Today in history

January 5

1527
Felix Manz, first Anabaptist martyr, sentenced to death, Zurich.

1869
First Black Labor Convention

1916
British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith introduced the first military conscription bill to the House of Commons. It was passed into law as the Military Service Act later that month and went into effect on February 10.
About 16,000 conscientious objectors refused to fight. Most believed that even during wartime it was wrong to kill another human being. About 7,000 agreed to perform non-combat service. More than 1,500 men refused all compulsory service. They were usually drafted into military units and if they refused to obey orders, were court-martialed.

World War I Conscientious Objectors, Dyce Camp, UK

1964
Committee Against Nuclear Power Plants stops plant planned for Queens, NY

1968
“Prague Spring,” a mass movement advocating political and economic reforms, including increased freedom of speech and an end to state censorship, began in Czechoslovakia when Alexander Dubc¹ek came to power. The Soviet Union responded by invading Czechoslovakia on August 20th of that year.

Alexander Dubc¹ek: ”Socialism with a human face”

Soviet tanks enter Prague, August 1968

1970
20,000 miners in WV strike to protest the murder of Jock Yablonski, reform miners leader

1971
19 arrested in “Homes Not War” protest, Tucson, Arizona