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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May 30, 1431
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Joan of Arc is burned at the stake after being condemned of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. The reasons for her persecution and execution are political, not religious, but the technical grounds used to convict her of heresy are her habit of wearing male clothing and a male hairstyle, in violation of Biblical edicts.
In a posthumous re-trial 25 years later, she is declared innocent, and in 1920 the Roman Catholic Church canonizes her as a saint.
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May 30, 1871
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The General Council of the International Working Men’s Association publishes a statement on the civil war in France, which has just ended with the bloody suppression of the Paris Commune. Written on behalf of the Council by Karl Marx, The Civil War in France aims to inform workers in all countries of the world-wide significance of the Paris Communards of 1871 and what they accomplished in the 72 days of the Commune's existence.
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May 30, 1937
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The Memorial Day Massacre: Chicago police fire into a march of striking steel workers and their families on their way to picket at the Republic Steel plant. They kill 10 people and wound 30; most are shot in the back. The police then start clubbing people in the crowd. Dozens of people suffer serious head injuries, nine of them are permanently disabled. A court subsequently rules that the killings were “justifiable homicide.”
The strike is eventually called off, but the struggle continues, and five years later Republic Steel is finally forced to recognize the workers' union.
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May 30, 1941
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Apostolos Santas and Manolis Glezos tear down the Nazi flag in the Acropolis in Nazi-occupied Greece. The act inspired the Greeks to resist occupation, and made the two into folk heroes.
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