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#ThisDayInHistory

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Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1894, ARU launched the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/PullmanStrike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PullmanStrike</span></a>. Before its end in July, the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/strike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>strike</span></a> involved 250,000 workers in 27 states refusing to attach Pullman cars. It was caused by massive rent increases and wage reductions. Its leader, <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/EugeneDebs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EugeneDebs</span></a>, was imprisoned for it.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1933 the contents of <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/MagnusHirschfeld" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MagnusHirschfeld</span></a>'s <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/InstitutF%C3%BCrSexualwissenschaft" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>InstitutFürSexualwissenschaft</span></a> were publically burnt in Berlin. <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Nazi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Nazi</span></a> thugs had seized &amp; looted it four days earlier. Pioneering work had been done there in <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/LGBTQ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LGBTQ</span></a> &amp; <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/transgender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>transgender</span></a> science, including <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/hormone" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>hormone</span></a> therapy.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1968, during the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/May68" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>May68</span></a> events in Paris, <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Marxists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Marxists</span></a> and <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/anarchists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>anarchists</span></a> erected barricades in response to police violence on the 6th. Street battles followed, and on 13 May 2/3 of French workers began a <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/GeneralStrike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GeneralStrike</span></a>. We must recover this spirit of defiance.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1800, American hero <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/JohnBrown" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>JohnBrown</span></a> was born. Following the law is no virtue when the laws are wrong. Doing what is right can be harder but it is what life calls on us to do. We need massive nonviolent <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/CivilResistance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CivilResistance</span></a> if we are to avoid a return to violence.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>I'll post an early <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/MidnightMeditations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MidnightMeditations</span></a> entry on <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SigmundFreud" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SigmundFreud</span></a>, because he was born on <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1856, and also because I started my day recounting a bizarre dream to my partner and we had fun speculating on its meaning. Seems most characters in it were really her. 😉</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1937, the Nazi dirigible <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Hindenburg" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Hindenburg</span></a> exploded in New Jersey, killing 36 people, and bringing to an end the era of transAtlantic rigid airship service. Ships this size used hydrogen, which is highly flammable, but Zeppelins were still engineering marvels.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1789, a final <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/EstatesGeneral" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EstatesGeneral</span></a> was called in <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/France" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>France</span></a>. Propelled by the anger of people facing steep cost rises, they declared a National Assembly and worked on a constitution. These <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/FrenchRevolution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FrenchRevolution</span></a> liberals were pushed steadily from below by street power.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1818, <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/KarlMarx" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>KarlMarx</span></a> was born in Trier. An essential insight into industrial capitalism was <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AlienatedLabour" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlienatedLabour</span></a> -- that labour specialization and private ownership make us into machines working for another's profit instead of our own. Much misery comes of this.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1970, nonviolent student protesters at <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/KentState" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>KentState</span></a>, objecting to invasion of <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Cambodia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cambodia</span></a> and <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/WarCrimes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WarCrimes</span></a> throughout <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Vietnam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Vietnam</span></a>, were met with state violence. 67 rounds were fired, killing four, and many people still don't understand that government is the enemy.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1886, violence met a <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/GeneralStrike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GeneralStrike</span></a> in <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Chicago" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Chicago</span></a> for the 8-hour day in the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/HaymarketAffair" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HaymarketAffair</span></a>. A bomb was thrown, the cops opened fire, and eight <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/anarchists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>anarchists</span></a> were tried for the crime with no evidence of their involvement. Four <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/HaymarketMartyrs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HaymarketMartyrs</span></a> were executed.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>If you ever hear that the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Nazis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Nazis</span></a> were <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/socialists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>socialists</span></a> from some faschy chud, tell them that on <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1933, Nazi Germany banned <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/unions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>unions</span></a> and <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/CollectiveBargaining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CollectiveBargaining</span></a>, increased the maximum working hours to 72 per week, and began conscripting citizens for <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ForcedLabour" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ForcedLabour</span></a>.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1967, the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/BlackPantherParty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BlackPantherParty</span></a> staged a protest against California's <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/MulfordAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MulfordAct</span></a>, which was designed to end their ability to patrol neighbourhoods and prevent both crime and <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/PoliceBrutality" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PoliceBrutality</span></a>. The modern era of <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/GunControl" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GunControl</span></a> began by defending systemic <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>racism</span></a>.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On #<a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1945, Adolf <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Hitler" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Hitler</span></a> escaped justice by shooting himself in Berlin's Führerbunker. Unable to cope with Germany's crushing loss, he sent children to fight Soviet tanks, believing that a people unable to defeat a so-called inferior race deserved extinction.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1945, US troops took control of the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Dachau" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Dachau</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ConcentrationCamp" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ConcentrationCamp</span></a> and freed its prisoners... all except for the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/LGBTQ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LGBTQ</span></a> inmates, who were transferred to new prisons and held under Nazi-era laws. Americans keep electing people who want such laws restored here.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a>, in 1992, the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/LARiots" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LARiots</span></a> began. Five days, 63 killed, 2383 wounded, a billion in property damage, and it wasn't enough. 33 years later, <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/PoliceBrutality" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PoliceBrutality</span></a> is worse, <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/QualifiedImmunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>QualifiedImmunity</span></a> still exists, and both parties arm the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/PoliceState" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PoliceState</span></a>.<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AbolishThePolice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AbolishThePolice</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/BLM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BLM</span></a></p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1945, <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Mussolini" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mussolini</span></a> was cornered in a small village whilst fleeing the country, and summarily executed by a communist partisan. His body was beaten and hanged in the streets of Milan. It is hard to escape <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fascism</span></a> peacefully.<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SicSemperTyrannis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SicSemperTyrannis</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AntiFascist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AntiFascist</span></a></p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1937, the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Nazi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Nazi</span></a> Condor Legion, working for <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Franco" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Franco</span></a>'s parafascist faction in the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpanishCivilWar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpanishCivilWar</span></a>, bombed and destroyed the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Basque" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Basque</span></a> town of <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Gernika" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gernika</span></a>. <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Stuka" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Stuka</span></a> dive-bombers practically erased it in a horrific assault meant to test German preparedness for war.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1916, the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/EasterRising" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EasterRising</span></a> broke out in <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Dublin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Dublin</span></a>. Much more recently, my bird-son Apo was born on this day, and his feathers are the colours of the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Irish" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Irish</span></a> flag. The rising inspired <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Ireland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ireland</span></a>'s independence struggle and Apo would've joined the fight if he could.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>A capitalism in deep crisis has many times been resuscitated by the very <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/WorkingClass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WorkingClass</span></a> it oppresses. On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1870 Russian revolutionary <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/VILenin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VILenin</span></a> was born. His challenge to the capitalism of his day ultimately collapsed. We can do better, and must, just to survive.</p>
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD<p>On <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ThisDayInHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ThisDayInHistory</span></a> in 1914, the National Guard &amp; company militia opened fire on striking coal miners and then torched their camp. Over 100 were killed in the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/LudlowMassacre" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LudlowMassacre</span></a>, including women and children. Take away strong unions and/or regulations and capitalism will kill you.</p>