Radical History Blog

102 years ago today, a strike went city-wide in Seattle and the workers cast the bosses aside to run the show themselves... “…We are on the road that leads – no one knows where!” It was February 1919.

Born on this day in 1910, Peggy Duff devoted her life to international peace and the fight against everything which endangers it...Noam Chomsky said of her that, "she should have won the Nobel Peace Prize about twenty times".But you may well never have heard of Peggy Duff (1910-81).

On this day in 1919, 25,000 workers gathered in George Square, Glasgow to protest against the unemployment crisis. It was to become another example of state violence against the working class.

Born today in 1770, Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet of Bramcote, was a radical you might not have expected. The decades either side of 1800 – the so-called 'Age of Revolutions' – were a time of closed ranks for the European aristocracy.

Born today in 1798 Samuel Worcester defended the sovereignty of the Cherokee and founded the first Native American newspaper.

CLR James (1901-1989) was born today in 1901. His book, 'The Black Jacobins', remains one of the great monuments in the history of radical history. Illustration depicting combat between French and Haitian troops during the Haitian Revolution.

Today in 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed emancipation.

The year 2021 fast approaches, and the fact it isn’t the year 2020 seems sufficient reason to welcome it! Image source: rawpixel This year really has been something of an annus horribilis on a global scale.

Today, in 1936, John Cornford was killed near the town of Lopera in the south of Spain. Children preparing for evacuation from Spain, during the Spanish Civil War, some giving the Republican salute.

Radical female activists have often been overlooked throughout history.