Working Class History

Media On this day, 4 December 1969, Chicago Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were killed by police in Chicago. Hampton was murdered while asleep in his bed during a raid on his apartment by Chicago Police in conjunction with the FBI. Hampton had been drugged earlier in the evening by an FBI informant, who also told agents the location of Hampton's bed, where he slept alongside his nine-month pregnant fiancée, Akua Njeri. Several other Panthers were injured. Aged just 21, Hampton (pictured, right) was an active, charismatic and effective organiser, who had been making significant inroads into making links with working class whites and building a "Rainbow Coalition" including Puerto Rican, Native American, Chicane, white and Chinese-American radicals. Clark (left), aged 22, had been active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), before joining the Panthers, establishing a chapter in Peoria, Illinois, and setting up a free breakfast programme for local children. He was acting as security in the apartment at the time of the raid, and had a shotgun in his lap. He was shot in the heart and killed instantly.Fellow Panthers Blair Anderson, Verlina Brewer, Brenda Harris and Ronald “Doc” Satchel were all wounded in the attack.Hampton and Clark were amongst the most prominent victims of the FBI's COINTELPRO program, which amongst other things was instructed by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to "prevent the rise of a Black Messiah".Learn more about the Panthers in these books by former members: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/black-panthersTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 4 December 1853, Errico Malatesta, an Italian mechanic and key anarchist theorist was born in Italy. He was much feared by authorities, who sentenced him to death three times, and Malatesta spent many years either in prison or in exile. Italian police reports about him describe his effectiveness as an organiser: "Malatesta’s return from London was the signal for a reawakening of the anarchist movement in Ancona… Malatesta immediately set about reorganising it… In a short time in Ancona, anarchists and sympathisers number some 600 individuals, consisting predominantly of dock porters, workers, and criminal elements of the town… his qualities as an intelligent, combative speaker who seeks to persuade with calm, and never with violent, language, are used to the full to revive the already spent forces of the [anarchist] party, and to win converts and sympathisers, never losing sight of his principle goal, which is to draw together the forces of the party, and undermine the bases of the State, by hindering its workings, paralyse its services, and doing anti-militarist propaganda, until the favourable occasion arises to overturn and destroy the existing State".Malatesta was clear that at its root, anarchism was a socialist idea: "Anarchy is synonymous with Socialism. Because both signify the abolition of exploitation and of the domination of man over man, whether maintained by the force of arms or by the monopolisation of the means of life… It is not perfection, nor is it the absolute ideal, which, like the horizon, always recedes as we advance towards it. But it is the open road to all progress and to all improvement, made in the interest of all humanity."Despite the repression he experienced, Malatesta remained active until the end of his life at the age of 78. This book is a great account of his life and ideas: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/life-and-ideas-the-anarchist-writings-of-errico-malatestaTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media Given that large numbers of people have been closing their Twitter accounts and moving to Bluesky, we wanted to just let people know that we have a Bluesky account which posts lots more of our on this day in history stories every day. If you have a Bluesky account please give us a follow at https://bsky.app/profile/wrkclasshistory.bsky.socialTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 3 December 1946, 100,000 workers in California downed tools in support of a strike by 400 mostly women department store workers, in what would become known as the Oakland general strike. In the early hours of the morning, truck drivers, streetcar and bus drivers and passengers in the downtown section of the city got out of their vehicles. Crowds of workers milled around and began to organise themselves. Merchant mariner Stan Weir described what happened next:"By nightfall the strikers had instructed all stores except pharmacies and food markets to shut down, Bars were allowed to stay open, but they could serve only beer and had to put their juke boxes out on the sidewalk to play at full volume and no charge. 'Pistol Packin' Mama, Lay That Pistol Down', the number one hit, echoed off all the buildings. That first 24-hour period of the 54-hour strike had a carnival spirit. A mass of couples danced in the streets. The participants were making history, knew it, and were having fun. By Tuesday morning they had cordoned off the central city and were directing traffic. Anyone could leave, but only those with passports (union cards) could get in. The comment made by a prominent national network newscaster, that 'Oakland is a ghost town tonight,' was a contribution to ignorance. Never before or since had Oakland been so alive and happy for the majority of the population. It was a town of law and order. In that city of over a quarter million, strangers passed each other on the street and did not have fear, but the opposite."American Federation of Labour union officials then called off the strike without gaining any concessions for the striking retail workers.Learn more about this strike and other mass strikes in US history in this excellent book: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/strike-jeremy-brecherTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 3 December 1944, British-trained and -equipped Greek police, alongside Nazi collaborators, fired on an anti-Nazi demonstration in Athens, killing 28 people, while US and British troops watched. Previously British forces had attempted to disperse the crowd and shot tracer fire over the heads of demonstrators, to no avail. One protester, Titos Patrikios, recalled to the Guardian newspaper: “I can still see it very clearly, I have not forgotten the police firing on the crowd from the roof of the parliament at the top of Syntagma Square in Athens. The young men and women lying in pools of blood, everyone rushing down the stairs in total shock, total panic.”The demonstrators were supporting anti-fascist partisans, and were brandishing US, UK and Soviet flags, and chanting in support of the leaders of those countries, which were allied against Nazi Germany: “Viva Churchill, Viva Roosevelt, Viva Stalin”.The backbone of the partisan resistance were communists, and so British prime minister Winston Churchill decided to switch allegiances in Greece from the resistance, to the Nazi collaborators and pro-fascists. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had previously agreed with Churchill that Britain could be the dominant post-war power in Greece, in return for unchallenged Soviet influence in Romania.The day after the shootings, British troops began full-scale military operations against Greek partisans, and British warplanes began attacking left-wing neighbourhoods in Athens. What is referred to as a “civil war” resulted, fought between former Nazi collaborators, backed by the UK and US, and the resistance, which eventually resulted in the victory of the right. A brutal dictatorship was implemented in 1949 which remained in place until being overthrown in 1973.This story along with hundreds of others is included in our book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion, available in our online store with global shipping: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-bookTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 2 December 1980 (content note: sexual violence), three Catholic nuns and one lay worker from the US were kidnapped, raped and murdered by government backed and US-trained right-wing death squads during the Salvadorian civil war. Those killed were Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford and Dorothy Kazel. The war raged on for around 20 years and involved brutal violence against workers’ and peasants’ organisations as well as left-wing religious groups. While four low ranking soldiers were later jailed for the murders, the two senior officers responsible for the cover-up went unpunished and were given residency in the United States. They were only eventually deported by 2016 after US immigration courts found them responsible for torture and murder.More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9174/murder-of-us-nuns-in-el-salvadorTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 2 December 1859, US abolitionist John Brown was executed in what is now West Virginia for his leadership of an armed rebellion against slavery.Brown and a small band of Black and white fellow abolitionists attempted to seize the federal arsenal of weapons at Harpers Ferry. The weapons would be used to arm enslaved people and abolitionist whites, and set up a chain of forts across the country which could launch raids on enslavers, helping free large numbers of enslaved people then funnel them north to Canada, meanwhile disrupting the slave economy.On December 2, after a battle with US troops, Brown and his men were defeated. Two of them managed to escape – Osborne Anderson and Albert Hazlett – and the survivors were put on trial for treason, murder and "conspiring with Negroes to produce insurrection".Brown was hanged at 11:15 AM outside the Charles Town jail. On his way to the scaffold he handed a note to one of the guards, which declared: "I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land: will never be purged away; but with blood." In the wake of the attempted uprising, fearing further such attempts, pro-slavery militias formed across the US South. These would soon fight for the Confederacy in the civil war which would break out less than two years later, during which Union troops would sing: "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on."More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/12650/john-brown-executed* If you appreciate our work, please consider supporting us on patreon. Link in bio

Media On this day, 2 December 1984, the world's worst industrial disaster took place in Bhopal, India, when the Union Carbide chemical plant leaked poisonous gases to five million people, killing, blinding and disabling tens of thousands. The crumbling plant had no health and safety measures. The chief executive responsible, Warren Anderson, went unpunished, and of the $470 million compensation paid to the Indian government, only a small fraction made its way to the victims and their families: an average of $500 each. Those exposed continue to die prematurely today, and children continue to be born with disproportionately high incidences of birth defects, cancers and chronic illnesses. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9175/union-carbide-chemical-plant-leak To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this photo

Media On this day, 1 December 1955 Rosa Parks, a Black civil rights activist, refused her bus driver’s order that she give up her seat in the "coloured" section to a white passenger after the white section was filled in Montgomery, Alabama. Contrary to the popular myth that Parks was simply a woman who was tired at the end of the work day and so refused to stand up, she was actually an activist dedicated to fighting segregation, had attended direct action training and had undertaken fundraising work to support other Black women who had previously been arrested for refusing to vacate their seats for white people, like 15 year old Claudette Colvin. Parks later declared "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in." Parks' act triggered a widespread bus boycott across the city, which successfully desegregated public transport in the area. The protest also gave added impetus to the civil rights movement across the US. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8058/rosa-parks-arrested To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this photo

Media Get festive this holiday season and help fund our people's history research with our Christmas tree ornaments and holiday sweaters and t-shirts. All available with global shipping from our online store: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/christmasTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 1 December 1921, striking workers at Castleconnell fisheries in Ireland occupied their workplace and declared a soviet (workers' council). The following day at a Dáil cabinet meeting, labour minister Constance Markiewicz was instructed to contact the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) and inform them that the soviet would be suppressed by the Irish Republican Army. Police and volunteers were also to be used to evict the strikers. However, it appears this did not transpire, and the workers eventually vacated the premises voluntarily on December 22 after the boss agreed to arbitration, which later ruled in favour of the workers.More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8057/castleconnell-sovietTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this imagePictured: Workers at the nearby Bruree Creamery soviet, 1921

Media On this day, 30 November 1961, a covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation known as The Cuban Project or Operation Mongoose was authorised by President John F. Kennedy aimed at overthrowing Cuba's left-wing nationalist government led by Fidel Castro. As a result, the CIA orchestrated multiple terrorist attacks in Cuba, including against railways, oil and food storage, a powerplant, a sawmill and more. While Operation Mongoose was officially closed at the end of 1962, sabotage of the Cuban economy by the US government continues to this day.More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10325/operation-mongoose To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this photo

Media On this day, 30 November 1963, Black tenants in four rundown tenement buildings in Rochester Avenue, Brooklyn, went on rent strike, as part of a wave of rent strikes across the city in protest against slum conditions. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) announced that 11 families were withholding rent, joining 750 families in Harlem on rent strike. They were demanding that the city take over and renovate buildings at 104, 106 and 112 Rochester Ave, and that 110 Rochester Ave be condemned.Marshall English, a New York CORE activist, told the New York Times: "We have talked with landlords, big landlords and have met with a number of city agencies… So far the result has been nil… When the landlord is faced with no rents, then we get some action". More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10326/brooklyn-tenant-strikeIf you value our work researching and promoting history like this please consider supporting us on patreon and accessing exclusive content and benefits. Link in bio

Media On this day, 30 November 1975, UK NHS junior doctors were taking industrial action over new, inferior contracts which began earlier in the month. Ron Singer, a retired doctor, later recalled to the Guardian: "junior doctors took action against the following problems: rotas that enforced working 120 hours one week and 80 the next while being paid for a 40-hour week; appalling conditions in their on-call rooms; and having to provide care for 'their' consultants' private patients, which took them away from NHS commitments."During the dispute, doctors worked strictly to a 40 hour week and dealt with emergencies only, until they reached agreement with the government on an improved offer the following month.Over the course of the struggle, Singer states that: "Juniors found they had more in common with ancillary staff than their consultant bosses. NHS staff learned that they were 'part of the union' and that other workers would rally to support them." * If you enjoy our social media posts be sure to check out our podcasts. In our flagship longform podcast, Working Class History, we speak with participants in social movements about their experiences, and our daily mini podcast, On This Day in Working Class History, has one of our anniversaries each day. We also have a website and map containing thousands of our stories with full sources. All of our work is funded by you, our readers and listeners, on Patreon. To learn more and support us check out our links in our bio.

Media On this day, 29 November 1781, the Zong massacre began, during which crew of a British enslavers' ship began murdering 132 enslaved Africans by throwing them overboard.The vessel was en route from Accra to Jamaica, and began with 442 enslaved people aboard, of whom around 60 died from maltreatment. In the Caribbean, the vessel accidentally overshot Jamaica, and on November 29 it was decided to begin murdering some of the surviving enslaved people, so that the owners of the ship could be compensated for their "loss" by their insurance company.Over the next three days, 132 people were thrown into the sea and killed, and 10 more defied the enslavers by choosing instead to die by suicide. The stated justification for the murders was that the first mate claimed that they were short of water, and if they did not kill some of the Africans, all of them would have died. However, the ship still had large amounts of water upon its arrival in Jamaica.The insurance claim ended up in court in Britain. The humanity of those murdered was not an issue in the case, as they were merely considered property like timber or grain. The claim by the enslavers for damages was denied, as the court decided that the negligence of the crew was responsible. This verdict was later overturned, but there is no evidence of a subsequent court case and its result.The case received widespread publicity, and helped spur a big increase in support for abolition of the slave trade in Britain. This resulted in the foundation of the Abolition Society in 1787.More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/11104/zong-massacreTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this imagePictured: The Slave Ship, painting by JMW Turner inspired by the Zong massacre

Media On this day, 29 November 1864, the Sand Creek massacre took place, when US troops attacked a peaceful gathering of Cheyenne and Arapaho people, camped under a US flag (content note, this post contains graphic descriptions of genocidal and sexual violence).The United States had recognised that the Cheyenne and Arapaho possessed large swathes of land covering parts of present-day Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and Kansas. But after the discovery of gold in the area, settlers invaded the land to mine it, and eventually the government forced the Indigenous peoples to sign a new treaty and give up over 90% of their land.Some chiefs believed the new treaty to be a betrayal, and ignored it, but Mo'ohtavetoo'o (Black Kettle) and his band of Cheyenne and Arapaho wanted peace above all and so signed up to. They first moved to Fort Lyon when directed by the US, then relocated to Big Sandy Creek again at the direction of government.Despite doing everything they were told, even flying a US flag and a white surrender flag above their government-designated camp, up to 900 troops attacked them while the warriors were out hunting. The soldiers butchered up to 170 or more unarmed people, mostly women and children, torturing them then scalping and mutilating the victims and cutting out womens' genitals and attaching them to their hats. Only between 9 and 24 of the attackers were killed.Robert Bent reported in the New York Tribune that he "saw one squaw lying on the bank, whose leg had been broken. A soldier came up to her with a drawn sabre. She raised her arm to protect herself; he struck, breaking her arm. She rolled over, and raised her other arm; he struck, breaking that, and then left her without killing her. I saw one squaw cut open, with an unborn child lying by her side." Meanwhile a local newspaper praised the "brilliant feat of arms" and stated the soldiers had "covered themselves with glory".More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10129/the-sand-creek-massacreTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 29 November 1947, the United Nations general assembly passed resolution 181, which recommended partitioning Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.Despite Arabs comprising nearly 70% of the population, and Jews owning less than 7% of the land, the UN proposed handing over 56% of the land for a Jewish state.The plan was based on the recommendations of the British colonial Peel commission, and while Arab countries, and others including Cuba and India, voted against it, a majority of UN member states voted in favour, including the United States, Soviet Union, South Africa, Canada and Soviet Belarus and Ukraine. The United Kingdom, Yugoslavia and China were among the 10 countries which abstained.Upon hearing the announcement of the vote, Palestinians took to the streets and launched a general strike, and riots broke out. Meanwhile, Zionist armed groups attacked Arab villages, and a fully fledged war soon began. This escalated upon the declaration of Israeli independence in May 1948. While the US and UK placed an embargo on weapons to Israel, the Soviet Union funnelled military aid to them through Czechoslovakia. By 1949, Israel had won the war, forcing over 725,000 Palestinians from their homes, and conquering 77% of Palestinian land.The UN subsequently passed resolution 194, calling for the right to return for refugees, or compensation for those who chose not to return.After another war erupted in 1967, Israel occupied the remainder of historic Palestine, and expelled 300,000 more Palestinians from their homes. Since then, hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements have been constructed all over the occupied West Bank, now housing over 700,000 people. Armed attacks by settlers against Palestinians are an almost daily occurrence, with the United Nations recording 3372 violent settler attacks in the decade up to 2023. Learn more about Palestine under British colonial rule in our podcast episodes 86-87: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e86-87-class-struggle-in-palestine/To access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 28 November 1985, an internal document circulated within the Shell oil corporation stated that: "there has been a global warming over the last 100 years, that the 0.5 degrees increase is a result of CO2 [carbon dioxide] buildup, that we will see a further 1-2 degree warming over the next 40 years… Such a rise would be greater than any change in the last 1,000 years… The global mean sea level has risen by some 15 cm over the last 100 years… By 2050, the range of uncertainty of the rise in global mean sea level is 20-120 cm." It formed part of an extensive confidential internal report by the company produced in 1988 on the greenhouse effect which definitively showed that from at least 1981 Shell was aware of climate change, that it was man-made, that burning fossil fuels was its primary cause, and that it would have catastrophic effects. Despite this, for decades the company covered up its findings, sponsored fake public studies to try to deny climate change, and fought any government attempts to limit CO2 emissions.This story is one of hundreds featured in our book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion, available in our online store with global shipping: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-bookMore information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10048/shell-climate-change-report

Media Today, 28 November, is Thanksgiving in the United States, or a National Day of Mourning for Native Americans in New England, or "Unthanksgiving Day" for some Native Americans on the West Coast. It commemorates pilgrims and Wampanoag people sharing an autumn harvest feast in 1621. Thanksgiving days by English colonists in the 17th century were frequent, and marked what were perceived as gifts from God. Chris Newell, of the Akomawt Educational Initiative explained to Nur Ibrahim: "When it comes to the 17th century English 'days of thanksgiving,' they have no resemblance to the holiday we celebrate today. That holiday was not created until the 19th century. The English day of thanksgiving would have been a day of prayer. If they won a victory in battle that would have been a day of thanksgiving, which was normally a day of fasting, totally different from a feast."Some of these thanksgiving days celebrated genocidal atrocities, such as a massacre of Pequot people by colonists in Mystic, Connecticut in 1637.The modern Thanksgiving holiday as a feast began in 1863 at the behest of president Abraham Lincoln, and was made a national holiday by Congress in 1870. The Indigenous National Day of Mourning began in 1970, after Wamsutta James of the Wampanoag was invited to give a speech by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts celebrating the Pilgrims' arrival. James was uninvited when event organisers read his speech, which stated: "This action by Massasoit [Wampanoag leader who feasted with the English] was perhaps our biggest mistake. We, the Wampanoag, welcomed you, the white man, with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end."You can learn about 500 years of resistance to colonialism in the Americas in this book by Gord Hill: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/500-years-of-indigenous-resistance-gord-hill To access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 28 November 1884, British troops disembarked gunships and marched into Glendale, ending the Hebridean Land Revolt. For two years the mountainous Isle of Skye, off the coast of mainland Scotland, had witnessed a widespread revolt by impoverished crofters. Rents went unpaid. Fences were cut in the night. Land was illegally occupied. Telegraph poles were cut down. Roads were blocked with boulders. And government officials were attacked and beaten by mobs of women and men and children. Finally, in November 1884, the British government authorised a military invasion. War correspondents descended on Skye, reporting that the crofters were raising an army to fight the marines, and it was true that around Uig crofters had posted sentries to watch for the arrival of ships. But at the same time, campaigners were touring the island, urging the most militant crofters to offer no armed resistance. On the morning of 17 November, when three ships and 350 marines arrived, the invaders were met with a scene of total tranquillity. Confused, the boats waited in invasion formation, as the first seventy marines were dispatched to protect police in Uig. Desperate for a story, one correspondent reported that “an old crone” had “cackled” at the soldiers, but this was the extent of the disorder that he could relay. The occupation lasted seven months and not a shot was fired. When the soldiers left in 1885, the agitation restarted, but it was increasingly a parliamentary struggle: in 1884 the franchise was extended to all men paying an annual rent of £10 or more, and this included many of the more affluent crofters. At the 1885 General Election, the land leaguers stood five “Crofters’ Candidates” in the Highlands, and four of them were elected. In 1886 the government agreed to pass the Crofters' Holdings Act, which secured land tenure and access to common grazing rights. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10043/british-military-invades-the-isle-of-skyeTo access this link, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image