Revival History

Today, May 1, is International Workers' Day! It commemorates the sentencing to death of seven anarchist workers in Chicago who were wrongly convicted for throwing a bomb at police who attacked a strike demonstration in May 1886.  80,000 workers in Chicago had walked out on May 1 demanding a maximum 8 hour working day, alongside over 200,000 other workers across the US. Employers and the government were determined to crush the movement, and four of the anarchists were executed, with the fifth cheating the hangman by killing himself. An eighth was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. The surviving three were later pardoned, and the fight for the 8 hour day continued.  Before his execution, defendant August Spies told the court: "if you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labour movement – the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil and live in want and misery, the wage slaves, expect salvation – if this is your opinion, then hang us! H...

 Today, 26 February, in history in Poland: born in 1887 - Stefan Grabiński (died, 12 November 1936), a Polish writer of fantastic literature and horror stories. He is sometimes referred to as the "Polish Poe" or "Polish Lovecraft," although his works are often surrealistic or explicitly erotic in a way that sets him apart from both. He was an expert in parapsychology, magic, and demonology and had an interest in the works of the German Expressionist filmmakers. The symbolic imagery of Grabiński's works was embodied by eerie creatures, such as incubi, witches, doppelgängers, spirits of various sorts, and mysterious messages from the underworld. His fiction is usually considered bizarre because it is permeated with magic, occult eroticism, parapsychological effects, and Oriental mysticism. A number of his stories have been translated into English by Miroslaw Lipinski and published as The Dark Domain. His story "Szamota's Mistress" was adapted to fil...

 Today, Socrates is remembered as one of the most important Western philosophers and the inspiration for the interrogative "Socratic method," which is still used in modern-day classrooms. But he was far from revered at the end of his life. By 399 B.C.E., Socrates had become a nuisance to many Athenians because of his strong belief in individualism and self-reflection.  His appearance and lifestyle also rubbed many people the wrong way. Socrates, with his "ugly" face and simple way of life, didn't fit in with Athens' power- and beauty-obsessed society. And yet, he remained highly influential among his devoted followers — which infuriated many people in power. At the age of 70, Socrates was charged with "impiety" and "corrupting the youth," found guilty by a jury of his peers, and sentenced to death. Forced to drink poison, Socrates died surrounded by his loyal followers. But they made sure he wasn't forgotten

 Today, 33 years ago, The Mamelodi 10 killed in ambush.  Thursday, 26 June 1986 After being lured to their deaths by police Constable Joe Mamasela (posing as an MK agent) the 'Mamelodi 10' (a.k.a. the 'Nietverdiend 10') are killed. Mamasela had promised to take them to Botswana for military training. Instead Mamasela drove them (in a minibus) to Nietverdiend, where security officers ordered the men at gunpoint to get out of the minibus, and Commandant Dave Trippet injected them with a chemical. Now unconscious, they were bundled back into the minibus and driven to Bophuthatswana by Special Forces operative Diederick Jacobus Vorster. A limpet mine and an AK47 were placed into the minibus, an accident staged and the minibus set alight. The bodies were burnt so severely that identification was difficult, and there is some confusion about who was killed in this incident. Their bodies buried in a field in Winterveld, near Pretoria. What happened to the Mamelodi 10 was outlin...