Working Class History
Working Class History#OtD 25 Jan 2019 flights into NYC's LaGuardia airport were halted by a sick-out of air-traffic controllers during a govt shutdown by pres Trump to get funding for a border wall. IRS and TSA workers also called in sick. Just hours later, Trump caved https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9745/air-traffic-control-sick-out
Working Class History#OtD 25 Jan 1911 Kanno Sugako, Japanese writer and anarchist feminist, was executed for her part in a plot to assassinate the Emperor. Radicalised at 14 after being raped, she remains the only woman to be executed in Japan for treason https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9739/kanno-sugako-executed
Working Class History#OtD 24 Jan 1979 a 35-year-old teacher from India arrived in London to marry her British fiancé. The immigration officer ordered that she be given a "virginity test" – state sanctioned sexual assault. Public outcry then led to the practice being ended https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9654/uk-immigrant-%22virginity-testing%22
Working Class History#OtD 22 Jan 1971 25 homeless families occupied an empty apartment block in the working class neighbourhood of Quarto Oggiaro, Milan. They were attacked by over 2,000 police but the families' militancy forced the local council to rehouse them https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9476/quarto-oggiaro-occupation
Working Class History#OtD 22 Jan 2018 legendary anarchist author Ursula K Le Guin died aged 88 in Portland, Oregon. An ardent feminist and advocate for diversity in literature and publishing, she won numerous awards for her work. We have made available some of her books here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/ursula-k-le-guin
Working Class History#OtD 21 Jan 1921 striking workers in Santa Cruz, Argentina, seized 2 ranches demanding better pay and conditions. While there was a negotiated settlement, an army unit later arrived and killed up to 1500 workers by the following year https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9376/la-anita-ranch-seized
Working Class History#OtD 21 Jan 2019 workers at Italpizza in Modena, Italy went on strike against pay cuts. The mostly women and migrant workers were threatened by factory guards, and beaten and arrested by police, but organised more strikes throughout 2019 https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9382/modena-pizza-strike
Working Class History#OtD 20 Jan 1969, at a Nixon counter-inaugural protest, SDS activist, Marilyn Salzman Webb, tried to speak about women's oppression. Men heckled her shouting, "Take her off the stage and fuck her!" until she was drowned out. Learn more about the movt: https://workingclasshistory.com/2020/09/23/e43-46-the-movement-against-the-vietnam-war-in-the-us/
Working Class History#OtD 20 Jan 1893 at dawn, hundreds of peasants in Sicily started working on land owned by the city of Caltavuturo: land they believed to be rightfully theirs. Police responded by firing on the peasants, killing 13 and wounding 40 https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9267/caltavuturo-massacre
Working Class History#OtD 17 Jan 1893 a coup d'état took place in Hawaii, organised by United States. A republic was briefly declared, and the island was annexed by the US five years later: the first of many overseas imperialist conquests by the nation https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8879/us-organised-coup-in-hawaii