Working Class Calendar

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[email protected] is a working class calendar inspired by the now (2023-06-25) closed reddit r/aPeoplesCalendar aPeoplesCalendar.org, where we can post daily events.

Rules

All the requirements of the code of conduct of the instance must be followed.

Community Rules

1. It's against the rules the apology for fascism, racism, chauvinism, imperialism, capitalism, sexism, ableism, ageism, and heterosexism and attitudes according to these isms.

2. The posts should be about past working class events or about the community.

3. Cross-posting is welcomed.

4. Be polite.

5. Any language is welcomed.

Lemmy

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
1
 
 

Lawrence Textile Strike (1912)

Thu Jan 11, 1912

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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.


2
 
 

Francisco Ferrer (1859 - 1909)

Mon Jan 10, 1859

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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


3
 
 

Panamanian Flag Protest (1964)

Thu Jan 09, 1964

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On this day in 1964, the anti-American riot known as the "Flag Protest" began in Panama over sovereignty of the Panama Canal Zone, then controlled by the United States. Twenty-two Panamanians and four U.S. soldiers were killed.

The riot started after a attempt by students to fly the Panamanian flag turned violent as police shot and killed protesters, tearing the flag in the process. After news of the violence and flag desecration spread, angry residents from the area turned out to confront police.

That evening, less than a hundred police were overwhelmed by several thousand protesters who set fire to American-owned businesses in the area. U.S. troops were put on the ground to quell the rebellion.

In total, at least twenty-two Panamanians and four U.S. soldiers died in the fighting. The event is now a national day of mourning in Panama, commemorated annually as "Martyr's Day". The riots are considered to be a significant factor in the U.S. decision to transfer control of the Canal Zone to Panama through the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.


4
 
 

Senator Beveridge's Imperialist Speech (1900)

Tue Jan 09, 1900

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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..."


5
 
 

German Coast Uprising (1811)

Tue Jan 08, 1811

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Image: **


On this day in 1811, the largest slave revolt in U.S. history began near modern day LaPlace, Louisiana when ~100 enslaved men began marching towards New Orleans, collecting more people and destroying slaveowners' property as they went.

On the first day, 64-125 enslaved men marched from sugar plantations in and near present-day LaPlace on the German Coast toward the city of New Orleans, collecting more men as they traveled. During their two-day, twenty-mile march, the men burned five plantation houses (three completely), several sugarhouses, and crops, armed with little more than hand tools.

The revolt ended when white planters, aided by Native American trackers, captured and executed Charles Deslondes (suspected leader of the revolt). In the following days, nearly one hundred enslaved people were either sentenced to death in unfair trials or summary executions, while only two white people were killed during the uprising.


6
 
 

Arturo Giovannitti (1884 - 1959)

Mon Jan 07, 1884

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Arturo M. Giovannitti, born on this day in 1884, was an Italian-American IWW organizer, socialist political activist, and poet. Giovannitti was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and is best remembered for his leadership and subsequent arrest in the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike.

Along with "Smiling Joe" Ettor, Giovannitti was sent to Lawrence to help rally and organize striking workers there. When a striking worker was shot and killed, Ettor and Giovannitti were arrested as accomplices to the murder on little to no evidence.

While in jail, he wrote many poems, "The Walker" in particular becoming well-known. The trial made the textile strike a national controversy and resulted in "Big Bill" Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn coming in to lead the strike in their stead. Months after the strike itself ended, Ettor, Giovannitti, and a third co-defendant were acquitted of all charges.

"A man may lose his soul for just one day

Of splendor and be still accounted wise,

Or he may waste his life in a disguise

Like kings and priests and jesters, and still may

Be saved and held a hero if the play

Is all he knew. But what of him who tries

With truth and fails and then wins fame with lies?

How shall he know what history will say?

By this:

No man is great who does not find

A poet who will hail him as he is

With an almighty song that will unbind

Through his exploits eternal silences. Duce, where is your bard? In all mankind

The only poem you inspired is this."

  • Arturo Giovannitti, "To Mussolini"

7
 
 

Tragic Week (Argentina, 1919)

Tue Jan 07, 1919

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Image: Photograph taken during the "Semana Trágica" in Argentina, in 1919. Depicts an overturned wagon on the street. [WikiCommons]


On this day in 1919, the "Semana Trágica" began in Argentina when police attacked striking metalworkers in Buenos Aires, killing five, after workers set the police chief's car on fire. The city was quickly placed under martial law.

The "Semana Trágica" (Tragic Week in English, not to be confused with the Spanish Tragic Week) was the violent supression of a general workers' uprising, beginning with the attack on January 7th. In addition to the actions of the police and military, right-wing vigilantes launched pogroms against the city's Jews, many of whom were not involved, in order to suppress the rebellion.

The conflict began as a strike at the Vasena metal works, an English Argentine-owned plant in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. On January 7th, workers overturned and set fire to the car of the police chief Elpidio González. Militant workers also shot and killed the commander of the Army detachment protecting González. Following this, police attacked, killing five workers and wounding twenty more.

On the same day, maritime workers of the port of Buenos Aires voted in favor of a general strike for better hours and wages. After the police attack at Vasena, a waterfront strike began: all ship movements, and all loading and unloading, came to a halt.

Rioting soon spread throughout Buenos Aires, and workers battled with both state and right-wing paramilitary forces. Police utilized members of the far-right Argentine "Patriotic League", who targeted the city's working class Russian Jewish population, which they associated with the rebellion, beating and murdering many uninvolved civilians.

On the 11th, the city was placed under martial law, and the military restored control over the city over the next several days. Estimates of the death toll range from between 141 to over 700. The United States embassy reported that 1,500 people were killed in total, "mostly Russians and generally Jews", and that many women were raped.


8
 
 

Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico Founded (1867)

Sun Jan 06, 1867

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Image: An artistic depiction of the Grito de Lares by Leonardo Rivera


On this day in 1867, the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico was founded by exiled revolutionaries to fight for independence from Spain. These revolutionaries included Juan Ríus Rivera, Segundo Ruiz Belvis, Ramón Emeterio Betances, and José Francisco Basora.

The Committee began planning an armed revolution in Puerto Rico in early 1868, issuing several "Proclamas" criticizing Spanish exploitative practices and demanding rebellion against the government. On September 23rd, 1868, the Revolutionary Committee, led by Betances, declared independence in the city of Lares, Puerto Rico, calling it the Republic of Puerto Rico.

Several hundred rebels took over city hall, looted stores owned by "peninsulares" (Spanish-born men), and took some of the store owners prisoner. The revolutionary uprising was suppressed by the Spanish militia, and around 475 rebels were imprisoned. The event became known as "El Grito de Lares" (shown).


9
 
 

Eisenhower Doctrine Declared (1957)

Sat Jan 05, 1957

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Image: American Marine in a foxhole outside Beirut


On this day in 1957, President Eisenhower declared the "Eisenhower Doctrine", authorizing commitment of U.S. forces to any nation threatened by "international communism".

In 1958, 14,000 U.S. troops occupied Lebanon during a political crisis. On this basis,14,000 U.S. troops would occupy Lebanon to intervene in the 1958 Lebanon Crisis, an action named "Operation Blue Bat". Following the Lebanese intervention, some U.S. Senators accused Eisenhower of exaggerating the threat of communism to the region. Eisenhower later privately admitted that the real goal behind the policy was combating Arab nationalism.


10
 
 

SNCC Adopts Anti-War Position (1966)

Thu Jan 06, 1966

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Image: People protesting the murder of Sammy Younge, January 1966, crmvet.org [snccdigital.org]


On this day in 1966, the SNCC adopted an official stance against the Vietnam War, connecting the struggle for liberation at home to Vietnamese liberation struggle. "We ask, where is the draft for the freedom fight in the United States?"

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. The group emerged in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Greensboro, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee and played a key role in helping black people in the South both register and exercise their right to vote.

In a November 1965 staff meeting, SNCC decided to issue a public statement about the Vietnam War, although some workers voiced concern about the political consequences. One worker wrote "While we care a great deal about both Vietnam and civil rights, we can’t do anything to help the Vietnam situation, and we can hurt ourselves by trying."

On January 3rd, 1966, twenty-one year old civil rights activist Sammy Younge was murdered by white supremacists in Tuskegee, Alabama. His death pushed SNCC to make a public stance on the war, regardless of the political consequences.

Three days later, on January 6th, SNCC’s Executive Committee released a statement on the Vietnam War, writing "the murder of Samuel Young in Tuskegee, Alabama, is no different than the murder of peasants in Vietnam, for both Young and the Vietnamese sought, and are seeking, to secure the rights guaranteed them by law." Here is an excerpt from their statement:

"We believe the United States government has been deceptive in its claims of concern for the freedom of the Vietnamese people, just as the government has been deceptive in claiming concern for the freedom of colored people in other countries as the Dominican Republic, the Congo, South Africa, Rhodesia, and in the United States itself.

...We question, then, the ability and even the desire of the United States government to guarantee free elections abroad. We maintain that our country's cry of 'preserve freedom in the world' is a hypocritical mask, behind which it squashes liberation movements which are not bound, and refuse to be bound, by the expediencies of United States cold war policies.

...We recoil with horror at the inconsistency of a supposedly 'free' society where responsibility to freedom is equated with the responsibility to lend oneself to military aggression...We ask, where is the draft for the freedom fight in the United States?"


11
 
 

CLR James (1901 - 1989)

Fri Jan 04, 1901

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CLR James, born on this day in 1901, was a Trinidadian historian and journalist whose works include "The Black Jacobins", a history of the Haitian Revolution, and "World Revolution", detailing the rise and fall of the Communist International.

Born in Trinidad, James later moved to England to assist his friend, the West Indian cricketer Learie Constantine, with his autobiography. In 1933, he moved to London and begin organizing with Trotskyists. In the next few years, James wrote some of his most notable works, including both "World Revolution" and "The Black Jacobins".

In 1939, James visited Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, México. The two disagreed on the "Negro Question"; Trotsky saw the Trotskyist Party as providing leadership to the black community in a relationship similar to the Bolsheviks and ethnic minorities in Russia, while James suggested that the self-organized struggle of African-Americans would lead to a broader radical social movement.

"When history is written as it ought to be written, it is the moderation and long patience of the masses at which men will wonder, not their ferocity."

- CLR James


12
 
 

Baixa de Cassanje revolt (1961)

Wed Jan 04, 1961

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Image: Transporting Cotonang Equipment through flooded areas of the Baixa 1968 [journals.openedition.org]


On this day in 1961, cotton plantation workers in the Baixa de Cassanje region of Angola protested for better working conditions, an act which escalated into a period of open rebellion and war against Portuguese colonizers.

Employed by Cotonang, a Portuguese-Belgian cotton plantation company, several workers launched a protest on January 4th, demanding improved working conditions. The protest quickly evolved into a general uprising, with workers burning identification cards, attacking Portuguese traders, blocking roads, and destroying company buildings.

In response, the colonial government quickly suppressed the uprising with brutal military force, initiating a bombing campaign of nearby villages that killed anywhere from 400 - 10,000 people.

Despite the short-term failure of the uprising, it served as an important precursor to the Angolan Independence War, which would eventually lead to the end of colonial rule.


13
 
 

Sammy Younge Jr. Assassinated (1966)

Mon Jan 03, 1966

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Image: Official image of Sammy Younge Jr. as enlisted member of the United States Navy. [WikiCommons]


On this day in 1966, activist Sammy Younge Jr. was shot dead by a clerk after he attempted to use a "whites only" restroom in Tuskegee, Alabama. After his murderer's acquittal by an all-white jury, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) opposed the Vietnam War.

Younge served in the U.S. Navy for two years before being medically discharged, after which he began attending the Tuskegee Institute as a political science student.

Younge became a civil rights activist after enrolling in college, becoming active with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a leader with the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League. He also participated in the Selma to Montgomery protest march in March 1965.

In September 1965, Younge was arrested and jailed after attempting to drive a group of black people to get registered to vote in Lee County, Alabama. Younge continued his efforts to get blacks registered to vote in Macon County, Alabama for four months after being released from jail, up until his death.

On January 3rd, 1966, Younge was shot and killed by a gas station clerk after trying to use a "whites only" bathroom in his hometown of Tuskegee. Earlier that day, Younge had brought 40 people to register to vote at Macon County Courthouse, where he was threatened with a knife by a registrar.

At 21 years of age, Younge became the first black university student to be killed in the civil rights movement. His murderer was quickly arrested, indicted, and found not guilty by an all-white jury. This led to widespread protests in Tuskegee and SNCC to formally come out in opposition to the Vietnam War. The SNCC issued a statement on January 6th, 1966, saying:

"We believe the United States government has been deceptive in its claims of concern for the freedom of the Vietnamese people, just as the government has been deceptive in claiming concern for the freedom of colored people in such other countries as the Dominican Republic, the Congo, South Africa, Rhodesia, and in the United States itself.

...The murder of Samuel [Younge] in Tuskegee, Alabama, is no different than the murder of peasants in Vietnam, for both [Younge] and the Vietnamese sought, and are seeking, to secure the rights guaranteed them by law. In each case the United States government bears a great part of the responsibility for these deaths. Samuel [Younge] was murdered because United States law is not being enforced. Vietnamese are murdered because the United States is pursuing an aggressive policy in violation of international law."


14
 
 

Federico Borrell García (1912 - 1936)

Wed Jan 03, 1912

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Image: The famous photo "Death of a Loyalist Soldier" by Robert Capa, showing a fatally shot soldier, thought by some to be Federico Garcia, falling to the ground


Federico García, born on this day in 1912, was a Spanish anarchist and Republican militiaman who fought in the Spanish Civil War. Some believe him to be the soldier whose death is depicted in the "Death of a Loyalist Soldier", shown.

Federico Borrell García was born in Benilloba, Spain, and founded a local branch of the anarchist "Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth" (FIJL). When the Civil War broke out, García joined the local Loyalist militia, the Columna Alcoiana, and fought to defend the Spanish Republic against the Nationalist forces of Francisco Franco.

On September 5th, 1936, Borrell was one of approximately fifty men who arrived at Cerro Muriano in Córdoba to reinforce the militia against Francoist forces commanded by General José Enrique Varela.

Borrell was fatally shot around five o'clock on or near the hill known as La Loma de las Malagueñas. He was identified as the man in the photo by his brother, corroborated by the fact that Spanish government records state was the only member of the Columna Alcoiana to die in the fighting that day.

That García is the man in the photo has been disputed, with at least one documentary, "La sombra del iceberg", claiming that the picture was staged and that García is not the individual in the picture.


15
 
 

Anton Pannekoek (1873 - 1960)

Thu Jan 02, 1873

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Antonie Pannekoek, born on this day in 1873, was a Dutch astronomer, philosopher, Marxist theorist, and socialist revolutionary.

A respected Marxist theorist, Pannekoek was one of the founders of council communism and a main figure in the radical left in the Netherlands and Germany, active in the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Communist Workers' Party of the Netherlands and the Communist Workers' Party of Germany.

Pannekoek is perhaps best known for his writing on workers' councils. He regarded these as a new form of organization capable of overcoming the limitations of the old institutions of the labor movement, the trade unions and social democratic parties.

Pannekoek was a sharp critic of anarchism, social democracy, and Leninism. During the early years of the Russian revolution, Pannekoek gave critical support to the Bolsheviks. In later analysis, however, Pannekoek argued that the Bolsheviks crippled the workers' soviets, and formed a new ruling class of their own party.

Unlike other progressive thinkers of his time, Pannekoek was also highly critical of Social Darwinism, derisively calling it "bourgeois darwinism".

"Public ownership is a middle-class program of a modernized and disguised form of capitalism. Common ownership by the producers can be the only goal of the working class."

- Antonie Pannekoek


16
 
 

2nd Palmer Raids Begin (1920)

Fri Jan 02, 1920

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On this day in 1920, the Department of Justice launched a series of attacks against leftists and labor organizers across more than 23 states, arresting more than 3,000. President Hoover later admitted that there were "clear cases of brutality".

The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 during the First Red Scare by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson. The raids targeted suspected leftists and labor activists, mostly Italian and Eastern European immigrants, especially if they were anarchists or communists, and generally sought to deport them from the United States.

The arrests occurred under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, with more than 3,000 arrested. Though 556 people were deported, including prominent anti-capitalist thinkers like Emma Goldman, Palmer's efforts were largely frustrated by officials at the U.S. Department of Labor, which had authority for deportations and objected to DOJ methods.

Although the DOJ initially claimed to have taken possession of several bombs, no evidence of the bombs was produced. In their entirety, all of the raids confiscated just four pistols.


17
 
 

Haitian Independence (1804)

Sun Jan 01, 1804

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Image: The painting "Attack and take of the Crête-à-Pierrot" (March 24th, 1802), by Auguste Raffet [blackpast.org]


On this day in 1804, the Haitian Republic was established by self-liberated slaves, the culmination of years of violent revolt against French colonizers. More than 200,000 Haitians died in the struggle for liberation.

The Haitian Revolution was the only uprising of enslaved people that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery, and ruled by non-whites and former captives.

The revolt began on August 21st, 1791, in what was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue. Thousands of people began to kill their masters, plunge the colony into civil war.

Within the next ten days, slaves had taken control of the entire Northern Province in an uprising of unprecedented scale. The fighting was particularly brutal, and more than 200,000 black people died in the years between the initial uprising and formal independence.

Although Toussaint Louverture established himself as a military leader of the revolution by 1801, he died shortly before independence was won. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, his former lieutenant, became the first leader of Haiti.


18
 
 

Zapatista Uprising (1994)

Sat Jan 01, 1994

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Image: Photo credit: Pedro Valtierra, Antonio Turok


On this day in 1994, the same day that NAFTA took effect, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation declared war on the Mexican state, demanding "work, land, housing, food, health, education, independence, liberty, democracy, justice and peace."

Following this war declaration, armed indigenous rebels seized four towns in Chiapas, Mexico, releasing nearly 200 predominantly indigenous prisoners and destroying land records. The fighting lasted eleven days and estimates of those killed range from 300-400. The EZLN remains active to this day.


19
 
 

Black Cat Tavern Raid (1966)

Sat Dec 31, 1966

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Image: Outside the Black Cat on February 11th, 1967


On this day in 1966, undercover L.A. police raided the Black Cat Tavern when celebrating queer patrons kissed each other at midnight. A campaign of protest, fundraising, and legal appeals on behalf of the arrested was launched, but lost when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case and convictions were sustained.

The Black Cat Tavern is an LGBT historic site located in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, established just two months prior to the raid. PRIDE, short for "Personal Rights in Defense and Education", was a recently esbalished LGBT rights organization that also played a key role in the conflict.

On New Year's Eve in 1966, undercover police staked out the Black Cat Tavern, waiting for the moment that queer patrons would kiss each other at midnight. Cops poured into the bar, assaulting patrons and employees, smashing furniture, and arresting six people. The raid took place two years before the infamous conflict at Stonewall Inn.

PRIDE quickly responded with a campaign of protest, fundraising, and legal appeals for the six arrested that night. On February 11th, 1967, PRIDE organized a peaceful demonstration protesting the LAPD's raid of the Black Cat Tavern, one of the first U.S. demonstrations protesting police brutality against LGBT people.

Two of the men arrested for kissing were later convicted under California Penal Code Section 647 and registered as sex offenders. The men appealed, asserting their right of equal protection under the law, but the U.S. Supreme Court did not accept their case and their convictions were upheld.

On November 7th, 2008, the Black Cat site was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.


20
 
 

Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire (1986)

Wed Dec 31, 1986

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On this day in 1986, striking hotel workers set fire to the Dupont Plaza Hotel in Puerto Rico in an attempt to scare off tourists. The fires burned out of control and killed more than 96 people.

In the weeks leading up to the fire, there was significant labor strife at the Dupont Plaza Hotel. The tension was so great that locals were advising tourists to stay away from the hotel and its casino.

On December 31st, hotel workers voted to go on strike, and three of the labor organizers used chafing fuel to set a storage room on the ground floor on fire.

Although their intent was to merely pressure management into agreeing to union demands, it quickly burned out of control, spreading to the adjacent ballroom and then casino. To prevent theft, hotel managers had locked emergency exits from the casino, and most of the deaths occurred there.

The fire claimed between 96 and 98 lives and caused 140 injuries, becoming the most catastrophic hotel fire in Puerto Rican history and the second deadliest in the history of the United States. The three labor organizers were convicted of murder and sentenced to varying prison terms.


21
 
 

Flint Sit-Down Strike (1936)

Wed Dec 30, 1936

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Image: Sit-down strikers guarding window entrance to Fisher body plant number three. Photo by Sheldon Dick, 1937.


On this day in 1936, auto workers at the GM Fisher Number One Plant in Flint, Michigan began a highly organized 44-day occupation of their factory, winning a 5% wage increase.

The victory was an extremely successful recruitment tool for the just-formed United Automobile Workers (UAW), with approximately half a million workers signing up with the union over the next few years.

The UAW had formed in 1935 and decided to adjust its organizing strategy to target the most valuable auto factories and employers. They decided to target GM factories in Flint, which were essential to multiple lines of GM cars, and to the cars of GM's subsidiary companies like Chevrolet and Buick.

As Wyndham Mortimer, the first UAW officer put in charge of organizing the campaign in Flint, entered the town, he was surveilled by men from GM. The company had also infiltrated local union shops (which had very few of the local auto workers) with spies. The UAW was thus forced to organize in secret.

On December 30th, the union learned that GM was planning to move dies essential to the Fisher #1 plant's strategic value out of the factory. UAW lead organizer Bob Travis immediately called a lunchtime meeting at the union hall across the street from the plant, explained the situation, then sent the members across the street to occupy the plant, beginning the Flint Sit-Down Strike.

The state government refused to get involved, so GM attempted to break the occupation by cutting power and water, and interfering with food deliveries. Workers organized committees dedicated to defense, cleaning, organized recreation, and postal service.

On January 11th, 1937, the police, armed with guns and tear gas, attempted to enter the plant. They were successfully repelled by the workers, who pelted the cops with hinges, bottles, and bolts. Fourteen strikers were injured by gunfire during the battle.

GM obtained two injunctions against the strike, however these were ignored by the workers. One injunction was issued by a judge who owned over three thousand shares of GM, leading him to getting disbarred after the UAW discovered this information.

On February 11th, 1937, GM signed a one-page agreement that formally recognized the UAW as a bargaining representative. The UAW gained significant credibility - in the following year, its membership grew from 30,000 to 500,000 members. Employees of other car manufacturers such as Ford joined the organization, and the entire industry rapidly unionized.


22
 
 

Idaho Governor Assassinated (1905)

Sat Dec 30, 1905

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On this day in 1905, Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg, who had arrested striking workers en masse and detained them without trial, was assassinated by a bomb outside his home.

The event took place in the context of militant labor disputes in Idaho, in which the U.S. government crushed organizing by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). Steunenberg took a hard line against these labor organizers, declaring martial law and asking President McKinley to send federal troops to assist him in crushing the union movement.

The unions, many of which had supported Steunenberg, felt betrayed. The unions, many of which had supported Steunenberg, felt betrayed. On the matter of labor, Steunenberg stated "We have taken the monster by the throat and we are going to choke the life out of it. No halfway measures will be adopted. It is a plain case of the state or the union winning, and we do not propose that the state shall be defeated."

Notable Pinkerton Agent James McParland was called in to investigate the murder. McParland arrested Harry Orchard, a stranger who had been staying at a local hotel, and helped him draft a confession, assuring Orchard that providing evidence against the WFM would prevent him from being executed. Orchard complied, naming William Hayward (general secretary of WFM), Charles Moyer (WFM president), and union member George Pettibone as accomplices.

During the three month trial, the prosecutor was unable to present any information against Hayward, Moyer and Pettibone except for the testimony of Orchard. All three were acquitted. Harry Orchard, because he had provided evidence against the other men, received life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.


23
 
 

Osceola Strikes Back (1835)

Mon Dec 28, 1835

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On this day in 1835, influential Seminole leader Osceola (1804 - 1838) shot and killed Wiley Thompson, an Indian Agent who had imprisoned him, with Thompson's own rifle. Thompson had forbidden the sale of guns and ammunition to Seminole people.

Earlier in 1835, Thompson had Osceola imprisoned for two nights in Fort King because he felt disrespected by the Seminole warrior in a verbal disagreement. On December 28th, 1835, Seminole warriors shot and killed Thompson and six others outside Fort King, while another group of Seminole ambushed and killed a column of 100 U.S. troops who were marching from Fort Brooke to Fort King. This event is sometimes called the Dade Massacre or Dade Battle, and was a catalyst for the Second Seminole War.

On October 21st, 1837, in what historian Thom Hatch called "one of the most disgraceful acts in U.S. military history", Osceola was captured after U.S. forces disingenuously agreed to meet under a white flag of truce. Osceola was arrested along with 81 of his followers. He died in prison a few months later, on January 30th, 1838.


24
 
 

Guy Debord (1931 - 1994)

Mon Dec 28, 1931

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Guy Debord, born on this day in 1931, was a Marxist philosopher and filmmaker who co-founded the Situationist International and authored "The Society of the Spectacle" (1967).

Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931 and began his career as a writer after dropping out of the University of Paris, where he was studying law. Debord joined the Letterist International, a group of avant-garde French artists and intellectuals, when he was 18.

Debord was first to propose the concept of the "Spectacle", referring to the role of media, culture and advertising in post-World War II consumerist society, and the way it is able to commercially co-opt and repackage counter-cultural ideas and movements.

On the nature of media and the new-found emphasis on appearance, Debord stated "Just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing."

The concept of "Spectacle" became central to the ideas of the Situationist International, which Debord co-founded in 1957. Ideas from the Situationists proved influential on protesters during the May 68 uprising in France, where quotes and slogans from Situationist work would appear on graffiti and posters.

Debord himself would disband the Situationist International in 1972, following internal tensions amongst its members, and would focus on creating experimental film and tabletop war games, publishing "A Game of War" in 1987.

Suffering from depression and alcoholism in his later years, Debord committed suicide at his home in 1994.

"The more powerful the class, the more it claims not to exist."

- Guy Debord


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Toranomon Incident (1923)

Thu Dec 27, 1923

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Image: Daisuke Namba, the attempted assassin of Crown Prince Regent Hirohito, displaying facial injuries sustained under police custody


The Toranomon Incident (虎ノ門事件) was an assassination attempt on the Prince Regent Hirohito of Japan by communist dissident Daisuke Nanba that took place at the Toranomon intersection in downtown Tokyo, Japan on this day in 1923. Nanba was sentenced to death and executed on November 15th, 1924.

Nanba was motivated both by anti-capitalist ideology and a desire to avenge the execution of Shūsui Kōtoku, who was executed for his alleged role in the High Treason Incident of 1910. Hirohito was on his way to the opening of the 48th Session of the Imperial Diet when Namba fired a small pistol into his carriage, shattering a window and injuring a chamberlain, but leaving Hirohito unharmed.

After being arrested, Nanba explained that he was a communist and was seeking to avenge the death of Kōtoku. Despite court records affirming his sound state of mind, Namba was presented as insane to the public.


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