On this day, 19 July 1936, in response to a right-wing coup by general Francisco Franco, workers across Spain took up arms and launched one of the most far-reaching social revolutions in history. The ensuing civil war pitted the working class against the Spanish capitalists, who were backed by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. In the revolutionary areas, anarchist and socialist workers and peasants took over workplaces and land and began to run them collectively.
Thousands of mostly working-class people came from all over the world to aid the workers of Spain. One of them was British socialist author George Orwell, who described the scene in Barcelona: "It was the first time that I had ever been in a town where the working class was in the saddle. Practically every building of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags or with the red and black flag of the Anarchists; every wall was scrawled with the hammer and sickle and with the initials of the revolutionary parties… Every shop and café had an inscription saying that it had been collectivised… Waiters and shop-walkers looked you in the face and treated you as an equal. Servile and even ceremonial forms of speech had temporarily disappeared. Nobody said ‘Señor’ or ‘Don’ or even ‘Usted’".
Western democracies, including Britain and France, abandoned the republic and enforced a blockade on Spain which stopped the flow of aid and weapons to the anti-fascists. Meanwhile, Italy and Germany openly flouted the ban, and the US oil giant Texaco supplied the nationalists with oil and other supplies without even demanding payment, while stopping any supplies to the republic.
Ultimately, after nearly three years of bitter and bloody warfare, the nationalists, with their superior weaponry and equipment, were victorious.
In podcast episodes 39-40, we give an overview of the events: https://workingclasshistory.com/2020/06/17/e39-the-spanish-civil-war-an-introduction/
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As the World Cup comes to a close, learn more about the rich history of football and resistance to capitalism and authoritarianism in the football collection in our online store!
You'll find everything from books about grassroots opposition to the greed and corruption of the modern game, to merch commemorating mutinies and an iconic moment of footballing anti-fascism.
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On this day, 19 July 1958, a key early successful sit-in protest of the US civil rights movement began in Wichita, Kansas.
A group of Black students began to sit silently at the whites-only counter of the Dockum's Drug Store in protest at segregation. The aim was to prevent sales and so inflict enough economic damage that segregation was dropped.
They faced repeated harassment by police and white racists, and they brought clubs, knives and a gun to protect themselves, although did not end up needing to use them.
After 23 days, the owner caved in and desegregated his entire chain.
While the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) did not initially support the sit-in, after the success in Wichita it adopted the tactic and it led to desegregation of lunch counters in multiple states.
More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9107/dockum-drug-store-sit-in
Continued fossil fuel expansion risks delaying electrification and prolonging exposure to volatile global energy markets By...
Excerpt from this story from Carbon Tracker Initiative:
As London prepares to host Climate Action Week, much of the discussion will focus on how to accelerate the energy transition through expanding renewable power generation and electrification. But building the new energy system is only half the challenge.
The recent Santa Marta conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels reflected a growing recognition that managing contraction of the old energy system will require equal attention from policymakers and investors if we are to deliver a successful transition.
The timing could hardly be more relevant.
As conflict in the Middle East once again sends shockwaves through global energy markets, governments are facing renewed pressure to strengthen energy security. Predictably, many of the proposed solutions focus on expanding fossil fuel supply.
Yet the lesson of recent years is not that countries need greater dependence on fossil fuels. It is that they need less. Time and again, geopolitical crises have exposed the vulnerabilities of energy systems built around internationally traded oil and gas. Price shocks originating thousands of miles away are transmitted directly into household bills, business costs and inflation rates.
Yet despite repeated reminders of these vulnerabilities, the policy response often promotes more fossil fuel supply in the name of energy security.
That response reflects an increasingly outdated view of transition risk.
For years, much of the debate around fossil fuels centred on the risk of stranded assets. Investors were encouraged to consider whether oil and gas investments would lose value as the world transitioned towards cleaner energy systems.
That question remains important. But a bigger risk is now emerging. Continued investment in fossil fuel expansion risks delaying the transition itself.
The direction of travel in the global energy system is increasingly clear. Electrification, renewable energy and energy storage continue to improve in performance and cost. Across much of the world, they now represent the most attractive source of new energy investment. Yet while the destination is becoming clearer, the speed of the transition is not predetermined.
On July 8, the Inyo National Forest will begin rounding up wild horses roaming outside an area designated for them along the California-Neva
Excerpt from this LA Times story:
Federal officials have set a date to round up and relocate 450 wild horses they say are damaging Mono Lake’s famed limestone tufas and posing a threat to drivers. The move is hailed by environmentalists but heartbreaking for tribes and horse lovers who have fought to stop it.
On July 8, the Inyo National Forest will begin rounding up horses from the Montgomery Pass herd roaming beyond the roughly 200,000 acres designated for them along the California-Nevada border, according to a recent news release.
Contractors will use helicopters and other vehicles to drive the horses into a large catch pen with holding corrals. Officials say the use of helicopters is humane and carried out with measures to protect the horses, whereas many animal welfare advocates claim it can lead to injury and even death. A federal bill introduced last year seeks to ban the practice.
They will be taken in trailers to a corral in Modoc National Forest and readied for adoption.
The operation is planned for one to two weeks, but may finish sooner.
The announcement comes more than a year after the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management approved a plan to remove hundreds of horses that had wandered beyond their designated territory. In 1971, there were 50 horses within the area. As of 2024, a federal census found there were roughly 700 — more than three times what officials say the land can support — with most of them outside the territory.
In August 2025, a documentary filmmaker, primary care physician and wildlife ecologist sued the government over the plan, claiming it was reneging on its duty to protect the horses under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
That 1971 law declared wild horses and burros “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West” and made it illegal to harass, capture or kill them on public land. But the Forest Service and BLM, which became responsible for managing them, can remove “excess animals” to preserve the health of the range.
The lawsuit delayed the roundup, also known as a gather, but in February a U.S. magistrate judge ruled in favor of the government, paving the way for it to move forward.
Cherie Tobin, the physician among the plaintiffs, said they plan to appeal as well as ask the court to halt the gather. Among other things, she said they will argue that federal officials improperly redrew the territory boundaries, shrinking it and depriving the horses of year-round water sources.
Albrecht Dürer’s Triumphal Arch for Emperor Maximilian I (1515) — one of the earliest and finest examples of imperial propaganda — was made by pressing a whopping 195 woodcuts onto 36 sheets of paper, to form a huge 3.57 by 2.95 metre composite print: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-triumphal-arch-of-emperor-maximilian-i-1515
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