Seeds of Fire: A People’s Chronology
Recalling events that happened on this day in history.
Memories of struggle, resistance and persistence.
Compiled by Ulli Diemer
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February 23, 1848
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France’s chief minister Guizot resigns in the face of anti-government protests. On hearing the news of his resignation, a large crowd gathers outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Soldiers fire into the crowd: fifty-two people are killed. In response, barricades are thrown up throughout the city.
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February 23, 1868
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Birth of W.E.B. Du Bois, American civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, socialist, historian, author, and editor.
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February 23, 1882
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February 23, 1882 is one of the dates that have been proposed as the possible birthdate of the mysterious author B. Traven, a socialist who wrote popular adventure novels, including The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Death Ship, The Cotton Pickers, A General from the Jungle, and The Rebellion of the Hanged. Little is known about B. Traven’s true identity, including his real name, his nationality, the place and date of his birth (February 25, 1882 and May 3, 1890 have also been proposed) or the date of his death.
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February 23, 1893
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In the United States, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad declares bankruptcy: the first indicator of what becomes known as the Panic of 1893. The resulting financial crisis leads to the Depression of 1893, the worst economic crisis in U.S. history up to that point. Unemployment increases from about 3 million in 1892 to about 18 million in 1894.
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February 23 (March 8), 1917
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Outbreak of the February Revolution in St. Petersburg, according to the old calendar in use in Russia at the time (March 8 according to the calendar in use in most of the rest of the world.)
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February 23, 1967
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Publication of Noam Chomsky’s “The Responsibility of Intellectuals” in which he condemns the American intellectual elite for acting as apologists for American aggression in Vietnam and elsewhere.
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