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

March 8
International Women’s Day. Related Topics: Women's History – Women's Movement
March 8, 1857
Women garment and textile workers in New York City stage a protest against terrible working conditions, 12-hour work days and low wages. Police attack and disperse the workers, but not their will to struggle: two years later, the women form their first union. Related Topics: Labour History – Textile Industry – Women's History – Workers' History
March 8, 1895
merican forces intervene in Colombia to ‘protect American interests’. Related Topics: Colombia – Intervention – U.S. Imperialism
March 8, 1908
15,000 women march through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay, voting rights and an end to child labour. Related Topics: Labour History – Women's History
March 8, 1917
Outbreak of the “February Revolution” in Russia. 200,000 workers go on strike in St. Petersburg. Within days, the Czar is forced to abdicate and a Provisional Government is installed. The Provisional government shares power with the Petrograd Soviet (council), a situation of dual power that eventually culminates in the October Revolution. Related Topics: Russian Revolution
March 8, 1968
The 1968 Polish political crisis begins when students at the University of Warsaw march for student rights and are beaten with clubs. The following day over two thousand students march to protest the police invasion of their campus and are clubbed and arrested again. On March 11, there are violent confrontations with police when members of the general public join the protests. Twenty days of protest end when the state closes all universities and arrests more than a thousand students. Related Topics: Poland – Police Violence – Student Protests
March 8, 1971
Members of a group calling itself the “Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI” breaks into an FBI office in Pennsylvania and steals over 1000 classified documents. They then mail the documents anonymously to several American newspapers. Mainstream corporate newspapers refuse to publish the information, but WIN Magazine, a publication associated with the War Resisters League, publishes them. Publication of the documents exposes a range of covert and illegal activities by the FBI, including the COINTELPRO operation, a campaign of spying and sabotage against political dissidents and activists. Further Reading: Nelson Blackstock: Cointelpro: The FBI’s Secret War on Political Freedom COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI’s Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States Related Topics: COINTELPRO (FBI Counter Intelligence Program) – Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Political Repression – State-sponsored Violence
March 8, 1978
The Lesbian Mothers’ Defence Fund is launched by Wages Due Lesbians in Toronto. Related Topics: Lesbian Parenting