#OtD 26 Mar 1923, in Yambol, Bulgaria, during an anarchist protest against the government decision to disarm the people, the army shot into the crowd, killing 30 and wounding and arresting many others. Others were executed the following day and in April.
#OtD 25 Mar 1926 20 police with clubs attacked 1500 striking textile workers in Passaic, NJ. They were fighting against pay cuts, for a shorter working week and for unionisation of the industry. 5 strikers and 3 truck driver supporters were arrested.
#OtD 19 Mar 1969 the UK Labour govt sent troops to invade Anguilla after locals rebelled against being put under the authority of the St Kitts govt - which hated them. The invaders, expecting to fight mafiosi & Black power activists, found only goats.
#OtD 14 Mar 2018 Marielle Franco, bisexual Afro-Brazilian socialist and feminist was assassinated in Rio de Janeiro. She spoke out against extrajudicial killings by police. The suspects so far all have links to police, security forces or Pres Bolsonaro.
#OtD 14 Mar 1883 Engels sent a wire to Friedrich Sorge saying simply "Marx died today!". Karl Marx died in London, aged 64. Marx's magnum opus, Capital, is still the most devastating critique of capitalist political economy. Works by and about him here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/karl-marx
#OtD 8 Mar 1920, anarchists, Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman met with, Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, and expressed their concern with the lack of freedom of press and the suppression of dissent in Soviet Russia. https://libcom.org/library/alexander-berkman-bolshevik-myth
#OtD 27 Jan 1987 Swiss revolutionary Clara Thalmann died aged 77. She previously fought in the Spanish civil war then joined the French resistance under Nazi occupation, helping Jewish and revolutionary refugees. Learn more: https://libcom.org/history/articles/1910-1987-clara-thalmann
#OtD 19 Jan 1970 Spanish civil war fighter and textile worker militant Libertad Rodenas died in Mexico, aged 76. She had fought in the anarchist Durruti Column during the revolution, and joined the Mujeres Libres women's group. Short biography: https://libcom.org/history/rodenas-libertad-1893-1970
#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/
#OtD 16 Jan 1997 saw the collapse of huge pyramid schemes in #Albania leading to the toppling of the government. Hundreds of thousands lost life savings and family homes; in response, workers demanded the government reimburse them https://libcom.org/library/upheaval-land-eagles
#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.
#OtD 22 Dec 2011 in Athens, the workers at Elefterotypia, Greece’s 2nd-biggest daily paper, walked out on an indefinite strike in protest against not having been paid since Aug. They later launched their own collectively-run paper.
#OtD 14 Dec 1914 gen Silva Renard, the officer responsible for Chile's worst massacre was stabbed by Antonio Ramón Ramón, a Spanish anarchist. Silva's troops killed up to 3500 people in 1907, including Ramón's brother. He survived with permanent injuries.
#OtD 28 Nov 1985 a Shell report showed they knew that global heating was real, caused by fossil fuels, and that global temp and sea levels were rising and would rise further. So they covered it up and began sponsoring fake studies to deny climate change.
#OtD 6 Oct 1985 Tottenham, London went up in flames as residents of the Broadwater Farm estate rose up against police after the killing of Cynthia Jarrett, an African-Caribbean mother by police, shortly after other officers also shot Cherry Groce.
#OtD toots & podcast. History isn't made by kings or politicians, it's made by billions of ordinary people. Our first book is out now at https://shop.workingclasshistory.com