Radical History Blog

Killed on this day in 1936, Lorca remains one of the most important radical writers in history “As I have not worried to be born, I do not worry to die.” These were the prophetic words of Federico García Lorca, the Spanish poet and playwright who was assassinated on this day in 1936 by far-right thugs near Granada.

Today in 1790, educator, politician, and radical philosopher, Thomas Skidmore, was born in Connecticut, USA.When someone calls for freedom, it's always healthy to ask: freedom for whom?

Today, in 1942, Gandhi mobilised the movement for independence with his 'Do or Die' speech. By the 1940s, India had been kept in the waiting room of history for a hundred years.

Born on this day in 1890, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn devoted her life to the radical struggle “History has a long-range perspective.

On this day in 1932, 43,000 members of the 'Bonus Army' marched on Washington D.C to demand their owed bonuses... Perhaps unexpectedly, a radical vein runs through the history of American soldiery.

Born on this day in 1913, Michael Foot took the Labour Party back to its ideological roots The Labour Party has changed a lot since its .

Born on this day in 1796, the Irish Chartist Feargus O'Connor was known as "the lion of freedom" “Rise like lions after slumber In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you- Ye are many – they are few.” So went Percy Bysshe Shelley’s rallying cry to the British working classes after the in 1819.

Born on this day in 1907, Frida Kahlo was not just an artist - she was a revolutionary On this day, 6th July, in 1907, Frida Kahlo was born – but she wouldn’t admit it.

Thrown in prison over thirty times, Kwame Ture never gave up the fight against racism and injustice... Many of the greatest figures in US radical history have come out of the black freedom struggle.

Arrested for voting in 1872, Susan B. Anthony put her freedom on the line to fight for suffrage... The US has a long and still unfinished history of voter suppression.