Working Class Calendar

Russian Revolution (1905)

Sun Jan 22, 1905

Image: An engraving from an unknown author, depicting a crowd confronting soldiers outside the Narva Gates on the morning of January 22nd [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1905, troops at the Russian Winter Palace fired upon a huge procession of working class demonstrators, killing hundreds. The massacre, known as "Bloody Sunday", led to widespread uprisings and sweeping reforms in what is known as the Russian Revolution of 1905.

The revolt took place amidst widespread discontent with conditions under the Tsarist absolute monarchy, and a growing proliferation of political radicalism. Although mass strikes broke out weeks earlier in St. Petersburg, the beginning of the revolution is typically marked by the "Bloody Sunday" massacre on January 22nd, when unarmed protesters marching towards the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas were fired upon by soldiers, killing hundreds.

In response to the massacre, mass worker resistance exploded across the Russian empire. Half of European Russia's industrial workers went on strike in 1905, 93.2% in Poland. The Tsar's uncle was assassinated on February 17th.

On March 2nd, the Tsar agreed to the establishment of a legislature, the State Duma. However, with the body's powers remaining limited (initially only given consultative powers), the rebels were emboldened to push harder.

Summer saw peasant rebellion and mutinies (Russia being at war with Japan at the time), most famously the mutiny on the battleship Potemkin, triggered when sailors refused to eat borscht made from maggot-infested meat.

As strikes continued, the government announced a Manifesto on October 17th, enacting emergency civil reform to placate the masses, and successfully crushed remaining resistance in the following months, such as the Moscow Uprising in December.

The uprising is considered the predecessor to the Russian Revolution of 1917 which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union; Vladimir Lenin called it "The Great Dress Rehearsal", without which the "victory of the October Revolution in 1917 would have been impossible".

• Date: 1905-01-22
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.bolshevik.info, www.thoughtco.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #Assassinations, #Massacre, #Mutinies, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Antonio Gramsci (1891 - 1937)

Thu Jan 22, 1891

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Antonio Gramsci, born on this day in 1891, was an Italian Marxist philosopher and communist politician. His works touch on a variety of topics, including political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics.

Gramsci was a founding member and leader of the Communist Party of Italy and was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini's fascist regime. Gramsci wrote more than 30 notebooks and 3,000 pages of history and analysis during his imprisonment. His "Prison Notebooks" are considered a highly original contribution to 20th-century political theory.

Today, Gramsci is perhaps best known for his concept of cultural hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class use cultural institutions to maintain power in capitalist societies without resorting to force. Hegemonic culture promotes capitalist values and norms such that they become the "common sense" values of all and reinforce the status quo.

"The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born."

- Antonio Gramsci

• Date: 1891-01-22
• Learn More: revisesociology.com, www.marxists.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Marxism, #Birthdays, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Lenin's Death and Testament (1924)

Mon Jan 21, 1924

On this day in 1924, revolutionary Vladimir Lenin died after a series of strokes. Following his death, his wife Krupskaya circulated "Lenin's Testament", a letter in which he criticized Party leadership and made suggestions for the future.

The majority of the Testament had been dictated by Lenin to his secretary, Lidya Fotieva, on December 25th, 1922, with a postscript added on January 4th, 1923, approximately a year before his death.

In the letter, Lenin expressed concerns over the stability of the Central Committee, and by extension the Communist Party, writing "Our party rests upon two classes, and for that reason its instability is possible, and if there cannot exist an agreement between such classes its fall is inevitable...I have in mind stability as a guarantee against a split n the near future, and I intend to examine here a series of considerations of a purely personal character."

Lenin goes on to state that the personal relationship between Stalin and Trotsky could cause such a split: "I think that the fundamental factor in the matter of stability – from this point of view – as such members of the Central Committee as Stalin and Trotsky. The relation between them constitutes, in my opinion, a big half of the danger of that split..."

In the letter's postscript, dated January 4th, Lenin calls Stalin "rude" and recommends Party members to find another General Secretary, "another man who in all respects differs from Stalin only in superiority – namely, more patient, more loyal, more polite and more attentive to comrades, less capricious, etc."

After, Lenin's death, his surviving widow, Nadezhda, began circulating the document and attempted to present it at the 13th Congress. By a vote of 30 to 10, party leadership refused to have the document read to the congress. The Testament was, however, published by anti-communists; the full English text of Lenin's testament was published as part of a 1926 New York Times article.

Bill Bland, a Marxist-Leninist historian, notes that the contents of the letter mark a striking reversal to Lenin's previous assessment of both Stalin and Trotsky. Stalin had been elected General Secretary of the Central Committee in April 1922 on Lenin's proposal. While Lenin praises Trotsky as the "the most able man in the present Central Committee" in the letter, Lenin had previously referred to Trotsky as "Judas Trotsky" and "swine".

Historian Stephen Kotkin argued that the evidence for Lenin's authorship of the Testament is weak and suggested that the document could have been created by Krupskaya, although other historians, such as Isaac Deutscher and Dmitri Volkogonov, accepted its legitimacy. Trotskyist journal The New International noted in 1935 that Stalin himself acknowledged Lenin as the author in a 1927 speech.

• Date: 1924-01-21
• Learn More: www.marxists.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.revolutionarydemocracy.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Marxism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Irish War of Independence (1919)

Tue Jan 21, 1919

Image: Photocopy of image taken during the Irish War of Independence. Seán Hogan's (NO. 2) Flying Column, 3rd Tipperary Brigade, IRA. 1920-1921 [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1919, the republican party Sinn Féin declared Irish independence from Britain. After two years of guerilla warfare against British occupation and ~2,300 deaths, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, creating the Irish Free State.

In April 1916, Irish republicans had launched the Easter Rising against British rule, proclaiming an Irish Republic. Although the rebellion was suppressed, the incident led to greater popular support for Irish independence. In December 1918 elections, just a month prior to their independence declaration, republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory.

On January 21st, 1919 Sinn Féin formed a breakaway government (Dáil Éireann). The same day, two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) officers were killed in the Soloheadbeg ambush by Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers.

Throughout 1919, the IRA went about capturing weapons and freeing republican prisoners while the Dáil began building up a state. In September, the British government outlawed the Dáil and Sinn Féin, and the conflict intensified.

Over the following two years, the IRA waged a campaign of guerilla warfare against British occupiers. In total, approximately 2,300 people were killed - 936 of the British-aligned forces, 491 of the Irish-aligned forces, and 900 civilians.

The British government bolstered the RIC with recruits from Britain, the "Black and Tans and Auxiliaries", who became notorious for ill-discipline and reprisal attacks on civilians.

On December 6th, 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, bringing an end to the 1919 Irish War of Independence. The treaty formally recognized the Irish Free State and led to the creation of Northern Ireland, partitioning the island.

"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 will be in vain. England will 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: 1919-01-21
• Learn More: www.theirishstory.com, www.theirishwar.com, www.marxists.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.neversuchinnocence.com.
• Tags: #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Wannsee Conference (1942)

Tue Jan 20, 1942

Image: The villa "Am Großen Wannsee 56–58", where the Wannsee Conference was held, now a memorial and museum [ushmm.org]

On this day in 1942, leading Nazi officials met at a villa in Wannsee, Berlin, to discuss the "Jewish question". Here, the policy of Jewish genocide was explicitly architected, although the "Final Solution" had been approved one year earlier.

The conference was attended by 15 high-ranking party and state officials, headed by Reinhard Heydrich, SS Lieutenant-General and head of the Reich Security Main Office. Other important attendees included Heinrich Müller, chief of the Gestapo, and Adolf Eichmann, who was executed in 1962 for war crimes in Jerusalem.

Because a policy of mass extermination had already been approved by Hitler in 1941 (especially as mass killings of Jews had already begun in occupied Europe), the historical importance of the meeting was not recognized by those present.

The purpose of formalizing the logistics behind the "Final Solution's" implementation was simply to emphasize that, once the deportations had been completed, the fate of the deportees became an internal matter of the SS, totally outside the purview of any other agency. Heydrich estimated that there were around 11 million Jews in Europe who would be targeted for extermination. Within a few months of the Wannsee Conference, the Nazis would begin installing the first poison-gas chambers in Polish extermination camps.

On January 20th, 1992, on the fiftieth anniversary of the meeting, the site was finally opened as a Holocaust memorial and museum known as the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz (House of the Wannsee Conference).

"Those who suffer from conspiracy phobia are fond of saying: 'Do you actually think there's a group of people sitting around in a room plotting things?' For some reason that image is assumed to be so patently absurd as to invite only disclaimers. But where else would people of power get together - on park benches or carousels?"

- Michael Parenti

• Date: 1942-01-20
• Learn More: encyclopedia.ushmm.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.britannica.com.
• Tags: #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Amílcar Cabral Assassinated (1973)

Sat Jan 20, 1973

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Amílcar Cabral was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, intellectual, and communist revolutionary who was assassinated on this day in 1973 by a PAIGC veteran and Portuguese agents. Cabral was one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders, leading the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence in Guinea-Bissau.

From 1963 until his death, he led the Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC) guerrilla movement against the Portuguese government, beginning a decade-long, but ultimately successful war of liberation. The goal of the conflict was to achieve independence from both Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde.

Cabral was assassinated on January 20th, 1973 by at PAIGC headquarters in Conakry by PAIGC veteran Inocêncio Kani and Portuguese agents, according to historian Lucy Burnett. Eight months later, Guinea-Bissau issued a unilateral declaration of independence. Cabral's pan-Africanism and revolutionary socialism continues to be an inspiration for socialists and national independence movements worldwide.

"In combating racism we do not make progress if we combat the people themselves. We have to combat the causes of racism. If a bandit comes to my house and I have a gun, I cannot shoot the shadow of the bandit; I have to shoot the bandit. Many people lose energy and effort, and make sacrifices combating shadows. We have to combat the material reality that produces the shadow."

- Amílcar Cabral

• Date: 1973-01-20
• Learn More: www.jacobinmag.com, www.marxists.org, www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Assassinations, #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Philip Agee (1935 - 2008)

Sat Jan 19, 1935

Philip Agee, born on this day in 1935, was an ex-CIA officer who became a prominent critic of CIA policies, detailing his experiences in the text "Inside the Company: CIA Diary". Agee ultimately defected to Cuba, dying there in 2008.

Philip Agee (1935 - 2008) served as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer for eight years, joining the organization in 1960. He was assigned posts in Montevideo, Mexico City, and Quito, Ecuador.

Agee resigned from the CIA in 1968 following the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico City, in which the U.S.-supported government engaged in mass shootings and arrests of a crowd of more than ten thousand protesters. The same massacre also played a role in the political radicalization of Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatistas.

Agee moved to London and published "Inside the Company", a tell-all text that, among other things, detailed his work in spying on diplomats, engaging in illegal activity to force a diplomatic break between Ecuador and Cuba, naming President José Figueres Ferrer of Costa Rica, President Luis Echeverría Álvarez of Mexico, and President Alfonso López Michelsen of Colombia as CIA collaborators, and exposing the identities of dozens of CIA agents.

For the exposure of agents, Agee was expelled from the United Kingdom. Agee was also eventually expelled from the Netherlands, France, West Germany and Italy, and was compelled to live under a series of socialist governments - Grenada under Maurice Bishop, then Nicaragua under the Sandinistas, and finally Cuba under Castro. Agee died in Cuba in January 2008.

"I don't think we have ever had real democracy in this country. Anyone who studies adoption of the constitution will understand quite clearly that; democracy - as we understand that on today; was the last thing the founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the constitution....it was: to establish strong central authority responding the elitist interests in United States.

That's private property. And those men who wrote the constitution were representatives of the elites. They were the lawyers, bankers, merchants, the land owners, slave owners and so forth. And they write the constitution for their own private interest$. That is how government has served ever since. And that is why we have so little democracy in United States."

• Philip Agee

• Date: 1935-01-19
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, spartacus-educational.com, archive.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Battle of Hayes Pond (1958)

Sat Jan 18, 1958

Image: Lumbee men Simon Oxedine and Charlie Warriax, both veterans, with captured KKK flag at VFW convention. Image published in Life Magazine, 1958. Page 26-28. [progressive.org]

On this day in 1958, armed Lumbee Native Americans broke up a KKK rally near Maxton, North Carolina, driving the white supremacists away and confiscating their flag. Four Klansmen were injured in the "Battle of Hayes Pond".

Grand Dragon James W. "Catfish" Cole was the organizer of the Klan rally. Sanford Locklear, Simeon Oxendine and Neill Lowery were Lumbee leaders who attacked the Klansmen and successfully disrupted the rally.

The year prior, Cole had initiated a campaign of harassment designed to intimidate the Lumbee Tribe to help organize the local Klan. He called a rally on January 18th, and 100 Klansmen arrived at the private field near Hayes Pond which Cole had leased from a sympathetic farmer. Cole managed to erect the cross, but before he could finish the ceremony, over 500 Lumbee men appeared and encircled the assembled Klansmen.

Four Klansmen were injured in the subsequent exchange of gunfire. Cole was later found guilty of inciting a riot and sentenced to two years in prison.

• Date: 1958-01-18
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, progressive.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Tokyo Students Battle Police (1969)

Sat Jan 18, 1969

On this day in 1969, around four hundred protesters who had occupied Tokyo University's Yasuda Hall in protest of US-Japan relations battled with police, throwing rocks and gas‐filled bottles at officers on the street. The battle lasted until January 19th, and was broadcast on television, causing a national sensation.

The protest was part of a growing leftist sentiment against the US and the conservative Japanese government that led to more than 10,000 young people being arrested by the end of the year. One year after this event, more than 22 colleges were either closed or only partially open due to student unrest.

• Date: 1969-01-18
• Learn More: www.nytimes.com, aboutjapan.japansociety.org.
• Tags: #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Baburova and Markelov Assassinated (2009)

Mon Jan 19, 2009

On this day in 2009, anarchist journalist Anastasia Baburova (1983 - 2009) and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov (1974 - 2009) were assassinated by Russian neo-Nazis.

Baburova was a member of the Russian anarchist group "Autonomous Action" and a student of journalism at Moscow State University. Markelov was a lawyer who defended left-wing political activists, anti-fascists, journalists, and victims of police violence.

On January 19th, 2009, Markelov gave a press conference where he fiercely denounced the early prison release of a Russian army officer, convicted for the abduction and murder of a Chechen girl. After finishing, a masked assailant shot him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Baburova, who was covering the press conference, was shot and killed after trying to stop the shooter.

In May 2011, the shooter Nikita Tikhonov was sentenced to life imprisonment, and his partner Eugenia Khasis was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer has speculated that the Russian government was involved, noting that Tikhonov's use of a pistol fitted with a silencer was atypical for the neo-Nazi movement, which usually used knives and homemade explosives to commit violence.

• Date: 2009-01-19
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.frontlinedefenders.org.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Anarchism, #Journalism, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Patrice Lumumba Assassinated (1961)

Tue Jan 17, 1961

Patrice Lumumba was a Congolese anti-colonial revolutionary assassinated by U.S. and Belgian assisted forces on this day in 1961, after serving as Prime Minister. Lumumba had served as the first Prime Minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo from June until September 1960, and played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.

Ideologically an African nationalist and pan-Africanist, Lumumba led the Congolese National Movement (MNC) party from 1958 until his assassination, in a coup by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, assisted by U.S. and Belgian forces. The coup occurred when Lumumba, facing armed rebellion and an occupation by Belgian forces, asked for support from the Soviet Union. This led to a government split between himself, President Joseph Kasa-Vubu, and military commander Joseph-Désiré Mobutu.

On December 1st, 1960, Lumumba was captured by Mobutu's forces and imprisoned. On January 17th, 1961, he and his associates were brutally beaten and tortured by Katangan and Belgian officers, and Lumumba was executed later that night. The execution was carried out with Belgian and U.S. assistance. Belgium formally apologized for its role in the assassination in 2002.

On Lumumba's legacy, his friend and colleague Thomas Kanza wrote the following:

"He lived as a free man, and an independent thinker. Everything he wrote, said and did was the product of someone who knew his vocation to be that of a liberator, and he represents for the Congo what Castro does for Cuba, Nasser for Egypt, Nkrumah for Ghana, Mao Tse-tung for China, and Lenin for Russia."

"No Congolese worthy of the name will ever to be able to forget that this independence has been won through a struggle in which we did not spare our energy and our blood...We have known ironies, insults, and blows which we had to undergo morning, noon and night because we were Negroes. We have seen our lands spoiled in the name of laws which only recognized the right of the strongest. We have known laws which differed according to whether it dealt with a black man or a white. We have known the atrocious sufferings of those who were imprisoned for their political opinions or religious beliefs, and of those exiled in their own country. Their fate was worse than death itself. Who will forget the rifle-fire from which so many of our brothers perished, or the jails in to which were brutally thrown those who did not want to submit to a regime of justice, oppression and exploitation which were the means the colonialists employed to dominate us?"

- Patrice Lumumba

• Date: 1961-01-17
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.zinnedproject.org, www.marxists.org, www.britannica.com, www.theafricareport.com.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Colonialism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Herndon Addresses the Court (1933)

Mon Jan 16, 1933

Angelo Herndon (1913 - 1997) was a communist labor leader convicted of insurrection after attempting to organize black and white workers in Atlanta, Georgia. He addressed the court on this day in 1933, stating "You cannot kill the working class".

After nearly 1,000 unemployed workers, both black and white, demonstrated at the Atlanta federal courthouse on June 30th, 1932, local officials began to monitor known and suspected radicals. On July 11th, Herndon, an active labor organizer in the area, was arrested while checking on his mail. A few days later his hotel room was searched, and Communist Party publications were found.

Herndon was charged with insurrection under a Georgia Reconstruction era law. His case went to the Supreme Court twice, and Herndon was freed when the insurrection charge was finally ruled unconstitutional in 1937.

Here is an excerpt of what Herndon said to the court on January 16th, 1933, at 19 years of age:

"You may do what you will with Angelo Herndon. You may indict him. You may put him in jail. But there will come thousands of Angelo Herndons. If you really want to do anything about the case, you must go out and indict the social system. But this you will not do, for your role is to defend the system under which the toiling masses are robbed and oppressed...

You may succeed in killing one, two, even a score of working-class organizers. But you cannot kill the working class."

• Date: 1933-01-16
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Zunyi Conference Ends (1935)

Thu Jan 17, 1935

The Zunyi Conference was a three day meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that ended on this day in 1935, resulting in Mao Zedong's leadership within the party and a decreased influence from the Communist International. The Conference took place during the Long March (a military retreat of CPC forces from attacks by the Nationalists).

The Zunyi Conference involved a power struggle between the leadership of Bo Gu and the opposition, led by Mao Zedong. The result was in Mao's favor, and the conference concluded with Mao in position to take over military command and become the leader of the Communist Party.

The Red Army had been fleeing their overwhelmed base of operations at Jiangxi-Fujian for several months by this point in the Long March, and this conference involved the debate/accountability of CPC leadership for various tactical and strategic failures. The CPC went on to achieve a new base of operations in Shaanxi Province and continued its revolutionary activity from there.

The Conference was completely unacknowledged until the 1950s and still no detailed descriptions were available until the fiftieth anniversary in 1985. The site of the meeting has now become a popular tourist destination in China.

• Date: 1935-01-17
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, en.chinaculture.org.
• Tags: #Communism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Benin Attempted coup d'état (1977)

Thu Jan 16, 1997

Image: Monument to the victims of the coup attempt of January 16th, 1977. Place des Martyrs, Cotonou, Bénin [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1977, French mercenaries attempted to overthrow the People's Republic of Benin. President Kérékou’s Presidential Guard, aided by North Korean soldiers, effectively repelled the invading force, and the coup failed.

Following a coup of young military officers in 1972, the junta government of Benin (then known as Dahomey) would cooperate closely with various domestic socialist political groups.

This leftward turn would culminate in President Mathieu Kérékou proclaiming the formal accession of his government to Marxism-Leninism in 1974, and the official establishment of the People's Republic of Benin in 1975.

Benin's turn towards socialism would draw the ire of its former colonial master, France. A small group of Beninese political exiles would make their home in France and conspire with Robert Denard, a notorious French, anti-communist, imperialist mercenary.

Denard and the exiles would form a small army of around 150 hired guns. Led by Denard, this group created a planned to depose Kérékou and received funds, arms, and training from several pro-French African governments, including Morocco, Togo, and the Ivory Coast.

The mercenaries departed from a Gabonese airstrip in the early hours of January 16th, 1977, disguised as a civilian aircraft and destined for Cotonou, the executive seat of the government of Benin.

Upon landing at the Cotonou airport around 7 am, the mercenaries quickly took control of both air traffic control and the airport's main terminal, then advanced towards the Presidential Palace.

Kérékou, informed of the ongoing assault, would call on civilians over the radio to take up arms in defense against the coup. The Army, Presidential Guard, which President Kérékou had expanded North Korean soldiers, and armed civilians defend the Presidential Palace until the mercenaries retreated back to the airport and returned to Gabon.

Seven Beninese were killed during the attack: 6 soldiers and 1 civilian. A large monument in central Cotonou was erected in their memory in 1979.

Today, January 16th is celebrated as Martyr's Day in Benin to commemorate those who lost their lives fighting against neo-colonialism.

• Date: 1997-01-16
• Learn More: warisboring.com, fr.wikipedia.org, www.washingtonpost.com, www.bbc.com.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Marxism, #Colonialism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Draftee's Prayer Published (1943)

Sat Jan 16, 1943

On this day in 1943, the Baltimore Afro-American published the "Draftee's Prayer", an ode against imperialist war and call to fight domestic oppression. It reads:

"Dear Lord, today

I go to war:

To fight, to die,

Tell me what for?

Dear Lord, I'll fight,

I do not fear,

Germans or Japs;

My fears are here

America!"

• Date: 1943-01-16
• Learn More: books.google.com, www.historyisaweapon.com.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809 - 1865)

Sun Jan 15, 1809

Image: **

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, born on this day in 1809, was a French politician, philosopher, and founder of mutualist philosophy.

Proudhon was the first person to declare himself an anarchist and is widely regarded as one of the ideology's most influential theorists, sometimes called "the father of anarchism". He became a member of the French Parliament after the Revolution of 1848, afterwards referring to himself as a federalist.

Proudhon favored workers' associations or co-operatives as well as individual worker and peasant possession over private ownership or the nationalization of land and workplaces. In "The Confessions of a Revolutionary", Proudhon asserted that "Anarchy is Order Without Power", the phrase which much later inspired in the view of some the anarchist circled-A symbol.

It is worth noting that, despite his egalitarian beliefs in other respects, Proudhon was an avowed sexist and anti-Semite. One unpublished quote reads "The Jew is the enemy of the human race. This race must be sent back to Asia, or exterminated." Proudhon also maintained that a woman's choice was to be "courtesan or housekeeper", stating that man is "a father, a chief, a master: above all, a master".

These views did not go uncontested amongst his colleagues. Joseph Déjacque, a contemporary libertarian communist, told Proudhon to "speak out against man's exploitation of woman" or "do not describe yourself as an anarchist".

Proudhon unsuccessfully tried to create a national bank, to be funded by what became an abortive attempt at an income tax on capitalists and shareholders. Similar in some respects to a credit union, it would have given interest-free loans.

"I build no system. I ask an end to privilege, the abolition of slavery, equality of rights, and the reign of law. Justice, nothing else; that is the alpha and omega of my argument: to others I leave the business of governing the world."

- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

• Date: 1809-01-15
• Learn More: www.marxists.org, theanarchistlibrary.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Adolph Reed (1947 - )

Tue Jan 14, 1947

Adolph Reed Jr., born on this day in 1947, is a Marxist American professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in the study of issues of racism and U.S. politics. He is a contributing editor to The New Republic and has been a frequent contributor to The Progressive and The Nation and other leftwing publications.

Reed's work on U.S. politics is noted for its critique of identity politics and anti-racism, particularly of their role in black politics. In his essay "The Limits of Anti-Racism", Reed wrote:

"As a basis for a politics, antiracism seems to reflect [a depoliticization of] the critique of racial injustice by shifting its focus from the social structures that generate and reproduce racial inequality to an ultimately individual, and ahistorical, domain of 'prejudice' or 'intolerance.'"

• Date: 1947-01-14
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, www.wsws.org.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Murray Bookchin (1921 - 2006)

Fri Jan 14, 1921

Murray Bookchin, born on this day in 1921, was a libertarian socialist political philosopher whose thought is associated with the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.

Bookchin was the author of two dozen books covering topics in politics, philosophy, history, urban planning, and social ecology. Some notable titles include "Our Synthetic Environment", "Post-Scarcity Anarchism", and "The Ecology of Freedom". In the late 1990s, he became disenchanted with what he saw as an increasingly apolitical "lifestylism" of the contemporary anarchist movement and stopped referring to himself as an anarchist.

Bookchin's ideas have influenced social movements since the 1960s, including the New Left, the anti-nuclear movement, the anti-globalization movement, Occupy Wall Street, and, most notably, Abdullah Öcalan's concept of democratic confederalism and its application in Rojava.

"If we do not do the impossible, we shall be faced with the unthinkable."

- Murray Bookchin

• Date: 1921-01-14
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, theanarchistlibrary.org, reason.com.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Mombasa General Strike (1947)

Mon Jan 13, 1947

Image: Mombasa, 1947

On this day in 1947, 15,000 workers in Mombasa, Kenya initiated a general strike, demanding higher and equal wages for all races. Although the strike was declared illegal, workers persisted and won major concessions 12 days later.

In 1945, Kenya was a colony of Great Britain. Threats of a worker strike due to low wages led the British to create an investigatory "Phillips Committee", but, by the end of 1946, workers in Mombasa were upset with any meaningful change.

In December 1946, workers held mass meetings, rumors spread about a potential strike, and government officials worked to prevent any labor action. On January 7th, 1947, 3,000 workers met to organize a strike, which began on the 13th with more than 15,000 workers, approximately 75% of the workforce in Mombasa, engaging in a general strike.

The labor stoppage crossed many industries, including government, railroad, hotel, domestic workers, and dock workers. Taxi drivers went around the city spreading word of the strike and urging others to participate.

The government immediately declared the strike illegal, citing the "Defense Regulations", which mandated the port at Mombasa to stay open, as it was the only major access site to Kenya Colony and Uganda.

Despite this, workers persisted, meeting every day at a soccer field to organize. On the second day of the strike, 10,000 workers showed up to the daily meeting, which was run with no official leader, giving everyone an opportunity to speak.

After more than a week of the city being paralyzed, a government official promised to gain improvements in working conditions within three months if the people would end their strike. Workers agreed and, on January 25th, 1947, all workers returned to their jobs.

At the end of March, workers were given a 20-40% wage increase, housing allowances, paid holidays, paid overtime, and a higher minimum wage.

• Date: 1947-01-13
• Learn More: nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu, worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu.
• Tags: #Labor, #General Strikes.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Cheri Honkala (1963 - )

Sat Jan 12, 1963

Cheri Honkala, born on this day in 1963, is an American anti-poverty advocate who co-founded the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) co-founder and National Coordinator of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1963, Honkala grew up in poverty. As an adult, Honkala was forced to move out of her apartment with her young son, and they were compelled to live out of their car, a white Camaro.

Their situation was made more dire after the Camaro was demolished by a drunk driver, and Honkala could not find a shelter that would allow them to remain together that winter.

To stay together and keep from freezing, Honkala decided to move into an abandoned Housing and Urban Development (HUD) home. At a press conference, she stated "This is me, this is my nine-year-old son, and we're not leaving until somebody can tell us where we can live and not freeze to death."

In Philadelphia, she co-founded the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC). She has organized numerous protests, holding marches, demonstrations and setting up tent cities, over the course of which she claims to have been arrested more than 200 times for civil disobedience.

In 2011, Honkala ran for Sheriff of Philadelphia, promising to refuse to evict families from their homes. She finished in third place with over 10,000 votes.

"It's easier to do horrible things to people if you don't really see them as people."

- Cheri Honkala

• Date: 1963-01-12
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.gp.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

James Farmer Jr. (1920 - 1999)

Mon Jan 12, 1920

James Farmer Jr., born on this day in 1920, was a civil rights activist who organized the first Freedom Rides, co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and fought for desegregation alongside MLK Jr.

In 1942, Farmer co-founded the Committee of Racial Equality (which later became CORE) in Chicago along with George Houser, James R. Robinson, and others The organization was dedicated to ending racial segregation in the United States through nonviolence.

In a 1964 interview for the book "Who Speaks for the Negro?", Farmer described the founding principles of CORE as involving the people themselves rather than "experts", rejecting segregation, and opposing it via nonviolent direct action.

In 1961, Farmer, then working for the NAACP and serving as the national director of CORE, organized the first set of Freedom Rides, direct action protests against segregated bus systems throughout the South.

• Date: 1920-01-12
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, jamesfarmer.umwblogs.org, jamesfarmerlectures.umwblogs.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907 - 1972)

Fri Jan 11, 1907

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, born on this day in 1907, was a Polish-born American rabbi, civil rights activist, and one of the leading Jewish theologians and philosophers of the 20th century.

Heschel was active in the civil rights movement, marching with MLK Jr. in Selma, Alabama. At the Vatican Council II, as a representative of American Jews, Heschel was also responsible for persuading the Catholic Church to remove anti-Semitic language from its doctrine, including references to "deicide" and expectations of conversion to Christianity.

"Few are guilty, but all are responsible."

- Abraham Joshua Heschel

• Date: 1907-01-11
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.myjewishlearning.com, www.blackpast.org, www.youtube.com.
• Tags: #Civil Rights, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Lawrence Textile Strike (1912)

Thu Jan 11, 1912

The Lawrence Textile Strike, also known as the Bread and Roses Strike, began on this day in 1912 in Massachusetts. Workers, mostly immigrant women and children, won their demands after months of violence and national press campaigns.

The strike was led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and united immigrant workers of over forty nationalities. Prompted by a two-hour pay cut following a new law shortening women's workweeks, the strike spread rapidly through the town, growing to more than twenty thousand workers and involving nearly every mill in Lawrence.

National attention to the strike greatly increased when two IWW leaders, "Smiling Joe" Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti, were arrested on fabricated charges related to the murder of a striking worker. Upon their arrest, "Big Bill" Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn took over leadership of the strike. They further sensationalized the condition of the striking workers by ostentatiously sending their hungry children to stay with families and supporters in New York City.

Striking workers and families were brutalized by police. When authorities tried to prevent more children from leaving the city, the police attacked a crowd of parents and their children, causing one pregnant woman to miscarry.

Growing national sympathy for the strikers finally led the mill owners to agree to worker demands, and the parties agreed on significant pay raises to return to work.

Ettor and Giovannitti were in prison for months after the strike ended, but were eventually acquitted of all charges.

• Date: 1912-01-11
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #IWW.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Francisco Ferrer (1859 - 1909)

Mon Jan 10, 1859

Francisco Ferrer, born on this day in 1859, was an anarchist educator who founded a network of secular libertarian schools in and around Barcelona, Spain. Following a sham trial in 1909, Ferrer was executed by the state.

In 1901, Ferrer founded the Barcelona Modern School, "Escuela Moderna", which sought to provide a secular, libertarian curriculum as an alternative to the religious dogma and compulsory lessons common within Spanish schools. His school eschewed punishments and rewards, and encouraged practical experience over academic study.

In mid-1909, Ferrer was arrested and accused of orchestrating a week of insurrection in Barcelona known as the "Tragic Week". He was convicted in a show trial and executed by firing squad on October 13th, 1909.

Ferrer's death triggered international outcry, and his life was prominently memorialized in writing, monuments, and demonstrations across three continents. His last words before being shot were "Aim well, my friends. You are not responsible. I am innocent. Long live the Modern School!"

"Let no more gods or exploiters be served Let us learn rather to love one another."

- Francisco Ferrer

• Date: 1859-01-10
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, theanarchistlibrary.org, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Senator Beveridge's Imperialist Speech (1900)

Tue Jan 09, 1900

On this day in 1900, Senator Albert J. Beveridge (1862 - 1927) gave a speech that made plain the United States' imperialist intentions for the Pacific region. It was given a few years after the U.S. had acquired Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines in the Spanish-American War. Here is a short excerpt:

"Mr. President, the times call for candor. The Philippines are ours forever...and just beyond the Philippines are China's illimitable markets. We will not retreat from either.

We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world...The Pacific is our ocean...Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Geography answers the question. China is our natural customer...The Philippines give us a base at the door of all the East..."

• Date: 1900-01-09
• Learn More: china.usc.edu, www.historyisaweapon.com.
• Tags: #Imperialism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org