#workingclasshistory

[beatjackkerouac]

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[semtituloh]

Vía Working Class History

On this day, 7 June 1954, British mathematician and pioneering thinker in the field of artificial intelligence Alan Turing died of cyanide poisoning at the age of 41. Turing had also helped the Allies win World War II by decoding encrypted Nazi communications, and after the war helped develop some of the earliest digital computers.

In 1952, he was convicted of "gross indecency" for homosexuality and sentenced to chemical castration by the state as punishment. His death was officially ruled a suicide, in response to the persecution he had been suffering.

However, the police investigation of his death was entirely inadequate. And while they concluded he deliberately ingested cyanide from an apple, they failed to test the apple for the presence of cyanide. Alternative explanations for his death were that he could have accidentally inhaled cyanide from an experiment, or that British security services killed him to prevent state secrets being passed on to the Soviet Union, which was a common fear held about LGBT+ people whom they typically considered a security risk.

Years of campaigning against the legacy of UK state homophobia eventually resulted in Turing receiving a posthumous pardon in 2013, as well as the passing of the so-called Turing's Law, which granted posthumous pardons to nearly 50,000 other men convicted of "gross indecency" for same-sex relations.

This is one of hundreds of stories featured in our new book, Be Gay, Do Crime: Everyday Acts of Queer Resistance and Rebellion. Help get it published and get hold of a discounted copy first by backing our Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wrkclasshistory/be-gay-do-crime-a-history-of-queer-resistance?fbclid=IwY2xjawKxI2tleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFlbENaTzN4MDJMQmduVmxpAR5kUpf1ptCoFbO19z8fZacKWdWHbJ5vSQvNE1j95fE5wT7WixnVTNGWxPyDEA_aem_FdUpjj35YTUgKCm1jH4SNA

@workingclasshistory

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 23 July 1944, 19-year-old French communist resistance fighter Madeleine Riffaud saw a German military officer taking a walk over a bridge on the river Seine in Paris and got off her bicycle. As he looked at the Louvre, she took out her gun and shot him twice in the head, killing him. As she cycled away, she was pursued and knocked off her bike by French collaborators in a car. Riffaud tried to shoot herself to avoid torture but was captured and handed over to the Nazi SS. She was beaten repeatedly, escaped but was recaptured and deported to a concentration camp. There, she was released in a prisoner swap, and took part in the armed uprising which liberated the city in August. She later recounted to Agence France-Presse in an interview, “It was joyous… People were falling in love and kissing each other without knowing each other. After years of having to do everything in secret, we could fight in the open.” Riffaud survived the war and later became a journalist, supporting and reporting on anti-colonial rebellions in Algeria and Vietnam. If you value our work researching and promoting people's history like this, please consider supporting our work, and accessing exclusive content and benefits, at https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=666345558871996&set=a.602588028581083&type=3

[steelymaris]

OtD 22 Mar 1974 Scottish workers in the East Killbride Rolls Royce factory refused to work on plane parts from Pinochet's Chile. They kept the refusal up for 4 years, leaving the engines outside to rust, before they went missing one night (from @workingclasshistory)

[migurski]

“Don’t iron while the strike is hot”

Via https://mastodon.social/@workingclasshistory/114055824212393729

[movieshead]

biggest beef in the world with workingclasshistory fuck those guys lol. "workingclasshistory" but youre anticommunist? Okay lil bro

[crispyanonart]

Hi! Loved your recent art post and the message with it, was wondering if you have any tips/resources/ideas on where to start researching the things you mentioned? Like the important parts of history and how it repeats itself, stuff like that,, thanks!!

Hello anon 🖤 I'll start with a disclaimer: I’m just someone who shares fan art online, I am no expert or anything, but I’ll do my best to offer some useful references and share how I personally stay informed - I'll keep this list updated if I find interesting sources

@ everyone pease feel free to correct me or add to this post

I know that diving into topics like politics and history can feel overwhelming, but I promise it’s manageable if you ease into it with media and languages that feel comfortable to you. Of course, it’d be amazing to read and study every history book and testimony out there, but realistically it’s tough to find the time and energy to consistently do so - at any point in life. The best way to begin is to follow intersectional educators and historians on your socials to get small interesting informations little by little, and go check the sources they provide any time a topic sparks your interest.

Second disclaimer: I don’t know your background or where you’re from, and I think this makes the difference when figuring out where to start. I live in Italy, so many of my usual sources are Italian educators, historians, or social commentary pages that align with my own political and ideological views (se c'è qualche Italian*: il king Alessandro Barbero, Michela Murgia 💔, Claudia Fauzia, Tomaso Montanari, Diletta Bellotti, Cathy La Torre, Loredana Lipparini, @aestheticasovietica, @madonnafreeda...) but I started out just simply by browsing the internet, listening to some (wise) older people talk and perking up my ears in class.

My first tip would be to start local at first, and work outward. Look into the history of your town, community or area. What struggles and key issues have shaped it over time? If you have the means even directly ask people in your circles. We often hear about broad, all-encompassing issues that can feel unfathomable and far beyond our reach and control, but it’s important to remember that everything always starts within local communities, and only grows from there.

On the opposite side of this, my second tip would be to try and keep your sources as diverse as possible, and hear out people from all backgrounds. When events affect a specific community or minority, seek out creators and reporters directly from those groups and involved in said issues. Mainstream news is known to be very partial and biased more often than not - I personally tend to avoid it completely.

☆ now some actual sources:

Profiles

Historycoolkids & Decolonialatlas (these two are honestly just very fun but also educational) / so.informed / IMEU / JP Hill / seastersjones / decolonizemyself / seedingsovereignty / queerbrownvegan / workingclasshistory / brownhistory / propublica / motherjonesmag / ajplus / I'll add more as I find more

Readings

substack: us politics / world politics / history

the electric typewriter: Politics / History

are.na: Politics / this platform is full of great resources and full on books/pdfs to download, but it's better to just browse it by topic

a great library to explore is JSTOR ( @jstor ) / politics

Some writers I recommend are Susan Sontag, Angela Davis, Bell Hooks, David Olusoga, Thomas Piketty, Keisha N. Blain and Margaret MacMillan (you can also look on youtube for lectures they did)

Accessible history

Ryan Chapman

Then&Now

HistoryExtra

CrashCourse

What is Fascism (suggesting this video specifically bc it's the best english one I've found on the topic. Fascism is a word that gets thrown around a lot - and will be in the near future - often without a real knowledge about its origins and meaning, and I think this explains it very well and as quickly as humanly possible.)

This is everything that comes to mind right now!! And by the way remember to always remain full of curiosity and hope xxx

[unbossed]

E83-84: Angry Brigade – Working Class History

I'm really enjoying this episode of @workingclasshistory and highly recommend it.

[medusa1597]

reading this 100+ comments thread of these two guys arguing back and forth first about whether or not anthony bourdain grew up working class and then whether or not one of the guys arguing was larping as working class or not, workingclasshistory was tagged in the discussion

[ntfahirek]

On this day, 14 May 1938, the players of the England football team raised their arms to give the Nazi "Heil Hitler" salute before a match in Berlin. They had been instructed to do so directly by the British Foreign Office.

Reportedly the players at first refused, until the British ambassador and Football Association secretary intervened and ordered them to do so. According to his biographer, one of the players, Stan Cullis, would not perform the salute and was dropped from the team for that match as a result.

At the time the British government was pursuing a policy of appeasement of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, and shortly after signed an agreement permitting Germany's annexation of parts of then-Czechoslovakia.

Much of the British ruling class supported Hitler, as well as the dictatorships in Italy, Spain and Portugal, as bulwarks against communism and an organised working class. Influential British fascists included King Edward VIII. He was forced to abdicate in 1936, and became the Duke of Windsor, but he maintained close Nazi ties even during World War II, when he urged Germany to bomb Britain.

Wealthy socialite Unity Mitford was an open Nazi and antisemite, who wrote "I want everyone to know I am a Jew hater." Another prominent figure was Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail newspaper, and a personal friend of Hitler.

And while Conservative MP Winston Churchill was suspicious of Hitler's imperialist ambitions, he wrote both of his support of Italian fascist Benito Mussolini, and of his admiration for Hitler: "The story of that struggle (Hitler's rise to power), cannot be read without admiration for the courage, the perseverance, and the vital force which enabled him to challenge, defy, conciliate or overcome, all the authority or resistances which barred his path."

More information sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8604/England-football-team-Nazi-salute

* If you appreciate our work, please consider supporting us on patreon: https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory

[trascapades]

🕊💙🤍 #ArtIsAWeapon #SayHerName #BreonnaTaylor #NeverForget

Portrait by @asherald

Caption reposted from @workingclasshistory

On this day, 13 March 2020, emergency medical technician Breonna Taylor, was killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky. Taylor, who was Black, worked full-time in the emergency room Department of the University of Louisville Jewish Hospital, as well as working part-time at Norton Healthcare.

At 1 AM on March 13 Louisville police broke into her apartment with a "no-knock" drug warrant, which allows police to forcibly enter properties without identifying themselves as police or giving any warning. Officers shot Taylor eight times, killing her.

Police claimed that Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, opened fire on them first, however despite initially charging Walker with attempted murder of police, the charge was dismissed, which suggests the claim was fabricated.

Taylor's family state that after breaking in, officers “then proceeded to spray gunfire into the residence with a total disregard for the value of human life." Walker was a licensed gun owner, and no drugs were found on the premises.

On her Facebook account, Taylor had recently explain how she felt about her job helping people:

“Working in health care is so rewarding! It makes me so happy when I know I’ve made a difference in someone else’s life!”

News of her killing was initially overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but after the racist murders by current or former law-enforcement of other unarmed African-Americans Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, many thousands of people took to the streets shouting her name, as well as those of other Black people killed by police.

More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10540/breonna-taylor-killed

Caption reposted from @essence

A lot can happen in five years.

Breonna Taylor could have risen through the EMT ranks, saving more lives and touching more hearts. She could have fallen deeper in love, walked down the aisle, and maybe even welcomed her first child. She could have traveled the world, laughed until it hurt, and seen her dreams unfold.

But instead, five years have passed without her—because her life was stolen too soon.

Still, we say her name. Because while five years have passed, our voices have not wavered. Breonna deserved more tomorrows, and we won’t stop until the world remembers that.

[semtituloh]

Vía Working Class History

On this day, 7 May 1945, Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered, leading to the end of World War II in Europe. But rather than be punished for their crimes, many Nazi and fascist leaders continued to hold onto power and wealth.

In West Germany, despite "denazification", most Nazi war criminals went unpunished, and many were rehired in official positions as the Cold War with the eastern bloc heated up. For example, out of around 1 million people involved in the Holocaust, only around 600 received life imprisonment or death sentences. Even convicted war criminals like Hanns Martin Schleyer rapidly regained power: Schleyer himself quickly became president of Germany's main employer associations, helping to break unions. Many Nazi scientists were employed to work in the US as part of Operation Paperclip, while others were put to work in the Soviet Union under Operation Osoaviakhim.

In Greece, the US and UK backed Greek fascists and Nazi supporters in a brutal civil war against the former resistance members. In Italy, the CIA intervened in elections in 1948 to prevent victory of the left, which had been the backbone of the resistance. And in Italy and across Western Europe, ex-Nazis were employed by NATO to form an underground anti-communist army called Gladio which carried out terrorist attacks in countries like Italy and Belgium.

In the East, in Romania, resistance guerrillas were labelled "bandits" by the new Soviet authorities, who put Petru Groza and Gheorghe Tatarescu in charge. Both men had previously been part of right-wing governments, and Tatarescu was minister of state while anti-Jewish laws were brought in in the late 1930s. In Bulgaria, fascist leader Khimon Georgiev was made Prime Minister, and soon repressed striking coal miners. In Hungary, the man appointed to run the first government in Russian-occupied territory was Bela Miklos, the first Hungarian to have been awarded the highest Nazi honour: Knight Grand Cross of the Iron Cross.

@workingclasshistory

More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10734/Nazi-Germany-surrendered?fbclid=IwY2xjawKIlQ9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFJMlZSSk44aGF1aGlHRE54AR5Dj5Fs1jDuyKmQZRuaZwd5k1q1zenIG5xIJoi07F9ICuA_f370bZwqgzweQw_aem_7cl_hA6LYLnCwbjGtyhQAA

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 13 July 1906, plumber Ben Cunningham and 14 unemployed workers marched onto a piece of unused municipal land in Plaistow, London, and began cultivating food to feed the unemployed. They divided the area into four triangular plots, dubbing it Triangle Camp, and planted around 1000 plants which were donated to them, including cabbage, broccoli and celery. They also set up a tent structure which they called The Triangle Hotel, and put up a sign inside reading: "You are requested not to spit on the floor of this hotel". On July 26, police and local government officials descended on the camp, but 3 to 5000 mostly unemployed people turned up to support the occupiers, and the forces of order retreated. Local authorities returned with police on August 4 and eventually managed to clear the camp, carrying off Cunningham and pulling down the Hotel. Cunningham was a councillor for the Social Democratic Federation, but in the wake of the occupation they kicked him out of the party. If you value our work researching and promoting people's history like this, please consider supporting us on patreon, and accessing exclusive content and benefits: https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=660876332752252&set=a.602588028581083&type=3

[migurski]

Via https://mastodon.social/@workingclasshistory/113683106958727084

[abwwia]

On this day, 14 August 1944, 29-year-old Italian resistance partisan Irma Bandiera, aka 'Mimma', was murdered by the Nazis. They had blinded her and tortured her for seven days, however she refused to give up the names of her comrades. Her body was then dumped in the street outside her parents' house. Today there is a street named after her in her native Bologna.

working class history #repost you can support theier page: https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory