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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, JAN 1–7  
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_ Too Good To Be True (1950), What’s Worse Than One Palmer Raid?
(1920), Protest Genocide and Go To Jail (1895), Great Society=Great
Hypocrisy (1965), The Big City's Calling (1920), A Writing Star Is
Born (1935), Getting Elected Doesn’t Cut It (1920) _

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_NEWS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE_

75 YEARS AGO, ON JANUARY 1, 1950, a new age dawned on the science of
determining the age of objects. The chemists and physicists who had
only recently discovered that radio-carbon dating might be used to
measure the age of things announced they had refined the technique so
it could be used to give accurate results. Given a sample of anything
– plant or animal – that had once been alive, radio-carbon dating
could measure how old it was. 

But that good news came with a shocking bad-news kicker. Radio-carbon
dating could only be used to measure the age of pre-1950 samples,
because widespread radioactive fallout from atomic-weapons testing had
totally contaminated the environment, making radio-carbon analysis
incapable of determining the age of samples of anything that was new.
Not only anything that was new in 1950, but everything that would be
new in the foreseeable future. Just when a fabulous new tool had been
given to historical investigators, it became clear that radioactive
fallout was far from benign.

It took many years of work, but eventually the time-scale calibration
of radio-carbon was refined enough so it could allow for the
radioactive contamination of weapons tests, but we will probably never
know the extent of genetic damage it had caused to the biosphere. 
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_WHAT’S WORSE THAN ONE PALMER RAID? _

JANUARY 2 IS THE 105TH ANNIVERSARY of the second of the infamous
Palmer Raids, resulting in the arrest of more than three thousand
people alleged to be radicals, non-citizens and just plain workers
(plus scores of totally innocent bystanders) in more than 30 U.S.
cities. It was the second such massive attack by federal, state and
local law enforcement on progressive organizations in less than two
months.

Because the January raid was bigger than November’s, it was the
largest coordinated police action against civil liberties ever to
occur in the U.S. up until then. Many hundreds of those arrested were
brutalized and held in dangerously overcrowded and unsanitary
conditions.

In addition to the arrests, police seized tons of political
publications and printing equipment almost all of which was destroyed
without legal justification. 

The event, which surely terrorized almost anyone in the country who
was critical of government repression, was planned and orchestrated by
the U.S. Department of Justice and its leader, Attorney General
Mitchell Palmer. Like the November raid, its searches, seizures and
arrests were characterized by violence and lack of judicial
warrants. 

From a law-enforcement point of view, both raids were a failure
because very few of the arrested were ever convicted of a crime or
deported. But the raids' lawless brutality and destruction of property
were a set-back to the targeted individuals and organizations. and
sent yet another clear signal that civil liberties were no defense
against illegal reactionary violence in the U.S.
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_PROTEST GENOCIDE AND GET LOCKED UP_

JANUARY 3 IS THE 130TH ANNIVERSARY of the federal government
imprisoning 19 leaders of the Hopi people on Alcatraz Island on
sedition charges for opposing the forced education and assimilation of
Indigenous children. [link removed]
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_‘GREAT SOCIETY IS GREAT HYPOCRISY’_

JANUARY 4 IS THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY of the day that Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party activists made a dramatic challenge to the legality
of Mississippi’s all-white Congressional delegation. More than 600
Black Mississippians traveled to Washington, D.C., to force the
members of Congress to come face to face with the victims of their
racism.

The confrontation took place in the tunnels that link the Capitol
building to the nearby buildings containing the offices of members of
Congress.  Almost all members use the tunnels to reach the Capitol,
and each tunnel was lined with MFDP members, standing at 10-foot
intervals, silently holding signs reading “We Are Not Allowed to
VOTE” and “Oust the 5 Mississippi Racists” and “Great Society
is Great Hypocrisy.” It was, as Stokely Carmichael reported, "an
unexpected confrontation with reality," a "mute presence [that was]
the most effective and eloquent of testimonies."

Later that day in the Capitol, Rep. William Fitts Ryan from New York
City stood to challenge the seating of the all-white Mississippi
delegation.  With the support of enough members to force a vote on
the question, the House voted in favor of seating the all-white
delegation 276-148.
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_JUST CAN’T KEEP ‘EM DOWN ON THE FARM_

JANUARY 5 IS THE 105TH ANNIVERSARY of the day that the Census Bureau
chose to begin the national head-count that occurs every ten years. It
was the first U.S. census day ever that found less than half of the
population living in a rural area. Officially, 49 percent of the
population (or 52 million people) lived in a rural area.  In the most
recent census, 20 percent of the population (or 66 million people)
lived in a rural area.
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_A WRITING STAR IS BORN_

JANUARY 6 IS THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY of a major, but unanticipated,
theatrical event, the premiere performance of Waiting for Lefty. It
was the first-ever produced work by Clifford Odets, whose writing
career started with a radical, realistic masterpiece that became a
major hit.

The very first performance was a 1-night stand, part of a benefit
series for New Theater magazine. With a cast that included Luther
Adler, Roman Bohnen, Phoebe Brand, J. Edward Bromberg, Jules Garfield
(who was John Garfield later), Ruth Nelson and Art Smith. The Morning
Telegraph gave it a rave review, which concluded, "It has not been
announced just where and when Waiting for Lefty will be presented
again, but you can rest assured that it will be ... soon. A play like
this does not die."

The Morning Telegraph was correct, when Waiting for Lefty opened on
Broadway in March, it ran for 168 performances.
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_WHEN GETTING ELECTED DOESN’T CUT IT_

JANUARY 7 IS THE 105TH ANNIVERSARY of a very bad day (one of too many)
for U.S. democracy. When the New York State Assembly opened, it
refused to seat five Socialists who had been elected by voters in the
Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Two of the five had been Socialist
members of the previous assembly without any trouble.

Then on April 1, the Assembly voted to expel the five on the ground
they had been "elected on a platform that is absolutely inimical to
the best interests of the state of New York and the United States."

A special election to fill the vacant seats was held on Sept. 16. 
All five ran, and won, again. On Sept. 20, when the five attempted to
take their seats, three were expelled again and the other 2 resigned
in protest.
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