Working Class History

Media On this day, 30 November 1970, South Korean garment worker Jeon Tae-il (content note: suicide), after trying to organise for better conditions, poured kerosene on his body and set himself on fire in front of Seoul’s Peace Market.Jeon and other garment workers, mostly women and girls aged 14-24, worked up to 16 hours a day, with very low pay, and only one or two days off work per month. He was motivated by his Christianity, and although he was very poor, he often spent his bus fare on food for his colleagues who worked through their lunch breaks, hungry, and instead walked his three-hour journey back home on foot. Sometimes on the way he would be caught by military curfews, and have to spend the night sleeping at a police station.But he came to realise that individual acts of generosity like this weren’t enough. Seeing the extreme suffering of those he worked with, he made a resolution to himself: “In this horrible world where human beings are stripped of all that is human, I will never compromise with any iniquity. I will not remain silent before any injustice, but pay heed and work to rectify it.”Jeon learned about workers' rights laws which weren't being implemented, and he formed the first union in the market, fighting for an eight hour day, and days off. He persisted in his activism despite being fired multiple times. He attempted to start a cooperative garment factory, but was unable to raise the money to get it off the ground.Eventually, with his efforts not resulting in concrete changes, he resolved to die by ritual suicide, which was the first protest suicide in the workers' movement in the country.After his death, his mother Lee So-sun dedicated her life to continuing his work, organising amongst mostly-women garment workers under the brutal, US-backed military dictatorship. It also spurred organising across the industry over the coming decade, and ultimately contributed to a wave of strikes in the late 70s. Learn more about his life and activism in episode 51 of our podcast: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e51-jeon-tae-il-and-lee-so-sun/To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 12 November 1984, a group of anti-nuclear weapon activists damaged a nuclear missile silo in Missouri, using sledgehammers and a jackhammer. Helen Woodson, Larry Cloud Morgan, and Carl and Paul Kabat were subsequently arrested and given extremely long jail sentences. Woodson and Carl was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment, Paul, 10 years, and Cloud Morgan, eight. After her release Woodson (pictured), a mother of 11, continued to engage in civil disobedience and was repeatedly jailed as a result for violating parole. She was eventually released in 2011, after almost 27 years.If you appreciate our work, please consider supporting us on patreon, and accessing exclusive content and benefits. Link in bio

Media Get your daily dose of people's history with the 2025 Working Class History limited edition wall calendar, available for preorder now with global shipping before Christmas. 8.5" x 11" (22 x 28 cm), on high quality gloss paper, with an item of On this Day in history each day, alongside photographs of ordinary people who have made history accompanying each month. It also includes room for you to do your own year planning. Only 500 copies remaining, so preorder today if you want one in our online store: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/wch-wall-calendarTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 12 November 1956, Israeli military forces massacred at least 111 people in the Palestinian town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.Following the joint Israeli-UK-French invasion of Egypt to prevent nationalisation of the Suez Canal, Israeli forces occupied Egypt’s Sinai peninsular. Fighting ended on November 7, and then arrests and summary executions began of people suspected of taking part in the resistance to the invasion.Men and boys aged 16 to 50 were gathered at a United Nations-run school for refugees who had been expelled from their homes in the Nakba (the creation of Israel) in 1948. They were lined up while bullets were fired over their heads, then interrogated. Suspects were then shot dead and buried.According to US Army Lt Col R.F. Bayard:"It is quite evident that the Israelis do not wish to have United Nations observers circulating in the Strip and reporting upon the actions they are taking against the civilian populace… I have come to the conclusion that the treatment of civilians is unwarrantedly rough and that a good number of persons have been shot down in cold blood for no apparent reason." Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion claimed that 48 people were killed while suppressing a “riot”, whereas a United Nations report identified 111 victims, and Palestinian sources reported nearly 200 dead and 23 others “disappeared”.The incident came a few days after the Khan Yunis massacre of at least 275 Palestinian refugees.More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/12458/rafah-massacre

Media On this day, 11 November 1887, four of the Haymarket martyrs were executed in Chicago. They were anarchist labour organisers framed for a bombing by authorities because of their role in the fight for the 8-hour day. The May Day holiday, International Workers Day on May 1 each year, commemorates the martyrs. Lucy Parsons, a formerly-enslaved Black anarchist activist, and wife of Albert Parsons, one of the martyrs, recalled that day 50 years later:"On that gloomy morning of November 11, 1887, I took our two little children to the jail to bid my beloved husband farewell. I found the jail roped off with heavy cables. Policemen with pistols walked in the enclosure. I asked them to allow us to go to our loved one before they murdered him. They said nothing. Then I said, 'Let these children bid their father goodby, let them receive his blessing. They can do no harm.' In a few minutes a patrol wagon drove up and we were locked up in a police station while the hellish deed was done. Oh, Misery, I have drunk thy cup of sorrow to its dregs but I am still a rebel."The others to be executed were George Engel, Adolph Fischer, August Spies and Louis Lingg, although Lingg cheated the hangman by blowing himself up the previous night.Upon his sentencing, Spies told the court: "if you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labour movement — the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil and live in want and misery, the wage slaves, expect salvation — if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will tread upon a spark, but here, and there, and behind you, and in front of you, and everywhere, flames will blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out. The ground is on fire upon which you stand."On the gallows, he said: "There will be a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today."We've got books and other items commemorating May Day in our online store with global shipping: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/may-day To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this photo

Media Today, 11 November, is Armistice Day, commemorating the end of World War I in 1918. The official commemorations never mention what actually ended the war: the mutinies and revolutions which swept Russia and Germany, as well as Bulgarian, French and British forces, albeit to a lesser extent. So take some time to remember those tens or hundreds of thousands of British troops in World War I who mutinied or tried to find ways of avoiding killing their German fellow workers, like Harry Patch, the last survivor of the war, or the millions of Germans, French and Russians who did likewise. Learn more about the mutinies and combat resistance in our podcast episode 38 with Srsly Wrong: https://workingclasshistory.com/2020/05/26/e38-mutiny-with-srsly-wrong/To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 11 November 1936, the UK's Peel Commission arrived in Palestine in response to the Great Palestinian Revolt. The committee recommended, in its final report, the division of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and the other Arab, and the deportation of more than 200,000 Palestinians from their homes.The British army in Palestine used brutal methods to crush the revolt, including mass arrests, house demolitions, and executions. They also armed and trained Zionist militias to assist with the repression.The chairman and other members of the committee were senior colonial officials who had served in places including India, Tanzania and Kenya.The Arab Higher Committee rejected the idea of a Jewish state and demanded an independent Palestinian state that would protect the rights of Jews and minorities, and demanded an end to immigration and land purchases that were managed by the Zionist movement with the intention of establishing a Jewish state.While the Palestinians gave public testimonies to the commission, the Zionists provided public and secret testimonies. On July 7, 1937, the final report was published, and the recommendation for partition was presented briefly at the end, with an attached map. Zionists were consulted about the borders drawn on the map before issuing the report, which enabled them to persuade the British to include specific areas of great importance within the borders of the Jewish state, which included the Hula Valley, and most of the best, most fertile land.The partition map included in the Peel Report was later used as a basis for the partition map approved by the United Nations in 1947. With the end of British occupation, the plan to partition Palestine was implemented through the 1948 war, and the ethnic cleansing that expelled around 750,000 Palestinians.Written by our sister page @wcharabicLearn more Palestinian and Israeli history in these books: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/palestine

Media On this day, 10 November 1970, Puerto Rican radicals from the Young Lords took over Lincoln Hospital in New York City’s South Bronx. Over 600 people, including clerical workers, nurses and doctors, joined them in occupying the Nurses' Residence in order to publicise the flagrant disregard for human life in New York City hospitals. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8235/lincoln-hospital-occupationTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 10 November 1995, nine Ogoni Indigenous environmental activists were hanged by the Nigerian state. Those killed were Ken Saro-Wiwa (pictured), Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine. Saro-Wiwa advocated for Ogoni rights, and helped organise non-violent resistance to the destruction of Indigenous lands by the Royal Dutch Shell oil company. He was arrested by the military dictatorship, tried and killed. Many witnesses who testified against Saro-Wiwa later recanted, admitting that they had been bribed either by the government or by Shell to lie. Saro-Wiwa was the first of the nine activists to be murdered. It took five attempts for authorities to kill him. His final words were "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues."This story is one of hundreds featured in our first book, which is available here with global shipping: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-bookTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 10 November 1944, 13 members of the Ehrenfeld anti-Nazi resistance group were hanged in the street in Cologne by the Gestapo. Those killed were named Hans Steinbrück, Gustav Bermel, Johann Müller, Franz Rheinberger, Adolf Schütz, Bartholomäus Schink, Günther Schwarz, Roland Lorent, Peter Hüppeler, Josef Moll, Wilhelm Kratz, Heinrich Kratina and Johann Krausen. Steinbrück had escaped from a concentration camp and formed a resistance group based in the suburb of Ehrenfeld. He had stockpiled a number of weapons, and with others had shot several police officers.Six of those executed were working class youths, members of the nationwide underground group the Edelweiss Pirates, which was an anti-authoritarian alternative to the Hitler Youth. There were over 3,000 Pirates in Cologne alone, including Schink, who shirked at work, fought running battles with young Nazis, and carried out acts of sabotage against the military.Learn more about the pirates and related groups in our podcast episode 72: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/72-edelweiss-pirates-swing-kids/To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 9 November 1988, Brazilian security forces murdered three striking workers and wounded dozens. Workers at the Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (National Iron Metallurgy Company) of Brazil had been on strike for a pay increase and for the reinstatement of workers sacked for their political beliefs. Those killed were Carlos Augusto Barroso, 19, William Fernandes Leite, 22 and Valmir Freitas Monteiro, 27. Despite the repression the workers continued their sit in strike for over two more weeks. The massacre was orchestrated by the new "democratic" government after the fall of the military dictatorship. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10942/volta-redonda-massacreTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 9 November 1918, German workers were fighting to end World War I as revolution swept the country and the Kaiser abdicated. Berlin was gripped by an anti-war general strike, while rebel sailors, soldiers and workers were taking to the streets. The deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Philipp Scheidemann, learned that revolutionary socialist Karl Liebknecht, fresh from prison, planned to declare a socialist republic. So to avoid being outmanoeuvred, he defied the party leader and took to a balcony at the Reichstag where he declared a republic. That evening, dozens of workers from large Berlin factories, mistrusting the SPD leadership, occupied the Reichstag and announced elections to factory and army regiment councils to form a revolutionary government the following day. We've got a book about the German revolution, as well as a t-shirt commemorating it, made by a workers' cooperative supporting grassroots unions in South Asia, available with global shipping: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/german-revolutionTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 9 November 1938, a pogrom against Jewish people throughout Nazi Germany was carried out by the fascist Brownshirts and antisemitic civilian supporters. It was dubbed by the Nazis as "Kristallnacht", named after the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were smashed. At least 91 people were murdered in the assault, while the number of deaths became hundreds with the addition of post-arrest assaults and suicides. Some 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10940/kristallnachtTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 8 November 1965, Harold Wilson, the "socialist" Labour prime minister, authorised the establishment of the British Indian Ocean Territory. This was the first act in the ethnic cleansing of the Chagos archipelago. Over the next few years every member of the Chagossian population was forcibly removed from their home, never to return. One foreign office official wrote to diplomat Dennis Greenhill, saying: “We must surely be very tough about this. The object of the exercise was to get some rocks which will remain ours. There will be no Indigenous population except seagulls." Greenhill replied: "Along with the birds go some few Tarzans or Men Fridays". The Indigenous people were allowed to take just one suitcase each before being forcibly transferred to the Seychelles, and any pets were destroyed. The purpose of this ethnic cleansing was so that government could lease the largest island to the United States for $1 per year for them to establish a military base.More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10846/ethnic-cleansing-of-the-chagos-islandsTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media Our first graphic novel is available now, with global shipping! In the early twentieth century, strikes and union battles were common in industrial centers throughout the US. But nothing compared to the class warfare of the West Virginia mine wars. The origins of this protracted rebellion were in the dictatorial rule of the coal companies over the proud, multiracial, immigrant and native-born miners of Appalachia.Our illustrated history begins with Mary Harris “Mother” Jones's arrival at the turn of the century. Whitehaired, matronly, and fiercely socialist, Jones became known as the “miners’ angel” and helped turn the fledgling United Mine Workers into the nation’s most powerful labor union. “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living” was her famous battle cry.This graphic interpretation of people’s history features unforgettable main characters while also displaying the diverse rank and file workers who stood in solidarity during this struggle. https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/black-coal-and-red-bandanas-an-illustrated-history-of-the-west-virginia-mine-warsTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 8 November 1939, factory worker and folk musician Georg Elser attempted to assassinate German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. He bombed the pub where Hitler stayed every year on the anniversary of the Nazi putsch of 1923. Elser began work in an arms factory in 1936, and decided to try to kill Hitler. Under police interrogation he explained he made the decision because he believed Hitler was preparing to bring Germany into another war, among other reasons like how wages had been driven so low by the Nazi regime.In 1938 Elser began stealing small amounts of explosives from the factory where he worked, and knew that Hitler travelled to the Buergerbraukeller beer hall in Munich each year to celebrate the putsch. So he moved to Munich and attempted to get a job in the pub. In this effort he was unsuccessful, so he got a job in a quarry where he could steal more explosives, and began eating in the pub every day. Just before closing, he hid in a cupboard, and after everyone had left he began hollowing out a pillar to house a timebomb.He set it to go off at 9:20 PM on November 8, by which time Hitler had previously arrived. But on this occasion, unbeknownst to Elser, Hitler cancelled his stay and left just 13 minutes earlier. Instead the bomb killed six senior Nazis as well as a waitress. Despite torture, Elser refused to implicate anyone else in the attack, and he was sent to the Dachau concentration camp where he was murdered a few days before liberation.If you appreciate our work researching and promoting people's history like this, please consider joining us on Patreon, where you can support our work and access exclusive content and benefits

Media On this day, 7 November 1949, revolutionary carpenter, postal worker and environmental activist martyr Judi Bari was born. A member of both the radical Industrial Workers of the World union and eco-direct action group Earth First! she was key in building links between activists protecting ancient redwood trees and logging workers whose livelihoods were under threat from unsustainable logging. After receiving death threats and being rammed by a logging truck, she was blown up by a car bomb. The FBI then tried to claim she had bombed herself. The attack left her disabled and in constant pain until her early death from cancer a few years later, although she continued the struggle until her final days. Learn more about women in the early IWW in episode 16 of our podcast: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/12/02/e16-women-in-the-early-iww/To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 7 November 1912, the Industrial Workers of the World's newspaper the Industrial Worker published the first Mr. Block comic strip by Ernest Riebe. The character Mr. Block is a man "devoid of class-consciousness" who blindly believes that America is the land of opportunity, hard work pays off, and the boss looks out for the employee, thus he is "the personification of all that a worker should not be." Furthermore, through these comics, Riebe satirised reformist organisations such as the American Federation of Labor and the Socialist Party of America. In the next year, twenty-four of the Mr. Block strips were compiled into America’s first radical comic book, and famous IWW songwriter Joe Hill wrote a song named after the character. A large number of Riebe’s comics and writings have been collated in this book: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/mr-block-the-subversive-comics-and-writings-of-ernest-riebeTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 7 November 1917, the October revolution began in Russia (named because of the different calendar which was in use at the time). Bolsheviks, anarchists and Left-Socialist Revolutionaries participated in the overthrow of the Alexander Kerensky-led provisional government, which was committed to continuing Russia's participation in the disastrous First World War. They seized control of key locations in St Petersburg, culminating in the storming of the Winter Palace. Socialist journalist John Reed was with the crowd:"Like a black river, filling all the street, without song or cheer we poured through the Red Arch, where the man just ahead of me said in a low voice: ‘Look out, comrades! Don't trust them. They will fire, surely!’ In the open we began to run, stooping low and bunching together, and jammed up suddenly behind the pedestal of the Alexander Column.‘How many of you did they kill?’ I asked. ‘I don't know. About ten.’"After a few minutes huddling there, some hundreds of men, the army seemed reassured and without any orders suddenly began again to flow forward. By this time, in the light that streamed out of all the Winter Palace windows, I could see that the first two or three hundred men were Red Guards, with only a few scattered soldiers. Over the barricade of firewood we clambered, and leaping down inside gave a triumphant shout as we stumbled on a heap of rifles thrown down the yunkers who had stood there."More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10739/october-revolution-beginsTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image

Media On this day, 6 November 1918, the 1918 German revolution had reached the first big city, Hamburg. Workers and soldiers elected a council and took power. Wherever patrolling sailors saw officers, they took away their weapons and pulled off their epaulettes. In the evening workers’ councils took control in Bremen and Bremerhaven, then Oldenburg, then Hannover where sailors stopped an attack by troops of general Karl von Hänisch. Everywhere the demands were the same: the Kaiser Wilhelm II must go, free elections, women’s right to vote, free speech, release of all political prisoners.Learn more about the German revolution in this book: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/all-power-to-the-councils-a-documentary-history-of-the-german-revolution-of-1918-1919-gabriel-kuhn-edTo access this hyperlink, click our link in bio # 1 then click this image