A People's Calendar

Calendar

Jose Maria Sison (1939 - 2022)Feb 8th, 1939

Jose Maria Sison, born on this day in 1939, was a revolutionary Filipino writer who founded the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), which fought for decades against the Marcos dictatorship.

Image: Jose Maria Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Pary of the Philippines, from the documentary "Semifeudalism in the Philippines" [Wikimedia Commons]

Communism

Birthdays

Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805 - 1881)Feb 8th, 1805

Louis Auguste Blanqui, born on this day in 1805, was a French socialist and political activist, notable for his revolutionary theory of Blanquism and being the elected president of the Paris Commune while imprisoned.

Socialism

Marxism

Birthdays

San Diego Free Speech Fight (1912)Feb 8th, 1912

On this day in 1912, the city of San Diego banned giving speeches on the street in an attempt to suppress labor organizing efforts by the IWW, leading to a "Free Speech Fight" involving more than 5,000 IWW members.

Labor

IWW

Protests

The Dawes Act (1887)Feb 8th, 1887

The Dawes Act, passed on this day in 1887, authorized the U.S. to divide indigenous tribal land into allotments for heads of families and individuals, leading to a loss of 2/3rds of land (~100 million acres) over the next 50 years.

Image: U.S. Department of the Interior advertisement offering 'Indian Land for Sale'. The man pictured is a Yankton Sioux named Not Afraid Of Pawnee. [Wikipedia]

Indigenous