May Day – Made in the USA, Exported to the World
One of the most important working-class holidays originated in the United States in the 1880s
Iran Timeline: A History of Imperialist Aggression
The U.S. attack on Iran in 2026 is only the latest in decades of U.S. aggression against that country. U.S. imperialism, whether directed by the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, has worked tirelessly to dominate Iran and control its resources. This current war has nothing to do with protecting the U.S. or defending any […]
The Islamic Republic of Iran Shaken by Revolt
On December 28, masses of people took to the streets across Iran in protests that, in many cases, called for the downfall of the Islamic Republic. The Iranian regime responded with intense repression against the protesters with at least 4,500 reported massacred and many more missing. Not only was the regime shaken by the revolt […]
The Hormel Strike 40 Years Later – What Lessons Can We Learn?
On August 17, 1985, workers at the Hormel meatpacking plant in the small town of Austin, Minnesota began a strike that lasted just more than one year. In the course of the strike, the approximately 1,500 workers who struck, and much of Austin’s population, generated a strong, united fightback against corporate greed and union concessions. […]
80 Years Later, the Horror of Nuclear Annihilation Still Threatens Us
80 years after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the threat of nuclear war is still here.
Juneteenth – Celebrate the Past and Continue the Struggle
Today, June 19, 2025, we celebrate Juneteenth – the most popular annual celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. As we celebrate though, the Trump administration and its many allies in the media and among its right-wing supporters are stoking racism against Black people, Muslims, migrants and non-white people. This open upsurge […]
Pride: A History of Resistance
The history of LGBTQ+ rights is a history of radical resistance — but there hasn’t always been a need for LGBTQ+ people to fight back. For much of human history, there was no such thing as “being gay,” at least not in the way it is understood now. Across cultures and centuries, people lived, loved, […]
We Remember Malcolm X on His 100th Birthday
In the year 2025 in the United States, we are witnessing increasingly blatant and violent repression. With racist and brutal language coming from politicians and right-wing media, students being arrested and threatened with deportation, and undocumented people being rounded up and shipped off to foreign nations, it may seem that the United States is experiencing […]
50 Years Ago Today: The End of the Vietnam War
April 30 marks 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War.
Germany 1920: The Working Class Stood Up to an Authoritarian Regime
In the past two months the Trump administration has rampaged through the U.S. government, firing tens of thousands, destroying basic systems that have functioned for decades, ignoring court orders, attacking free speech and any type of dissent, eliminating entire departments and agencies, and removing any opposition to him, Musk, and their minions. In the face […]
Wounded Knee Massacre: A Symbolic End
After 280 or more years of consistent conflict between white settlers of the ever-expanding United States and the indigenous peoples who first populated North America, the fate of those indigenous peoples was symbolically sealed in a massacre on the northern great plains. On December 29, 1890, soldiers of the U.S. Cavalry massacred at least 250 […]
The Russian Revolution and the National Question: Lessons for Today
The Russian Revolution teaches lessons about national struggles that are still relevant today.
August 1791: The Haitian Revolution Shook the World
In August 1791, slaves in Haiti rose up against their oppression.
Kindred by Octavia Butler
“I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery…” Kindred is a 1979 novel by Octavia Butler (1947-2006), an African American science fiction author. The story focuses on Dana, the main character, who is forced to travel through time between her home in the 1970s in Southern California and the early 1800s […]
The First Intifada and the Rebirth of the Palestinian National Movement
December 1982 seemed like the beginning of a turning point in Palestinian history. In 1982, it seemed that the fortunes of the Palestinian people were at a low point. After decades of Zionist intrusion from the late 19th century on, the 1947 United Nations Partition, the earth-shattering 1948 Nakba (the mass displacement and dispossession of […]
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht: Revolutionary Socialists Martyred on This Day
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were murdered on January 15, 1919.
Staughton Lynd: Scholar and Defender of the Working Class
On Thursday, November 17, scholar of the people and lifelong activist Staughton Lynd died at the age of 92. Lynd was part of a generation of young scholars who came of age in the 1960s, perhaps best exemplified by himself and Howard Zinn, who sought to pursue knowledge and scholarship in the struggle to make […]
The Second Intifada: Twenty-Two Years After
Twenty-two years ago, on September 28, 2000, a massive struggle erupted in the occupied territories of Palestine. The territories are located to the East of the state of Israel, and are home to four million Palestinian people living under military occupation by Israel. The struggle launched in 2000, the Second Intifada, was an outburst of […]
The Montgomery Bus Boycott: The Power of Organization and Solidarity
While the act of Rosa Parks sparked mass action, the collective decision of thousands first to participate in and then to continue the boycott led to victory.
The Algerian Revolution of 1954-1962
The Algerian Revolution began on November 1, 1954, against French colonialism.
Anniversary of the 1929 Stock Market Crash
The stock market crashed on October 29, 1929, starting the Great Depression. The instability of the period led to the organization of the working class.
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers’ Ferry: One Battle in a Long Struggle
John Brown and his followers stand as an example of how working people of different skin colors and backgrounds can join together and take action against the oppressing ruling classes. For that reason, we recognize John Brown’s raid as part of the long struggle to end oppression and create a just and equal world for all people.
Labor Day History: The Battle of Blair Mountain
This relatively unknown piece of history of the Battle of Blair Mountain shows the heroic efforts miners took to defend themselves and challenge their exploitation.
The San Francisco General Strike • 87Years Ago: The Power of Worker Solidarity
Eighty-six years ago, longshore workers all along the Pacific coast were on strike.
June 27, 1954: A Bloody CIA-Sponsored Coup in Guatemala
On June 27, 1954, the democratically elected president of Guatemala, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, was deposed in a CIA-sponsored coup to protect the profits of the United Fruit Company
The 1937 Memorial Day Massacre
On Memorial Day weekend, we remember the 1937 massacre of Chicago steelworkers.
May 1968 – French Workers and Students Make History!
In 1968, students in France started a movement which became a general strike.
April 8, 1952: Truman Tries to Stifle Steel Strike
On April 8, 1952, President Truman ordered the nationalization of the steel mills in an attempt to prevent the workers from striking.
The Paris Commune – When Working People Took Charge
March 18 marks the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune of 1871, when the working class took control.
The Lowell Mill Strikes—Working Women Organizing in the Industrial Revolution
In February of 1834, the women working at the Lowell, Massachusetts textile mills went on strike against a pay cut – an early demonstration of working women’s organizing activity.
Bacon’s Rebellion and the Making of “Race” in the United States
Since the explosion of outrage following the police murder of George Floyd, millions of Americans (white and Black, and others as well) have focused their attention on race and racial oppression in the United States. They have looked back to the murders of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery this year as well as back a […]
The Battle of Blair Mountain: A Worker’s Uprising Worth Remembering on Labor Day
One struggle we can learn from was the struggle of coal miners that led to the “Battle of Blair Mountain” almost a 100 years ago in West Virginia
June 30, 1918: Eugene V. Debs Jailed for Opposing Imperialist Violence
“The master class has always declared the war, the subject class has always fought the battles
The First “Pride” Was a Riot. Stonewall Uprising, June 28, 1969: We Remember.
Even though Pride is often viewed as a party or parade, its origins stem from a refusal to accept the police violence plaguing the LGBTQ community
Book Review: The Water Dancer
The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, opens with a quote from Fredrick Douglass: “My part has been to tell the story of the slave. The story of the master never wanted for narrators.”
The Fourth of July – Whose Revolution?
Fourth of July is this week and we are hearing all the calls to be patriotic. But what does it mean to be patriotic when every politician is either attacking us or useless to defend our interests? What does it mean to wave the flag of a government that is trying to discriminate against millions […]
Joel Beinin: Workers and the Uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt
Revolutionary University October 2016 Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History at Stanford University and author of the recent book “Workers and Thieves” will discuss the struggles of the working classes and unemployed in Egypt and Tunisia and their roles in the 2011 popular uprisings known as the Arab Spring.