic was crushed, Leviné was captured and court-martialed. The court-martial told him: "You are under sentence of death." Leviné answered: 'We Communists are always under sentence of death.'"

• Date: 1919-06-05
• Learn More: spartacus-educational.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Assassinations.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

James Connolly (1868 - 1916)

Fri Jun 05, 1868

Image: A photo portrait of James Connolly by David Granville [Wikipedia]

James Connolly, born on this day in 1868, was an Irish socialist revolutionary, founder of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), and leader of the Easter Rising rebellion, for which he was executed by the British government.

Connolly was born in a poor Edinburgh neighborhood and spoke with a Scottish accent. He joined the British Army at age 14 to escape poverty and developed a hatred for the institution from firsthand experience. He deserted when his regiment was set to deploy to India.

He was also member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and founder of the Irish Socialist Republican Party. With labor radical James Larkin, he was centrally involved in the Dublin lock-out of 1913, after which the two men formed the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) the same year.

Connolly was opposed to British rule in Ireland and played a leading role in the Easter Rising of 1916, signing the "Proclamation of the Irish Republic" and serving as Commandant of the Dublin Brigade, the regiment that played the most substantial role in the Rising. Connolly was executed by firing squad following the Rising's defeat.

"If you remove the English army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain. England would still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs."

- James Connolly

• Date: 1868-06-05
• Learn More: www.dib.ie, archive.iww.org, www.marxists.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Birthdays, #IWW.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Teresa Claramunt (1862 - 1931)

Wed Jun 04, 1862

Teresa Claramunt, born on this day in 1862, was a Catalan anarcho-syndicalist, feminist, and labor organizer who helped publish the influential radical magazine "El Productor".

Claramunt played an active role in Spanish workers' movements, participating in a 1902 general strike in Barcelona and giving multiple speeches during the Tragic Week of 1909.

Her radicalization began as a textile employee, and she founded an anarchist group in Sabadell which participated in a seven-week strike in 1883. She also authored a text, "La mujer, Consideraciones generales sobre su estado ante las prerrogativas del hombre" (English: The woman, General considerations about her state before the prerogatives of the man), addressing the plight of the woman worker.

• Date: 1862-06-04
• Learn More: libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Gurdip Singh Chaggar Murdered (1976)

Fri Jun 04, 1976

Image: A Southall Youth Movement protest in the street. A large sign reads "SOUTHALL YOUTH MOVEMENT REMEMBERS BLAIR PEACH AND GURDID [sic] SINGH CHAGGAR" Monitoring Group

On this day in 1976, Gurdip Singh Chaggar, an 18-year old engineering student, was stabbed to death by fascists in Southall, London, leading to mass protests and the formation of the anti-fascist Southall Youth Movement (SYM).

The murder was unprovoked and committed by a gang of white youths. The following day, thousands of protesters surrounded the police station and gave speeches, leading to the formation of the SYM.

According to historian Benjamin Bland, "the SYM would go on to be crucial, both in defending Southall's Asian population against the threat of racism and in helping to inspire the foundation of other Asian youth organisations across the UK".

The SYM was also an explicitly anti-fascist organization, clashing with the fascist National Front (NF). After the murder of Chaggar, John Kingsley Read, a former chairman of the NF, stated "one down, a million to go".

These tensions came to a climax when the NF attempted to hold a rally in Southall in 1979, leading to Blair Peach, a socialist schoolteacher, being killed by injuries sustained from police.

• Date: 1976-06-04
• Learn More: www.aljazeera.com, archive.discoversociety.org.
• Tags: #Fascism, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

U.S. Disallows Women's Soccer Strike (2016)

Fri Jun 03, 2016

Image: The U.S. soccer team poses for a group photo before their international friendly soccer match against the Japan in Commerce City, Colorado on June 2nd, 2016. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey) [komonews.com]

On this day in 2016, a U.S. federal judge sided with U.S. Soccer, ruling that the national women's soccer team would not be allowed to strike, despite their no-strike collective bargaining agreement expiring four years prior.

The women's team was scheduled to perform in that year's summer Olympics, and the ruling prevented the possibility of using the opportunity to strike.

The mere possibility of this work stoppage led U.S. Soccer to file a complaint in early February, seeking a court order to prevent a potential strike. As a result of the ruling, the players were compelled to work under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement that dated back to 2005.

• Date: 2016-06-03
• Learn More: www.npr.org, libcom.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Zoot Suit Riots (1943)

Thu Jun 03, 1943

Image: Two boys, beaten during the Zoot Suit riots, lie in the street, surrounded by a crowd. One is stripped down to his underwear. [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1943, the Zoot Suit Riots began when thousands of white American servicemen in California began indiscriminately attacking people (mostly Latinos) wearing Zoot Suits, which were seen as unpatriotic. The suits were ostensibly seen as unpatriotic due to wartime rations, although they were also racialized, with L.A. Councilman Norris Nelson stating "the zoot suit has become a badge of hoodlumism".

The riots began on the night of June 3rd when ~12 sailors and a group of young Mexicans in zoot suits began fighting. The LAPD responded to the incident "seeking to clean up Main Street from what they viewed as the loathsome influence of pachuco gangs", according to historian Luis Alvarez. The police arrested the sailors and not the Mexicans.

The next day, 200 sailors headed for East Los Angeles, a Mexican-American part of town, and attacked and stripped everyone they came across who were wearing zoot suits. Local press heralded the violence as cleaning up the town, and soon thousands of sailors joined the riot. Journalist Carey McWilliams described what happened like this:

"Marching through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, a mob of several thousand soldiers, sailors, and civilians, proceeded to beat up every zoot suiter they could find. Pushing its way into the important motion picture theaters, the mob ordered the management to turn on the house lights and then ran up and down the aisles dragging Mexicans out of their seats. Streetcars were halted while Mexicans, and some Filipinos and Negroes, were jerked from their seats, pushed into the streets and beaten with a sadistic frenzy."

The L.A. City Council approved a resolution criminalizing zoot suits, although the ordinance was not signed into law. The Navy and Marine Corps Staff prohibited sailors from traveling to L.A. in an effort to curb the violence, however they officially maintained that the men were acting in self-defense.

• Date: 1943-06-03
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Riots.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Adelaide Casely-Hayford (1868 - 1960)

Tue Jun 02, 1868

Image: Adelaide Casely-Hayford wearing kente cloth, 1903 [Wikipedia]

Adelaide Casely-Hayford, born on this day in 1868, was a Sierra Leone Creole Pan-African feminist, educator, and author. Hayford established a vocational school for young girls in Sierra Leone that emphasized racial and cultural pride.

Hayford was born into an elite Sierra Leone family in Freetown, British Sierra Leone. She spent much of her youth in England and studying throughout the West, also studying music in Germany at the age of 17.

While in England, Adelaide married West African author and Pan-Africanist J. E. Casely Hayford (also known as Ekra-Agiman). Their marriage may have influenced her transformation into a cultural nationalist.

In May 1914, Hayford returned to Sierra Leone, dedicating the rest of her life to educating African girls. In October 1923, she established the Girls' Vocational School, one of the first educational institutions in Sierra Leone to provide young girls with an African-centered education, according to historian Keisha N. Blain.

Hayford frequently traveled throughout the world, giving a speaking tour in the United States on misconceptions about Africa. Author Brittany Rogers notes that these travels also exposed her to the exploitation of black female labor throughout the world.

Although her educational concept for young girls had a Victorian-influenced, middle class domesticity in mind, Rogers writes that these travels led Hayford to begin writing and speaking on matters of labor as well. Hayford died in her hometown of Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1960.

"Instantly my eyes were opened to the fact that the education meted out to [African people] had...taught us to despise ourselves. Our immediate need was an education which would instill into us a love of country, a pride of race, an enthusiasm for the black man's capabilities, and a genuine admiration for Africa's wonderful art work."

• Date: 1868-06-02
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Pan-Africanism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Cornel West (1953 - )

Tue Jun 02, 1953

Image: **

Cornel West, born on this day in 1953, is a philosopher, socialist activist, educator, and public intellectual whose works include "Race Matters" and "The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto", co-authored with Tavis Smiley.

The son of a Baptist minister, West's political thought focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society. A radical democrat and advocate for social democracy, West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including the black Christian church, Marxism (although he identifies as a non-Marxist socialist, believing the Christian faith and Marxism to be irreconcilable), and transcendentalism.

Among West's works are "Race Matters" (1994), "Democracy Matters" (2004), and "The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto" (2012), co-authored with Tavis Smiley. In this last work, Smiley and West provide a broad, multi-racial look at the history and experience of poverty in the United States, concluding with a twelve-point program to address this poverty.

West has served as honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which he has described as "the first multiracial, socialist organization close enough to my politics that I could join". He has also described himself as a "radical democrat, suspicious of all forms of authority" in the Matrix-themed documentary "The Burly Man Chronicles".

West was arrested on October 13th, 2014, while protesting against the shooting of Michael Brown and participating in "Ferguson October", and again on August 10th, 2015, while demonstrating outside a courthouse in St. Louis on the one-year anniversary of Brown's death.

"To be an intellectual really means to speak a truth that allows suffering to speak. That is, it creates a vision of the world that puts into the limelight the social misery that is usually hidden or concealed by the dominant viewpoints of a society. 'Intellectual' in that sense simply means those who are willing to reflect critically upon themselves as well as upon the larger society and to ascertain whether there is some possibility of amelioration and betterment."

- Cornel West

• Date: 1953-06-02
• Learn More: www.cornelwest.com, mirror.explodie.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Cananea Riot (1906)

Fri Jun 01, 1906

Image: Burning shambles of the Company lumberyard in Cananea, Mexico. From the P.W. Newbury Collection, University of Arizona Library. [Journal of the Southwest]

On this day in 1906, Mexican employees of the US-owned Cananea Copper Company went on strike, demanding an end to pay discrimination and an eight-hour day. The strike's repression was a key precursor to the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

The Cananea Consolidated Copper Company (CCCC) was owned by American Colonel William Greene, whose capitalist enterprise was greatly aided by the corrupt Mexican government of Porfirio Díaz. CCCC employed both American and Mexican workers, however senior positions could only be held by Americans and Mexicans were paid 3.5 pesos a day to the Americans' 5.

Cananea was a company town in which workers were forced to live in company housing and buy necessities at the company store. Despite this, the wages offered to Mexican workers were among the highest in the region, making the jobs competitive.

On June 1st, 1906, nearly all of the Mexican employees of CCCC went on strike. Among their demands were an end to pay discrimination, an eight hour day (down from ten), and a guaranteed representation of Mexicans in the workforce. One slogan was "Ocho horas! cinco pesos!" (eight hours, five pesos).

The company flatly rejected all of the workers' demands, and thousands of laborers began to march in protest. Upon arriving at the company's lumber yard, protesters were hosed down by armed management. Violence broke out, and three workers and both managers were killed, the latter stabbed to death with mining implements. Workers then set fire to the lumber yard, causing ~$100,000 in damages.

The strike devolved into a de facto war after deputized company men fired on workers approaching the local bank, jail, and company store. The crowd, mostly unarmed, raided local pawnshops for weapons and proceeded to engage in firefights with a combined force of Mexican Federal Troops, 275 volunteers from Arizona, and CCCC forces.

Estimates of casualties vary, but at least 23 were killed and more than 50 were arrested before the workers were defeated. Green blamed the uprising on "a Socialistic organization that has been formed by malcontents opposed to the Díaz government."; literature of the pro-labor Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) was found in the workers' settlements.

The Cananea Riot became linked with the Río Blanco Strike of January 1907 as symbols of Díaz's corruption and subservience to foreign capital. According to historian Leslie Bethell, both became "household words for hundreds of thousands of Mexicans". Díaz would be forced to resign in 1911.

The mine in Cananea currently continues to be worked for copper and was subject to a miners' strike as recently as 2008.

• Date: 1906-06-01
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.jstor.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Riots, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Burning of Jaffna Public Library (1981)

Mon Jun 01, 1981

Image: A framed photograph of the burned ruins of Jaffna Public Library, following the fire of 1981 [countercurrents.org]

On this day in 1981, a Sinhalese mob burned Jaffna Public Library in Sri Lanka, one of the worst examples of ethnic book burning in the 20th century. The library was one of the biggest in Asia, containing over 97k books and manuscripts.

The attack on Jaffna was part of a multi-day, anti-Tamil pogrom by Sri Lankan state forces, following a rally held by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). Many business establishments, a local Hindu temple, and a newspaper office were also destroyed, and statues of Tamil cultural and religious figures were defaced.

At the time of the Library's destruction, it contained irreplaceable documents of great importance to Tamil culture, items such as the only existing copy of a history of Jaffna written by Tamil poet Mayilvagana Pulavar in 1736. According to author Kumarathasan Rasingam, the Library also served as a cultural hub for the Tamil community.

In 1998, under president Chandrika Kumaratunga, the government began the process to rebuild the Jaffna Public Library with contributions from Sri Lankans and foreign governments, and it was re-opened to the public several years later.

• Date: 1981-06-01
• Learn More: countercurrents.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Morral Affair (1906)

Thu May 31, 1906

Image: Photograph of the assassination attempt on King Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia at the moment of the bomb's explosion [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1906, revolutionary anarchist Mateu Morral attempted to assassinate Spanish King Alfonso XIII and his bride via bomb. The attack failed, killing 24 bystanders, and caused state persecution of other anarchists.

Mateu Morral was a young, wealthy anarchist who had recently worked at Escuela Moderna, an anarchist school in Barcelona, Spain, founded and ran by Francisco Ferrer. In the weeks leading up to the attack, Mateu took a leave of absence from the school, citing illness.

On May 31st, 1906, Mateu Morral threw a bomb, obscured in a bouquet of flowers, from a hotel balcony at King Alfonso XIII's car as he returned with his bridge Victoria Eugenie from their wedding in Madrid. While the King and Queen were unscathed, 24 bystanders and soldiers were killed, and over 100 more wounded.

Morral fled the scene and sought refuge from Republican (although explicitly anti-anarchist) journalist José Nakens. Nakens reluctantly gave Morral shelter, but Mateu grew mistrustful the same night and fled. A few days later, he was discovered at a Madrid railway station and killed a police officer and himself rather than be taken into custody.

Authorities used the 1906 regicide attempt as a pretext to suppress Ferrer and his educational work. Ferrer was arrested within a week of the attack and charged with both its organization and recruiting of Morral. He was imprisoned for a year while prosecutors pursued evidence for his trial, and was ultimately acquitted.

Modern historians disagree to the extent of Ferrer's involvement. Historian of anarchism Paul Avrich has stated "Barring the discovery of conclusive evidence, Ferrer's role in the Morral affair must remain an open question."

Ferrer was executed by the Spanish government three years later, after a farcical trial convicted him of orchestrating a period of insurrection known as Barcelona's "Tragic Week".

• Date: 1906-05-31
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, books.google.com.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Tulsa Race Massacre (1921)

Tue May 31, 1921

Image: A photo showing the aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre, showing a city block razed to the ground. From the Universal History Archive [mashable.com]

On this day in 1921, the Tulsa Race Massacre began when mobs of white people attacked residents and businesses of the Greenwood District, known as "Black Wall Street", killing hundreds and rendering 10,000 black families homeless.

Historian Scott Ellsworth called it "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history", with estimates ranging from 75-300 people killed, 800 wounded, and 10,000 black families made homeless from the destruction of property.

The massacre began over Memorial Day weekend after 19-year-old Dick Rowland, a black shoeshiner, was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, the 17-year-old white elevator operator of the nearby Drexel Building. When a lynch mob formed at the jail, an armed group of black men showed up to counter it.

Shots rang out when a white person tried to disarm one of the black men. The initial violence left ten people dead, and a mob of enraged white people stormed black neighborhoods, indiscriminately killing families, setting fires, and destroying property.

As crews from the Tulsa Fire Department arrived to put out fires, they were turned away at gunpoint. One account stated "It would mean a fireman's life to turn a stream of water on one of those negro buildings. They shot at us all morning when we were trying to do something but none of my men was hit. There is not a chance in the world to get through that mob into the negro district."

Several eyewitnesses described airplanes carrying white assailants, who fired rifles and dropped firebombs on buildings, homes, and fleeing families. The privately owned aircraft had been dispatched from the nearby Curtiss-Southwest Field outside Tulsa. Law enforcement officials later claimed that the planes were to provide reconnaissance and protect against a "Negro uprising".

Multiple eyewitness accounts said that on the morning of June 1st, at least a dozen planes circled the neighborhood and dropped "burning turpentine balls" on an office, a hotel, a filling station, and other buildings.

For 75 years (until 1996), the massacre was almost totally omitted from local, state, and national histories. It was not recognized in the Tulsa Tribune feature of "Fifteen Years Ago Today" or "Twenty-Five Years Ago Today". A 2017 report detailing the history of the Tulsa Fire Department from 1897 until the date of publication made no mention of the 1921 mass arson.

In 2015, a previously unknown written eyewitness account of the Tulsa Race Massacre from attorney Buck Colbert Franklin was discovered. Franklin wrote: "The sidewalks were literally covered with burning turpentine balls. I knew all too well where they came from, and I knew all too well why every burning building first caught fire from the top...I paused and waited for an opportune time to escape. 'Where oh where is our splendid fire department with its half dozen stations?' I asked myself, 'Is the city in conspiracy with the mob?'"

• Date: 1921-05-31
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.smithsonianmag.com.
• Tags: #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

James Chaney (1943 - 1964)

Sun May 30, 1943

James Earl Chaney, born on this day in 1943, was a young member of the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE) who, along with Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, was assassinated by white supremacists for his activism in Mississippi.

In 1962, Chaney participated in a Freedom Ride from Tennessee to Greenville, Mississippi, and in another from Greenville to Meridian. Chaney started volunteering in late 1963, joining the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Meridian. He organized voter education classes, introduced CORE workers to local church leaders, and helped CORE workers get around the counties.

Chaney and fellow civil rights workers Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were killed near the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi while investigating the burning of Mt. Zion Methodist Church, which had been a site for a CORE Freedom School.

Arrested by the local sheriff, the trio was released that evening without being allowed to contact anyone. On the road, they were stopped by patrol lights and two carloads of KKK members, kidnapped, tortured, and killed.

The sheriff, along with six others, were indicted and convicted for depriving the three men of their civil rights. No one was held accountable for Chaney's murder until 2005, when outspoken white supremacist Edgar Ray Killen was convicted on three counts of manslaughter.

• Date: 1943-05-30
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.core-online.org.
• Tags: #CivilRights, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Randolph Bourne (1886 - 1918)

Sun May 30, 1886

Image: **

Randolph Silliman Bourne, born on this day in 1886, was a progressive writer, disability advocate, and pacifist from Bloomfield, New Jersey who coined the phrase "war is the health of the state".

Bourne is considered to be a spokesman for the young radical voices during World War I. He is best known for his essays, especially his unfinished work "The State", which was discovered after his death.

In this essay, Bourne coined the well-known phrase "war is the health of the state", by which Bourne was lamenting governments' success at arrogating authority and resources during military conflicts.

Bourne was also disfigured from a difficult birth and suffered from tuberculosis of the spine at a young age, resulting in stunted growth and a hunched back.

Bourne chronicled these life experiences in his essay "The Handicapped - by one of them", now considered a foundational work in disability studies.

• Date: 1886-05-30
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, c250.columbia.edu.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Robert L. Allen (1942 - )

Fri May 29, 1942

Image: **

Robert Allen, born on this day in 1942, is an American professor, activist, and author who composed "Black Awakening in Capitalist America" (1969), a seminal text in the field of Internal Colonialism Theory.

Allen is Professor of African-American Studies and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and was Senior Editor of "The Black Scholar: Journal of Black Studies and Research", published quarterly in Oakland, California since 1969 by the Black World Foundation.

In the "Black Awakening in Capitalist America", Allen details how corporate interests and white-led power structures co-opted and de-radicalized black power and black nationalism, also criticizing the concept of "black capitalism" as a means of achieving social change.

"This reformist or bourgeois nationalism - through its chosen vehicle of black capitalism - may line the pockets and boost the social status of the black middle class and black intelligentsia, but it will not ease the oppression of the ordinary ghetto dweller."

- Robert L. Allen

• Date: 1942-05-29
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, items.ssrc.org, archive.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Maurice Bishop (1944 - 1983)

Mon May 29, 1944

Image: May Day 1980: Grenada's Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, center, is flanked by Cuba's leader Fidel Castro, right, and Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega in Havana, Cuba. [peoplesworld.org]

Maurice Bishop, born on this day in 1944, was a Grenadian revolutionary and leader of the New Jewel Movement, which seized power in 1979 and instituted widespread reforms of food, healthcare, education, and workers' rights.

Bishop headed the People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada from 1979 to 1983, when he was dismissed from his post and shot in a coup, leading to civil unrest and a U.S. invasion of the country.

Although Bishop grew up in Grenada, he left to study in London as a young adult. While there, Bishop acquired a law degree and studied the works of Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Julius Nyerere.

In 1970, Bishop returned to Grenada and was active politically, representing striking nurses in court and leading the New Jewel Movement (NJM), a Marxist-Leninist vanguard party. In 1979, the NJM successfully led a coup against Eric Gairy and made Bishop the Prime Minister of Grenada.

Among Bishop's core principles were workers' rights, women's rights, and the struggle against racism and apartheid. Women were given equal pay and paid maternity leave. Sex discrimination was made illegal. Organizations for education, health care, youth affairs, and literacy were also established. Due to his government's efforts, illiteracy and unemployment greatly declined.

In 1983, disputes within the party culminated in Bishop, along with seven members of his cabinet, being captured and executed. After his assassination, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Grenada's governor-general Paul Scoon appealed to the United States to resolve the political situation. Within a few weeks, U.S. President Ronald Reagan launched an invasion of Grenada.

• Date: 1944-05-29
• Learn More: www.zinnedproject.org, www.bannedthought.net, www.peoplesworld.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org