On this day in history: Nelson Mandela released, 1990

Nelson Mandela was born on 18th July 1918 in a small village called Mvezo, near Umtata the capital of the Transkei. His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a member of the Thembu royal family and chief of Mvezo until the colonial authorities removed him following an argument with a European. The family moved to Qunu where Mphakanyiswa died when Nelson was only nine years old.

The regent of the Thembu, Jongintaba, became Mandela's guardian, sending him to a Wesleyan mission school where he was a gifted pupil. Mandela attended a Wesleyan college in Fort Beaufort before enrolling at Fort Hare University, where he became involved in student politics. His involvement in agitation against university policy resulted in him being expelled.

To escape from an arranged marriage, Mandela moved to Johannesburg with Jongintaba, the regent's son. He eventually found employment with a legal firm and completed a BA by correspondence with the University of South Africa. He then began to law at the University of Witwatersand where he first met many people who would later be part of the anti-apartheid movement.

Following the 1948 election victory of the National Party cemented the apartheid policy, Mandela became a political activist. In December 1956 the South African authorities arrested Mandela along with 150 others on charges of treason. A five year trial followed, during which all defendants received acquittals.

To begin with Mandela was committed to the principles of non-violent resistance made famous by Mahatma Gandhi, but in response to an increase in state repression, he co-founded and became leader of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation"). The group engaged in bombing campaigns against government and military buildings, while not harming any people. Mandela coordinated these campaigns and travelled abroad to raise funds for the group.

On 5th August 1962, the security police followed a CIA tip-off and arrested Mandela. He faced charges of inciting workers to strike and travelling abroad illegally for which he was found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment. Following the arrest of many leaders of the ANC in 1963, Mandela faced trial again on charges of sabotage and other treasonous activities. Found guilty he escaped the death penalty, but received a sentence of life imprisonment.

Robben Island became Mandela's home for eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison. While there he engaged in hard labour in a lime quarry and also received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London after studying by correspondence. Meanwhile he became a cause célèbre as international opinion turned against the South African government and their segregationist policies.

In 1982, the authorities relocated Mandela and the other ANC leaders to Pollsmoor Prison near Cape Town. Three years later Mandela met with a representative of the National Party government at the Volks Hospital in Cape Town where he was undergoing treatment on his prostate. Nevertheless, no progress was made until Frederik Willem de Klerk became president in August 1989.

The following February de Clerk lifted the ban on the ANC and the other anti-apartheid organisations and announced the imminent release of Nelson Mandela. On 11th February 1990, millions of television viewers watched Nelson Mandela leave Victor Verster Prison in Paarl as a free man. He resumed his role as a leader of the ANC taking part in the four years of negotiations with the government.

In recognition of the attempts at peace and reconciliation the Nobel prize committee awarded Mandela and de Clerk with the Peace Prize in 1993. A year later the first South African multi-racial elections took place. The ANC received 62% of the vote and Mandela became the first black president of South Africa. He remained in office for five years becoming a world statesman, a position he still holds.


BBC News footage of Mandela's release

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Foundation of the African National Congress: 8th January 1912
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On this day in history: Battle of George Square, 1919

In the 1910s and 1920s the urban sprawl around Glasgow, including the towns Clydebank, Greenock, and Paisley were centres of working class radicalism. This era, known as 'Red Clydeside' involved strikes and other forms of labour unrest as well as opposition to the First World War and rent strikes. After the end of the war the Clydeside trades unions organised a campaign for the reduction of the working week to forty hours from fifty-four to improve conditions and create jobs for the returning troops who swelled the ranks of the unemployed.

The Scottish Trade Union Congress and the Clyde Workers' Committee called a strike and organised a large rally on 31st January 1919 in George Square, Glasgow. A crowd of between sixty- and ninety-thousand gathered to hear the result of a meeting between of strike leaders and the Lord Provost. During the meeting scuffles broke out between the strikers and the police. Various causes have been attributed to the outbreak of violence including an unprovoked baton charge by the police, and the continued use of trams through the square during the meeting.

Whatever the cause, the delegation themselves became caught up in the pitched battles when they left the meeting to attempt to calm the strikers. Police attacks on the crowd, which included women and children, were met with the retaliation of strikers and their improvised weaponry that included stones, bottle and iron railings. Running battles continued for hours through central Glasgow in what became known as 'Bloody Friday.'

In the aftermath, not only did the authorities arrest the leaders of the strike, but they also sent around 10,000 English soldiers to Glasgow along with a number of tanks. The authorities confined Scottish troops to their barracks for fear that they may join their fellow Scots in open revolt. Since it was only fourteen months since the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, the Coalition government may have feared that a similar insurrection was in the offing.

Tanks and soldiers in Saltmarket area of Glasgow

Ten days after the riot, the strike leaders called off the action after securing a 47-hour week. Those who the police took into custody faced trial at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, which found them guilty. Manny Shinwell, William Gallacher and David Kirkwood each served several months in prison with each later being elected as Members of Parliament.

The University of Strathclyde website hosts a number of pages dedicated to Red Clydeside: A history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932.

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On this day in history: Slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia, 1800

On August 30th 1800, a group of slaves from Henrico County, Virginia, marched on Richmond. The slaves had planned the insurrection for months, under the leadership of Gabriel Prosser. They managed to secure weaponry such as clubs and swords for the revolt. Once in the city the slaves intended to capture more arms, and spark a general slave insurrection.



They were prevented from reaching Richmond by a storm that washed out the bridges and made the roads impassable. Governor Monroe promptly responded, having already been made aware of the plot after two slaves alerted the authorities of what was planned. Monroe called out more than 600 troops and contacted every militia commander in the state. The authorities arrested many of the slaves but Prosser escaped. Of those captured 35 suffered the death penalty. Following his capture in late September, Gabriel Prosser refused to talk and was also executed.



To learn more about the revolt read Herbert Aptheker's account, an extract from his book American Negro Slave Revolts (1943) hosted on the World History Archives site.



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French Abolished Slavery for Second Time: 28th April 1848

On this day in history: Haitian Revolution, 1791

At the time of the Storming of the Bastille in Paris, the French territories on the island of Hispaniola, known as Saint-Domingue, produced forty per cent of the world's sugar utilising slave labour. As well as slaves, there were many free men of mixed European and African descent in Saint-Domingue, collectively known as the gens de coleur, who called for an end to the rigidly stratified society and for equal rights in the years before the French Revolution. Following the events of 1789, particularly the Declaration of the Rights of Man, these calls became louder.



Julian Raimond, a rich indigo planter of mixed-race, travelled to France to make an appeal to the National Constituent Assembly for full civil equality. Meanwhile, a colleague of Raimond's, Vincent Ogé, returned to Saint-Domingue, to demand the right to vote. Ogé responded to to the Colonial Governor refusal by leading a revolt against the colonial authorities.



The revolt failed and Ogé along with other insurgents were publicly tortured and executed in February 1791. A few month's later, the Assembly passed legislation granting the right to vote to non-whites in the colonies. Yet, the colonial authorities on Saint-Domingue continued to resist, alienating the gens de coleur.



On 22nd August 1791, thousands of slaves in Plaine du Nord at the north of the colony rose in revolt. While the efforts of Raimond and Ogé were not directed at liberating slaves - in fact, Raimond himself owned slaves - the leaders of the slave revolt cited the treatment of Ogé as a key factor in their decision to revolt. Within two weeks the slaves took control of the northern province. As the revolt spread across the island, the slaves killed thousands of Europeans and burnt their plantations.



It took the invasion of British troops and the promise of the end of slavery to end the revolt. The former slave and leader of the revolt, Toussaint Louverture, defected to the side of the French Republic bringing many of the slaves with him. After defeating the English and local rivals, he ended the revolt and restored the colony to titular French control. Nevertheless, Toussaint effectively ruled the former colony as an independent state, paving the way for the full independence of Haiti in 1804.



See the excellent Louverture Project wiki for more information.



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Foundation of first permanent British colony in the Caribbean: 28th January 1624

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On this day in history: Buffalo Nine arrested, 1968

In the summer of 1968, a group of anti-war protesters centred on the University of Buffalo in New York State began to engage in draft resistance. Fearing arrest, a number of them sought sanctuary in the Unitarian Universalist Church on Elmwood Avenue. They remained for twelve days attracting a group of supporters, while the Unitarian minister mediated between the activists and the F.B.I agents, U.S. Marshals and city police who surrounded the building.



The mediation failed: on 19th August the Federal Marshall's stormed the church, which they forcefully cleared using blackjacks (or according to some accounts, chains), making eight arrests on charges including draft evasion and assault on federal officers. Those arrested were William Berry, Bruce Beyer, and Bruce Cline of the Buffalo Draft Resistance Union; Vietnam veterans Ray Malak, James McGlynn and Thomas O'Connell; Carl Kroneberg of the Peace and Freedom Party; and Jerry Gross, Chairman of Youth Against War and Fascism. Following an investigation, they later also arrested Bill Yates, an organiser for Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).



In February 1969, the first federal trial of the nine began in a U.S. Courthouse besieged by protesters from the University of Buffalo and elsewhere. After the judge sentenced Beyer to three years imprisonment the nine became a cause célèbre on campus attracting even more support from students and faculty members. A group of students formed the Buffalo Nine Defence Committee and published a newsletter, Liberated Community News, the offices of which were violently raided by the city police much to the disgust of the ACLU. The inability of the jury to reach a verdict on the other defendants' cases necessitated another trial, which became a political circus. Berry, Malak and Yates gave raised fist salutes when introduced and, in contempt of court, Malak and Yates remained seated when the judge left for a recess, actions that probably played a part in their convictions and sentences of three years each. Berry and Kroneberg were acquitted, and the government decided to drop Gross' case after the jury, again, couldn't reach a verdict.



The Buffalonian website hosts a reprint of a 1977 article by Elwin H. Powell, Promoting the Decline of the Rising State, a personal reflection on the anti-war protest movements in the city between 1965-76.



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The Catonsville Nine: 17th May 1968

On this day in history: Peterloo Massacre, 1819

In spite of victory, the Napoleonic Wars left Britain with chronic economic problems. The Government's response, the Corn Laws, resulted in famine and unemployment, which only served to politicise the poorer echelons of society who joined with the political radicals of the middle classes to demand parliamentary reform. Radicals formed organisations to promote their cause, with many being formed in the growing industrial towns in the English midland and northern counties, which were relatively poorly represented in the House of Commons.



In March 1819, a group of Lancashire radicals formed the Manchester Patriotic Union Society to call for reform of Parliament. In the summer of that year, the leaders of the society organised a public meeting for the whole of the county at St. Peter's Fields. They invited some of Britain's leading radical speakers including Major Cartwright, Henry 'Orator' Hunt and Richard Carlile, to make speeches to what they hoped would be the largest assembly ever seen in their county.



Fearing that the meeting might develop into a riot, the local magistrates arranged for around 1500 soldiers to be deployed in Manchester on the day of the meeting, 16th August 1819. Before the meeting, the magistrates gathered in Mr Buxton's house, which overlooked the field, where they became increasingly nervous as the crowd grew - one magistrate estimating that 50,000 people had arrived by midday. The magistrates ordered the special constables to clear a path between their Mr Buxton's house and the stage should they need to disperse the crowd.



When the invited radicals started to speak, at around 1.30pm, the magistrates decided that "the town was in great danger" and ordered the constables to arrest the speakers. The deputy constable, Joseph Nadin, replied that he needed military aid to do so. The chairman of the magistrates, William Hulton, wrote two letters instructing the military commanders to assist the constables.



The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry entered the field on horseback, and began to ride along the path cleared by the constables. Seeing what was intended, members of the crowd linked arms to prevent the soldiers reaching the stage and closed the pathway. In response, some of the yeomanry began to slash at the crowd with their sabres to force their way to the hustings, where they arrested not only the speakers and the organisers, but also the newspaper reporters who had gathered there. Fearing that the crowd was attacking the yeomanry, Hulton then sent in the 15th Hussars to rescue the yeomanry by clearing the crowd. By 2pm the soldiers had cleared most people from the field where eighteen people died and around five-hundred suffered injury, including about one-hundred women.



The actions of the magistrates and military commanders disgusted moderate reformers in Manchester and beyond as reports of the massacre (now called 'Peterloo', a reference to the battle of Waterloo) appeared in the press. Conversely, the government responded by congratulating the magistrates and passed legislation to prevent mass-meetings from taking place again. The organisers and speakers faced trial in March of the following year: four men were found guilty and sentenced to between one and two-and-half years in prison; four others were acquitted.



To learn more about Peterloo and the radical reform movement see the recollections of one of those arrested at the meeting: Samuel Bamford's Passages in the Life of a Radical (1893) at gerald-massey.org.uk.



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London Corresponding Society founded: 25th January 1792

Haymarket Affair: 4th May 1886

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Night of the Barricades: 10th May 1968

Tlatelolco Massacre: 2nd October 1968

Police baton-charge civil rights marchers in Derry: 5th October 1968

On this day in history: The Tennis Court Oath, 1789

On 5th May 1789 the Estates General of France met at Versailles for the first time in 175 years to ratify various proposed reforms that the King's ministers hoped would end the financial crisis that France found itself mired in. Rather than discuss the new taxes, the representatives of the third-estate were more interested in discussing the organisation of the Estates General. Their concern was that whilst they represented the vast majority of the nation, the other two estates - the clergy and the nobility - would vote together against them since each estate only had one vote.

Attempts at diplomacy between the estates failed, and on 17th June the representatives of the third-estate - by then calling themselves les communes ('the commons') - and a number of delegates from the other two estates who had joined them renamed themselves the National Assembly. They defiantly declared that that since they represented most of the French people then national sovereignty resided with them; although, initially at least, they still recognised the authority of King Louis XVI whose consent they would seek in order to pass any new laws.

Louis, however, was not about to be dictated to. Rather, on 19th June, he chose to go to the National Assembly, annul any degrees it had made, command the clerical and noble delegates to return to their respective orders, and then draw up popular legislation to bring the third-estate back into the fold. He ordered that the hall in which the National Assembly met be locked and a guard be placed there to prevent them meeting while he met in session with leading courtiers to plan how to proceed.

Consequently, on 20th June 1789 the National Assembly found itself without a place to meet. The delegates commandeered an indoor-tennis court that was close by. Once gathered inside, the recalcitrant deputies took a collective oath in defiance of the King to continue meeting until an acceptable constitution be established for the French nation. This act of unity and defiance that consolidated the revolution enjoyed widespread popularity in France. As a result Louis had little choice but to order the remaining delegates of the first- and second-estate to join the National Assembly.

The History Guide site has a page with the full text of The Oath of the Tennis Court.

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Meeting of the French Estates-General: 5th May 1789
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Paris celebrated la Fête de la Fédération: 14th July 1790
Guillotine used for first time: 25th April 1792
September Massacres begin: 2nd September 1792
Louis XVI executed: 21st January 1793
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On this day in history: Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain, 1898

In March 1521, Ferdinand Magellan became the first European to set foot on one of the islands now known as the Philippines. He named them the Islas de San Lazaro and claimed them for Spain. He set about establishing friendly relationships with the islanders and converting them to Catholicism; however, he became involved in local rivalries between the tribes and took part in the Battle of Mactan during which he was shot with a poisoned arrow and killed.

Following Magellan's death his remaining crew abandoned the islands. The Spanish king, Charles I, sent successive expeditions to the islands. During one of these the islands were renamed as the Las Islas Felipinas in honour of Prince Philip, who was crowned king of Spain in 1556, following the abdication of his father. Early in his reign Philip ordered a fleet to sail for the east. Officially the expedition was one of discovery; in reality it was an expedition of conquest.

Over the next five years the conquistadores defeated the native kingdoms and established colonial rule. The repressive policies of the Spanish resulted in a succession of revolts by native islanders and the Chinese communities on the islands. Nevertheless, the Spanish managed to put down the rebellions and maintain control in the face of many invasions from other colonial powers.

The revolts of the nineteenth century took on a distinctly nationalist character and involved islanders of Spanish descent, called Insulares. These included emergent middle classes, well educated and versed in liberal ideas, called the Ilustrados("erudite" or "learned"). The Ilustrados came into conflict with the Peninsulares, the Spanish-born ruling class, over the issue of secularization of Philippine churches whereby native-born priests would take over church affairs in place of clergy belonging to religious orders.

The 1869 liberal victory in Spain resulted in the assignment of Carlos María de la Torre as Governor-General of the islands. He instituted a series of liberal reforms, but opposition from the Peninsulares friars led to his recall to Spain and his replacement with the more hard-liner, Rafael Izquierdo. When Izquierdo dismantled the reforms and managed to alienate the islands' soldiery by subjecting them to personal taxation. Consequently, some of Fort San Felipe garrison mutinied, hoping to spark a national uprising. Nevertheless, the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 was unsuccessful and Izquierdo took the opportunity to deportation many nationalist leaders.

The repressive measures did not end the nationalist cause. In 1892, radical members of La Liga Filipina ("The Philippine League") founded the revolutionary group known as the Katipunan led by Andrés Bonifacio, Ladislao Diwa, Teodoro Plata, Valentín Díaz, and Deodato Arellano. They elected Andrés Bonifacio as the leader of a rebel army. The Katipunan managed to publish two issues of a newspaper called Libertad ("Freedom") before the colonial authorities suppressed it and arrested a number of their leaders. Threatened with arrest the remaining leaders decided to go on the offensive and in August 1896 the revolution began when they tore up their Cedulas ("tax certificates") shouting "Long live the Philippines!" in an act that became known as "Cry of Pugad Lawin".

In spite of a major defeat at San Juan del Monte in Manila, the revolutionaries inspired revolts in neighbouring provinces. Overcoming factional differences the revolution grew in strength, achieving a series of victories. Nevertheless, the arrival of Spanish reinforcements forced the revolutionaries to sign a peace treaty called the Pact of Biak-na-Bato in 1897, which required the exile of the leading revolutionaries in return for a general amnesty and monetary compensation.

The following year the outbreak of war between the United States and Spain gave the revolutionaries the opportunity they had been waiting for. In May, a U.S. fleet destroyed the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay and set up a blockade. On 12th July 1898 the revolutionary forces of General Emilio Aguinaldo made a declaration of independence at his ancestral home at Cavite el Viejo (now called Kawit). Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista read The Act of the Declaration of Independence, which he had written. Ninety-eight people then signed the Declaration, including an American military officer who acted as witness. As part of the ceremony they raised the National Flag of the Philippines, made in Hong Kong by Mrs. Marcela Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo and Delfina Herboza, after which they performed their national anthem, the Marcha Filipina Magdalo.

Philippine independence did not last for long. In December 1898 the Spanish and Americans signed the Treaty of Paris, by which Spain surrendered the Philippines to the United States. Despite the establishment of an elected government by the revolutionaries the American government appointed a military governor to rule the islands resulting in the Philippine–American War of 1899–1913. On 4th July 1946, the Philippines finally achieved full independence following the liberation of the islands from Japanese occupation.

An English translation of The Act of Declaration of Philippine Independence is available to read on filipino.biz.ph.

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Venezuelan Declaration of Independence: 5th July 1811
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Also on this day in history
French Government banned student organisations, 1968

On this day in history: Belgrade student revolt, 1968

In the late 1960s, student dissatisfaction was not solely confined to capitalist countries. Many students in Yugoslavia shared similar concerns with their fellows at universities in France, the United States, and other countries that had seen campus revolts. The students of the New Belgrade campus resented the privileges of the party elite, and this resentments boiled over on the night of 2nd June 1968.

A popular theatre company were booked to play the university. The students requested that they perform at the university's large open-air amphitheatre but instead authorities arranged for them to play a smaller venue and only make seats available to youth members of the ruling Communist party. On the night of the show, a large group students gathered outside the theatre and attempted to force their way in. When the police drove them out again they reacted by throwing stones at the theatre windows and smashing its doors.


The police responded by sending in a fire-engine to clear the streets, but the students managed to turn it over and set fire to it. They also started turning cars over to form barricades, as they had seen done by Parisian students on the television news. As the police pressed forward the retreated to the university campus where they discussed how to proceed.

The next day, around four thousand students decide to march on the centre of Belgrade to air their grievances: their disgust with the inequalities of the socialist state; their concerns about unemployment; their demand for establishment of real democracy. Halfway along the route, they find their way blocked by thousands of armed police, who fire into the crowd. The ensuing battle creates around seventy casualties.


That afternoon about ten thousand students occupy the Philosophy and Sociology Faculty on the New Belgrade campus and draw up a list of demands. Meanwhile, the streets of Belgrade fill with riot police instructed to squash any further demonstrations. Over the following days many of professors and other faculty staff join with the students in their occupation. Tensions rise - the press demands swift and merciless action against the students and on the 9th June police surround the university. But then, to widespread surprise, President Tito intervenes.

In a television address, he welcomes the students' criticism of the state and endorses their programme of reform. His words defuse the situation, the media performs a volte-face and the riot police disappear. The majority of students are jubilant, but a small hardcore of student activists continue to express their concerns and following another speech Tito, in which he denounced extremism, riot police moved in and cleared the Philosophy and Sociology Faculty on the 20th June. Slowly and surely the status quo was restored.

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Tlatelolco Massacre: 2nd October 1968
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On this day in history: U.S. consulate in Quebec City bombed, 1968

In 1963 a radical group of French-speaking Canadians broke away from Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale, an organisation that sought independence for the Canadian province of Quebec by democratic means. These radical separatists, called the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), decided to take more extreme measures. Drawing inspiration from Marxist-Leninist revolutionaries they hoped to bring about a revolution in Quebec, to this end they produced propaganda and engaged in a bombing campaign.

Before the year was out, the original active members of the FLQ were all under arrest. But, as is often the case with such groups, whilst many see them as terrorists, some will see them as freedom fighters, and a few of these will be compelled to continue the revolution. Over the following years a series of FLQ inspired groups (called Felquistes) formed. By the mid-1960s many of these had joined together and stepped up the bombing campaign. The Canadian authorities responded, making many arrests and forcing the Felquiste leaders into exile.

In 1968, the worldwide wave of revolutionary sentiment and riots also broke across Canada. This resulted in another Felquiste group forming. Again, they employed the dual tactic of propaganda and bombing campaign. They exploded fifty-devices before the end of the year, including one on 24th May 1968, which they planted at the U.S. Consulate in Quebec City, which damaged the building but did not result in any fatalities. Within twelve months, the authorities had enough members of FLQ under arrest to end their campaign.

In spite of the frequent arrests, the ideal of an independent Quebec continued to inspire groups to engage in violence to further their aims. During 1969 a new group of Felquistes formed, as before their main weapon was the bomb; however, they also tried a new tactic: kidnapping. In October 1970, they abducted James Richard Cross, the British Trade Commissioner, and Pierre Laporte, Vice-Premier of Quebec and Minister of Labour. The kidnappers killed Laporte when the Canadian government rejected their demands, but the FLQ released Cross after two months in return for safe passage to Cuba for the kidnappers. From this point on the FLQ's influence declined, possibly due to diminishing public support. Nevertheless, individual Felquistes and small groups occasionally engage in revolutionary violence.

The Marxist Internet Archive includes a number of FLQ propaganda texts as well as other articles about the Felquistes.

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On this day in history: The Catonsville Nine, 1968

In May 1968, while students clashed with police outside, representatives of the United States and North Vietnam began peace talks in Paris to try bring about an end to the Vietnam War. In spite of increased military activity, the United States was no nearer winning the war, which was becoming increasingly unpopular at home. Many Americans believed their Government's prosecution of the war to be immoral, and some decided to act upon these beliefs.

On 17th May 1968, two women and seven men entered the Knights of Columbus building in Catonsville, a suburb of Baltimore in the state of Maryland. They headed straight for the Selective Service office on the second floor where they grabbed hundreds of draft records while the staff looked on in surprise. With the records stuffed into wire baskets they left the building and walked to the parking lot where they doused the records in home-made napalm and set fire to them watched by bemused onlookers and members of the press, who the nine had alerted about their intended actions. A few minutes later the police arrived and arrested all nine of them.


All nine of the anti-war protesters were devout Catholics including one priest, Father Daniel Berrigan; two former priests, Father Philip Berrigan and Thomas Melville; and a former nun, Mary Moylan. The others were David Darst, John Hogan, Tom Lewis and Marjorie Bradford Melville (wife of Thomas).

The trial of the nine began in September 1968 at the Federal court in Baltimore while protestors gathered outside. All nine were found guilty of destruction of Selective Service files, and interference with the Selective Service Act of 1967. Philip Berrigan and Tom Lewis received three-and-a-half-year sentences; Daniel Berrigan, Thomas Melville, and George Mische were sentenced to serve three years; the other four faced two-year terms. Of these only Hogan and the Melvilles went to jail; Durst died in a car accident; the others went underground. Most were captured over the next couple of years, but Moylan remained at large until she surrendered herself in 1978.

There is an excellent web site dedicated to the Catonsville Nine called 'Fire and Faith: the Catonsville Nine File' hosted by the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

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Australian Prime Minister visited Vietnam: 7th June 1968
South Vietnamese opposition politician sentenced: 26th July 1968
Buffalo Nine arrested: 19th August 1968
Paris Peace Accords ended U.S. military action in Vietnam: 27th January 1973

On this day in history: Sud-Aviation workers` strike and factory occupation, 1968

On 14th May 1968, young workers at the Sud-Aviation's Bourguenais factory near Nantes decided to go on strike and lock the plant's manager in his office along with other supervisors. The day before the strikers had joined students on a march, taking inspiration from their militancy. The young workers played revolutionary songs at full-blast through a loudspeaker, which was so loud that other workers soon complained and had it switched off. The strikers decided to stage a continuous occupation of the factory (much like students were doing in the Sorbonne and other universities not only in France, but also elsewhere in Europe). Sympathisers supplied the workers with blankets and food while they constructed watch towers on the wall surrounding the plant. Some students from the University of Nantes joined the workers in their occupation.

Nantes had a history of bad labour relations and a large working class population, so it is little surprise that it was arguably the most revolution-minded city in France during May and June 1968. School children had stormed the railway station on the 11th of May, and on 24th May road access to the city fell under the control of the Central Strike Committee, which was soon the main city authority.


Meanwhile, the 'strike and occupy' movement had spread across the country. The day after the Sud-Aviation workers took control of their factory, Renault employees followed suit with a similar unofficial grass-roots action. The movement escalated: by 17th May around 200,000 workers were on strike; the following day saw over two-million workers withdraw their labour; a week later ten million workers were on strike. France appeared to be on the verge of revolution.

Related posts
Student Revolt in Paris: 3rd May 1968
Night of the Barricades: 10th May 1968
French workers joined student protest: 13th May 1968
Conservative reaction in France: 30th May 1968
French Government banned student organisations: 12th June 1968
France goes to the polls: 23rd June 1968

On this day in history: Night of the Barricades, 1968

Following an initial confrontation between Parisian students and police on Friday 3rd May 1968, on the following Monday (6th) twenty to thirty thousand students and other young people (depending on which figures you trust) marched on the Sorbonne, which the police had made out of bounds for students. The demonstrators demanded the release of their fellow students, the re-opening of the Sorbonne and the withdrawal of the police from the Latin Quarter. As the crowd approached and scuffles broke out, the police around the university forced the students back with tear-gas.


The students staged another demonstration on Friday 10th May. Even though the authorities removed of the police from the Sorbonne and environs, the students still wanted the release of all their fellows still held in custody. They gathered at the square in Denfert-Rochereau, on the Left Bank, where Daniel Cohn-Bendit and the other spokespeople for the students asked them where they wanted to go. They decided to march on the building of ORTF, the state broadcasting network, in response to the biased and insulting reports about the student demonstrations.


The police surrounded the march on the Boulevard Saint Michel, halting the demonstrators' progress. The students decided to occupy and defend the Latin Quarter, they spread into neighbouring streets and quickly started constructing barricades out of anything they could find. Many sympathisers - young and old - flocked to the Latin Quarter to join in the student revolt after listening to their exploits on independent radio stations. A passing builder demonstrated the use of a pneumatic-drill to students who were trying to dig up the cobblestones (the soon-to-be infamous pavées) from the street to add to their arsenal.


Many local residents provided support for students as the police attempted to storm the barricades, giving sanctuary to those escaping the police and medical aid to the injured. They too became caught up in the violence which raged until the morning of the next day, many fell under baton blows from the police, who also fired tear-gas grenades into the apartment buildings they suspected of containing students.


These actions and the perceived over-aggression of the police, turned public opinion against the authorities. As one radio commentator said at the time: 'This cannot be true, the CRS [police] don't do things like that!' What started as a student demonstration against the paternal authoritarianism of the universities had grown into something larger.

After the students had dispersed and the police had re-occupied the Latin Quarter the clean-up operation began. But the troubles were far from over, in a radio interview Daniel Cohn-Bendit calls for a national strike. The "strike and occupy" movement had begun.

The Marxists Internet Archive hosts a number of primary sources from May 1968, including translated excerpts from Le Monde reports about the 'Night of the Barricades'.

Related posts
Student Revolt in Paris: 3rd May 1968
French workers joined student protest: 13th May 1968
Sud-Aviation workers' strike and factory occupation: 14th May 1968
Conservative reaction in France: 30th May 1968
French Government banned student organisations: 12th June 1968
France goes to the polls: 23rd June 1968

On this day in history: Haymarket Affair, 1886

In the late nineteenth-century workers' groups around the world agitated for an eight hour working day. To this end, in October 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions called for a general strike of all federated members in the United States and Canada from 1st May 1886.

In early May, Striking workers held rallies across the countries. In Chicago the striking workers included employees of the McCormick Reaper Works who had been locked out since February of that year, and replaced with strikebreakers. Each day, hundreds of Chicago police officers provided protection for the strikebreakers. On May 3rd, some of the strikers approached the factory gates to confront the 'scabs' at the end of the working day. The police responded by firing into the crowd, killing six workers.

The next evening - 4th May 1886 - outraged Chicago workers attended a rally organised by anarchists near Haymarket Square. After the final speaker had addressed the crowd, and as they began to leave, the police moved in to disperse the meeting. As they did so, somebody in the crowd threw a bomb into the police ranks, killing one officer immediately and injuring several others. Shots rang out as the police fired on protesters, who - according to some accounts - returned fire.

In all, seven police officers died in the fire fight with one dying later from his wounds. There are no records of how many strikers died, as any bodies were removed from the scene by their comrades. Eight men were arrested for the murder, all were anarchists, and had connections - direct or indirect - with the organisers of the rally. All were found guilty.

Of the convicted, four were hanged, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Albert Parsons, August Spies; Louis Lingg committed suicide in prison; Samuel Fielden and Michael Schwab had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment on appeal.

The tragedy near the Haymarket sharply divided opinion at the time, and continues to do so today. To find out more visit the Haymarket Affair Digital Collection on the Chicago Historical Society site, or the The Haymarket Massacre Archive at Anarchy Archives.

Related posts
Peterloo Massacre: 16th August 1819
Battle of George Square: 31st January 1919
Student Revolt in Paris: 3rd May 1968
Buffalo Nine arrested: 19th August 1968
Tlatelolco Massacre: 2nd October 1968
Police baton-charge civil rights marchers in Derry: 5th October 1968

On this day in history: Conviction of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, 1834

In October 1833, the farm labourer and Methodist lay preacher George Loveless founded the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers along with five other men in Tolpuddle, Dorset. Their aim was to protest against the lowering of wages for farm labourers brought about by a surplus in labour partly caused by the mechanisation in agriculture. Wages in the area were then seven shillings per week, whereas they demanded a weekly wage of ten shillings.

While the illegality of trade unions had been removed with the repeal of the Combination Acts in 1824 (although legal union activity was limited the following year), the members of the society had committed the illegal act of swearing an oath. With evidence gathered by a spy and having consulted with the Home Secretary, Viscount Melbourne, the magistrates in Dorchester issued orders for the arrest of the six men on 21st February 1834. Three days later Loveless along with James Brine, James Hammett, James Loveless, John Standfield, and Thomas Standfield were arrested and held in Dorchester gaol to await the spring assizes.

The inexperienced Judge Baron Williams presided over the subsequent two-day trial, which quickly became infamous as a travesty of justice. The foreman of the jury, William Ponsonby MP, was the brother-in-law to the Home Secretary. The jury also included the local landowner James Frampton, his son and his step-brother, as well as a number of the magistrates who had ordered the arrests.

On 19th March 1834, the jury returned a guilty verdict and the six men received sentences of seven years transportation. The subsequent public outcry involving mass meetings and petitions could not prevent the martyr's departure for Australia in April that year. Nevertheless, the campaign eventually bore fruit when the then home secretary, Lord John Russell, granted conditional pardons in June 1835, followed by full pardons the following year.

The six men found out about their pardons by chance, since the authorities in Australia neglected to inform them. Between January 1837 and August 1839 they all returned home to a heroes welcome. Yet, they were not well received everywhere, as was the case when they took possession of two farms in Essex, which had been purchased for them by London Dorchester Committee that formed to secure their freedom. Hammett returned to Tolpuddle to work in the building trade, while the other five men and their families emigrated to Ontario, Canada.

Related posts
British Parliament expelled John Wilkes: 19th January 1764
London Corresponding Society founded: 25th January 1792
Peterloo Massacre: 16th August 1819

On this day in history: Juan Fangio kidnapped in Cuba, 1958

On 23rd February 1958, the Argentinian racing car driver Juan Fangio, was approached by a man brandishing a revolver in the lobby of the Hotel Lincoln in Havana, Cuba. The man was Manuel Uziel, a member of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement then struggling to overthrow the regime of President Batista. Uziel asked Fangio to identify himself, but the five time Formula One Champion thought it was some sort of joke, until Uziel was joined by several other rebels carrying sub-machine guns. They explained that they intended to keep him captive until after the Cuban Grand Prix, in which Fangio was going to defend his title the following day.

They took him to an apartment where he received a visit from Faustino Pérez, one of the leaders of the 26th of July Movement, who apologised for the inconvenience. The rebels treated Fangio well, feeding him and giving him a radio so that he could listen to the race, but he chose not to. The race itself ended in disaster after only six laps when the Cuban driver, Armando Garcia, ran into the crowd killing several people and injuring many more.

Good to their word, the rebels released Fangio the following day. He told police that he had been "treated very well - as though I was a friend of the rebels." When asked about the kidnapping he said, "If what the rebels did was in a good cause, then I, as an Argentine, accept it" He declined to identify his captors, with whom he remained good friends.

Related posts
First Formula One Championship race: 13th May 1950
Bay of Pigs: 17th April 1961

The Year of Revolution: 1848

In a break from the 'On this day in history' series, I am taking inspiration from recent events in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya. This year has seen a wave of revolutions in North Africa and Arabia, but it was Europe that rocked with demands for freedom in 1848. While many of these revolutions failed in the short term, they marked a sea change in European politics.

The year 1848 began with the Sicilian Revolution of Independence, which began on 12th January. This was the third popular rebellion against King Ferdinand II seeking the restoration of the liberal constitution of 1812. Negotiations between the monarch and revolutionaries dragged on for eighteen months before the king's forces finally recaptured the island.

The people of other Italian states also rose up against their rulers, notably in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, then part of the Hapsburg Austrian Empire. The people of Milan and Venice instituted provisional governments, both of which were eventually defeated by the Austrians. These risings, along with the timely constitutional reforms in the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, laid the foundations for Italian unification.

Nationalist uprisings occurred elsewhere in the Hapsburg Empire. In March, Magyar nationalists forced Emperor Ferdinand to grant them a constitution and a government. This government ensured Magyar domination of Hungary, resulting in a further uprising of Slovaks in Upper Hungary starting in September, 1848.

The March Revolution in Germany resulted in the short-lived Frankfurt Parliament. This experiment in German unification failed because of the absence of national institutions and the lack support from the King Frederick William IV of Prussia. The final straw was when he turned down the offer of becoming Emperor of the Germans.

The Prussian king faced an uprising in his Polish possessions. In March, a Polish National Committee formed in the Grand Duchy of Poznań, taking inspiration from events in Germany. While the committee negotiated reforms with the Prussians and other Germans, the leader of the Polish militia ignored orders to disarm. This decision resulted in military confrontation with the Prussians whose victory ended any hope of Polish autonomy.

In modern day Romania, Imperial Russian faced liberal nationalist uprisings in Wallachia and Moldavia. Russian troops quickly put down the Moldavian revolt, before turning their attentions to neighbouring Wallachia. With help from the Ottoman Empire the Russians restored their joint hegemony over Danubian Principalities.

1848 saw another revolution in France, the third in less than sixty years. A financial crisis and King Louis Philippe's increasingly conservative policies resulted in a popular uprising in February. The king abdicated and fled to Britain, leaving the way clear for the establishment of the Second Republic.

Further uprisings happened in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and Schleswig. As with those already detailed, these revolts made little difference in the immediate aftermath, but all these revolutions set the scene for political change in the rest of the nineteenth- and the early twentieth-century. It remains to be seen whether the revolutions in North Africa and Arabia will follow this model of eventual reform, or whether they will quickly establish new governments that endure.

On this day in history: Nuclear Disarmament logo designed, 1958

Britain started developing nuclear weapons in 1952, but by the end of the decade various groups formed to protest in favour of nuclear disarmament. One such group, the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC), decided to march from Trafalgar Square in London to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment near Aldermaston in Berkshire over the Easter weekend (4th - 7th April 1958). The Nuclear Disarmament logo made its public début on the march having been adopted by DAC earlier that year at a meeting at the offices of Peace News.

The design of the logo dates from 21st February 1958, when professional designer and conscientious objector, Gerald Holtom first created it. Holtom later explained the very personal genesis of the design:

I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya's peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle round it.

The symbol also combines the semaphore letters 'N' (both arms to the side at 45 degree downward angle) and 'D' (one arm held vertically up, the other vertically down), forming the initials of Nuclear Disarmament.

The various nuclear disarmament coalesced into the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, (CND) founded in 1957. CND adopted Holtom's symbol as well as the Aldermaston march, which it organised yearly. Many anti-nuclear groups and peace activists around the world have adopted the logo, which has become known widely as the peace symbol.

Related posts
Rosenbergs executed: 19th June 1953
First French nuclear test: 13th February 1960
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signed: 1st July 1968
Stanislav Petrov averted a nuclear war: 26th September 1983

On this day in history: Nelson Mandela released, 1990

Nelson Mandela was born on 18th July 1918 in a small village called Mvezo, near Umtata the capital of the Transkei. His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a member of the Thembu royal family and chief of Mvezo until the colonial authorities removed him following an argument with a European. The family moved to Qunu where Mphakanyiswa died when Nelson was only nine years old.

The regent of the Thembu, Jongintaba, became Mandela's guardian, sending him to a Wesleyan mission school where he was a gifted pupil. Mandela attended a Wesleyan college in Fort Beaufort before enrolling at Fort Hare University, where he became involved in student politics. His involvement in agitation against university policy resulted in him being expelled.

To escape from an arranged marriage, Mandela moved to Johannesburg with Jongintaba, the regent's son. He eventually found employment with a legal firm and completed a BA by correspondence with the University of South Africa. He then began to law at the University of Witwatersand where he first met many people who would later be part of the anti-apartheid movement.

Following the 1948 election victory of the National Party cemented the apartheid policy, Mandela became a political activist. In December 1956 the South African authorities arrested Mandela along with 150 others on charges of treason. A five year trial followed, during which all defendants received acquittals.

To begin with Mandela was committed to the principles of non-violent resistance made famous by Mahatma Gandhi, but in response to an increase in state repression, he co-founded and became leader of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation"). The group engaged in bombing campaigns against government and military buildings, while not harming any people. Mandela coordinated these campaigns and travelled abroad to raise funds for the group.

On 5th August 1962, the security police followed a CIA tip-off and arrested Mandela. He faced charges of inciting workers to strike and travelling abroad illegally for which he was found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment. Following the arrest of many leaders of the ANC in 1963, Mandela faced trial again on charges of sabotage and other treasonous activities. Found guilty he escaped the death penalty, but received a sentence of life imprisonment.

Robben Island became Mandela's home for eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison. While there he engaged in hard labour in a lime quarry and also received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London after studying by correspondence. Meanwhile he became a cause célèbre as international opinion turned against the South African government and their segregationist policies.

In 1982, the authorities relocated Mandela and the other ANC leaders to Pollsmoor Prison near Cape Town. Three years later Mandela met with a representative of the National Party government at the Volks Hospital in Cape Town where he was undergoing treatment on his prostate. Nevertheless, no progress was made until Frederik Willem de Klerk became president in August 1989.

The following February de Clerk lifted the ban on the ANC and the other anti-apartheid organisations and announced the imminent release of Nelson Mandela. On 11th February 1990, millions of television viewers watched Nelson Mandela leave Victor Verster Prison in Paarl as a free man. He resumed his role as a leader of the ANC taking part in the four years of negotiations with the government.

In recognition of the attempts at peace and reconciliation the Nobel prize committee awarded Mandela and de Clerk with the Peace Prize in 1993. A year later the first South African multi-racial elections took place. The ANC received 62% of the vote and Mandela became the first black president of South Africa. He remained in office for five years becoming a world statesman, a position he still holds.


BBC News footage of Mandela's release

Related posts
Foundation of the African National Congress: 8th January 1912
Southern Rhodesians chose not to join the Union of South Africa: 27th October 1922
Swaziland became independent: 6th September 1968

On this day in history: Battle of George Square, 1919

In the 1910s and 1920s the urban sprawl around Glasgow, including the towns Clydebank, Greenock, and Paisley were centres of working class radicalism. This era, known as 'Red Clydeside' involved strikes and other forms of labour unrest as well as opposition to the First World War and rent strikes. After the end of the war the Clydeside trades unions organised a campaign for the reduction of the working week to forty hours from fifty-four to improve conditions and create jobs for the returning troops who swelled the ranks of the unemployed.

The Scottish Trade Union Congress and the Clyde Workers' Committee called a strike and organised a large rally on 31st January 1919 in George Square, Glasgow. A crowd of between sixty- and ninety-thousand gathered to hear the result of a meeting between of strike leaders and the Lord Provost. During the meeting scuffles broke out between the strikers and the police. Various causes have been attributed to the outbreak of violence including an unprovoked baton charge by the police, and the continued use of trams through the square during the meeting.

Whatever the cause, the delegation themselves became caught up in the pitched battles when they left the meeting to attempt to calm the strikers. Police attacks on the crowd, which included women and children, were met with the retaliation of strikers and their improvised weaponry that included stones, bottle and iron railings. Running battles continued for hours through central Glasgow in what became known as 'Bloody Friday.'

In the aftermath, not only did the authorities arrest the leaders of the strike, but they also sent around 10,000 English soldiers to Glasgow along with a number of tanks. The authorities confined Scottish troops to their barracks for fear that they may join their fellow Scots in open revolt. Since it was only fourteen months since the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, the Coalition government may have feared that a similar insurrection was in the offing.

Tanks and soldiers in Saltmarket area of Glasgow

Ten days after the riot, the strike leaders called off the action after securing a 47-hour week. Those who the police took into custody faced trial at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, which found them guilty. Manny Shinwell, William Gallacher and David Kirkwood each served several months in prison with each later being elected as Members of Parliament.

The University of Strathclyde website hosts a number of pages dedicated to Red Clydeside: A history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932.

Related posts
London Corresponding Society founded: 25th January 1792
Peterloo Massacre: 16th August 1819
Haymarket Affair: 4th May 1886