Peterloo Massacre (1819)

Mon Aug 16, 1819

Image: A colored engraving that depicts the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester, England. Not all the details strictly accord with contemporary descriptions; the banner the woman is holding should read: Female Reformers of Roynton -- "Let us die like men and not be sold like slaves".

On this day in 1819, the Peterloo Massacre took place when British cavalry charged a crowd of ~60,000 protesters gathered in St. Peter's Field in Manchester, England to demand democratic reforms, killing 18 people and wounding hundreds more.

The protest took place in the context of an economic crisis and harvest failure following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. At the time, only approximately 11% of adult males could vote, very few of them in the industrial north, which was the worst hit by the crises.

Reformers, led by figures such as the radical orator Henry Hunt and social reformer Samuel Bamford, identified democratic and parliamentary reforms as a way to mobilize the masses, acquiring three-quarters of a million signatures in 1817, a proposal flatly rejected by the House of Commons.

On August 16th, 1819, a mass rally of democratic reformers gathered in St. Peter's Field in Manchester. The meeting's aims were explicitly peaceful and legal; organizers stated the protest's purpose was "to consider the propriety of adopting the most LEGAL and EFFECTUAL means of obtaining a reform in the Common House of Parliament" and did not allow participants to bear arms.

Despite this, members of the British Cavalry attempted to arrest leaders of the protest. When their horses became stuck in the crowd, officers panicked and began indiscriminately attacking the meeting's participants. Exact numbers are difficult to calculate, but modern estimates are that 18 people were killed and approximately 600 more were injured.

Among those killed was a two year old boy, knocked from his mother's arms by a charging horse. John Lees, a working class veteran of Waterloo who later died of wounds sustained at the Peterloo Massacre, stated "At Waterloo there was man to man but there it was downright murder".

The British government supported the military's actions and, as a result of the disorder, passed the "Six Acts", legislation to suppress radical meetings and publications. By the end of 1820, every significant working-class radical reformer was in jail.

On the political situation after Peterloo, historian Robert Reid wrote "it is not fanciful to compare the restricted freedoms of the British worker in the post-Peterloo period in the early nineteenth century with those of the black South African in the post-Sharpeville period of the late twentieth century."

• Date: 1819-08-16
• Learn More: www.peterloomassacre.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Massacre, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

London Women Transport Workers Strike (1918)

Fri Aug 16, 1918

Image: Some of the strikers in August, 1918 [libcom.org]

On this day in 1918, a meeting of women at Willesden bus garage decided to go on strike without informing their bosses or unions, beginning the London Women Transport Workers' Strike, in which they demanded equal pay for equal work.

In August 1918, female tram conductors in Willesden, London started a wildcat strike which quickly spread around the country and to other sectors of public transport. Earlier that year, male workers were given a 5 shilling per week wartime bonus to help cope with the increased cost of living, but women workers were not.

On August 16th, 1918, a meeting of women at Willesden bus garage decided to go on strike the following day, without informing their bosses or unions. Initially demanding the same war bonus that had been given to men, their demands morphed into equal pay, more than forty years before the Equal Pay Act. The slogan of the strike was "Same Work - Same Pay".

The strike spread throughout the city - an estimated 18,000 out of a total 27,000 women working in the public transport industry participated.

The strike was settled on the 25th of August. The women won the 5 shilling war bonus, but not equal pay. According to historian Dr. Cathy Hunt, this labor action was "an important step along the way to full gender equality".

• Date: 1918-08-16
• Learn More: cathyhunthistorian.com, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Food Not Bombs First Arrests (1988)

Mon Aug 15, 1988

Image: On August 15th, 1988, nine volunteers were arrested for sharing food and literature at Golden Gate Park, including founding member Keith McHenry (shown) [zinnedproject.org]

Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, sharing free vegan and vegetarian food with others. Food Not Bombs' ideology is that corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance.

As evidence of this, a large amount of the food served by the group is surplus food from grocery stores, bakeries, and markets that would otherwise go to waste (or, occasionally, has already been thrown away).

On this day in 1988, members of Food Not Bombs (including one of the founders, Keith McHenry, shown), were arrested for the first time in San Francisco, California, for handing out free food and literature in Golden Gate Park. These were the first of many arrests of Food Not Bombs activists for giving away free food.

• Date: 1988-08-15
• Learn More: www.zinnedproject.org, foodnotbombs.net.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Joycelyn Elders (1933 - )

Sun Aug 13, 1933

Dr. Joycelyn Elders, born on this day in 1933, is an American pediatrician and public health administrator who served as Surgeon General of the United States from 1993 to 1994. Elders was the first African American to serve as Surgeon General and is best known for her frank discussion of her views on controversial issues such as drug legalization, masturbation, and distributing contraception in schools.

Although she faced censure from the Clinton administration for advocating the legalization of drugs, it was her sex positive view on masturbation that led to her removal from office. After stating "I think that [masturbation] is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught", Clinton forced her to resign as Surgeon General in December of 1994. She is currently a professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

"If you can't control your reproduction, you can't control your life."

- Dr. Joycelyn Elders

• Date: 1933-08-13
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov, pryorcenter.uark.edu.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

London Dock Strike (1889)

Wed Aug 14, 1889

Image: Dockers' strike march, 1889 [libcom.org]

The London Dock Strike was a massive industrial dispute involving more than 100,000 workers in the Port of London, beginning on this day in 1889. Workers established strong trade unions and won better working conditions.

Before the strike began, workers were paid extremely poorly and did not have regular hours. Instead, they would show up en masse to work and a handful would be selected - the rest would be sent home without payment. In this way, their employers could only pay for exactly the labor needed for the day.

On August 14th, led by socialist union organizer Ben Tillet, the men in the West India Dock struck immediately and started persuading other dockers to join them. The support they needed came when the Amalgamated Stevedores Union (whose workers were essential the operation of the dock), under Tom McCarthy, joined the strike.

The labor action became so large (one estimation was 130,000 workers), that it could possibly be considered a general strike. A newspaper reported "Dockmen, lightermen, bargemen, cement workers, carmen, ironworkers and even factory girls are coming out."

The London Dock Strike resulted in a victory for the 100,000 strikers and established strong trade unions amongst London dockers, one of which became the nationally important "Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union".

The success of the Dockers' Strike was a turning point in the history of trade unionism, with unskilled workers in particular gaining confidence to organize and engage in collective action. From 750,000 workers in 1888, trade union membership grew to more than 2 million by 1899.

• Date: 1889-08-14
• Learn More: libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Mariola Sirakova (1904 - 1925)

Sun Aug 14, 1904

Mariola Sirakova, born on this day in 1904, was a wealthy Bulgarian actress who organized with the revolutionary anarchist movement in Bulgaria, sheltering wanted anarchists from the state.

In 1923, a military coup led to the butchery of 35,000 workers and peasants, leading to a campaign of armed resistance against the state (the "September Rising"). A massive wave of repression was undertaken by the fascists and military against the revolutionary movement, and Mariola was arrested by the police, raped, and brutally beaten.

After her release, she gave support to the Kilifarevo cheta (an armed guerilla unit), bringing them food, medicine, and clothes, and caring for the wounded. Mariola Sirakova and fellow anarchist Gueorgui Cheitanov were subsequently caught in an ambush and arrested. On May 28th, 1925, they were taken to Belovo railway station and summarily executed with 12 other prisoners. Mariola was twenty years old.

• Date: 1904-08-14
• Learn More: libcom.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Daoxian Massacre (1967)

Sun Aug 13, 1967

Image: A map of China with Hunan province highlighted

Note: most of the following entry comes from the scholarship of Song Yongyi, a Chinese-American historian who specializes in the study of Chinese Cultural Revolution, currently employed by California State University in Los Angeles.

On this day in 1967, violence broke out in Dao County, Hunan Province, China against alleged counter-revolutionaries during the Cultural Revolution. The violence, now known as the Daoxian Massacre, killed 4,519 people over 2 months, hundreds of whom were forced to commit suicide.

Approximately 90% of the victims were alleged members of the "Black Five Categories", a term used by the state to label enemies of the communist revolution - landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, "bad elements", and right-wingers. Family members were also targeted, with the youngest recorded death being a 10-day-old infant.

During the "Boluan Fanzheng" period following Mao Zedong's death, the Chinese government opened an investigation into the massacre, which it concluded in 1986 by denouncing the violence and imprisoning some of its participants. In Dao County, 43 people who involved in the massacre were punished, with only 11 being prosecuted, receiving between 3 to 10 years in prison.

• Date: 1967-08-13
• Learn More: www.sciencespo.fr, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Luigi Galleani (1861 - 1931)

Mon Aug 12, 1861

Luigi Galleani, born on this day in 1861, was an Italian anarchist active in the United States from 1901 to 1919. He is best known for his enthusiastic advocacy of "propaganda of the deed", the use of violence to eliminate those he viewed as tyrants and oppressors and to act as a catalyst to the overthrow of existing government institutions.

From 1914 to 1932, Galleani's followers in the United States (known as i Galleanisti) carried out a series of bombings and assassination attempts against institutions and persons they viewed as class enemies. After Galleani was deported from the United States to Italy in June 1919, his colleagues are alleged to have carried out the Wall Street bombing of 1920, causing the deaths of 38 people.

"Everything must belong to everybody and must present the hypothesis of a world without god, without king, without government, without masters."

- Luigi Galleani

• Date: 1861-08-12
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

South Africa Miners Strike (1946)

Mon Aug 12, 1946

Image: The front cover of a booklet about the strike, titled "Workers at War - CNETU and the 1946 African Mineworkers' Strike" [https://www.saha.org.za/]

On this day in 1946, nearly 100,000 black South African mine workers of the Witwatersrand went on strike in support of a demand for higher wages - 10 shillings a day. They continued the strike for a week in the face of the most savage police terror, in which officially 1,248 workers were wounded and a large number - officially only 9 - were killed.

Lawless police and army violence broke the strike. The resources of the racist state were mobilized in war-like fashion against unarmed workers. A profound result of the strike was the effect it had on the thinking of the national liberation movement - almost immediately it shifted significantly from a policy of concession to more dynamic and militant forms of struggle.

• Date: 1946-08-12
• Learn More: www.sahistory.org.za, nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu, www.saha.org.za, en.wikipedia.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Watts Riots (1965)

Wed Aug 11, 1965

Image: Armed National Guardsmen march toward smoke on the horizon during the street fires in Los Angeles, California, 1965. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On this day in 1965, the Watts Riots began in Los Angeles after police beat Marquette Fry and his family after he was pulled over for drunk driving. The uprising was the largest in city history until the Rodney King riots of 1992, with 34 deaths and $40 million in property damage across a 46 square mile (119 square km) stretch of L.A.

The uprising took place in the context of a highly racialized city, with severely discriminatory housing, educational, and economic practices. The community of Watts was predominantly black and regularly suffered brutality at the hands of police.

After Marquette, along with his brother and mother, were beaten and arrested by police, an angry mob formed and riots broke out. For the next six days, rioters clashed with police and armed National Guardsmen, who had been sent by the thousands to suppress the uprising.

Los Angeles Chief of Police William Parker (incidentally, Parker also coined the phrase "thin blue line" around this time) compared the rioters to the Viet Cong, promising a "paramilitary" response to the disorder. One officer later stated "The streets of Watts resembled an all-out war zone in some far-off foreign country, it bore no resemblance to the United States of America."

Between 31,000 and 35,000 people participated in the riots, while 70,000 people were "sympathetic, but not active" according to John H. Barnhill. Over the six days of rioting, there were 34 deaths (23 of which were the result of police shootings), 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests, and over $40 million in property damage.

Following the uprising's suppression, a wave of white flight occurred in surrounding areas, leading to significant demographic changes in areas such as Compton and Huntington Park.

A government committee known as the McCone Commission concluded that the cause of the riots was primarily socio-economic, and recommended reforms along these lines. Most of these recommendations were not adopted.

"The whole point of the outbreak in Watts was that it marked the first major rebellion of Negroes against their own masochism and was carried on with the express purpose of asserting that they would no longer quietly submit to the deprivation of slum life."

- Bayard Rustin

• Date: 1965-08-11
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Riots.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Franco Assassination Attempt (1964)

Sun Aug 11, 1946

Stuart Christie (1946 - 2020) was a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher.

On this day in 1964, an eighteen year old Christie was arrested while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish dictator, General Francisco Franco. Christie had become interested in the Spanish resistance to Franco after meeting Spanish anarchists living in London, in exile.

In Paris, he met members of the Defensa Interior organization and was assigned to bring plastic explosives to Madrid. The Defensa Interior had been infiltrated by government spies, however, and after arriving in Madrid Christie was promptly arrested by undercover police.

Christie was freed after serving three years in prison. He went on to found the Cienfuegos Press publishing house and in 2008 the online Anarchist Film Channel, which hosts films and documentaries with anarchist and libertarian socialist themes.

• Date: 1946-08-11
• Learn More: www.heraldscotland.com, www.permanentculturenow.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Anarchism, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Tombs Prison Uprising (1970)

Mon Aug 10, 1970

Image: McGrath, the Press and Prisoners. NY Daily News, October 1970. [gothamcenter.org]

On this day in 1970, more than 900 inmates at Tombs Prison in Manhattan, New York City took over the prison after multiple warnings about falling budgets, aging facilities, and rising prison populations were ignored by the city.

The situation was so dire that union correctional officers had initiated an informational picket of City Hall to protest the living conditions. Overcrowding was so severe that more than 2,000 people were being held in space meant for less than a 1,000.

On August 10th, 1970, prisoners seized control of the entire ninth floor of the facility, taking several officers hostage for eight hours, until state officials agreed to hear prisoner grievances and take no punitive action against the rioters.

Despite that promise, Mayor John Lindsay had the leaders behind the action shipped upstate to the state's Attica Correctional Facility, possibly contributing to the Attica Prison riot about a year later.

The August uprising preceded another rebellion in Tombs Prison in October later that year. Inmates again seized staff as hostages and made demands to improve their living conditions, such as more education, lower bail, and an "inmate council" to mediate prisoner complaints.

After the October uprising, NYC Commissioner of Correction George McGrath fired two black guards at the Tombs, both of whom had reported abuse of inmates by other guards and expressed sympathy for the prisoners' cause.

Following the August uprising, the New York City Legal Aid Society filed a class action suit on behalf of pre-trial detainees held in the Tombs. The city decided to close the facility on December 20th, 1974 after years of litigation and a federal judge declaring that the prison's conditions were bad enough to be considered unconstitutional.

• Date: 1970-08-10
• Learn More: www.gothamcenter.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.nytimes.com.
• Tags: #Riots.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Pueblo Revolt (1680)

Sat Aug 10, 1680

Image: Fragment of Un Sueño de Santa Fe, Agosto 1680 by Ramón José López (2013)

On this day in 1680, indigenous Pueblo peoples of present-day New Mexico rose in rebellion against Spanish colonizers in what is now called the "Pueblo Revolt", driving Spanish settlers out of the area for twelve years.

According to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was the only successful Native uprising against a colonizing power in North America.

Spain first claimed the region in the 16th century, subjecting Puebloans to episodes of colonial violence and displacement. The Spanish demanded payment of heavy tribute from indigenous communities and destroyed ceremonial buildings in an attempt to eradicate indigenous beliefs and impose Christianity.

During the 1670s, conflict intensified as famine put the communities there in direct competition for scarce resources. In one incident, 47 Pueblo medicine men were arrested by Spanish forces in 1675 under charges of "sorcery".

By 1680, one of the arrested men, Po’Pay, had met with several Pueblo leaders and formed a military alliance. Although Po’Pay is often cited as the leader of the rebellion, it is likely there were several other instrumental organizers who played an important role in its fruition.

The date of a cross-Pueblo revolt was set for August 11th, with time being kept at each Pueblo by untying a knot from a cord everyday until all the knots had been untied. Spanish forces, however, learned of the revolt on August 9th after capturing two messengers from Tesuque. As a result, Po’Pay ordered military action a day early, on August 10th.

Pueblo rebels quickly succeeding in sealing off roads, destroying colonial settlements, and laying siege to the regional capital of Santa Fe.

In total, Puebloans killed 400 Spaniards and drove the remaining 2,000 settlers out of the area. On August 21st, New Mexico governor Antonio de Otermín fled, leading a southward retreat out of the region.

With the Spanish gone, Po’Pay traveled the region, promoting the revival of indigenous beliefs and destroying churches and other symbols of Catholicism in the region. Pueblos largely returned to communal self-governance after the flight of the Spanish.

Spanish colonizers attempted to retake the Pueblos in 1681, 1688, and 1689, finally succeeding in 1692.

• Date: 1680-08-10
• Learn More: indianpueblo.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.thoughtco.com.
• Tags: #Colonialism, #Indigenous.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Ballymurphy Massacre (1971)

Mon Aug 09, 1971

Image: The image shows a large streetside sign with the text "BALLYMURPHY MASSACRE AUGUST 1971 WE DEMAND THE TRUTH", as well as the faces and names of the eleven people who were killed

On this day in 1971, more than 600 British soldiers entered the Ballymurphy area of Belfast in a military operation meant to "stun the civilian population", killing eleven innocent people in what is now called the Ballymurphy Massacre.

The violence was part of the British Operation Demetrius, which explicitly allowed for internment without trial and targeted Irish Republicans/nationalist factions of the population.

The massacre began when the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army entered Ballymurphy the evening of August 9th, 1971. Six civilians were killed that day, including Father Hugh Mullan, who notified the Army that he was entering the area to help a wounded man, and was shot to death while brandishing a white flag.

Another person killed was Joseph Murphy, who was shot as he stood opposite the Army Base. He was taken into custody, where he was beaten and shot again before being released and expiring.

The violence continued for two more days, killing eleven people in total. A 2021 coroner's report found that all those killed had been innocent and that the killings were "without justification".

The same battalion that committed this massacre later shot twenty-six unarmed civilians during a protest march in Derry against the internment without trial policy.

The Ballymurphy Massacre is the subject of the August 2018 documentary "The Ballymurphy Precedent", directed by Callum Macrae and made in association with Channel 4.

• Date: 1971-08-09
• Learn More: www.ballymurphymassacre.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Moses Mauane Kotane (1905 - 1978)

Wed Aug 09, 1905

On this day in 1905, communist trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist Moses Mauane Kotane was born, going on to lead the South African Communist Party (SACP) as General Secretary from 1939 until his death in 1978.

Born to a peasant family in Transvaal, Kotane became involved in trade unionism and left-wing activism in his early adolescence. In 1928, he joined the African National Congress (ANC), but soon left, finding it ineffectual.

The following year, he joined the SACP, quickly working his way up the party ladder and becoming a member of its Politburo. In 1939, he was elected General Secretary.

Remaining close to the ANC, he was elected to its National Executive Committee in 1946. Under Kotane's leadership, the SACP, together with the ANC, organized various anti-apartheid demonstrations and labor strikes, and his high profile in both organizations made him a major target of the South African government's political repression.

In 1963, he left South Africa to lead the SACP in-exile from Tanzania.

He died in 1978 after suffering a stroke at the age of 72. Moses was survived by his wife Rebecca Kotane, who went on to became the last living elder of the anti-apartheid struggle, as old as the African National Congress (ANC) itself, dying in 2021 at the age of 108.

"My first suggestion is that the party becomes Africanised, that the CPSA must pay special attention to South Africa and study the conditions in this country and concretise the demands of the masses from first-hand information, that we must speak the language of the native masses and must know their demands, that while it must not lose its international allegiance, the Party must be Bolshevised and become South African not only theoretically but in reality."

- Moses Maunane Kotane, 1934

• Date: 1905-08-09
• Learn More: sacp.org.za, www.sahistory.org.za, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor, #Civil Rights.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Emiliano Zapata (1879 - 1919)

Fri Aug 08, 1879

Emiliano Zapata Salazar, born on this day in 1879, was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, the main leader of the peasant revolution in the state of Morelos, and the inspiration for the name of the modern Zapatista movement.

Zapata was born in the rural village of Anenecuilco in Morelos State, where peasant communities were under increasing pressure from the small landowning class who had monopolized land and water resources for sugar cane production with the support of dictator Porfirio Díaz.

Early on, Zapata participated in political movements against Díaz and the landowning hacendados. When revolution broke out in 1910, he was positioned as a central leader of the peasant revolt in Morelos. Zapata was responsible for defeating and ousting various invading armies from Morelos on multiple occasions.

On April 10th, 1919, Zapata was assassinated, double-crossed by a member of the Mexican Army who had pretended to switch sides. When Zapata attempted to meet with the would-be defector, he was ambushed and shot to death.

"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."

- Emiliano Zapata

• Date: 1879-08-08
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.thoughtco.com, www.leftvoice.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

José Cha Cha Jiménez (1948 - )

Sun Aug 08, 1948

José Cha Cha Jiménez, born on this day in 1948, is the founder of the "Young Lords", a national human rights movement with an emphasis on liberation for Puerto Ricans and other colonized people. The group was founded in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois on September 23rd, 1968, one hundred years after the Grito de Lares uprising. Jiménez was born to jíbaro parents in Caguas, Puerto Rico, but spent his formative years in Chicago.

In the summer of 1968, he was picked up for a possession of heroin charge and given a 60-day sentence at Cook County Jail. While in jail, he read "The Seven Story Mountain" by Thomas Merton, and became politically radicalized, also reading texts from radicals such as MLK Jr. and Malcolm X.

After his release, Jiménez transformed the Young Lords from a street gang into a human rights organization, entering into the "Rainbow Coalition" with Fred Hampton, head of the BPP's Chicago chapter. After Hampton's assassination by the Chicago Police and FBI, and the Coalition's dissolution, Jiménez continued his activism, running for a Chicago Alderman position in 1975, and helping organize a voter registration drive to support Harold Washington's 1982-83 mayoral campaign.

When asked in a 2018 interview what happened to the Young Lords, Jiménez responded:

"The question is what happened to the white left, who decided to abandon the Black Panthers and Young Lords when things got hot, as if these groups who risked everything were just, some kind of a fad or that their movement was just some kind of entertainment...

...We will always be reminded of how COINTELPRO and others have worked to split our movement so that we cannot organize together to free our nation of Puerto Rico. We will always work for unity. 'Unidos venceremos' or 'United will win!' It is not just a saying for us. It is a goal."

"If the People of El Salvador can ask for self-determination, if the People of Nicaragua can ask for self-determination, if the People of Ireland can ask for self-determination, if the People of Poland can ask for self-determination, if Black People in America can stand up and demand self-determination, then Puerto Ricans demand self-determination."

• José Cha Cha Jiménez

• Date: 1948-08-08
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.fightbacknews.org, digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Jourdon Anderson Letter (1865)

Mon Aug 07, 1865

On this day in 1865, freedman Jourdon Anderson (1825 - 1907) wrote a humorous and pointed response to decline the request of his former master to return to the plantation, which had fallen into disrepair after the Civil War.

The letter's dry wit has been compared to the style of Mark Twain, and it became an immediate sensation, becoming published in the press a few weeks later.

Jourdon had been enslaved since he was a child in Wilson County, Tennessee, working the plantation of the Anderson family. In 1864, Union Army soldiers camped on the Anderson plantation and freed him. Subsequently, he moved to Dayton, Ohio with his family, finding work as a sexton with the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

In 1865, he received a letter from Colonel P.H. Anderson, his former master, who requested that Jourdon return to the plantation in a last-ditch to save the farm, which had fallen into disrepair after the Civil War.

On August 7th, 1865, Jourdon dictated his response. Here are some excerpts (the letter in full is linked below):

"I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house.

...[My wife and I] have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you...I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars.

Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future.

...P.S.—Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me."

Jourdon's offer was declined, and he continued to live in Dayton, dying there at the age of 81 in 1907. Colonel Anderson, having failed to attract his former slaves back, sold the land for a pittance to try to get out of debt, dying two years later.

Prior to 2006, historian Raymond Winbush tracked down the living relatives of the Colonel Anderson, reporting that they "are still angry at Jordan for not coming back", knowing that the plantation was in serious disrepair after the war.

• Date: 1865-08-07
• Learn More: www.smithsonianmag.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890 - 1964)

Thu Aug 07, 1890

Image: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn addressing strikers in Paterson, N.J. (1913) [socialistworker.org]

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, born on this day in 1890, was a communist activst and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).

Flynn was a vigorous proponent of women's rights, birth control, and women's suffrage. She joined the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in 1936 and late in life, in 1961, became its chairwoman.

Flynn was also a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), but was expelled in 1940 during an institution-wide purge of all communists from ACLU leadership. This decision was reversed twelve years after her death, in 1976.

In 1948, Flynn was arrested, along with eleven other prominent members of the Communist Party, for violating the Smith Act. She served two years in prison, and continued her political activism after her release.

Flynn died during a visit to the Soviet Union, where she was accorded a state funeral with processions in the Red Square attended by over 25,000 people.

"I fell in love with my country - its rivers, prairies, forests, mountains, cities and people. No one can take my love of country away from me! I felt then, as I do now, it's a rich, fertile, beautiful land, capable of satisfying all the needs of its people. It could be a paradise on earth if it belonged to the people, not to a small owning class."

- Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

• Date: 1890-08-07
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, socialistworker.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor, #Birthdays, #IWW.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Tompkins Square Riot (1988)

Sat Aug 06, 1988

Image: Protesters confront police, holding a banner which says "GENTRIFICATION IS CLASS WAR FIGHT BACK" [libcom.org]

On this day in 1988, New York City police attacked an anti-curfew and anti-gentrification rally in Tompkins Square, Manhattan, indiscriminately attacking activists, reporters, and bystanders, injuring thirty-eight people.

The violent clash took place in the context of the city attempting to remove homeless people and squatters from the park by enforcing a curfew on what was previously a 24-hour public space. The park had previously been used as a spot for rallies in protest of this policy.

On August 6th, 1988, activists attempted to hold another rally in the park and were met by a strong police presence. Protesters held banners proclaiming "Gentrification is Class War" (shown).

Although police accused protesters of throwing bricks and bottles at police, eyewitnesses agreed that the cops initiated the violence by charging the crowd. Police indiscriminately attacked and harassed all present, including the activists, reporters, and bystanders. One reporter, a black woman, was called a racial slur and attacked, the aftermath of which was caught on film.

In total, 38 were injured, including several police officers, and 9 were arrested. More than 100 formal complaints about police brutality were filed. When questioned about it, Captain McNamara, a commander at the scene, said "Obviously tempers flared. But all these allegations will be investigated." No cops were charged with any crime related to the event.

The Tompkins Square Park Riot figured prominently in the local arts community. Poet Allen Ginsburg was an eyewitness to the police riot, and various artists have alluded to it in their work, including Lou Reed, the industrial anarchist band Missing Foundation, and Jonathan Larson, in his musical "Rent".

On November 7th, 2004, about 1,000 people gathered in Tompkins Square Park to attend a concert held there in a yearly ritual commemorating the 1988 riot. According to the NYPD, when officers attempted an arrest for an open container of alcohol, concertgoers "surrounded and assaulted" the officers. Six arrests were made on charges including assault and inciting to riot.

• Date: 1988-08-06
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Riots, #Journalism, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

James Cone (1938 - 2018)

Fri Aug 05, 1938

Image: **

James Hal Cone, born on this day in 1938, was an American theologian known for his advocacy of black liberation theology, authoring texts such as "The Cross and the Lynching Tree" (2011) and "God of the Oppressed" (1975).

His 1969 work "Black Theology and Black Power" provided a new way to comprehensively define the distinctiveness of theology in the black church.

On the text, Cone stated "This book was my initial attempt to identify liberation as the heart of the Christian gospel and blackness as the primary mode of God’s presence. I wanted to speak on behalf of the voiceless black masses in the name of Jesus whose gospel I believed had been greatly distorted by the preaching and the theology of white churches."

After receiving his doctorate, Cone taught theology and religion at Philander Smith College and Adrian College. He later taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, which had not accepted a black student into its doctoral program since its founding in 1836. Cone supervised over 40 black doctoral students while teaching there.

"Until we can see the cross and the lynching tree together, until we can identify Christ with a 'recrucified' black body hanging from a lynching tree, there can be no genuine understanding of Christian identity in America, and no deliverance from the brutal legacy of slavery and white supremacy."

- James Cone

• Date: 1938-08-05
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, archive.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Maleconazo Uprising (1994)

Fri Aug 05, 1994

Image: Protesters in the streets during the Maleconazo [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1994, an uprising known as the "Maleconazo" took place during Cuba's "special period", an economic crisis following the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading to a mass exodus of tens of thousands from the island. The protest was the first major uprising in Cuba following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, which had brought Fidel Castro and the communist movement into power.

The uprising took place in a time of extended economic crisis known as the "special period", characterized by shortages of petroleum derived prices, rations on food, decreased use of automobiles, and, by necessity, organic innovations to agricultural practice.

On August 5th, 1994, riots broke out on the Malecón, an 8km roadway and seawall that runs along the coast in Havana. Rioters looted stores, chanted political slogans, and damaged hotels. One group unsuccessfully attempted to hijack a boat.

In the middle of the afternoon, Fidel Castro arrived at the scene, by which time 370 arrests had taken place and around 30 people were injured, 11 of them policemen.

A week later, on August 11th, Castro gave the order for border guards to not suppress illegal exits of the country; an estimated 33,000 people fled, leading to the 1994 Cuban Rafter Crisis.

Many of these exiles successfully sought refuge in the United States, with then President Bill Clinton adopting the "Wet feet, dry feet policy", effectively allowing any Cuban who made it to U.S. land to stay, while Cubans intercepted in U.S. waters would be either returned to Cuba or deported elsewhere.

• Date: 1994-08-05
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, elcomercio.pe.
• Tags: #Riots, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Calixto García (1836 - 1898)

Thu Aug 04, 1836

Calixto García Íñiguez, born on this day in 1836, was a general in three separate Cuban uprisings for independence - the Ten Years' War, the Little War, and the War of 1895, which bled into the Spanish-American War.

García joined the Ten Years' War at the age of 18. Five years later, when surrounded by Spanish troops, he shot himself under the chin with a .45 caliber pistol to not give them the satisfaction of capturing him. Although the bullet went out of his forehead and knocked him unconscious, he survived. The wound left a great scar and gave him headaches for the rest of his life.

García played a key role in the ultimately successful War of 1895 and protested the subsequent lack of Cuban autonomy in the conclusion of the war (no Cuban was allowed to sign the terms of surrender and the Spanish leaders in Cuba were allowed to keep their posts in Santiago).

After American military commander William Shafter excluded Cubans from negotiations for the surrender of Santiago, declined to invite García to the surrender ceremonies, and let Spanish authorities remain in control of Santiago until the U.S. could establish a military government, García resigned from the rebel army in protest on July 17th, 1898.

García died of pneumonia on December 11th, 1898 while on a diplomatic mission in Washington, D.C. Today, his portrait is on the 50 Cuban peso banknote.

• Date: 1836-08-04
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.encyclopedia.com.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

UPS Strike (1997)

Mon Aug 04, 1997

Image: A still from video footage of a 1997 UPS strike rally. Many signs read "UPS UNFAIR TO TEAMSTERS" [rankandfile.ca]

On this day in 1997, United Parcel Service (UPS) workers, organized with the Teamsters, went on a massive strike that lasted 16 days and cost UPS ~$600 million, winning more full-time positions and significantly higher wages.

The UPS strike, led by International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) President Ron Carey, involved over 185,000 teamsters and effectively shut down UPS operations for 16 days. UPS stated their losses during the strike were approximately $600 million, and the Teamsters took out a loan to pay $10 million to strikers manning picket lines.

Grievances centered around UPS's use of part-time workers, which were paid less than full-time workers and constituted over 2/3rds of the workforce. Slogans of the campaign included "Half a Job is Not Enough" and "Part-time American Won't Work!".

The strike ended in victory for the union, resulting in a new contract that increased their wages, secured their existing benefits, and gave increased job security.

• Date: 1997-08-04
• Learn More: www.labornotes.org, www.rankandfile.ca.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Roger Casement Executed (1916)

Thu Aug 03, 1916

Roger Casement was a human rights journalist and Irish revolutionary who was executed on this day in 1916 by the British state for treason after trying to acquire military aid for Irish Republicans before the Easter Rising. Casement's work in the first decade of the 20th century exposed imperialist atrocities in the Congo and Peru.

Casement began his career working for Henry Morton Stanley and the African International Association, a front for King Leopold II of Belgium in his efforts to colonize the Congo.

In 1890, Casement met author Joseph Conrad, who had come to the Congo to pilot a merchant ship. According to author Liesl Schillinger, both were inspired by the idea that "European colonisation would bring moral and social progress to the continent and free its inhabitants 'from slavery, paganism and other barbarities.' Each would soon learn the gravity of his error."

In 1904, Casement published the "Casement Report", which, via interviews with workers, overseers, and mercenaries, exposed the enslavement, mutilation, and torture of natives on the rubber plantations. The report caused an international scandal and led to the creation of various reform organizations in the West.

A few years later, Casement traveled to the Putumayo District in South America, where rubber was being harvested in the Amazon Basin, and exposed the treatment of indigenous people in Peru. Finding conditions just as inhumane as what he witnessed in the Congo, Casement interviewed both the Putumayo and men who had abused them, publishing his findings in a first-person narrative that again caused an international scandal.

In November, 1914 Casement helped form the Irish Volunteers. He traveled to both the United States and Germany to both promote the Irish nationalist cause and acquire aid for it.

In 1916, Casement was captured by the British government and charged with high treason after he attempted to acquire military aid from Germany to aid the Irish nationalist cause. During trial proceedings, the government secretly circulated alleged excerpts from Casement's journals, the "Black Diaries", which detailed sexual acts with other men. The authenticity of these documents is still debated today.

Casement was hanged at Pentonville Prison on August 3rd, 1916 at 51 years old.

"Self government is our right, a thing born to us at birth a thing no more to be doled out to us by another people then the right to life itself then the right to feel the sun or smell the flowers or to love our kind."

- Roger Casement

• Date: 1916-08-03
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.rte.ie.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org