Working Class History

Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion

Working Class History Working Class History, Working Class History Working Class History

• Publisher: PM Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781629638393
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

History is not made by kings, politicians, or a few rich individuals—it is made by all of us. From the temples of ancient Egypt to spacecraft orbiting Earth, workers and ordinary people everywhere have walked out, sat down, risen up, and fought back against exploitation, discrimination, colonization, and oppression.

Working Class History presents a distinct selection of people's history through hundreds of "on this day in history" anniversaries that are as diverse and international as the working class itself. Women, young people, people of color, workers, migrants, Indigenous people, LGBT+ people, disabled people, older people, the unemployed, home workers, and every other part of the working class have organized and taken action that has shaped our world, and improvements in living and working conditions have been won only by years of violent conflict and sacrifice. These everyday acts of resistance and rebellion highlight just some of those who have struggled for a better world and provide lessons and inspiration for those of us fighting in the present. Going day by day, this book paints a picture of how and why the world came to be as it is, how some have tried to change it, and the lengths to which the rich and powerful have gone to maintain and increase their wealth and influence.

This handbook of grassroots movements, curated by the popular Working Class History project, features many hidden histories and untold stories, reinforced with inspiring images, further reading, and a foreword from legendary author and dissident Noam Chomsky.

Index

Page numbers in italic refer to illustrations. “Passim” (literally “scattered”) indicates intermittent discussion of a topic over a cluster of pages.

Aboriginal Australians. See Indigenous Australians

abortion, 3, 131, 143, 208

Abraham Lincoln Brigade, 142, 184–85

Achiary, André, 160

Acjachemen Nation, 24

actors, 46, 76, 105, 216–17, 249

ACT UP, 66, 184

A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company, 129–30

AFL. See American Federation of Labor (AFL)

African Americans: Angela Davis arrest, 202; Atlanta, 67–68; auto workers, 24, 83, 140, 252; Charlottesville, Va., 162; Chicago, 172; coal miners, 173; Detroit, 24, 83, 93, 115, 140, 149; draft resisters, 126; Elaine massacre, 191–92; FBI and, 20–21; Hamburg massacre, 140; Minneapolis, 108; New Orleans, 176–78 passim; New York City, 143; Orangeburg massacre, 35; Philadelphia, 100; Sammy Younge murder, 13–14; self-defense, 163–64, 171–72, 189; slave rescues and escapes, 39, 84, 114, 186, 246; slave uprisings, 16, 167, 169; Slocum massacre, 151; Spanish Civil War, 142, 159; strikes, 67–68, 95–96, 101; transgender activists, 132, 139; Tulsa massacre, 112; Tuskegee syphilis experiment, 149–50; Vernon Dahmer, 17; Vietnam War, 180, 201; women prisoners, 171–72. See also Black Panther Party; civil rights movement

African National Congress (ANC), 15, 160, 165, 179

African national independence movements. See national independence movements, African

Akron, Ohio, 39–40

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. See ACT UP

AIM. See American Indian Movement

airlines industry, 157, 160–61

air traffic controllers, 157

Alabama, 51, 59, 173, 177

Albizu Campos, Pedro, 63

Alcatraz Island occupation, 227

alcohol prohibition, resistance to, 35, 77, 140

Ali, Muhammad, 126

Algeria, 84, 160, 205, 216

Allende, Salvador, 181

Amazigh people (Berbers), 84

Ambedkar, B.R., 63

American Federation of Labor (AFL), 139, 213, 228, 237

American Indian Movement, 46, 147

American Legion, 155

American Nazi Party, 118, 217

American Revolution, 137, 149

Amritsar massacre. See Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Anaconda Copper Mining Company, 154

anarcha-feminist newspapers, 16

anarchism, criminalization of, 67

anarchists: Argentina, 96, 208; black flag, 156; Brazil, 187; Canada, 196; Chicago, 92; Chile, 148, 191, 242, 247; influence in Philippines, 33; Italy, 15...