Daily briefings of On This Day people's history anniversaries every day of the year. From the Working Class History team.Help support our work by joining us on patreon and accessing exclusive content and benefits: patreon.com/workingclasshistory
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Sep 29, 2026 · 1:28
On this day, 29 September 1909, the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World union began the first of what became known as the free speech fights, in Missoula, Montana.…
Sep 28, 2026 · 1:24
On this day, 28 September 1991, leading labour organiser Shankar Guha Niyogi was assassinated in his sleep at midnight in Bhilai, India. Niyogi, who had successfully led efforts…
Sep 27, 2026 · 1:02
On this day, 27 September 1973, the United Farm Workers in California won their second strike in a jurisdictional dispute with the Teamsters union, when yet again the Teamsters…
Sep 26, 2026 · 1:31
On this day, 26 September 1939, the actor Ricky Tomlinson was born. Now famous for his roles in The Royle Family, Riff Raff and Mike Bassett: England Manager, he also…
Sep 25, 2026 · 1:10
On this day, 25 September 2005, sex workers in Gyeonggi province, South Korea, organised in the Democratic Coalition of Sex Workers, reached the first collective bargaining…
Sep 24, 2026 · 1:17
On this day, 24 September 1945 in New York City, around 1.5 million workers got an impromptu day off when elevator workers in over 2,000 city high-rise buildings, including the…
Sep 23, 2026 · 1:10
On this day, 23 September 2017, the strike of video game voice actors in the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) against 11 US…
Sep 22, 2026 · 1:17
On this day, 22 September 1912, the syndicalist union the Casa del Obrero Mundial (House of the World Worker) was formed in Mexico during the turbulent events of the revolution,…
Sep 21, 2026 · 1:23
On 21 September 1945, a strike began of supervisors in US coal mines demanding recognition for their union, the United Clerical, Technical and Supervisory Employees of the Mining…
Sep 20, 2026 · 1:14
On this day, 20 September 1979, Aotearoa's (New Zealand's) only nationwide general strike took place when the Federation of Labour called a one-day strike of all its members in…
Sep 19, 2026 · 1:17
On this day, 19 September 1795, two enslaved people named Tula and Karpata who had been leading a revolt on the Dutch colony of Curaçao were betrayed and taken prisoner,…
Sep 18, 2026 · 1:31
On this day, 18 September 1809, the old price riots began in the Covent Garden Theatre in London during the opening night of Macbeth in protest at increased prices at the newly…
Sep 17, 2026 · 0:59
On this day, 17 September 1941, the Canadian government essentially made all strikes in "war industries" illegal. The new order further made it that if any worker went on strike…
Sep 16, 2026 · 1:56
On this day, 16 September 1937, ten young migrants from Achill Island, Ireland died in a shed fire in Kirkintilloch, Scotland. A group of 26 young migrant workers, many of whom…
Sep 15, 2026 · 1:11
On this day, 15 September 1978, a strike of 11,600 workers in Sudbury, Canada, began after the mining company Inco Ltd. proposed layoffs and cuts to pay and benefits. Concessions…
Sep 14, 2026 · 1:52
On 14 September 1889 a rebellion of Black miners began on Navassa Island, a US territory in the Caribbean. 137 Black workers from the US had been hired to mine guano, then a…
Sep 13, 2026 · 2:06
On this day, 13 September 1943, workers on the Belle Vue Harel sugar estate in Mauritius went on strike demanding a pay increase. After sugar strikes in 1937, the British…
Sep 12, 2026 · 1:41
On this day, 12 September 2012 (content note: sexual violence), TV channels broadcast video showing systemic torture and sexual assault of inmates in the Gldani prison number…
Sep 11, 2026 · 1:32
On this day, 11 September 2017, in Nairobi, Kenya, drivers for rideshare services Taxify, Little and Mondo-Ride joined Uber drivers on an indefinite strike demanding a cut in…
Sep 10, 2026 · 0:54
On this day, 10 September 1979, McDonald's workers in Dublin, Ireland ended their six-month strike and returned to work after winning a 24% pay increase and forcing the company…
Sep 9, 2026 · 2:04
On this day, 9 September 1739, the Stono rebellion began in South Carolina, the largest uprising of enslaved people in the mainland British colonies. A literate enslaved man…
Sep 8, 2026 · 1:33
On this day, 8 September 1941 the Norwegian Melkestreiken (milk strike) took place against the occupying Nazi authorities. Workers arriving for work on Monday found that their…
Sep 7, 2026 · 1:14
On this day, 7 September 1977, violent clashes took place between workers and bosses’ thugs at a machine-tool factory in Mohan Nagar, India. Workers protested against unfair…
Sep 6, 2026 · 1:02
On this day, 6 September 2008, 27,000 Boeing assembly workers went on strike over pay and outsourcing. The workers, based in Kansas, Oregon, and Washington stayed out for eight…
Sep 5, 2026 · 1:04
On 5 September 2013 it was reported that South African workers employed in the construction of the Saint Helena airport went on strike. Reportedly, workers were unhappy with…
Sep 4, 2026 · 1:06
On this day, 4 September 1936, employees walked off the job at Trocadero Grill in Vancouver, demanding a wage increase. Bosses hired scabs to replace the striking workers, but…
Sep 3, 2026 · 1:17
On this day, 3 September 1940, Uruguayan radical author and journalist Eduardo Hughes Galeano was born in Montevideo. He was imprisoned following the military coup in the country…
Sep 2, 2026 · 1:20
On this day, 2 September 1963 workers at Philippines Airlines walked out on strike. Within a few days, major international airlines were forced to boycott Manila airport to avoid…
Sep 1, 2026 · 1:25
On this day, 1 September 1974, Puerto Rican attendees at a Labour Day event in Newark, New Jersey rioted against police after years of brutality, as well as poor living and…
Aug 31, 2026 · 1:37
On this day, 31 August 1972, a meeting of striking building workers in the Chester and North Wales Action Committee was held at the Bull & Stirrup pub in Chester, North West…
Aug 30, 2026 · 1:27
On this day, 30 August, 1908, union officials of the United Mine Workers called off a strike by Black and white coalminers in Birmingham, Alabama, four days after the Governor…
Aug 29, 2026 · 0:58
On this day, 29 August 2016, 600 oil refinery workers on the Caribbean island of Curaçao walked out demanding a pay increase. The strike continued for over two weeks, until a…
Aug 28, 2026 · 1:12
On this day, 28 August 1968 in Chicago, Black bus drivers in the city went on wildcat strike against their racist union, the Amalgamated Transit Workers. While 80% of drivers…
Aug 27, 2026 · 1:09
On this day, 27 August 1889, the great strike of East End Jewish tailors in London began during a dockers' strike. 8,000 workers, mostly Jewish immigrants from Russia, elected a…
Aug 26, 2026 · 1:34
On this day, 26 August 1972, Falkirk FC was due to play against Montrose in a Scottish League Cup football match, but Falkirk players had gone on strike and stated they would…
Aug 25, 2026 · 1:33
On this day, 25 August 1921, the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest armed rebellion in the US since the civil war, began in West Virginia. Miners and their supporters had been…
Aug 24, 2026 · 1:13
On this day, 24 August 1922, radical historian, author, World War II bombardier and activist, Howard Zinn, was born to a Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York City.…
Aug 23, 2026 · 1:21
On this day, 23 August 1966, 200 Gurindji Aboriginal workers at the Wave Hill pastoral station in Australia walked out on strike for equal pay with white workers. At the time, it…
Aug 22, 2026 · 1:13
On 22 August 2005 at 4:30 AM over 100 workers at Air Vanuatu walked out on strike in a dispute over a collective bargaining agreement, job security and severance pay. The…
Aug 21, 2026 · 1:15
On this day, 21 August 1971, number 359 Amhurst Road, London, was raided by police investigating the Angry Brigade urban guerrilla group. Jim Greenfield, Anna Mendelson, John…
Aug 20, 2026 · 2:05
On this day, 20 August 1976, the Grunwick strike began in London when Devshi Bhudia was dismissed from a photo processing plant for working too slowly and three colleagues walked…
Aug 19, 2026 · 1:34
On this day, 19 August 1909, the first edition of the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World union’s Little Red Songbook was published in the US. Spreading faster than…
Aug 18, 2026 · 1:06
On this day, 18 August 1812, food riots broke out in Leeds and Sheffield, England, primarily led by women. In Leeds the local paper described the group of women and boys who were…
Aug 17, 2026 · 1:26
On this day, 17 August 1987, workers in South Korea occupied factories and the shipyard of the Hyundai corporation in the city of Ulsan. Meanwhile, upwards of 30,000 workers took…
Aug 15, 2026 · 1:20
On this day, 15 August 1911, prison vans containing 90 of those convicted for involvement in the Liverpool transport general strike were attacked as they made their way down…
Aug 14, 2026 · 1:10
On this day, 14 August 1886 50 women and girls working in the L Candee Rubber Boot Company factory in New Haven, Connecticut, walked out on strike over excessive working…
Aug 13, 2026 · 1:32
On this day, 13 August 1937, striking workers were massacred at the Union Flacq Sugar Estate in Mauritius. Primarily Indian labourers on sugar plantations on the island, then a…
Aug 12, 2026 · 2:00
On this day, 12 August 1887, pioneering Colombian socialist and women's rights advocate María Cano, known as the "Flor del trabajo" ("Labour flower"), was born in Antioquia. At…
Aug 11, 2026 · 1:12
On this day, 11 August 1958, civil rights activists in Wichita, Kansas won a key early successful sit-in protest against segregated lunch counters. Black students and young…
Aug 10, 2026 · 1:52
On this day, 10 August 2005, the Gate Gourmet dispute began in London. British Airways (BA) had outsourced its airline meal production, primarily by Asian women workers, to Gate…
Aug 9, 2026 · 1:42
On this day, 9 August 1979, the women workers of the YH wig making company in Seoul, South Korea, occupied the headquarters of the opposition New Democratic Party in protest at…
Aug 8, 2026 · 1:18
On this day, 8 August 1883, over 3,000 people attended a benefit ball and concert for striking telegraphers in New York's Madison Square Garden. A procession of 800 striking…
Aug 7, 2026 · 1:46
On this day, 7 August 1842, a mass meeting of 18,000 workers took place in the UK, organised by the Chartist movement. They decided to call a general strike beginning the…
Aug 6, 2026 · 1:21
On this day, 6 August 1970, up to 300 Yippies — countercultural radical youth — invaded Disneyland, protesting against the Vietnam war and calling for the liberation of Minnie…
Aug 5, 2026 · 2:15
On this day, 5 August 1981, after just two days on strike, 11,345 federal air traffic controllers were sacked by US president Ronald Reagan for refusing his order to return to…
Aug 4, 2026 · 1:24
On 4 August 1941, shovel operators in the Moengo bauxite mine in the then-Dutch colony of Suriname went on strike. The walkout of mostly Javanese and Creole workers was swiftly…
Aug 3, 2026 · 1:45
On this day, 3 August 1945, a group in Melbourne called the Australian Soldiers' Legion (ASL) met up with a family called the Wagglens, which included a homeless, wounded World…
Aug 2, 2026 · 1:10
On this day, 2 August 1917, the general strike in Rio de Janeiro ended as employers agreed to a 10% pay increase and a maximum 56-hour work week. The stoppage began with just one…
Aug 1, 2026 · 1:07
On this day, 1 August 1938, the Hilo massacre took place in Hawaii, when police opened fire at an unarmed group of striking dock workers, injuring 50. Longshoremen in different…
Jul 31, 2026 · 1:26
On this day, 31 July 1945, the newly elected Labour government sent 600 conscript troops into the Surrey docks in London to try to break a go-slow of dockworkers fighting for…
Jul 30, 2026 · 0:57
On this day, 30 July 1766, silver miners in Real Del Monte, Mexico, went on strike against a 25% pay cut in the first recorded strike against an employer in North American…
Jul 29, 2026 · 1:08
On this day, 29 July 2019, the Blackjewel coal blockade began in eastern Kentucky. Mine operator Blackjewel went bankrupt, leaving hundreds of coalminers out of work and with…
Jul 28, 2026 · 1:31
On this day, 28 July 1869, the first national women's labour union in US history, the Daughters of St Crispin, was founded in Lynn, Massachusetts. It was set up predominantly by…
Jul 27, 2026 · 1:08
On this day, 27 July 2017, bus drivers in Brisbane, Australia launched a fare strike where they refused to charge passengers for journeys in a protest demanding better pay and…
Jul 26, 2026 · 1:06
On this day, 26 July 1956, over 21,000 workers on strike at 13 BMC factories in the UK against job cuts were joined by 12,000 Briggs Motors workers in Dagenham who walked out.…
Jul 25, 2026 · 1:24
On this day, 25 July 2011, 34 women workers, who promoted Angkor beer for Cambrew (a corporation partly owned by Carlsberg), went on strike demanding the payment of unpaid…
Jul 24, 2026 · 1:05
On 24 July 2019 ferry workers in Ketchikan, Alaska, walked out on strike as part of a contract dispute during the busiest time of year. Around 400 members of the Inlandboatmen’s…
Jul 23, 2026 · 1:01
On this day, 23 July 1918, the Japanese rice riots began against high prices, a revolt up to then unparalleled in the country’s history in terms of scope, size and violence,…
Jul 22, 2026 · 1:02
On this day, 22 July 2005, civil servants in the Kingdom of Tonga went on strike for 60-90% pay rise. The strike shut down the government and grew to include many other public…
Jul 21, 2026 · 1:03
On this day, 21 July 1945, members of the Irish Women Worker’s Union staged a laundry strike demanding a second week of paid holiday, affecting many of Dublin’s hotels. Hospital…
Jul 20, 2026 · 2:08
On this day, 20 July 1979, Native American political prisoner Leonard Peltier escaped from Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution, in California, with two other detainees, one…
Jul 19, 2026 · 1:08
On this day, 19 July 1984, the Dunnes Stores anti-apartheid strike began in Dublin, Ireland. Shop worker Mary Manning refused to check out a customer's South African fruit, as…
Jul 18, 2026 · 1:06
On this day, 18 July 1887, the Argentinian anarchist bakers' union Sociedad Cosmopolita de Resistencia y Colocación de Obreros Panaderos (Cosmopolitan Society of Resistance and…
Jul 16, 2026 · 1:09
At midnight on 16 July 2015, 140 workers at the state-owned Qulliq Energy company in Nunavut, Canada, walked out on strike demanding pay increases to keep up with rising prices.…
Jul 15, 2026 · 1:24
On this day, 15 July 1966, national rail operator British Rail scrapped a "colour bar" preventing Black workers from higher paid employment at Euston station in London. At the…
Jul 14, 2026 · 1:16
On this day, 14 July 1966 a group of US GIs were given the order to deploy to Vietnam. James Johnson Jr., David A. Samas, and Dennis Mora refused and became the Fort Hood Three:…
Jul 13, 2026 · 1:03
On this day, 13 July 1917, thousands of workers joined a spontaneous strike in São Paulo following the police killing of a 21-year-old shoemaker, José (or Antonio) Martínez, at a…
Jul 12, 2026 · 1:24
On this day, 12 July 1994, around 4,000 workers at Bridgestone-Firestone tyres in Decatur, Illinois, Akron, Ohio, Noblesville, Indiana, Des Moines, Iowa and Oklahoma City walked…
Jul 11, 2026 · 1:31
On this day, 11 July 1989, a huge strike began of miners in the Soviet Union demanding better food supplies, cleaner working conditions, adequate housing, better care of the…
Jul 10, 2026 · 1:31
On this day, 10 July 1949, Black Industrial Workers of the World dockworker activist Ben Fletcher died at his home in Brooklyn, aged 59. Fletcher was the leading organiser in…
Jul 9, 2026 · 1:09
On this day, 9 July 1919, bartenders in Allentown, Pennsylvania, went on strike to impress on citizens the "horrors" of prohibition which was due to be introduced. There was a…
Jul 8, 2026 · 1:21
On this day, 8 July, 1908, Black and white coal miners in Birmingham, Alabama, walked out on strike together against an attempt from bosses to eliminate the union. The strike…
Jul 7, 2026 · 1:12
On this day, 7 July 1864, Filipino labour leader Isabelo de los Reyes was born in Vigan. He became a journalist and opponent of Spanish colonial rule, for which he was jailed and…
Jul 6, 2026 · 1:15
On this day, 6 July 1934, 800 workers from two plantations in Couva, Trinidad, demonstrated in front of the warden's office complaining at the lack of work. Violence erupted when…
Jul 5, 2026 · 1:58
On this day, 5 July 1777, the word ‘scab’, meaning ‘strikebreaker’, was used in print for the first time. One of the most important words in the working class vocabulary! By the…
Jul 4, 2026 · 2:13
On this day, 4 July 1998, best friends Lin "Spit" Newborn, 24, a Black skinhead and singer, and Daniel Shersty, 20, a white US air force serviceman - both members of Anti-Racist…
Jul 4, 2026 · 1:50
On this day, 3 July 1918, a general strike began on the British dependency, the Isle of Man. Sailors, dockers, school workers, transport workers, shop assistants and others…
Jul 4, 2026 · 2:33
On this day, 2 July 1848, enslaved people in St Croix (now the US Virgin Islands) rebelled, burned down plantations and besieged the town of Frederiksted. The Caribbean island…
Jul 1, 2026 · 1:13
On this day, 1 July 1919, prohibition of the sale of alcoholic drinks stronger than 2.75% in the United States was due to come into force. Hundreds of thousands of workers in New…
Jun 30, 2026 · 1:16
On this day, 30 June 1977, a riot and mass strike took place against police repression in Faridabad, India. Thousands of factory workers downed tools, shutting down local…
Jun 30, 2026 · 1:36
On this day, 29 June 1892, workers at the Homestead Carnegie steel plant in Pennsylvania were locked out after workers refused to accept new production demands. Andrew Carnegie…
Jun 28, 2026 · 2:14
On this day, 28 June 1969, the Stonewall rebellion began in the early hours. The New York Police Department, as part of its policy of closing gay bars, raided the Stonewall Inn,…
Jun 27, 2026 · 2:15
On this day, 27 June 1905, the revolutionary union the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded in Chicago, Illinois. One of the first multiracial unions in the US, the…
Jun 26, 2026 · 1:48
On this day, 26 June 1993, 4,000 workers took to the streets in Decatur, Illinois to protest against their employers. Workers from A.E. Staley, who had been working to rule…
Jun 25, 2026 · 1:06
On 25 June 2021, oil workers employed by ExxonMobil on the Doba oilfield in Chad went on strike when the potential sale of the oilfield was announced. The workers were demanding…
Jun 24, 2026 · 1:45
On this day, 24 June 1980, a two-day general strike began in El Salvador protesting against the US-backed military dictatorship and its counter-insurgency death squads. 85% of…
Jun 23, 2026 · 1:02
On 23 June 2015 municipal workers on the French island of Saint Pierre went on strike demanding a pay increase to compensate for rising prices. The strike was initiated by Force…
Jun 22, 2026 · 1:38
On this day, 22 June 1945, tens of thousands of workers in Nigeria defied the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and walked out on a general strike in protest at the British colonial…
Jun 21, 2026 · 1:14
On 21 June 2018, health workers in Mongolia announced that they would go on strike in a dispute over pay and conditions at state-run hospitals. The workers also began holding a…
Jun 20, 2026 · 2:32
On this day, 20 June 1967, boxing legend Muhammad Ali was convicted for refusing the draft for the Vietnam war in Houston, Texas. Ali had been a vocal opponent of the US war,…
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