Working Class Calendar

Virgilia D'Andrea (1888 - 1933)

Sat Feb 11, 1888

Virgilia D'Andrea, born on this day in 1888, was an anarchist activist and poet whose writings were suppressed by the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini.

D'Andrea was politicized by the bloodshed of World War I and left teaching to join the movement against Italian participation in the war. By 1917, the state had deemed her an effective and dangerous radical anti-war agitator. Following Italy's entry into the war, both D'Andrea and her partner Armando Borghi were subjected to house arrest and legally confined for the duration of the war.

In 1922, she published her first book of poetry, "Tormento", which included a forward by Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta. A prominent free love advocate and noted anti-fascist, she fled Italy with the rise of fascism and emigrated to the United States.

In 1929, a second edition of "Tormento" was published, however the prints were immediately seized by the Italian government. Citing her outspoken advocacy of free love, Italian authorities charged D'Andrea with "reprehensible moral behavior" and asserted that she was committed to violence, with her verses "carefully composed to instigate lawbreaking, to incite class hatred, and to vilify the army."

D'Andrea died of breast cancer in New York City on May 12th, 1933, aged 45. A collection of writings "Torce nella Notte" (English: "Torches in the Night") was published in New York shortly after D'Andrea's death.

• Date: 1888-02-11
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Slovak Unemployment Riots Begin (2004)

Wed Feb 11, 2004

On this day in 2004, the first store was looted in a series of riots and protests by unemployed people in Slovakia. Although the protests were brutally suppressed by police, the government subsequently increased activation benefits by 50%.

The protests were in response to welfare cuts by the Slovakian government. Many Roma people participated in the protests. At the time, 51% of Roma women and 72% of Roma men were unemployed, a trend which can be traced back to liberalization policies after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In February 2004, unemployed workers all over Slovakia received official notices from the government informing them of steep cuts to welfare benefits, and demonstrations broke out in the eastern parts of the country.

The reaction was a mix of peaceful demonstrations and outright rioting. Signs from protests read "We want work, not food stamps" and "We've had enough of capitalism", and were attended by some of the white ethnic majority.

In the largest police and military operation since 1989, over 2,000 troops were mobilized and sent to the affected regions. On February 23rd, in Trebišov (southeastern Slovakia), police attacked a Roma demonstration with teargas and, in the freezing February cold, water cannons.

Early the next morning, around 240 policemen attacked a settlement the protesters were suspected to live in by about 80 people in the historical town of Levoča.

Although the protests failed to develop into a more substantive political movement, they had a lasting impact. Soon afterward, the government made important concessions, increasing activation benefits by 50%, introducing scholarships and various subsidies for pupils and students from poor families, and increasing funding for placement opportunities for the unemployed.

• Date: 2004-02-11
• Learn More: libcom.org, www.errc.org.
• Tags: #Riots, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Yên Bái Mutiny (1930)

Mon Feb 10, 1930

Image: 1930 photo of Nguyen Thai Hoc, leader of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (VNQDD), imprisoned for his role in the Yên Bái Mutiny [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1930, 50 Vietnamese soldiers of the French colonial army mutinied, attempting to take control of the Yên Bái garrison and begin a war of independence against the French. The uprising failed and many of its leaders were executed.

The revolt was planned in advance by the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (VNQDD), a socialist party founded by Nguyễn Thái Học (shown) that sought independence from France. The VNQDD had previously attempted to engage in clandestine activities to undermine French rule, but increasing state scrutiny on their activities led to their leadership risking a large scale military attack in the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam.

Multiple uprisings were planned throughout the region, with VNQDD members taking command of forces with specific strategic missions. The uprisings were supposed to be simultaneous, but matters were complicated when a messenger carrying an order from Học to delay the uprising until the 15th was arrested.

Early in the morning of February 10th, 1930, ~50 Vietnamese soldiers stationed at Yên Bái attacked their 29 French officers, aided by 60 civilian members of the VNQDD. Although the French were caught off guard and several officers were killed, the majority of the soldiers present remained loyal to the colonial army and helped suppress the uprising. Three Vietnamese sergeants were awarded the Médaille militaire for their efforts.

Later than evening, another planned VNQDD revolt in the rural district of Sơn Dương was also suppressed. Although insurgents initially succeeded, raising the VNQDD flag over the town, at sunrise they were routed by the colonial army.

The French retaliation was swift and brutal. When VNQDD forces fled into the village of Co Am, the French bombed the entire settlement, killing 200 people, mostly civilians. This was the first time that military air power had been used in Indochina.

In France, the severity of the sentences led to a campaign of solidarity by the French Communist Party and various demonstrations by Vietnamese expatriates. On May 22nd, 1930, more than 1,000 demonstrated outside Élysée Palace against the French reaction to Yên Bái. The police arrested 47 people, deporting 17 back to Vietnam, where most of them engaged in communist anti-colonial activities.

In total, 547 individuals, both soldiers and civilians, were prosecuted for their role in the uprising. Thirty-nine of the surviving leaders of the VNQDD were sentenced to death, although some of these were later granted clemency. Học, along with twelve others, was guillotined on June 17th, 1930. The thirteen shouted "Vietnam!" in unison before being executed.

• Date: 1930-02-10
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, ink.library.smu.edu.sg.
• Tags: #Communism, #Colonialism, #Mutinies, #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Hiratsuka Raichō (1886 - 1971)

Wed Feb 10, 1886

Hiratsuka Raichō, born on this day in 1886, was an anarchist writer, journalist, political activist, and pioneering Japanese feminist. Her efforts helped legalize Japanese women joining political organizations in 1922.

Upon graduating from university, Hiratsuka founded Japan's first all-women literary magazine, Seitō (青鞜, literally "Bluestocking"), in 1911.

Hiratsuka began the first issue with the words, "In the beginning, woman was the sun", a reference to the Shinto goddess Amaterasu, and to the spiritual independence which women had lost. Adopting the pen name "Raichō" ("Thunderbird"), she began to call for a women's spiritual revolution.

Hiratsuka also founded the New Women's Association with fellow women's rights activist Ichikawa Fusae. It was largely through this group's efforts that the Article 5 of the Police Security Regulations, which barred women from joining political organizations and holding or attending political meetings, was overturned in 1922.

• Date: 1886-02-10
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, unseenjapan.com.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Boeing Employees Strike (2000)

Wed Feb 09, 2000

On this day in 2000, 19,000 of Boeing Company engineering and technical employees walked off the job in what historian Howard Zinn called "the biggest white-collar strike in the [U.S.] history".

The strike was the result of a breakdown in negotiations between Boeing and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEAA). Striking workers said the protest wasn't just about asking for more money, it was also to "improve the culture of the company and chart a new course for organized labor".

When asked if he thought the strike had a lasting impact on the legacy of labor unions, Charlie Bofferding, Executive Director of SPEAA, stated "I'd have to say certainly less than we would have liked...At that time, what SPEEA was going for was an attempt to rebrand the labor movement from the people who beat up bad management to the people who made working in America better for everyone. I don't know that that message stuck."

• Date: 2000-02-09
• Learn More: www.knkx.org, money.cnn.com.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Marianne Baum (1912 - 1942)

Fri Feb 09, 1912

Image: The image shows a portrait of Marianne's husband, Herbert Baum

Marianne Baum, born on this day in 1912, was a German communist who was executed by the Nazis after the Baum Gruppe, co-founded by her husband, Herbert (shown), set fire to an anti-communist propaganda exhibition in Berlin.

Marianne Baum, born Marianne Cohen, was born on February 9th, 1912, in Saarburg, Germany, later moving to Berlin. She was active in left-wing political groups as a teen, joining a communist youth organization in 1931.

Alongside her husband Herbert Baum, she co-founded the anti-fascist Baum Gruppe in 1938-39. The organization, almost entirely composed of young Jewish people, produced anti-Nazi propaganda and sometimes engaged in direct action against the Third Reich.

On May 18th, 1942, the group set fire to an anti-communist exhibition held in Berlin, temporarily closing it. The high profile attack caught the attention of senior Nazi officials and many Baum Gruppe members, including Marianne and Herbert, were arrested in the following days.

On August 18th, 1942, Marianne was executed via guillotine by the Nazi state. Her husband Herbert had died a few months earlier, tortured to death in Moabit Prison on June 11th, 1942. Today, there is a plaque in the Weißensee Cemetery in Berlin commemorating the Herbert Baum Group.

• Date: 1912-02-09
• Learn More: jwa.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Birthdays, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

San Diego Free Speech Fight (1912)

Thu Feb 08, 1912

On this day in 1912, the city of San Diego banned giving speeches on the street in an attempt to suppress labor organizing efforts by the IWW, leading to a "Free Speech Fight" involving more than 5,000 IWW members.

Free Speech Fights were struggles over free speech involving the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in the early 20th century, usually involving civil disobedience and direct action. The IWW members, along with other radical labor groups, were often met with suppression (sometimes violent) from local governments and business leaders when trying to give speeches.

The San Diego ordinance directly targeted IWW members, whose street "preaching" was explicitly made illegal. The law was met with immediate civil disobedience by labor activists, and several were immediately arrested. Over five thousand IWW members came to San Diego to protest the free speech limitation, and the city's jail capacity was strained.

Vigilantes began transporting arrested IWW members to the county border and beating them. One city official who opposed the ordinance was threatened with lynching.

Police indiscriminately used fire hoses on crowds of protesters, including women and children. By the fall of 1912, the protest movement petered out and the Free Speech Fight in San Diego was lost.

• Date: 1912-02-08
• Learn More: libcom.org, archive.iww.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #IWW, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805 - 1881)

Fri Feb 08, 1805

Louis Auguste Blanqui, born on this day in 1805, was a French socialist and political activist, notable for his revolutionary theory of Blanquism and being the elected president of the Paris Commune while imprisoned.

Blanqui was a non-Marxist socialist who believed in immediate, violent revolution to overturn the capitalist order. Because of his unrelenting radicalism, he spent 33 years of his life in prison, leading to the nickname "l'enfermé", or "the locked-up one".

Blanquism is more of a revolutionary theory than an economic or social one; his thinking was chiefly concerned with how to achieve revolution. Unlike Karl Marx, Blanqui did not believe in the predominant role of the working class. Instead, he believed that revolution should be carried out by a small group of professional, dedicated revolutionaries who would establish a temporary dictatorship by force.

"He who has iron, has bread. People bow down before bayonets; a disarmed crowd is swept aside. But a France bristling with workers in arms means the advent of socialism. In the presence of armed proletarians, all obstacles, resistances and impossibilities will disappear."

- Louis Blanqui

• Date: 1805-02-08
• Learn More: www.britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

France Anti-CPE Protests (2006)

Tue Feb 07, 2006

On this day in 2006, 400,000 people in France took the streets to protest the "First Employment Contract" (CPE), Prime Minister Villepin's new labor law which eroded worker protections for young people.

Claiming that "urgent" action was needed to "bring the French labour market into the modern era", Villepin's CPE package would allow employers to hire 18-26 year-olds on two year contracts and fire them without notice or explanation.

In response, student unions called for a week of meetings and mobilization, and for a national day of protest on February 7th. The national protest continued beyond February 7th, however, and a national strike was called on March 28th (incidentally, the same day a million workers in the UK struck to defend their pensions).

Hundreds of thousands of workers went on strike, and three million people took to the streets all across the country. Unions were prepared to call another general strike when the French government finally gave in and withdrew the law.

A similar law (the CNE) which applied to small businesses of fewer than 25 people was eventually overturned by the courts in 2007.

• Date: 2006-02-07
• Learn More: libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Cripple Creek Miners' Strike (1894)

Wed Feb 07, 1894

Image: Cripple Creek, Colorado under martial law, 1894. From Benjamin McKie Rastall, University of Wisconsin [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1894, miners in Cripple Creek, Colorado went out on strike to fight against wage cuts. The town was placed under martial law and brutalized by an illegal, mercenary army of deputies who had to be disbanded by state militia.

Prior to the strike, mine owners in Cripple Creek had attempted to expand the 8-hour day at $3.00 a day to a 10-hour day. When miners protested the increased hours, their employers kept the 8-hour day, but at a decreased wage of $2.50 a day.

Soon after these changes were implemented, organized miners became affiliated with the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). After mine owners ignored union president John Calderwood's demands for an 8-hour day at the $3.00 wage, the union struck on February 7th, 1894.

By the end of February, every smelter in Colorado was either closed or running part-time. When some mines began to hire scab labor, the WFM tried to persuade these men to join the union and strike. When this was unsuccessful, the union drove the scabs out of the area with threats and violence.

After miners captured and assaulted six deputies, El Paso County Sheriff M. F. Bowers requested the intervention of the state militia (predecessor to the Colorado National Guard). Finding no apparent disorder on arrival, the state militia left Cripple Creek on March 20th.

After miners rejected an offer of $2.75 a day, mine owners secretly met with Sheriff Bowers and struck an agreement to fund a mercenary army of one hundred deputies (later expanded to 1,200) to police the region.

As word of the owner's militia spread, miners began to arm themselves. Junius J. Johnson, a former U.S. Army officer, was recruited to take over strike operations. He ordered that fortifications be built, a commissary stocked, and the miners drilled in maneuvers.

On May 24th, strikers seized the Strong mine on Battle Mountain, which overlooked the town of Victor. The next morning, 125 deputies arrived in town. As they marched toward the strikers' camp, workers at the Strong mine blew up the shafthouse and steam boiler, showering the deputies with timber, iron and cable, causing them to flee the area.

Following this incident, Governor Davis Waite issued a proclamation demanding that miners disband their fortifications on Bull Hill and declaring that the force of 1,200 deputies was illegal and to be disbanded.

Despite this, mine owners refused to disband the militia, which seized the town of Cripple Creek and began imprisoning and brutalizing hundreds of people. Owners only broke up the militia after Cripple Creek was re-captured by state forces and Waite threatened to occupy the area for the next thirty days.

This action was the only time in U.S. history when a state militia was called out in support of striking workers. Following a June agreement to give workers their 8-hour day at a $3.00 wage, more than 300 union members were arrested on a variety of charges. Only four were convicted, but they were quickly pardoned by Governor Waite.

The WFM became popular following the strike's victory and used its success to organize almost every worker in the Cripple Creek region, including waitresses, laundry workers, bartenders and newsboys, also helping to elect a new sheriff.

• Date: 1894-02-07
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, progressive.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Seattle General Strike (1919)

Thu Feb 06, 1919

Image: Seattle General Strike participants leaving the shipyard after going on strike, 1919. [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1919, a general strike involving ~100,000 workers in Seattle began. Workers, vilified as "Bolsheviki", set up an alternative government that distributed 30,000 meals daily and a police force that did not carry weapons.

Dissatisfied workers in several unions began the strike to gain higher wages after two years of World War I wage controls. Government officials, the press, and much of the public viewed the strike as a radical attempt to subvert American institutions.

During the strike, a cooperative body made up of rank and file workers from all the striking locals was formed, called the General Strike Committee. It acted as a "virtual counter-government for the city", according to labor historian Jeremy Brecher.

The committee organized to provide essential services for the people of Seattle during the work stoppage. A system of food distribution was also established, which distributed as many as 30,000 meals each day.

Army veterans created an alternative to the police in order to maintain order. A group called the "Labor War Veteran's Guard" forbade the use of force and did not carry weapons, using "persuasion only". Major General John F. Morrison, stationed in Seattle, claimed that he had never seen "a city so quiet and orderly."

On February 7th, Mayor Ole Hanson threatened to use 1,500 police and 1,500 troops to replace striking workers the next day, but the strikers assumed this was an empty threat and were proved correct. A few days later, Hanson stated the "sympathetic strike was called in the exact manner as was the revolution in Petrograd."

Union leadership, including the American Federation of Labor (AFL), began to exert pressure on the General Strike Committee and individual unions to end the strike, causing some locals to return to work.

The executive committee of the General Strike Committee, pressured by the AFL and international labor organizations, proposed ending the general strike at midnight on February 8th, but their recommendation was voted down by the General Strike Committee.

On February 10th, the General Strike Committee voted to end the general strike the following day, listing the following reasons: "Pressure from international officers of unions, from executive committees of unions, from the 'leaders' in the labor movement, even from those very leaders who are still called 'Bolsheviki' by the undiscriminating press. And, added to all these, the pressure upon the workers themselves, not of the loss of their own jobs, but of living in a city so tightly closed."

Immediately following the general strike's end, the Socialist Party headquarters was raided by police, and thirty-nine IWW members were arrested as "ringleaders of anarchy" despite playing a marginal role in the strike's development.

• Date: 1919-02-06
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, depts.washington.edu.
• Tags: #Labor, #GeneralStrikes, #IWW.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Camilo Cienfuegos (1932 - 1959)

Sat Feb 06, 1932

Image: Camilo Cienfuegos, in Cuba in the 1950s [Wikipedia]

Camilo Cienfuegos, born on this day in 1932, was a Cuban revolutionary who served as one of Fidel Castro's top guerilla commanders, known as the "Hero of Yaguajay" after winning a key battle of the Cuban Revolution.

In 1954, Cienfuegos became an active member of the underground student movement against U.S.-aligned dictator Fulgencio Batista. On December 5th, 1955, the eve of the anniversary of the death of 19th-century Cuban independence figure Antonio Maceo, soldiers opened fire on Cienfuegos and other students who were returning to Havana university after placing a wreath on Maceo's monument.

Cienfuegos credited this incident with his political awakening and decision to dedicate his life to freeing Cuba from Batista's government. Along with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Juan Almeida Bosque, and Raúl Castro, he was a member of the 1956 Granma expedition, which launched Fidel Castro's armed insurgency to establish Cuban independence.

On the evening of October 28th, 1959, Cienfuegos' Cessna 310 ('FAR-53') disappeared over the Straits of Florida during a night flight, returning from Camagüey to Havana. Despite several days of searching, his plane was not found. By mid-November, Cienfuegos was presumed lost at sea. In 1979, the Cuban government established the "Order of Cienfuegos" in his honor.

In October 1958, when a Cuban Masonic organization expressed concern that someone captured by the rebels might be tortured and killed, Cienfuegos replied:

"Your petition is unnecessary, because under no condition would we put ourselves at the same moral level as those we are fighting...We cannot torture and assassinate prisoners in the manner of our opponents; we cannot as men of honor and as dignified Cubans use the low and undignified procedures that our opponents use against us."

• Date: 1932-02-06
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.cndh.org.mx.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

La Canadenca Strike (1919)

Wed Feb 05, 1919

Image: Military forces patrolled the city during the general strike (23/3/1919), Josep Brangulí Soler, National Archive of Catalonia. [elnacional.cat]

On this day in 1919, a general strike broke out in Catalonia when thousands of workers across multiple industries went out on strike, causing widespread power outages and the Spanish government to declare a state of war.

The strike was initiated after an energy company, La Canadenca, reduced wages and fired over one hundred striking workers who were protesting the pay cuts. This and the curbing of labor rights prompted the rest of the workers at La Canadenca to go on strike and demand the readmission of those sacked and wage increases.

The labor stoppage soon spread to other companies in the sector via the CNT's union for water, gas and electricity workers. The lack of electricity in the city affected transport, hampering the provision of supplies and paralyzing 70% of factories in the province of Barcelona.

A state of war was declared by the government and over 3,000 workers were detained. Despite this, the strike ended after two days on the conditions of no repercussions for participating workers, a wage increase, and an 8 hour work day.

• Date: 1919-02-05
• Learn More: www.barcelona.cat, www.regeneracionlibertaria.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #GeneralStrikes.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

J.W. Loguen (1813 - 1872)

Fri Feb 05, 1813

Jermain Wesley Loguen, born into slavery on this day in 1813, was an abolitionist, bishop of the AME Church, and author of "The Reverend J. W. Loguen, as a Slave and as a Freeman, a Narrative of Real Life".

At the age of 21, he escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad, and his home as a free man went on to become a major stop in the railroad. He also founded schools for black children in Utica and his city of resident, Syracuse, New York.

On October 1st, 1851, an enslaved man he was harboring known as "Jerry" was arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The anti-slavery Liberty Party was holding its state convention in the city and, when word of the arrest spread, several hundred abolitionists broke into the city jail and freed Jerry. The event came to be widely known as the "Jerry Rescue".

• Date: 1813-02-05
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org.
• Tags: #Abolitionism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Rosa Parks (1913 - 2005)

Tue Feb 04, 1913

Rosa Parks, born on this day in 1913, was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. U.S. Congress has called her "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement".

Parks was not the first person to resist bus segregation in Montgomery, but the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) believed that she was the best candidate for seeing through a court challenge after her 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her bus seat for a white person.

According to historian Dr. Casey Nichols, following this arrest, Parks immediately contacted local NAACP president E.D. Nixon and informed him of her arrest. Within hours, the Women’s Political Council (WPC), formed in 1946 to address the grievances of black bus patrons in Montgomery, sprang into action, printing flyers, phoning potential supporters, and organizing carpools.

The boycott succeeded in 1957 after the Supreme Court declared bus segregation unconstitutional. Parks' act of defiance and the Montgomery bus boycott became important symbols of the movement, and she became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation.

After the boycott's conclusion, Parks moved to Detroit, Michigan and began working as an assistant to Detroit Congressman John Conyers. She has received numerous honors, including over 40 honorary degrees, the Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, and two NAACP image awards. In 2002, Parks produced a biographical film titled “The Rosa Parks Story.”

"The only tired I was was tired of giving in."

• Rosa Parks

• Date: 1913-02-04
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, teacher.scholastic.com, repository.wustl.edu.
• Tags: #CivilRights, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Betty Friedan (1921 - 2006)

Fri Feb 04, 1921

Betty Friedan, born on this day in 1921, was an American feminist activist and writer, authoring the widely influential book "The Feminine Mystique" in 1963. "The Feminine Mystique" is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century.

In 1966, Friedan co-founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now [in] fully equal partnership with men."

In 1970, Friedan organized the nationwide Women's Strike for Equality on August 26th, the 50th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote.

The national strike was successful beyond expectations in broadening the feminist movement; the march led by Friedan in New York City alone attracted over 50,000 people. In 1971, Friedan joined other leading feminists to establish the National Women's Political Caucus.

Friedan's politics around feminism were not always intersectional with respect to class and race. Despite the success NOW achieved under her leadership, Friedan's decision to pressure Equal Employment Opportunity to use Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to enforce more job opportunities among American women met with fierce opposition within the organization.

Siding with arguments from the group's black members, many of NOW's leaders accepted that black people below the povery line, both men and women, needed those opportunities more than predominantly white upper class women.

Friedan stepped down as president in 1969 and founded the "First Women's Bank and Trust Company" a few years later.

"The truth is that I've always been a bad-tempered bitch. Some people say that I have mellowed some. I don't know..."

- Betty Friedan

• Date: 1921-02-04
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.womenshistory.org.
• Tags: #Feminism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

NYC School Boycott (1964)

Mon Feb 03, 1964

Image: A propaganda poster showing a black child looking through a broken window, urging the viewer to participate in the boycott. From the Queens College Civil Rights Archives [zinnedproject.org]

On this day in 1964, 464,000 New York City school children, about half of the city's student body, boycotted the segregated school system, one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in U.S. history.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, a newspaper at the time, "Though segregation in New York was not codified like the Jim Crow laws in the South, a de facto segregation was evident in the city's school system." The NY Times reported that more than a third of the schools were picketed by parents, students, teachers, and activists.

Bayard Rustin, a chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington and the Freedom Rides, directed the boycott. A flier explaining the reason for the boycott stated the following:

"We have found that one of the quickest ways to destroy inequality and segregation is to hit it in the pocketbook. Financial aid to the school system is based upon pupil attendance. No pupils — no money. It's as simple as that."

• Date: 1964-02-03
• Learn More: www.zinnedproject.org, en.wikipedia.org, crdl.usg.edu.
• Tags: #CivilRights.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

E.P. Thompson (1924 - 1993)

Sun Feb 03, 1924

Image: E.P Thompson, unknown year [The Guardian]

E.P. Thompson, born on this day in 1924, was an English Marxist historian and communist intellectual known for works such as "The Making of the English Working Class" (1963) and "Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism" (1967).

Thompson was born in Oxford on February 3rd, 1924. His older brother was a British officer in the Second World War, captured and shot while aiding Bulgarian anti-fascist partisans. After his own military service, Thompson studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain.

In 1946, Thompson formed the Communist Party Historians Group with Christopher Hill, Eric Hobsbawm, Rodney Hilton, Dona Torr and others. In 1952, they launched the influential journal "Past and Present".

Thompson is probably best known for his 1963 work "The Making of the English Working Class", which focuses on the development of the capitalist-era class system in England. He left the Communist Party after the Soviet invasion of Hungary, but remained committed to communist politics.

Thompson became a major figure in the New Left in Britain from the 1960s, becoming a prominent supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and a vociferous left-wing critic of the Labour governments of 1964–70 and 1974–79.

Thompson died in 1993, and his final work, "Witness Against the Beast", a biography of poet William Blake, was published posthumously the same year.

"We must commence to act as if a united, neutral and pacific Europe already exists. We must learn to be loyal, not to 'East' or 'West' but to each other, and we must disregard the prohibitions and limitations imposed by any national state."

- E.P. Thompson

• Date: 1924-02-03
• Learn More: www.britannica.com, pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk.
• Tags: #Communism, #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Battle of Cinderloo (1821)

Fri Feb 02, 1821

Image: An unknown artist's impression of the uprising [shropshirestar.com]

On this day in 1821, 3,000 striking workers in present-day Telford, England clashed with Yeomanry, who fired into the crowd after workers refused an order to disperse. Two workers were killed, two were sentenced to death, and nine were arrested.

Colliers across the Coalbrookdale Coalfields had gone on strike the previous day in response to the lowering of their wages, and production across the area came to a halt. A large body of men marched to ironworks at Madeley Wood and Dawley, blowing out all the furnaces, damaging machinery, and inciting non-striking workers to join in.

By mid-afternoon the next day, a crowd of 3,000 had gathered at Old Park, near two industrial spoil heaps known as the 'Cinders Hills'. Yeomanry were sent out to disperse the crowd, and they were read the Riot Act and ordered go home. When Yeomanry moved forward to arrest the ringleaders of the strike, they were assaulted by the crowd. After further attempts to control the protesters were frustrated, the Yeomanry fired onto the crowd, killing two.

Nine strikers were arrested - two were sentenced to death and the other seven served nine months of hard labor. The initial dispute which had caused the riot was resolved soon after, with some ironmasters agreeing to reduce the daily pay of the workers by 4d instead of 6d.

• Date: 1821-02-02
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.dawleyheritage.co.uk.
• Tags: #Labor, #Riots.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

NYC Tenants Resist Evictions (1932)

Tue Feb 02, 1932

Image: A rent strike in Harlem, New York City, September 1919 [dissentmagazine.org]

On this day in 1932, a crowd of more than 1,000 clashed with police attempting to evict three families in the Bronx. The action was part of a larger period of tenant rebellion which kept 77,000 tenants from being evicted.

The New York Times described the crowd like this: "Women shrieked from the windows, the different sections of the crowd hissed and booed and shouted invectives. Fighting began simultaneously in the house and the street".

The action was part of a larger period of tenant rebellion in 1930s New York City. Beginning in 1930, small bands of people, often led by communists, began to use strong-arm tactics to prevent marshals from putting furniture on the street. Rent riots began in the Lower East Side and Harlem, but quickly spread to other parts of the city.

Historians Richard Boyer and Herbert M. Morais claimed that these acts of resistance kept 77,000 tenants from being evicted.

• Date: 1932-02-02
• Learn More: libcom.org, www.tenant.net.
• Tags: #Tenant.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Farabundo Martí Executed (1932)

Mon Feb 01, 1932

Farabundo Martí was a Salvadoran labor organizer and Marxist-Leninist revolutionary executed by the state on this day in 1932 after he helped lead a peasant uprising against President Maximiliano Hernandez Martínez.

Martí was born in Teotepeque, El Salvador on May 5th, 1893. He abandoned studying in university in favor of more directly participating in revolutionary working class organizing. He was a member of a number anti-capitalist organizations throughout the region, and became a founder of the Central American Communist Party in 1925.

In 1928, Martí fought alongside Augusto Sandino in Nicaragua in opposition to the country's occupation by the U.S. military. In 1931, Martí returned to El Salvador to help initiate a guerrilla revolt of indigenous farmers.

The uprising against dictator Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, fomented by collapsing coffee prices, enjoyed some initial success, but was soon drowned in a bloodbath, crushed by the Salvadoran military just ten days after it had begun. Over 30,000 indigenous people were killed at what was to be a "peaceful meeting" in 1932; this became known as "La Matanza" ("The Slaughter").

For his role in the uprising, Martí was executed on orders from Salvadoran President Martínez on February 1st, 1932.

• Date: 1932-02-01
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.zinnedproject.org, www.telesurenglish.net.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Indigenous.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Greensboro Sit-ins Begin (1960)

Mon Feb 01, 1960

Image: Sitting from left: Joseph McNeil, Billy Smith and Clarence Henderson on second day of sit-ins, Woolworth, Greensboro, February 2nd, 1960 [blackpast.org]

On this day in 1960, the "Greensboro Four" sat down at F. W. Woolworth Company Store's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina to protest segregation.

The four men had purchased toothpaste and other products from a desegregated counter at the store with no problems, but were then refused service at the store's lunch counter when they each asked for a cup of coffee.

The four students returned the next day, and within a few days the protest included hundreds of students. The Greensboro Sit-in sparked a movement of sit-in protests against segregation across the country, continuing into the summer and expanding to other places of discrimination, such as swimming pools, parks, and art galleries.

On July 25th, after months of harassment, including a bomb threat, and nearly $200,000 in losses ($1.7 million in 2020 dollars) the Greensboro Woolworth's finally ended its discriminatory policies. Four years later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandated desegregation in public accommodations.

• Date: 1960-02-01
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.blackpast.org.
• Tags: #CivilRights, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Louis Allen Murdered (1964)

Fri Jan 31, 1964

Louis Allen was a civil rights activist in Liberty, Mississippi who was assassinated by white supremacists on this day in 1964. When Allen told the U.S. government that he feared for his life, the Justice Department refused to protect him.

Allen had previously tried to register to vote and had allegedly talked to federal officials after witnessing the 1961 murder of Herbert Lee, an NAACP member and volunteer with the SNCC, by E. H. Hurst (1908 - 1990), a white Mississippi state legislator.

Allen watched as Hurst assassinated Lee with a single gunshot to the head and was forced by local police to testify in court that Hurst acted in self-defense (Hurst falsely claimed Lee attacked him a tire iron).

After giving this coerced testimony, Allen talked to the FBI and the United States Commission on Civil Rights in Jackson, asking for protection if he testified about how his testimony was made under duress. The Justice Department said they could not offer him protection, and so Allen declined to speak out.

When Allen reported receiving death threats, the FBI referred the matter to the office of Amite County Sheriff Daniel Jones. The FBI did so despite an agent acknowledging in a 1961 memo that "the local sheriff was involved in the plot to kill him". FBI documentation also noted that Jones was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Following the murder of Herbert Lee, Sheriff Jones began a campaign of harassment against Allen, arresting him on false charges multiple times and breaking his jaw with a flashlight. When Allen filed formal complaints about Jones' behavior, they were ignored.

On January 31st, 1964, the day before Allen had planned to move out of the state entirely, he was assassinated on his own property. In 2011, the CBS program "60 Minutes" conducted a special on his assassination which suggested that Allen was killed by Sheriff Jones. No one has been arrested or prosecuted for his murder.

• Date: 1964-01-31
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, snccdigital.org, www.blackpast.org.
• Tags: #CivilRights, #Assassinations.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Battle of George Square (1919)

Fri Jan 31, 1919

Image: David Kirkwood being detained by police during 1919 Battle of George Square on January 31st 1919 [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1919, the Battle of George Square took place in Glasgow, Scotland, a conflict between Glasgow police and the British Army against 25,000 striking Glasgow workers who were demanding a 40-hour work week.

The strike began a few days earlier, on January 27th, after a meeting of around 3,000 workers gathered in St. Andrew's Halls. The movement for the 40 hour week grew quickly; by the 30th, more than 40,000 workers from local engineering and shipping industries had joined in, and sympathy strikes broke out among power station workers and local miners.

On January 31st, approximately 20,000-25,000 workers gathered in George Square. Fighting broke out between city police and workers, and labor leaders David Kirkwood and William Gallacher were beaten and taken into custody. During the riot, the sheriff of Lanarkshire called for military aid, and British troops, supported by six tanks, were moved to key points in Glasgow.

Kirkwood was found innocent after a photo surfaced of him being struck with a baton from behind by a policeman, however Gallacher served five months in prison. The strike ended on February 12th in defeat for the workers, who did not win a 40-hour work week.

• Date: 1919-01-31
• Learn More: libcom.org, www.glasgowlive.co.uk, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Ecuador Fuel Strike (1994)

Sun Jan 30, 1994

Image: Protesters in Quito, taking to the streets in 2019 after the government ended fuel subsidies, causing price increases

On this day in 1994, approximately half a million workers staged a 24-hour strike in Ecuador to protest a government increase in fuel prices, blocking roads and burning tires.

Fuel prices would again cause widespread strikes and civil unrest in 2019, when President Lenín Moreno issued a decree on October 1st, ending subsidies for diesel and extra gasoline with ethanol to comply with International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan conditions.

Leaders of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) and the United Workers Front (FUT) announced a national strike to protest the resultant fuel increases on October 9th, 2019.

• Date: 1994-01-30
• Learn More: www.latimes.com, www.workers.org, www.dw.com.
• Tags: #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org