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Berlin Conference (1884)

Sat Nov 15, 1884

Image: The Conference of Berlin, as illustrated in 'Illustrierte Zeitung', 1884 [WikiCommons]

On this day in 1884, the "Berlin Conference" began when delegations from nearly every Western European country and the U.S. met in Germany to develop a set of protocols for the seizure and control of African resources.

The conference, which had no African representatives, was the first international conference ever on the subject of Africa, and dealt almost soley with the matter of its exploitation.

At the time, approximately 80% of African land and resources were under domestic control; the influence of Europeans was most strongly exerted on the coast. Following it, colonial powers began seizing resources further inland.

As a result of the conference, which continued into 1885, a "General Act" was signed and ratified by all but one of the 14 nations at the table, the U.S. being the sole exception. The Act's main features were the establishment of a regime of free trade stretching across the middle of Africa, the development of which became the rationale for the recognition of the short-lived "Congo Free State", the abolition of the overland slave trade, and the principle of "effective occupation".

The Conference's rapacious intentions for Africa were noted by outsiders: socialist journalist Daniel De Leon described the conference as "an event unique in the history of political science...Diplomatic in form, it was economic in fact."

Before the Conference ended, the Lagos Observer declared that "the world had, perhaps, never witnessed a robbery on so large a scale." Theodore Holly, the first black Protestant Episcopal Bishop in the U.S., condemned the delegates as having "come together to enact into law, national rapine, robbery and murder".

• Date: 1884-11-15
• Learn More: www.aljazeera.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

First Recorded Strike in History (1159 BC)

Sat Nov 14, 1159

Image: Enslaved brick-makers, depicted in the tomb of the vizier Rekmire, c. 1450 BCE [https://www.thetorah.com/]

On this day in 1159 BC, the first recorded strike in history began when necropolis workers in Ancient Egypt refused to continue working after going 18 days without pay.

The workers were preparing for Pharaoh Ramses III's thirty-year jubilee, a lavish celebration in his honor, years in advance.

The payment to the workers at Deir el-Medina (also known as Set-Ma'at, "The Place of Truth") was inconsistent before finally stopping altogether. After 18 days of non-payment, workers laid down their tools and marched toward the city shouting "We are hungry!"

After negotiations for back pay broke down, the workers took over the southern gate of the Ramesseum, the central storehouse of grain in Thebes. After winning their back pay, wages continued to be paid inconsistently and workers again went on strike, taking over and blocking all access to the Valley of the Kings, which disrupted important religious ceremonies.

These labor actions went on for three years; the workers would not receive their pay, they would then go on strike, the officials would find the means to pay them, and the same scenario would be repeated again the next month.

• Date: 1159-11-14
• Learn More: www.ancient.eu, nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Night of Terror (1917)

Wed Nov 14, 1917

Image: Suffrage leader Lucy Burns imprisoned in the Occoquan Workhouse, November 1917

On this day in 1917 the superintendent of the Occoquan Workhouse prison ordered forty guards to brutalize suffragists, imprisoned for picketing for the right to vote in the U.S. capital.

Before November 14th, some of the activists had initiated a hunger strike to protest the conditions of the prison, the prison doctors force-fed the women by putting tubes down their throats, causing some women to vomit.

On the night of November 14th, prison guards beat Lucy Burns and chained her hands to the cell bars above her head for the entire night. They threw Dora Lewis into a dark cell and beat her unconscious.

Lewis's cellmate, Alice Cosu, who believed her to be dead, suffered a heart attack, and was refused medical treatment. Dorothy Day (famous for later founding Catholic Worker Movement) was slammed repeatedly over the back of an iron bench. Guards grabbed, dragged, beat, choked, pinched, and kicked other women.

The suffragists dubbed the episode the "Night of Terror", and the brutality was highly publicized, garnering support for the movement to give women the right to vote. On January 9th, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson (who had been specifically targeted by suffragette pickets) finally announced his support for the proposed women's suffrage amendment.

• Date: 1917-11-14
• Learn More: www.washingtonpost.com, www.zinnedproject.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Full Sutton Prison Strike (1995)

Mon Nov 13, 1995

On this day in 1995, four of Full Sutton Prison's six wings (all those not set aside for sex offenders) went on strike. Full Sutton prison is located in the village of Full Sutton, near Pocklington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

After breakfast, inmates from four out of the six wings went on strike, refusing to perform their duties, including meal preparation, kitchen help, carpentry, textiles, industrial cleaning, and other trade jobs. Inmates sat in their cells and refused to work.

The protest was mainly against the new 'Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme', as well as anger over a series of restrictions imposed on prisoners there over the previous months, including restrictions on use of phones, on the amount of property inmates were allowed to keep, and a ban on them having property handed in by relatives and friends.

The strike lasted for at least three days, ended by the authorities sending in officers in riot gear to break it up. Dozens of inmates (estimated between 20 and 60) were moved to other jails as a consequence.

• Date: 1995-11-13
• Learn More: libcom.org, nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Suffragette Assaults Churchill (1909)

Sat Nov 13, 1909

On this day in 1909, British suffragette Theresa Garnett (1888 - 1966) assaulted Winston Churchill with a whip, striking him several times while shouting "Take that in the name of the insulted women of England!"

The action came out of the militant suffragist group "Women's Social and Political Union", of which Garnett was a member. Set up in Manchester, its policy of "deeds not words" led to campaigns of direct action by women frustrated by the failure of more peaceful methods.

Members of the group committed many illegal activities, ranging from slapping policemen to widespread arson attacks.

Although Garnett was arrested for assaulting Churchill, she was only charged with disturbing the peace because Churchill did not want to appear in court. She served one month in Horfield Prison.

• Date: 1909-11-13
• Learn More: libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Feminism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Missouri Anti-Nuclear Break-in (1984)

Mon Nov 12, 1984

On this day in 1984, four Plowshares peace activists broke into a Minuteman missile site near Kansas City, Missouri and smashed weapons equipment. The four protesters were Larry Cloud-Morgan, an indigenous rights activist and Anishinabe spiritual leader; Paul Kabat, a Catholic Priest; Carl Kabat, also a Catholic Priest; and Helen Woodson, mother of seven.

The group called themselves the "silo pruning hooks" in reference to the Biblical mandate to "beat swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks", and used a compressor-driven, 90-pound jack hammer to damage the weapons equipment.

The activists received sentences varying from 6 to 18 years. After his arrest, Carl Kabat told United Press International "It is up to the people to disarm. Governments will never disarm. Ordinary people will have to do extraordinary things if this planet is to survive."

• Date: 1984-11-12
• Learn More: www.upi.com, www.washingtonpost.com.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Swiss General Strike (1918)

Tue Nov 12, 1918

Image: Machine guns on the streets of Zurich in November 1918. Armed soldiers were positioned all over the city. From Gretler's Panoptikum zur Sozialgeschichte [swissinfo.ch]

On this day in 1918, the Swiss "Landestreik" began, a two day general strike in which 250,000 struck for a variety of social reforms, including a 48 hour week, women's suffrage, disability insurance, and the formation of people's army.

The strike took place in the context of World War I and skyrocketing food prices that left many workers hungry. As bread prices doubled between 1914 and 1918, the average industrial wages sank by a quarter. The wage of conscripted soldiers was also often less the jobs those workers were forced to abandon.

In early November, Zurich's labor movement sought to celebrate the first anniversary of the Russian October Revolution. After news of the German November Revolution and the toppling of the German emperor reached Zurich, the military banned all public demonstrations, dispersing one protest by attacking workers with saber-bearing cavalry.

Following this incident, leaders of the Swiss Socialist Party (SPS), the country's labor unions, and the socialist press, banded together in an alliance called the Olten Action Committee (OAK), issued a proclamation of working class demands and a call for a general strike on November 12th, 1918.

The demands included a 48 hour week, women's suffrage, disability insurance, establishing a state monopoly on foreign trade, new national council elections, and the reorganization of the military into a people's army.

Facing pressure from the government to end the strike and a hostile military, OAK leadership quickly backpedaled and called off the strike just two days later, on November 14th. Despite this, some workers continued to strike for several days afterward.

A military court acted quickly and initiated legal proceedings against 35,000 strikers, and 21 of its leaders were tried for mutiny. In the short term, the strike's failure was a disaster for the labor movement, however many of OAK's demands would later come to fruition - in 1919, the 48 hour week was established for workers.

• Date: 1918-11-12
• Learn More: www.swissinfo.ch, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Labor, #General Strikes.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Centralia Massacre (1919)

Tue Nov 11, 1919

Image: The burial of Wesley Everest, with armed National Guard unit. The casket is supposedly being lowered into the grave by the IWW prisoners from the jail, with "Jim Lynch" moving vans in the background. Emil Remmen is in back, far right, facing the camera. From Wikipedia Commons.

The Centralia Massacre, also known as the Armistice Day Riot, was a violent incident that occurred in Centralia, Washington on this day in 1919, during a parade celebrating the first anniversary of Armistice Day. The conflict was an armed shootout between members of the local American Legion and Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) members.

On Armistice Day, celebrating the end of World War I, American Legion members went on parade throughout the city. When they stopped in front of the IWW hall, gunfire broke out, killing two American Legion members immediately. The Legion members stormed the IWW hall, and several more people shot in the ensuing mayhem.

Many IWW members were arrested following the incident. Wesley Everest, an IWW member who had shot multiple Legion members while fleeing the IWW hall, was taken from the jail and lynched by an angry mob. Seven IWW members were convicted on murder charges. In all, five people were killed and three people were injured.

• Date: 1919-11-11
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.washingtonpost.com.
• Tags: #IWW, #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Haymarket Anarchists Executed (1887)

Fri Nov 11, 1887

The Haymarket Affair is the name given to the bloody aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4th, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day and turned into a massacre after an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at the police.

In the internationally publicized legal proceedings that followed, eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy. Seven were sentenced to death and one to a term of 15 years in prison. Illinois Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two of the sentences to terms of life in prison; another committed suicide in jail rather than face the gallows.

On this day in 1887, the remaining four defendants, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Albert Parsons, and August Spies, were hanged. At the gallows, they sang the "Marseillaise", then the anthem of the international revolutionary movement. Family members who attempted to see them for the last time, including notable anarchist Lucy Parsons, were arrested.

According to witnesses, in the moments before the men were hanged, Spies shouted, "The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today." Parsons then requested to speak, but he was cut off when the signal was given to open the trap door.

• Date: 1887-11-11
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.illinoislaborhistory.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Gestapo Executes Ehrenfeld Anti-Fascists (1944)

Fri Nov 10, 1944

On this day in 1944, the Gestapo publicly hanged 13 members of the anti-Nazi Ehrenfeld Group without trial, near Cologne, Germany.

The Ehrenfeld Group consisted of over one hundred people, some of whom also participated in the local Edelweiss Pirates organization, was led by Hans Steinbrück, an escaped concentration camp prisoner. They engaged in many acts of rebellion against the Nazi regime, including petty theft, escaping prisoners, and stealing and hiding weapons.

After a botched attempt at stealing explosives, on October 8th, 1944, the Gestapo began arresting members of the group, eventually capturing 63 people, including Steinbrück himself. Of those, thirteen Germans, including several teenagers, were executed without trial in a public hanging next to the Ehrenfeld train station on November 10th, 1944.

• Date: 1944-11-10
• Learn More: www.executedtoday.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Estado Novo (1937)

Wed Nov 10, 1937

Image: Advertising poster for the Estado Novo, showing Vargas's face looming over a rally of workers

On this day in 1937, a coup took place in Brazil when President Getúlio Vargas gave a national address declaring a state of emergency and abolishing the constitution. Vargas announced a new state - the "Estado Novo" - based on contemporary fascist governments in Italy and Poland, effectively giving himself autocratic powers.

The coup took place a few months before the end of Vargas's legal term in office and impending elections in 1938. A false rumor of a communist plot to take over the government, known as the "Cohen Plan", was also circulated through the media, although Vargas himself didn't acknowledge it.

The new government greatly expanded the power of police, persecuted political dissidents, de facto banned union activity, and allowed Vargas to rule for the next eight years under what amounted to martial law. Vargas was eventually deposed by the military in a coup launched from his own War Ministry on October 29th, 1945, after the conclusion of World War II.

• Date: 1937-11-10
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Striking CSN Workers Killed (1988)

Wed Nov 09, 1988

On this day in 1988, a conflict between soldiers and metallurgists on strike at Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil led to the deaths of three workers, with at least thirty-one more injured.

According to author Andrew Costa, the city of Volta Redonda was engaged in a general strike for the implementation of a six-hour shift and the reinstatement of workers dismissed in an earlier 1987 strike. Women in the local neighborhoods prevented CSN vans from picking up their husbands to work with pickets on the street, and the Residents Associations carried out barricades so that CSN busses and other transport could not run while the company was refusing to negotiate with workers.

The conflict on November 9th began when about 600 state soldiers descended on Avenida Independência, in front of CSN, throwing tear gas bombs at a crowd of workers. The crowd responded with by attacking sticks and stones. Three people were killed, and thirty-one were wounded. A monument dedicated to the victims of the violence was later partially destroyed with bombs.

In spite of this violence, workers eventually prevailed, winning their right to six-hour shifts.

• Date: 1988-11-09
• Learn More: almanaque.folha.uol.com.br, subverta.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org