Women's Strike for Equality (1970)

Wed Aug 26, 1970

Image: Various protesters on the street, holding signs that say "WOMEN STRIKE FOR PEACE AND EQUALITY", "I'M NO BREEDER FOR THE MAN'S WAR", "SISTERHOOD IS POWERFUL - END THE WAR!", and "THE WOMEN OF VIETNAM ARE OUR SISTERS"

On this day in 1970, on the 50th anniversary of the 19th amendment, nearly 60,000 feminists marched throughout the United States in the "Women's Strike for Equality", demanding free abortion, equal work opportunities, and free childcare. At that time, the protest was the largest on behalf of women in the U.S. history.

The rally was sponsored by the National Organization for Women (NOW). The strike primarily took place in New York City, where 50,000 women gathered in protest. Thousands more protested in solidarity throughout the country, including in Boston, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., and San Francisco.

A key organizer of the protest was Betty Friedan, noted second wave feminist and then-president of NOW. The event had three primary goals: free abortion on demand, equal opportunity in the workforce, and free childcare. At the time, women made $.59 cents to every dollar a male counterpart made and many elite colleges did not yet admit women as students.

Although the strike did not directly win any concessions, Congress declared August 26th "Women's Equality Day" the following year with the support of President Richard Nixon. The protest was a successful consciousness-raising event, with some feminist scholars claiming that the strike was a significant spark for second wave feminism.

• Date: 1970-08-26
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.thoughtco.com, wams.nyhistory.org.
• Tags: #Feminism, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Chicago Bus Strike (1968)

Sun Aug 25, 1968

Image: A still from the documentary "Labor Beat: CTA Strike of 1968" showing a group of black bus drivers applauding and cheering

On this day in 1968, black bus drivers in Chicago turned off the lights on their vehicles and headed back to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus barns, beginning a two-week strike that shut down 52 of the city's 128 bus routes and effectively paralyzed the south and west sides of the city. More than half of the CTA's bus drivers were African-American and for weeks they had been fighting unfair union representation.

Like many other protest movements in the 50s and 60s, the drivers took as their model the Montgomery bus boycott, organizing car pools and CTW "courtesy cars" to meet the transportation shortfall in some neighborhoods.

According to Standish Willis, one of the striking drivers who later wrote a college thesis on the incident: "Black drivers were being arrested while trying to close down the white stations, and we were losing what little money we had bailing them out of jail...White drivers at black stations respected the picket lines. The white drivers at the white ones did not."

According to Willis, the strike's failure was due to the collective effort of establishment political powers working against the strike: "With the police arresting our guys, the judges putting guys in jail and holding them for contempt, and the union threatening to kick our leaders out, it was a pretty concerted attack. And we certainly didn't have enough money to get people out of jail at the rate they were putting them in."

• Date: 1968-08-25
• Learn More: www.chicagoreader.com, www.youtube.com, presidentlincoln.illinois.gov.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Battle of Blair Mountain (1921)

Thu Aug 25, 1921

Image: Three miners with a federal soldier prepare to surrender their weapons

On this day in 1921, the first skirmishes of the Battle of Blair Mountain took place. Involving more than 10,000 armed workers battling with state and strikebreaking forces, it was the largest post-Civil War uprising and the largest labor uprising in U.S. history.

The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia as part of the "Coal Wars", a series of early 20th-century labor disputes in Appalachia.

For five days, from late August to early September 1921, some 10,000 armed coal miners confronted 3,000 lawmen and strikebreakers who were backed by coal mine operators during the miners' attempt to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coalfields.

Sometimes the Battle's anniversary is marked as August 31st, when the miners' army clashed with armed forces marshaled by the county sheriff, coal companies, and state police in Logan County.

The battle ended on September 4th after approximately one million rounds had been fired, aerial bombardment of the miners, and the U.S. Army's intervention, acting on orders from President Harding.

Up to 100 people were killed throughout the uprising. 985 miners were indicted for murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory to murder, and treason against the state of West Virginia. Though some were acquitted by sympathetic juries, others were imprisoned for several years.

According to the Cultural Landscape Foundation, there has never been a complete archaeological survey of the battlefield. The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum is raising funds to sponsor a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scan of the Nomination Area in order to identify the major zones of historical significance and promote the site's value as a historical park.

• Date: 1921-08-25
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, tclf.org, socialistrevolution.org, revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

John MacLean (1879 - 1923)

Sun Aug 24, 1879

Image: John Maclean in December of 1918 upon his release from prison [Wikipedia]

John Maclean, born on this day in 1879, was a revolutionary Scottish socialist and schoolteacher, sometimes called "Scotland's Lenin".

Maclean's revolutionary politics were well-known, and in 1915, he was arrested under the Defence of the Realm Act and fired from his job as a primary school teacher. As a consequence, he became a full-time Marxist lecturer and organizer, educating other Glaswegian workers in Marxist theory.

Maclean was also noted for his outspoken opposition to World War I, and, in 1918, he was arrested for sedition. During the trial, Maclean gave the now legendary "speech from the dock", expounding on his position. He was sentenced to five years' penal servitude, but was released after the November armistice.

Maclean supported Irish independence on an anti-imperialist basis, describing the Irish War of Independence as "The Irish fight for freedom" and even condoning the assassination of a magistrate, Alan Bell.

Maclean saw the war in Ireland as strengthening the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, arguing that "Irish Sinn Féiners, who make no profession of socialism or communism...are doing more to help Russia and the revolution than all we professed Marxian Bolsheviks in Britain".

In captivity, Maclean had been on hunger strike, and prolonged force-feeding permanently affected his health. In 1923, he collapsed during a speech and died of pneumonia, aged forty-four.

"I have taken up unconstitutional action at this time because of the abnormal circumstances and because precedent has been given by the British government. I am a socialist, and have been fighting and will fight for an absolute reconstruction of society for the benefit of all. I am proud of my conduct. I have squared my conduct with my intellect, and if everyone had done so this war would not have taken place...

...I appeal exclusively to [the working class] because they and they only can bring about the time when the whole world will be in one brotherhood, on a sound economic foundation. That, and that alone, can be the means of bringing about a re-organisation of society. That can only be obtained when the people of the world get the world, and retain the world."

• John MacLean, from the "Dock Speech"

• Date: 1879-08-24
• Learn More: www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk, en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Marxism, #Birthdays, #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Marsha P. Johnson (1945 - 1992)

Fri Aug 24, 1945

Image: Marsha P. Johnson at the First Christopher Street Liberation Day March, 1970. Leonard Fink / LGBT Community Center Archive [wams.nyhistory.org]

Marsha P. Johnson, born on this day in 1945, was a civil rights activist, founding member of the Gay Liberation Front and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), and participant in the Stonewall Uprising of 1969.

Johnson was one of the first drag queens to go to the Stonewall Inn after they began allowing women and drag queens inside; it was previously a bar for only gay men.

On the early morning hours of June 28th, 1969, the Stonewall uprising occurred. While the first two nights of rioting were the most intense, the clashes with police would result in a series of spontaneous demonstrations and marches through the gay neighborhoods of Greenwich Village for roughly a week afterwards.

According to the New-York Historical Society, "While there are many conflicting stories about the uprising’s start, it is clear that Marsha was on the front lines. In one account, she started the uprising by throwing a shot glass at a mirror. In another, she climbed a lamppost and dropped a heavy purse onto a police car, shattering the windshield." After Stonewall, Johnson became more involved in activism, helping found the Gay Liberation Front.

To help provide a home for vulnerable trans youth, Marsha and her friend Sylvia Rivera together formed the Street Transvestite Activist Revolutionaries (STAR). The first STAR House was in the back of a seemingly abandoned truck in Greenwich Village, housing nearly 24 people.

One morning, they returned to the truck just as its driver was pulling away with STAR residents sleeping inside, who were then forced to jump from a moving vehicle. Marsha and Sylvia then rented and fixed up a dilapidated building to house STAR residents for eight months before being evicted.

Shortly after a pride parade in 1992, Johnson's body was discovered floating in the Hudson River. Police ruled the death a suicide, but Johnson's friends and other members of the local community insisted Johnson was not suicidal and noted that the back of Johnson's head had a massive wound.

Johnson was cremated and, following a funeral at a local church, friends released her ashes over the river.

The 2012 documentary "Pay It No Mind – The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson" heavily features segments from a 1992 interview with Johnson, filmed shortly before her death.

"Darling, I want my gay rights now"

- Marsha P. Johnson

• Date: 1945-08-24
• Learn More: wams.nyhistory.org, www.gnof.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.youtube.com, marshap.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Sacco and Vanzetti Executed (1927)

Tue Aug 23, 1927

Image: Bartolomeo Vanzetti (left), handcuffed to Nicola Sacco (right), Dedham, Massachusetts Superior Court, 1923. When this photo was taken, Sacco was on the 23rd day of a hunger strike [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1927, Italian immigrant anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed by the U.S. government after they were dubiously convicted of murder, leading to international episodes of protest and violence.

Sacco, born in 1891, was a shoemaker and a night watchman, who migrated to the United States at the age of seventeen. Vanzetti was a fishmonger born on June 11th, 1888. Two men met at a strike in 1917.

After a deadly shoe store robbery in 1919, both Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested. When searched by police, both denied owning any guns, but were found to be holding loaded pistols. Sacco was found to have an Italian passport, anarchist literature, and a loaded .32 Colt Model 1903 automatic pistol. Vanzetti had four 12-gauge shotgun shells and a five-shot nickel-plated .38-caliber Harrington & Richardson revolver. Despite this, both Sacco and Vanzetti had solid alibis for where they were during the murder.

Anti-Italian and anti-anarchist sentiments played a significant role in their trial. Presiding Judge Thayer was an avowed enemy of anarchists. When giving his final statement in 1927, Vanzetti said "I am suffering because I am a radical and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I am an Italian and indeed I am an Italian...if you could execute me two times, and if I could be reborn two other times, I would live again to do what I have done already."

Sacco and Vanzetti's arrest, trial, conviction, and execution became an international incident that caused an outrage among people of all political persuasions, not just anarchists. Among their advocates were Harvard law professor and future Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, who wrote that Judge Thayer's statement was "a farrago of misquotations, misrepresentations, suppressions, and mutilations",

Despite international advocacy on their behalf, including rallies, sympathy strikes, and pleas for a re-trial, Sacco and Vanzetti's death sentences were not commuted. Vanzetti, in his final moments, shook hands with guards and thanked them for their kind treatment, read a statement proclaiming his innocence, and finally said, "I wish to forgive some people for what they are now doing to me." Sacco was next and walked quietly to the electric chair, then shouted "Farewell, mother."

Following their execution, some radicals, including Italian anarchist Severino Di Giovanni, began a series of bombing campaigns, targeting Judge Thayer, a juror involved in the trial, Wall Street banks, and the American Embassy in Buenos Aires.

On the 50th anniversary of the executions, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation that Sacco and Vanzetti had been unfairly tried and convicted and that "any disgrace should be forever removed from their names".

• Date: 1927-08-23
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, www.marxists.org, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Anarchism, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Maria Silva Cruz Executed (1936)

Sun Aug 23, 1936

Image: Maria Silva Cruz, also known as La Libertaria

On this day in 1936, anarchist and hero of the Casas Viejas Uprising Maria Silva Cruz was executed by Spanish fascists at age 21. Despite the efforts of her son, who was 1 year old at the time her death, Cruz's remains were never identified.

Maria Silva Cruz was born to day laborers on April 20th, 1915, and her father and uncle were members of the anarchist union Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).

In January 1933, the CNT initiated the anti-government Casas Viejas Uprising, which Silva Cruz and her friends participated in. When Civil Guard troops were sent to put down the uprising, many of the villagers fled.

Some anarchists attempted to hide in the house of Silva Cruz's grandfather, which was set on fire by the guard, killing all except Cruz and her young cousin, who she carried outside the burning building to safety. Cruz was later arrested.

When the fascists occupied the town of Ronda in July 1936, her husband Perez Cordon fled to the mountains, while Silva Cruz stayed with her one year old son at home. She was arrested by the Civil Guard and her son was taken from her.

On August 23rd, 1936, Silva Cruz was executed at dawn. Her remains were never identified despite the efforts of her son, who grew up with Silva Cruz's aunt. He sought to find his mother's remains in order to bury them and plant flowers for her.

• Date: 1936-08-23
• Learn More: libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org, dbe.rah.es.
• Tags: #Labor, #Anarchism, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Willem Arondeus (1894 - 1943)

Wed Aug 22, 1894

Image: Portrait of Willem Arondeus on the island of Urk, c. 1921 [Wikipedia]

Willem Arondeus, born on this day in 1894, was an openly gay Dutch artist and anti-fascist who, after destroying a Nazi office, was executed in 1943, stating as his last words "Tell the people that homosexuals can be brave!"

Before the war, Arondeus was a visual artist, illustrating poems and painting murals. He later became an author, publishing two novels with his own illustrations and a biography of the painter Matthijs Maris.

Arondeus was active in the anti-Nazi resistance, helping forge documents to protect persecuted groups. A major obstacle to the success of this forgery was the Municipal Office for Population Registration, an Amsterdam office that contained millions of identifying records for Jews and others wanted by the Gestapo.

Arondeus and other members of the resistance bombed the office on March 27th, 1943, subduing the guards via injection, and succeeding in destroying approximately 800,000 documents. Arondeus was arrested on April 1st.

Although he refused to give up the rest of his team, his notebook was found and a majority of the group was also arrested. On June 18th, Arondeus and fourteen others were tried and sentenced to death. Ardoneus pleaded guilty and took the full blame, which may have contributed to two members receiving clemency.

Before his execution, Arondeus made a point of ensuring the public would be aware that he and two other men in the group were gay, asking an acquaintance to "Tell the people that homosexuals can be brave!" Sometimes this quote is also translated as "The people would know that gays are no cowards!" or "Tell the people that homosexuals are not by definition weak".

• Date: 1894-08-22
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, legacyprojectchicago.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Queer, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831)

Sun Aug 21, 1831

Image: "Discovery of Nat Turner", a wood engraving illustrating Benjamin Phipps's capture of Turner on October 30th, 1831 [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1831, Nat Turner, a preacher in Southampton County, Virginia, initiated a rebellion in which groups of slaves went house to house in the area, liberating the enslaved and killing their masters.

Turner (1800 - 1831) was born and raised in Southampton County, Virginia, an area where black people outnumbered whites. He learned how to read and write at a young age and was deeply religious, eventually becoming an influential preacher in the area.

In early 1831, on the basis of religious visions, Nat Turner began preparing an insurrection. It began on August 21st, 1831, and rebels traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and killing many of the white people that they encountered.

At least 55 whites were killed, among them men, women, and children. The group spared a few homes "because Turner believed the poor white inhabitants 'thought no better of themselves than they did of negroes'", according to historian Stephen Oates.

The rebellion was put down by a combined force of local militia and three companies of artillery. The state executed 56 black people, and militias killed at least 100 more, some of whom were not involved in the rebellion.

Turner went on the run, eluding capture for six weeks. On October 30th, 1831, a white farmer discovered him hidden among the local Nottoway people in a depression in the earth, created by a large, fallen tree that was covered with fence rails.

After being tried and convicted for "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection", Turner was asked if he regretted what he had done. He responded "Was Christ not crucified?"

Turner was hanged by the government on November 11th, 1831. His body was dissected and flayed, with his bones and skin being used to create trophies and souvenirs, such as purses.

After Turner's execution, state legislatures passed new laws prohibiting education of both enslaved and free black people, restricting rights of assembly and other civil liberties for free black people, and requiring white ministers to be present at all worship services.

• Date: 1831-08-21
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.jacobinmag.com.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Tyke the Elephant Escapes (1994)

Sat Aug 20, 1994

Image: Tyke, in circus dress, runs along the street while police officers in the background aim their weapons at her

On this day in 1994, Tyke, an abused circus elephant, killed her trainer and seriously injured her groomer during a performance, escaping into the streets of Honolulu, Hawaii. After thirty minutes of being pursued by police, she died after being shot 86-87 times and subsequently became an international symbol for animal rights.

Tyke had been captured as a baby in Mozambique in 1973 and was shipped to the United States to be used as a circus animal. She had been involved in had escaped twice prior to her killing on August 20th.

On August 20th, 1994, during a performance at Circus International in Honolulu, Hawaii, Tyke trampled and critically injured her groomer, Dallas Beckwith, throwing him around numerous times in the process. She also killed her trainer, Allen Campbell, when he attempted to save Beckwith, knocking him to the ground and crushing him to death under her trunk.

Tyke then escaped and police pursued her for a half an hour, riddling her with bullets. After being shot 86-87 times, Tyke finally collapsed from nerve damage and brain hemorrhages.

Following the incident, Tyke became a symbol for animal rights. Lawsuits were filed against the City of Honolulu, the State of Hawaii, the circus, and Tyke's owner, John Cuneo Jr. These suits were settled out of court.

Although no official ban on animal acts materialized at the arena where the incident occurred, no circus featuring exotic animals has performed at the Blaisdell Arena since Tyke's killing.

• Date: 1994-08-20
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.huffpost.com, tykeelephantoutlaw.com.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Alexander Bogdanov (1873 - 1928)

Fri Aug 22, 1873

Alexander Bogdanov, born on this day in 1873, was a Russian scientist, philosopher, science fiction author, and socialist revolutionary who co-founded the Bolshevik faction of the Social Democratic Labor Party when it split with the Mensheviks in 1903.

Bogdanov was born as Aleksandr Malinovsky in Sokółka, modern day Poland, to a rural teacher's family. Expelled from Moscow State University, Bogdanov eventually graduated from the University of Kharkiv as a qualified medical doctor.

Around the same time, Bogdanov became a political prisoner and was arrested by the Tsar's police, spent six months in prison, and then exiled to Vologda. In 1903, Bogdanov played a key role in the formation and organization of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party.

In the following years, Bogdanov became a political rival of Vladimir Lenin. In 1909, Lenin published a scathing book of criticism of Bognadov's ideas (Materialism and Empiriocriticism), accusing him of philosophical idealism. Later that year, Bognadov was defeated in a Paris party conference and expelled from the Bolsheviks.

After the October Revolution, Bogdanov refused invitations to rejoin the party. In 1923, he was arrested by the GPU (Soviet secret police) for suspicion of involvement in the socialist opposition group "Workers' Truth", although he was released without charge.

Bognadov contributed to a wide variety of fields, including philosophy, creative writing, political economy, and a precursor to systems theory he called "tektology".

In 1928, Bogdanov died suddenly after taking an experimental blood transfusion from a student suffering from malaria and tuberculosis.

• Date: 1873-08-22
• Learn More: www.newworldencyclopedia.org, www.tandfonline.com, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

El Calabozo Massacre (1982)

Sat Aug 21, 1982

Image: Five of the six coffins lay at the burial site in San Vicente, El Salvador [Anna-Cat Brigida/Al Jazeera]

On this day in 1982, soldiers from the Atlacatl Battalion of the Salvadoran Army, trained at the infamous U.S. "School of the Americas", slaughtered more than 200 unarmed peasants that they had trapped along the "El Calabozo" area of the Amatitan river.

The massacre took place in the context of the Salvadoran Civil War, a conflict between left-wing rebel groups and U.S.-backed state forces in which an estimated 75,000 people were killed. Worried about the spread of communism during the Cold War, President Reagan's administration gave billions of dollars to the right-wing Salvadoran government.

In August 1982, the Salvadoran military launched an operation in San Vicente, a rural area that was a guerrilla stronghold at the time. The army sent about 6,000 troops to rid the area of rebel presence, including the elite Atlacatl Battalion, trained at the infamous "School of the Americas" and previously responsible for the El Mozote Massacre, in which several hundred captured civilians were killed.

On the night of August 21st, a group of internally displaced people was overtaken beside the Amatitán river state troops. At a spot called "El Calabozo" ("The Dungeon"), the battalion surrounded the IDPs and opened fire at close range. Survivors allege that the soldiers then threw many of the bodies into the river and threw acid on some corpses, making an accurate count of the violence difficult.

Joaquin Portillo, a survivor whose family was killed, played dead after being shot. His testimony helped identify the bodies years later. Interviewed by Al Jazeera, he stated "[A burial service for remains returned 38 years later] is a reminder so that we don't forget... They were people who were unarmed, including kids, and [the soldiers] didn't have to do that."

• Date: 1982-08-21
• Learn More: www.aljazeera.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968)

Tue Aug 20, 1968

Image: A group of civilians look at a tank on what appears to be a city street

On this day in 1968, four Warsaw Pact countries - the Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, and Hungary - invaded Czechoslovakia with ~200,000 troops to stop the "Prague Spring", liberal reforms promoted by the government of Alexander Dubček. Romania and Albania declined to participate in the attack, the latter of which left the Warsaw Pact a month later.

The invasion took place in the context of liberal reforms promoted by the communist government of Alexander Dubček, known as the "Prague Spring". The reforms included a decentralization of administrative authority, loosening of restrictions on the media, speech and travel, and the decision to split into two countries, the Czech and Slovak Republics.

The reforms were not received well by the Soviets, who, after failed negotiations, sent ~200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and tanks to occupy the country. 137 civilians were killed and 500 seriously wounded during the occupation.

Dubček and the Chairman of the National Assembly Josef Smrkovsky were arrested and taken to Moscow. They were allowed to return after adopting the "Moscow Protocol", which effectively reversed the liberalization of the Prague Spring.

The occupation was met with widespread, mostly non-violent resistance. Civilians purposely gave wrong directions to invading soldiers and painted over direction-giving signs. On January 19th, 1969, student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Prague to protest the renewed suppression of free speech. On September 8th, 1968, Polish accountant Ryszard Siwiec immolated himself in Warsaw during a harvest festival in protest of the invasion.

The invasion caused major fractures in communist movements worldwide, both inside and outside the Soviet bloc. Several KGB/GRU defectors and spies such as Oleg Gordievsky, Vasili Mitrokhin, and Dmitri Polyakov cited the 1968 invasion as their motivation for cooperating with the Western Intelligence agencies.

Internationally, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) suffered a major split over the internal disputes over the Prague Spring, while Albania left the Warsaw Pact following the invasion. The People's Republic of China strongly condemned the military action; on August 23rd, 1968, at the Beijing Romanian Embassy, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai denounced the Soviet Union for "fascist politics, great power chauvinism, national egoism, and social imperialism".

Meanwhile, the Portuguese Communist Party, the South African Communist Party, and the Communist Party USA all supported the Soviet position.

• Date: 1968-08-20
• Learn More: libcom.org, www.marxists.org, en.wikipedia.org, digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

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Iran coup d'état (1953)

Wed Aug 19, 1953

Image: Rioters run in the streets of Tehran in August 1953 [foreignpolicy.com]

On this day in 1953, the U.S. and British governments initiated a coup d'état against the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh. Mosaddegh had been preparing to nationalize Iran's British-owned oil fields.

Mosaddegh had sought to audit the documents of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), later re-named British Petroleum, and to limit the company's control over Iranian oil reserves. When the AIOC refused to cooperate with the Iranian government, the parliament voted to nationalize Iran's oil industry and to expel foreign corporate representatives from the country.

In response, the British began a worldwide boycott of Iranian oil to pressure Iran economically and engaged in subterfuge to undermine Mosaddegh's government.

Judging Mosaddegh to be unreliable and fearing a communist takeover, Winston Churchill and the Eisenhower administration overthrew Iran's government. The coup action was also supported by the Iranian clergy, who opposed Mosaddegh's secularism.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) hired mobsters to stage pro-Shah riots and paid people to travel to Tehran and take over the streets of the city. Between 200 and 300 people were killed in the ensuing mayhem.

Mosaddegh was arrested, tried, and convicted of treason by the Shah's military court. Many of his supporters were imprisoned, several received the death penalty. Mosaddegh himself lived the rest of his life under house arrest, dying in 1967.

After the coup, the Shah ruled as a monarch for the next 26 years until he was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

• Date: 1953-08-19
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, www.democracynow.org, nsarchive2.gwu.edu.
• Tags: #Riots.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911 - 2015)

Fri Aug 18, 1911

Image: Amelia Boynton Robinson on February 21st, 2015 [Wikipedia]

Amelia Boynton Robinson, born on this day in 1911, was an American civil rights activist who played a key role in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.

In 1964 and 1965, Boynton worked with Martin Luther King, Diane Nash, James Bevel, and others of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to plan civil rights demonstrations. During the infamous "Bloody Sunday" attack on the Selma to Montgomery marchers, Boynton suffered throat burns from tear gas and was beaten unconscious by police on horseback.

Despite suffering this violence, Boynton participated in the next two marches. The third was successful, and reached Montgomery on March 24th with more than 25,000 participants.

"I was brought up by people who loved others. I love people. We had no animosity. We had no feeling that we hate anyone."

- Amelia Boynton Robinson

• Date: 1911-08-18
• Learn More: snccdigital.org, www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #CivilRights, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Ernst Thälmann Executed (1944)

Fri Aug 18, 1944

Image: Ernst Thälmann in 1932 [Wikipedia]

Ernst Thälmann was a German communist leader executed by the Nazis on this day in 1944, killed in the Buchenwald concentration camp after being subjected to more than a decade of solitary confinement and physical torture.

He served as the leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933. A committed supporter of Stalin, Thälmann played a major role during the political instability of the Weimar Republic, especially in its final years when the KPD explicitly sought the overthrow of the liberal democracy.

After the Reichstag Fire took place on February 27th, 1933, the Nazi Party launched a new wave of violence and arrests against members of the KPD and other left-wing opponents of the regime. This included Thälmann, who was arrested, tortured, and imprisoned on March 3rd of that year.

He was kept in solitary confinement for the next eleven years before finally being executed at the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944.

"I have been and I am being tortured! Greet the workers of the Saar from me as I would greet them!"

- Ernst Thälmann, bidding farewell to workers visiting him in prison

• Date: 1944-08-18
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, spartacus-educational.com, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Marcus Garvey (1887 - 1940)

Wed Aug 17, 1887

Marcus Garvey, born on this day in 1887, was a Jamaican political activist, author, and orator who became one of the most influential black nationalist and Pan-Africanist leaders of the 20th century.

Garvey was born to a moderately prosperous Afro-Jamaican family in Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica, and apprenticed into the print trade as a teenager. Working in Kingston, he became involved in trade unionism before living briefly in Costa Rica, Panama, and England.

Greatly influenced by Booker T. Washington's autobiography "Up From Slavery", Garvey began to support economic separatism and social segregation. In 1914, he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL, commonly known as UNIA), through which he declared himself Provisional President of Africa. Ideologically a black nationalist and Pan-Africanist, his ideas came to be known as "Garveyism".

Garvey launched various businesses in the U.S., including the Negro Factories Corporation and Negro World newspaper. In 1919, he became President of the Black Star Line shipping and passenger company, designed to forge a link between North America and Africa and facilitate African-American migration to Liberia.

In 1923, Garvey was convicted of mail fraud for selling the company's stock and imprisoned in the U.S. Penitentiary Atlanta for nearly two years. Garvey blamed Jewish people for his sentence, claiming that they were prejudiced against him because of his links to the Ku Klux Klan, whom he had collaborated with on the basis of their shared goal of racial separatism.

Garvey's influence has been repeatedly emphasized by black intellectuals - Kwame Nkrumah cited "The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey" as the text that most inspired him, American writer Ta-Nehisi Coates described Garvey as the "patron saint" of the black nationalist movement, and scholar Molefi Kete Asante included Garvey on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

Those who dissented from this view include W.E.B. Du Bois, who, after hearing of Garvey's meeting with the KKK, called him the greatest enemy of the Negro race, and radical labor organizer A. Philip Randolph, who stated that Garvey and Garveyism should be purged from American soil.

Garvey spent his last years in Jamaica trying to revive his political fortunes. He died in London, England in 1940.

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots."

- Marcus Garvey

• Date: 1887-08-17
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, www.pbs.org, www.jpanafrican.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Pan-Africanism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Ruth First Assassinated (1982)

Tue Aug 17, 1982

Ruth First was a South African anti-apartheid activist, journalist, and scholar who was assassinated by South African police via mail-bomb on this day in 1982.

As an anti-apartheid activist, First had been harassed for years by the South African government. In 1956, First, alongside 155 other activists, were all charged and acquitted of treason in the country's infamous "Treason Trial".

After the state of emergency that followed the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, she was banned from political participation. First could not attend meetings, publish, and or be quoted. In 1963, she was imprisoned and held in isolation without charge for 117 days under the Ninety-Day Detention Law, the first white woman to be detained under this law.

In August of 1982, First was assassinated by South African police in Mozambique, where she was working in exile. Her funeral in Maputo was attended by presidents, members of parliament and envoys from 34 countries.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established in 1996 following the fall of apartheid, granted amnesty to Craig Williamson and Roger Raven, two of the men responsible for killing First.

• Date: 1982-08-17
• Learn More: www.sahistory.org.za, en.wikipedia.org, www.ruthfirstpapers.org.uk.
• Tags: #CivilRights, #Assassinations.
• Source: [www.apeoplescalendar.org](https://www.apeoplescalendar.org/calendar/events/ruth-first-assassinated -1982)

Marikana Massacre (2012)

Thu Aug 16, 2012

Image: Mgcineni Noki with striking platinum miners on August 16th, 2012. Photo credit: Leon Sadiki [theguardian.com]

On this day in 2012, the Marikana Massacre took place when South African police fired on striking workers, killing 34 and injuring 76 in the most lethal use of force by the state in half a century.

The shootings have been compared to the infamous Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, when police fired on a crowd of anti-Pass Law protesters, killing 69 people, including 10 children. The Marikana Massacre took place on the 25-year anniversary of a nationwide strike by over 300,000 South African workers.

On August 10th, miners had initiated a wildcat strike at a site owned by Lonmin in the Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa. Although ten people (mostly workers) had been killed before August 16th, it was on that day that an elite force from the South African Police Service fired into a crowd of strikers with rifles, killing 34 and injuring 76.

After surveying the aftermath of the violence, photojournalist Greg Marinovich concluded that "[it is clear] that heavily armed police hunted down and killed the miners in cold blood."

Following the massacre, a massive wave of strikes occurred across the South African mining sector - in early October, analysts estimated that approximately 75,000 miners were on strike from various gold and platinum mines and companies across South Africa, most of them doing so illegally.

A year after the Marikana Massacre, author Benjamin Fogel wrote "Perhaps the most important lesson of Marikana is that the state can gun down dozens of black workers with little or no backlash from 'civil society', the judicial system or from within the institutions that supposedly form the bedrock of democracy."

• Date: 2012-08-16
• Learn More: www.sahistory.org.za, en.wikipedia.org, www.theguardian.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org