About This Blog
An alternative "On This Day", On This Deity aims to bring light to and celebrate Culture Heroes, Outsider Icons, Beloved Immortals and Revolutionary Events in history.
Anarchists
30th July 2006 the Death of Murray Bookchin
Today we pay tribute to one of the great revolutionary thinkers of the twentieth century – social critic, anarchist, utopian and eco-pioneer, Murray Bookchin – who died five years ago aged 85. He was for twenty-five years the most prominent American proponent … Continue reading
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6th July 1934 the Death of Nestor Makhno
Today we recall the Ukrainian revolutionary leader, Nestor Makhno, who died seventy-seven years ago on this day in poverty, illness and oblivion. Fellow exiles who had watched Makhno drink and cough himself to death in the slums of Paris could … Continue reading
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1st July 1876 the Death of Mikhail Bakunin
Today we contemplate the extraordinary life and legacy of Mikhail Bakunin, the revolutionary colossus and leading spirit of 19th-century anarchism who – one hundred and thirty-five years ago today – died in poverty and defeat at the age of sixty-two. Out-manoeuvred and … Continue reading
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28th June 1936 the Death of Alexander Berkman
Seventy-five years ago on this day, Alexander Berkman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. Suffering from poor health and broken dreams, it was a sad and discomfiting end to the noble life of this seemingly inexorable revolutionary … Continue reading
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27th June 1905 the Founding of the Industrial Workers of the World
It is late June 2011 as I write this. The news media – on the rare occasions it’s not discussing the sex lives of professional sportsmen – offers us a running commentary on an Arab Spring, now turned summer. We’re … Continue reading
Posted in Anarchists, Revolution, World Events 1 Comment
22nd June 1939 the Death of Benjamin Tucker
Not with any spectacular knock-out blow did today’s subject achieve his legacy in the pantheon of American anarchist luminaries. He wasn’t a “propaganda-by-the-deed” antihero like Alexander Berkman; nor was he an inspiring, fiery, superstar orator like Emma Goldman. And despite … Continue reading
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20th June 1912 the Death of Voltairine de Cleyre
Today we pay tribute to an extraordinary frontierswoman and freethinker, Voltairine de Cleyre, who died 99 years ago as she had lived: “a free spirit, an Anarchist, owing no allegiance to rulers, heavenly or earthly.” A leading luminary in the … Continue reading
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28th May 1871 Defeat of the Paris Commune
Today we lament the unfathomably brutal suppression of the first proletarian revolution in history, the Paris Commune. Just three months earlier, on 18th March 1871, the workers of Paris rose up, seized power from the new provisional French government, … Continue reading
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14th May 1940 the Death of Emma Goldman
Today we celebrate an extraordinary life of an extraordinary woman – the propagandist, orator, writer, agitator, firebrand and revolutionary anarchist – Emma Goldman. Known as “Red Emma,” “the mother of anarchy in America” and “the most dangerous woman in the world,” … Continue reading
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4th May 1886 the Haymarket Affair
Today is the 125th anniversary of the so-called Haymarket Affair – the most sensational American labour incident in the 19th century. What began on May 1st 1886 as a nationwide movement for the 8-hour workday ignited on this day during … Continue reading
Posted in Anarchists, Atrocities, Heroes, World Events 1 Comment
2nd May 1919 the Death of Gustav Landauer
Today we are remembering one of the great lost thinkers of the twentieth century, the German Jewish anarchist, philosopher and “prophet of community” – Gustav Landauer. Academic and author Jesse Cohn has suggested: “If there were any justice in this … Continue reading
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12th April 1989 the Revolutionary Suicide of Abbie Hoffman
Today we commemorate everyone’s favourite Groucho Marxist – the radical activist, Abbie Hoffman. Co-founder of the Yippies and author of Steal This Book and Revolution for the Hell of It, Hoffman was one of the most colourful and iconic figures … Continue reading
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10th April 1919 the Death of Emiliano Zapata
Today we lament the death of the great Mexican revolutionary, natural anarchist and prophet – Emiliano Zapata – tragically betrayed and ambushed ninety-two years ago by federal forces after an heroic 9-year struggle to bring self-reliance and autonomy to his … Continue reading
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8th April 2010 the Death of Malcolm McLaren
Today we pay tribute to that uproarious lord of mischief, Malcolm McLaren, who popped his clogs one year ago today. What more can be said of this tiresome entrepreneurial maverick haberdasher who practiced his trade in the dying embers of … Continue reading
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18th March 1871 the Paris Commune Begins
Today marks the 140th anniversary of the Paris Commune – the first successful seizure of power by the working class. Facing Prussian invasion forces on one side and French troops mobilised not against the invaders but themselves on the … Continue reading
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7th March 1942 the Death of Lucy Parsons
Today we celebrate the life of the anarchist and social reformer, the great Lucy Parsons. For almost seven decades, she fought for the rights of the oppressed. So powerful and effective were her oratory, written and organisational skills that the … Continue reading
Posted in Anarchists, Heroines 6 Comments
8th February 1921 the Death of Peter Kropotkin
Today we venerate a truly great humanitarian of rarely paralleled morality and integrity, Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin. Born into extraordinary wealth and nobility (a Russian prince, no less), Kropotkin surrendered his birthright and all that came with it for the life … Continue reading
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19th January 1865 the Death of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Let us cast our mind back to this day in 1865 to remember the death (at the age of 56) and celebrate the life of the world’s first anarchist. Actually, it’s probably stretching things a little to describe Pierre-Joseph Proudhon … Continue reading
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11th January 1943 The Assassination of Carlo Tresca
Sixty-eight years ago on this day, Carlo Tresca – Italian-American anarchist leader and thorn in the side of just about everyone – was assassinated on the streets of New York City. One of the most colourful figures of the American … Continue reading
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1st January 1994 The Zapatista Uprising
Seventeen years ago today, as Mexico’s ruling class celebrated the New Year and the inauguration of an agreement with the USA that they hoped would propel them into the “First World”, more than 3,000 indigenous Mayan Indian guerrillas came down … Continue reading
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20th November 1936 the Death of Buenaventura Durruti
Today we remember the inspirational life of the anarchist military leader, Buenaventura Durruti, who died 75 years ago in a mysterious and hotly disputed shooting accident. For although his death occurred a mere four months into the Spanish Civil War, … Continue reading
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17th November 1947 the Death of Victor Serge
Today in 1947, the life-long revolutionary Victor Serge collapsed and died in Mexico City at the age of 57. His health had broken down after many years spent in prison and imposed exile under regimes of various nationalities and … Continue reading
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13th October 1909 the Execution of Francisco Ferrer
The execution of Catalan anarchist and educator Francisco Ferrer, 102 years ago today, was not punishment for the crime of which he had been accused. That the charges against him were fabricated is not in any doubt. Rather, his execution … Continue reading
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7th September 1872 Bakunin Gets the Boot
Though it is almost impossible to imagine, in light of where Stalin and Mao took their respective communist countries, less than a century before their totalitarian regimes took power, anarchism stood side-by-side with communism as a genuine political consideration for … Continue reading
Posted in Anarchists, World Events 1 Comment
23rd August 1927 the Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti
Eighty-four years ago today, despite a long campaign of letters and petitions involving such world luminaries as HG Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, Dorothy Parker and Upton Sinclair, two Italian anarchists died in the electric chair after losing their … Continue reading
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17th August 1963 the Execution of Delgado & Granados
Forty-eight years ago today, two young Spanish anarchists were executed by General Franco’s obscene regime for a Passport Office bombing of which they had no knowledge, while the real perpetrators slipped quietly away. Despite the absence of any evidence of … Continue reading
Posted in Anarchists, Dissent 1 Comment
15th August 1889 The Meeting of Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman
One hundred and twenty-two years ago today, a fateful and momentous meeting of two exceptional minds occurred in a café in New York City’s Lower East Side. Like Wordsworth and Coleridge, or John and Yoko, the reaction between the two … Continue reading
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8th August 1897 Michele Angiolillo’s Attentat
One hundred and fourteen years ago today, in the tiny Spanish spa town of Santa Agueda, Spain’s autocratic and much-hated prime minister Cánovas del Castillo was assassinated: gunned down as a final act of revenge by an Italian anarchist who … Continue reading
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