Radical History Blog

On Lech Wałęsa's birthday, we look at the story of Polish trade union Solidarity and its challenge to Communist oppression The Communist dictatorship in Poland was overthrown by one of the least capitalist forces imaginable: organised labour.

Thomas Ashe's death in a British prison on this day in 1917 inspired the Irish Republican movement... The hunger strike has a long history in the Irish republican movement.

Lajos Kossuth rose up against the Habsburg Empire and became a bellwether of democracy in Europe "The spirit of our age is Democracy. All for the people, and all by the people.

The dramatic Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858 punctured a hole in the Fugitive Slave Law (photo: the rescuers in jail) John Brown didn’t ride alone.

Born on this day in 1921, Raymond Williams became one of the leading Marxist theorists of the twentieth century - and helped to inspire the Radical Tea Towel Company!

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.