Radical History Blog

On this day in 1927, two Italian anarchists were executed in America for a crime they didn't commit “I am suffering because I am a radical and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I am an Italian and indeed I am an Italian…” - Bartolomeo Vanzetti During the 1920s, outside the Norfolk County Jail in Massachusetts, it wasn’t uncommon to see a young boy throwing a ball to an inmate inside, back and forth over the wall.

On 13th August in 1977, anti-fascist Londoners sent the National Front packing... London has a proud tradition of anti-fascist politics.

On this day in 1943, Jewish prisoners rose up against the guards at Treblinka Extermination Camp At the beginning of May 1943, a Jewish fighter captured by the Nazis after the was transported to the Treblinka Extermination Camp. He knew his fate.

Miguel Hidalgo wasn't just a priest: he was also one of the leading revolutionaries in Latin American history... Miguel Hidalgo was no conventional priest.

On this day in 1967, homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK, sparking a golden age of gay liberation struggle... It was in 1533 that male homosexuality was first officially outlawed in England and made punishable by death.

The poet whose words inspired Marx, Gandhi, Thoreau and countless others... Percy Bysshe Shelley died on this day in 1822. He wasn’t yet thirty years old, but since his death Shelley has become known as one of England’s greatest poets.

When a greedy steel magnate tried to tear up workers' rights, Pennsylvania steelworkers fought back “We are asking one another as we pass the time of day Why working men resort to arms to get their proper pay…”In early July in 1892, Pennsylvania steelworkers went to war.

In 1797, Royal Navy sailors launched a mutiny on the Thames In May 1797, a republic floated down the River Thames. Its provinces were ships, and its citizens were sailors. And these weren’t just any sailors. They were Royal Navy mutineers.

The radical who wanted to spread the French Revolution across the globe... “The rights of man are the same everywhere.” The wasn’t just about France. It declared universal rights, and denounced the authority of kings everywhere.

Why was one of the eighteenth century's greatest poets erased from the history of British literature?“...