Communism

If Florence Nightingale is the founder of modern nursing, then Thora Silverthorne is the founder of the modern nursing labour movement Thora Silverthorne in around 1910 When people think of the history of British nursing, Florence Nightingale is the first name that comes to mind.

Claudia Jones, born 109 years ago today, was deported by the US and left her mark on Britain insteadClaudia Jones blue plaque in Notting Hill, London. Credit: The Notting Hill Carnival was founded by a communist.

The story of how radicals in Czechoslovakia tried to democratise Soviet rule It’s not often that Spring begins in January… But that’s exactly what happened in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1968, when Alexander Dubček became – mouthful alert – First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

The story of how Sun Yat-sen became the first President of the Republic of China "For forty years, I have devoted myself to the cause of the people’s revolution with but one aim in view – the elevation of China to a position of freedom and equality among the nations." Before the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949, there was the Chinese Republican Revolution of 1911, and Sun Yat-sen was one of its main characters.

We all like to entwine our own stories with those of our heroes.

'The Land of the Free' is how we're often introduced to the United States. Of course, there have been plenty of Americans who moved mountains to make America a freer place to live: Sojourner Truth, Abe Lincoln, Alice Paul, Muhammad Ali and many more.

After months of shoehorning dubiously relevant references into every email I can, I get to write you one about the man himself – today is his 200th Birthday, after all!

Get new post updates It was 99 years ago today that died in Berlin. 89 years ago today, was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

"The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it." - Karl Marx It’s the late 1870s. Imagine sitting by his fireplace on a winter's evening in London.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were killed on this day, after what Jean-Paul Sartre called a 'legal lynching' Ethel and Julius Rosenberg in 1951, after being found guilty by a jury. Their sons, Michael and Robert, later established a foundation to support the children of targeted liberal activists.