Working Class History
Working Class History#OtD 17 Jan 1937 communist philosopher and veteran of France 1968, Alain Badiou, was born. Described as the "world's leading philosopher of communism", he has authored many influential works, some of which are available in our online store: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/alain-badiou
Working Class History#OtD 17 Jan 1928 Vidal Sassoon, anti-fascist hairdresser born. Aged 17 he joined the 43 Group, formed by Jewish ex-servicemen, which smashed Oswald Mosley's fascists off the streets of London. Sassoon's weapon of choice? A pair of scissors. Learn more: https://workingclasshistory.com/2020/02/17/e35-37-the-43-group/
Working Class History#OtD 15 Jan 1978 the Scala nightclub in Barcelona was firebombed, killing 4 of the workers, most of whom were anarchists. Police blamed anarchists but a police agent was actually responsible, attempting to crush the reborn @Cntsindicato@mastodon.social union https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8674/scala-firebombing
Working Class History#OtD 14 Jan 1987 student Park Jong-chul was tortured to death by police in Seoul for opposing the US-backed dictatorship. When his murder was uncovered it sparked the June Democratic Struggle which brought down the dictatorship. Learn more in our podcast: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e91-92-south-korea-1987/
Working Class History#OtD 13 Jan 1949 workers at Calvary Cemetery in NYC went on strike in the first recorded strike by Catholic laity against Catholic clergy. The cardinal—who wouldn't give workers Saturdays off—notably brought in seminary students as strikebreakers https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8478/catholic-cemetery-workers-strike
Working Class History#OtD 12 Jan 1989 punks were identified as the main problem in a "youth analysis" by the East German govt. Punks were surveilled, arrested and beaten, had their mohawks cut off, movements restricted and badjacketed if they refused to be informants https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8402/ddr-punk-problem
Working Class History#OtD 12 Jan 1964 the Zanzibar revolution occurred when the Black African majority overthrew the ruling Sultan and 200 years of racist Arab minority rule, which had been preserved and strengthened during British occupation which ended in 1963 https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8398/zanzibar-revolution
Working Class History#OtD 12 Jan 1928 Clemente Chávez, a Mexican member of the @iww@mastodon.social union, was murdered during an attack by bosses' thugs in the Walsenburg, Colorado IWW union hall during a coal strike. A bystander, Salistino Martinez, was killed on the street outside https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8397/clemente-ch%C3%A1vez-murdered
Working Class History#OtD 12 Jan 1865 20 Black leaders met with Union Gen. William Sherman in Savannah, GA. "40 acres & a mule" plan was devised to seize 400k acres from Confederate landowners to freed Black families to help defeat the Confederacy. Pres Johnson reversed it https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8390/40-acres-and-a-mule-plan
Working Class History#OtD 12 Jan 1904 a rebellion began by Herero people in Namibia against German occupation. Eventually however, they were defeated by the Germans, who attempted to exterminate all Herero people in what is considered the 1st genocide of the 20th century https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8394/herero-revolt