Working Class Calendar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mariola Sirakova Assassinated (1925)

Thu May 28, 1925

Mariola Sirakova, assassinated by state police at age 20 on this day in 1925, was a Bulgarian actress who organized with anarchists and hid wanted revolutionaries such as Vassil Popov and Valko Shankov from the authorities. Sirakova came from a wealthy family, but broke from this upbringing after attending a girl's high school in 1919.

In 1923, a military coup led to the killing of 35,000 workers and peasants, leading to a campaign of armed resistance against the state known as the "September Uprising". A massive wave of repression was undertaken by the fascists and military against the revolutionary movement. Mariola was arrested by the police, raped, and brutally beaten.

After Sirakova's release, she gave support to the Kilifarevo cheta (an armed guerilla unit), bringing them food, medicine, and clothes, and caring for the wounded. Mariola Sirakova and fellow anarchist Gueorgui Cheitanov were caught in an ambush and arrested.

On this day in 1925, they were taken to Belovo railway station and summarily executed with 12 other prisoners. Mariola was twenty years old.

• Date: 1925-05-28
• Learn More: libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Indian Removal Act (1830)

Fri May 28, 1830

The Indian Removal Act, signed into law on this day in 1830, provided the legal authority for the president to force indigenous peoples west of the Mississippi River, leading to the "Trail of Tears", which killed more than 10,000.

The law is an example of the systematic genocide brought against indigenous peoples by the U.S. government because it discriminated against them in such a way as to effectively guarantee the death of vast numbers of their population. The Act was signed into law by Andrew Jackson and was strongly enforced by his and his successors' administrations.

The enforcement of the Indian Removal Act directly led to the "Trail of Tears", which killed over 10,000 indigenous peoples. Although some tribes left peacefully, others fought back, leading to the Second Seminole War of 1835.

• Date: 1830-05-28
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.britannica.com.
• Tags: #Indigenous.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Gezi Park Occupation (2013)

Mon May 27, 2013

Image: A still from the Turkish short film "Başlangıç" (English: The Beginning), produced by Dominic Brown and Dancing Turtle Films [youtube.com]

On this day in 2013, Turkish protesters began occupying Gezi Park to oppose its demolition, an act with led to widespread protests and strikes with approximately 3,500,000 participants, 22 deaths, and more than 8,000 injuries.

The wave of civil unrest across Turkey began after the park occupation was violently evicted by police, who used to tear gas, pepper spray, and water cannons to try and break up the protests, injuring more than one hundred people and hospitalizing a journalist.

The protest quickly grew in size - by May 31st, 10,000 gathered in Istiklal Avenue. In June, the protests became national in scope and transcended any particular demographic or political ideology. Among the wide range of concerns brought by protesters were issues of freedom of the press, expression, and assembly, as well as the alleged political Islamist government's erosion of Turkey's secularism.

Millions of Turkish football fans, normally divided by intense sports rivalry, marched in unity against the government. Protesters displayed symbols the environmentalist movement, rainbow banners, depictions of Che Guevara, different trade unions, and the PKK and its leader Abdullah Öcalan.

On June 4th, Taksim Dayanışması (Taksim Solidarity) issued a set of demands that included the preservation of Gezi Park, an end to police violence, the right to freedom of assembly, and an end to the privatization of public spaces. Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç met the group on June 5th and rejected these demands.

Erdoğan blamed the protests on "internal traitors and external collaborators", demonizing his political opposition as the former. Despite the popular mobilization, Erdoğan remained in power and no major concessions were won from the government.

• Date: 2013-05-27
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

In re Debs (1895)

Mon May 27, 1895

Image: The official Seal of the Supreme Court of the United States

In re Debs (Latin: "In the matter of Debs") was a U.S. Supreme Court case that, on this day in 1895, unanimously upheld the government's use of injunctions against labor strikes, specifically the Pullman Strike of the preceding year.

The Pullman Strike was a large national railroad strike led by the American Railway Union (ARU), involving around 250,000 workers in 27 states. The federal government obtained an injunction against the union, Eugene V. Debs, and other boycott leaders, ordering them to stop interfering with trains that carried mail cars. After the strikers refused, President Grover Cleveland forcibly ended the strike with military force.

Debs and four other ARU leaders were arrested and charged with violating the injunction. After the Supreme Court sided with the government, Debs was sentenced to prison and the ARU dissolved.

In re Debs contributed to a widely held belief that the Supreme Court was simply a tool of the wealthy and big business - for the next 40 years business interests hostile to labor unions found the courts willing partners in suppressing strikes through injunction. This practice ended in 1932 with the Norris-La Guardia Act.

• Date: 1895-05-27
• Learn More: www.britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

House Committee on Un-American Activities Founded (1938)

Thu May 26, 1938

Image: Actor Gary Cooper testifying before HUAC [thoughtco.com]

On this day in 1938, the House Committee on Un-American Activities was established to investigate suspected communist sympathies among private citizens and organizations, leading to the blacklisting of hundreds of artists and academics. The committee became permanent in 1948 and was terminated in 1975.

The HUAC is notable for causing de facto media censorship among artists suspected of having communist sympathies. Their investigations resulted in a Hollywood blacklist of over 300 actors, directors, and others.

Arists whose careers were damaged by the committee included Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Alan Lomax, Paul Robeson, Aaron Copland, and Yip Harburg. When one Senator asked Robeson why he didn't remain in the Soviet Union, he replied "Because my father was a slave and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here and have a part of it just like you. And no Fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear?"

In 1960, William Mandel, an expert on Soviet affairs who had lost his position as a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution due to anti-communist repression, was called to testify in front of the HUAC. When asked "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?", Mandel responded:

"Honorable beaters of children, sadists, uniformed and in plain clothes, distinguished Dixiecrat wearing the clothing of a gentleman, eminent Republican who opposes an accommodation with the one country with which we must live at peace in order for us and all our children to survive...

If you think that I am going to cooperate with this collection of Judases, of men who sit there in violation of the United States Constitution, if you think I will cooperate with you in any way, you are insane!"

• Date: 1938-05-26
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.mtsu.edu.
• Tags: #Communism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Lyuh Woon-hyung (1886 - 1947)

Wed May 26, 1886

Image: **

Lyuh Woon-hyung, born on this day in 1886, was a socialist politician who argued that Korean independence was essential to world peace. Lyun was assassinated in 1947 by a right-wing nationalist refugee from the north. He is also known by the name Yo Un-hyung or the pen-name "Mongyang".

Lyuh was born in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, the son of a local yangban magnate. In 1910, Lyuh parted from Korean tradition by freeing his household's slaves, giving them enough land and money to become self-sufficient.

Like many in the Korean independence movement, Lyuh sought aid from both right and left. In 1920, he joined the Koryǒ Communist Party, later meeting Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin. In 1924, he also joined Sun Yat-sen's Chinese Nationalist Party to facilitate Sino-Korean cooperation.

In September 1945, Lyuh proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of Korea and became its vice-premier. When the United States occupied the Korean Peninsula, it did not recognize the People's Republic of Korea, and in October he was forced to step down under pressure from the U.S. military government.

In 1946, Lyuh represented the center-left politically as part of an effort to unify right and left-wing independence struggles, however this strategy earned ire from both sides. On July 19th, 1947, Lyuh was assassinated in Seoul by a 19-year-old North Korean refugee who was an active member of a nationalist right-wing organization.

His pen-name was Mongyang, the Hanja for "dream" and "the sun". Lyuh Woon-hyung is one of the few politicians celebrated in both North and South Korea.

• Date: 1886-05-26
• Learn More: web.archive.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Symon Petliura Assassinated for Pogroms (1926)

Tue May 25, 1926

On this day in 1926, Jewish anarchist Sholem Schwarzbard assassinated Symon Petliura, President of the Ukrainian People's Republic and leader of its army, for his role in Jewish pogroms, stating "I have killed a great assassin".

According to Jewish historian Peter Kenez, "before the advent of Hitler, the greatest mass murder of Jews occurs in the Ukraine in the course of the Civil War. All participants in the conflict were guilty of murdering Jews, even the Bolsheviks; however the Volunteer Army had the largest number of victims."

The number of Jews killed during the period is estimated to be between 35,000 and 50,000. A total of 1,236 violent attacks on Jews had been recorded between 1918 and 1921 in Ukraine.

The role of Petliura in those pogroms is controversial. While Petliura actively sought to halt anti-Jewish violence on numerous occasions, including the punishment capital punishment for the crime of pogroming, it is also documented that he was afraid to punish officers and soldiers engaged in crimes against Jews for fear of losing their support.

Schwarzbard was a Jewish anarchist living in Paris, becoming acquainted with other anarchist activists who had emigrated from Russia and Ukraine, including figures such as Volin, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, and Nestor Makhno.

At the same time, Petliura was living in Paris in exile. On May 25th, 1926, Schwarzbard approached Petliura and asked him in Ukrainian, "Are you Mr. Petliura?" Petliura did not answer but raised his cane in response.

Schwartzbard pulled out a gun, shooting him seven times. At the trial, survivors of the pogroms testified that they were brutalized by soldiers who claimed to be acting on orders from Petliura. After eight days, Schwarzbard was acquitted.

• Date: 1926-05-25
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, dash.harvard.edu.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

George Floyd Murdered (2020)

Mon May 25, 2020

Image: George Floyd with his six-year old, Gianna [blackpast.org]

On this day in 2020, a Minneapolis cop murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd's death became the catalyst for protests around the world; by July, more than 14,000 were arrested in the U.S. alone.

Floyd, a 46-year old black man, had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. The cop, 44-year old white man Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds while he was handcuffed and lying face-down in a street. Floyd was dead before Chauvin's knee left his neck.

The following day, after videos made by witnesses and security cameras became public, all four officers involed were fired. Floyd's state murder became the catalyst for worldwide Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality, which took place on every continent except Antartica.

The scope of civil unrest within the U.S. was nearly unprecedented. Author Malik Simba writes: "the protests have involved more than 26 million Americans in 2,000 cities and towns in every state in the U.S., making [them] the most widespread protests around one issue in the history of the nation. By the end of June alone, one month into the protests, 14,000 people had been arrested."

Initially, the local District Attorney's Office only harged Chauvin with third-degree manslaughter, but this charge was later increased to second degree murder, following mass protests. On April 20th, 2021, Chauvin was convicted and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. The other three officers were also later convicted of violating Floyd's civil rights.

Floyd's murder was witnessed by several people, including children. On the incident, seventeen year old Danella Frazier stated "When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad, I look at my brother, I look at my cousin and my uncle." Her nine year old cousin, also an eyewitness, testified in court: "I was sad and kind of mad and it felt like [Chauvin's knee] was stopping him from breathing and it was hurting him."

• Date: 2020-05-25
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Drumheller Coal Strike (1919)

Sat May 24, 1919

Image: Drumheller strikers, 1919 [libcom.org]

On this day in 1919, under the banner of the One Big Union (OBU), approximately 6,500 miners in Alberta, Canada walked off the job during a dispute over wages, the cost of living allowance, and working conditions. The strike took place in the context of federal repression of labor movements; a few years earlier, Canada had banned the similar Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

Accordingly, the striking workers faced violent repression from both the government and the coal operators. After the walk-out continued more than a month, coal operators received permission from the Northwest Mounted Police to hire "special constables" - in practice unemployed World War I veterans who were paid $10 a day, plied with free liquor, and armed with brass knuckles and crowbars - to break up the strike.

Striking workers were attacked in their homes, and workers who refused to act as scabs were driven 65-km out of town, beaten, and left there. Strikers responded by forming self-defense militias that deterred constables form attacking them. The labor action was finally broken after the federal government declared the OBU illegal and two strike leaders were beaten, tied to telephone poles, and tarred and feathered in August of that year.

Despite the immediate defeat, the mere threat of militant industrial action allowed coal miners in Alberta to achieve massive gains: the miners' day rate rose from $5.70 to $7.50 between 1919 and 1920 and, even after the strike had collapsed, and the rate remained well above inflation for a few years. These gains were eroded by 1924-25, when salaries were reduced back to the pre-strike levels.

• Date: 1919-05-24
• Learn More: libcom.org, briarpatchmagazine.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #IWW.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org