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

September 5, 1839
The First Opium War: Britain declares war on China in order to compel the Qing Dynasty to allow opium imports, a lucrative source of profits for the British. Related Topics: China – Drug Trafficking – Imperialism – Intervention
September 5, 1917
In 48 coordinated raids across the United States (the Palmer Raids, so-called because they were ordered by Attorney General Palmer), federal agents arrest hundreds of activists and radicals, and seize records and destroy equipment and books. Related Topics: Political Repression – U.S. History
September 5 - 12, 1917
The third ‘Zimmerwald’ conference of anti-war socialists takes place in Stockholm. Further Reading: The Junius Pamphlet, by Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg: Her Fight Against the German Betrayers of International Socialism, by Klara Zetkin Related Topics: Anti-Imperialism – Anti-War Movement – First World War – Marxism
September 5, 1957
Publication of On the Road, by Jack Kerouac.
September 5, 1977
German business leader Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped in Cologne by the Red Army Faction and is later murdered. Related Topics: Kidnapping
September 5, 1981
“Women For Life On Earth” set up the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp outside Greenham Air Base in England. Related Topics: Peace Movement