Radical History Blog

Born today in 1868, W.E.B. Du Bois remains an icon of black and radical history in the US...On 28th August 1963, about 250,000 Americans took part in March on Washington.It was one of the great popular agitations of US history.

Born today in 1868, W.E.B. Du Bois remains an icon of black and radical history in the US...On 28th August 1963, about 250,000 Americans took part in March on Washington.It was one of the great popular agitations of US history.

77 years ago today, Missak Manouchian and twenty-one comrades were shot at Fort Mont-Valérien, on the outskirts of Paris. Missak Manouchian (1906-1944) survived one genocide and then gave his life fighting to stop another.

76 years ago today the RAF bombed the German city of Dresden, killing thousands of civilians.

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.