CIRCLE WITH A DOT

#OtD 7 Mar 1860 up to 1000 striking women shoe workers took part in a Great Ladies Procession during the Lynn shoe strike. Despite women's involvement, the men failed to support the their pay demands and for most workers the strike ended in defeat https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10724/women-shoemakers-march

#OtD 7 Mar 1932 the Ford Hunger March massacre took place in Detroit. Police and Ford security killed four unemployed workers and injured 60 when they opened fire on a demo organised by the Communist Party's Unemployed Council https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10727/Ford-Hunger-March-massacre

#OtD 6 Mar 1922 sex workers sparked a rent strike of the Revolutionary Syndicate of Tenants in Veracruz Mexico by building barricades out of mattresses https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10641/veracruz-rent-strike-begins

#OtD 6 Mar 1970 three members of the left-wing urban guerrilla group the Weather Underground accidentally blew themselves up in NYC. Ted Gold, Diana Oughton and Terry Robbins were killed in the blast, while Kathy Boudin and Cathy Wilkerson escaped https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10644/weather-underground-house-explosion

#OtD 6 Mar 1974 UK coal miners ended a four-week strike after winning a 35% pay increase and bringing down the Conservative government. Learn more in our podcast: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e81-miners-strikes-1972-4/

#OtD 6 Mar 1944 Italian resistance partisans breached the Camp 59 concentration camp in Servigliano, Italy, and helped a small number of mostly Jewish Italian prisoners to escape. They broke in twice more in the coming weeks. Learn more about partisans: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e77-80-italian-resistance/

#OtD 6 Mar 1913 Joe Hill's song "There is Power in a Union" first appeared in the @iww union's Little Red Song Book. Get it and dozens of others in this Big Red Book: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/the-big-red-songbook-250-iww-songs

#OtD 6 Mar 1930 the first International Unemployment Day called by the Communist Party with demonstrations across the US. Clashes broke out in many areas, and authorities in places like New York were forced to create funds to help unemployed https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10642/international-unemployment-day

#OtD 6 Mar 1964 Kowsilla, a striking sugarcane worker was killed in Guyana by a scab, and others badly injured. The British Tate sugar company exploited racial divisions by using African scabs to try to break a national strike of mostly Asian workers https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10643/kowsilla-killed-by-scab

#OtD 5 Mar 1943 a strike broke out at the Fiat Mirafiori plant in Turin. The strike spread and, within a week, 100k workers were out. Authorities arrested 850 workers but were forced to concede. Learn more about the Italian resistance to fascism here: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e77-80-italian-resistance/

#OtD 5 Mar 1984 6,000 miners went on strike at Cortonwood Colliery starting the great miners' strike. They were joined by most miners in Britain in opposition to pit closures, but they were sadly defeated by the Conservative govt. More in our podcast: https://workingclasshistory.com/tag/1984-5-miners-strike/

#OtD 5 Mar 1988 2,000 people took part in a demonstration through Leeds to protest against the homophobic Section 28 law which prohibited the so-called 'promotion of homosexuality' by local authorities and schools. It was eventually repealed in 2003 https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10549/march-against-section-28

#OtD 5 Mar 1871 Jewish revolutionary socialist, Rosa Luxemburg, was born. A critic both of reformist socialists and Lenin's "ultra-centralism", she was murdered by right-wing paramilitaries on behalf of social democrats after the failed 1919 uprising https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/rosa-luxemburg

#OtD 5 Mar 1981 a group of women in West Berlin occupied five apartments which, despite being ready for people to move into, had been empty for over six months. Learn more: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10547/berlin-women-squat

#OtD 4 Mar 2010 California state government's attempt to use crisis as excuse for rolling back public services was met with worker and student strikes & occupations across the US https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10457/us-student-strike

#OtD 4 Mar 2018 a statue of former slave trader, Antonio López, was removed from a square in Barcelona. Inaugurated in 1884, the statue was pulled down at the start of the Spanish Civil War but then replaced again during the Franco dictatorship https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8023/slave-trader-statue-removed

#OtD 4 Mar 1976 Antoni Ruiz was arrested in Valencia for homosexuality after being reported by a nun at confession. One of 5000 LGBT+ people convicted under a Franco-era law and sent to a specialist prison where he was raped and later hounded by police https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10456/antoni-ruiz-arrested

#OtD 4 Mar 1947 workers at the Biratnagar Jute Mill in Nepal went on strike demanding better pay and conditions. Soldiers repressed strike, but a nationwide civil disobedience movement was triggered. Eventually arrested strikers were released https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/7957/biratnagar-jute-mill-strike

#OtD 4 Mar 1972 thousands of autoworkers in Lordstown GM plant walked out on strike. They held out for 22 days and whilst concessions were won, the UAW union declared victory despite management not conceding to main grievances. More in our podcast: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e99-vietnam-war-strike-wave/

#OnThisDay in 1890, the Forth Bridge opened. Alison Metcalfe from the @natlibscot presents the Library’s collection of photos recording the bridge's construction, the 1st major structure in UK to be made of steel and milestone in civil engineering: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-forth-bridge-building-an-icon #otd