A celebration of the Summit Award, highlighting board games that matter and push the boundaries (like past winners by @fredserval.bsky.social and @downtowntbrown.bsky.social), and what winning it for an anti-fascist game like Land and Freedom means in this climate. sdhist.com/alex-knight-...

We have a new Conflicts of Interest Online post, where designer @alexknight.bsky.social writes about what receiving the 2024 Summit Award has meant to him. Check it out here: sdhist.com/alex-knight-...

Statement of support from historians at Columbia University and Barnard College. Thank you for your solidarity!

#OtD 16 Oct 1859 abolitionists led by John Brown, including Black people recruited by Harriet Tubman, raided a federal armoury in Harpers Ferry, WV, to get weapons to arm enslaved people. Several were killed, and Brown later executed for treason stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8828...

#OtD 26 Sep 1919 during the Russian revolution, the anarchist Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine ended months of retreat and turned in a successful surprise attack on the pursuing counter-revolutionary White Army of Gen Denikin. Learn more: shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/...

NEW EPISODE! I chat with @gregisonthego.bsky.social about his excellent zine RULEBOOKS FOR RADICALS, his work, and finding design inspiration in dire times. We only got sidetracked on Process Era 76'ers for a tiny bit, but GDDD is never a slave to the algorithm. www.buzzsprout.com/1993070/epis...

#OtD 15 Sep 1954 Veterans of the Abraham @LincolnBrigade – US volunteers in the Spanish Civil War – were brought before the Subversive Activities Control Board as the government attempted to classify them as a subversive organisation stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8742...

Drawings by Felicia Browne:, the first British person and only woman to die fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Killed while taking part in an operation to dynamite a rebel train on the Aragón front on 25 August 1936. Her drawings were sold in London to raise money for Spanish relief.

#OtD 21 Aug 1944 the Maquis uprising took place in Paris where more than 4000 Spanish exiles took up arms against the occupying Nazi regime. Spanish civil war veterans were also the first external troops to enter the capital to liberate it stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9351...

Basque militia fighters, Alegia, Gipuzkoa, 1936. Photo by Pascual Marín. Beautifully colourised by Julius Backmaan (Instgr). How young they are. Most don't even seem to be armed. Given the village fell shortly after in early August 1936, I shudder to think of their fate.

Tickets are on sale now for SDHistCon Summit 2025, to be held from Nov. 7-10 in San Diego: tabletop.events/conventions/.... More information on the event: sdhist.com/sdhist-summi.... Hope you can join us for it!

#OtD 12 Aug 1936 after the French government shut the border with revolutionary Spain, the first international volunteers who were going to join the fight against the fascists began crossing the Pyrenees mountains on foot shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/...

"Spaniens Himmel breitet seine Sterne über unsere Schützengräben aus" Time to save the republic in Alex Knight's awesome semi-cooperative card-driven wargame "Land and Freedom". Players fight the clerical-monarchist-fascist coup while vying over political control and social revolution. #wargaming

Love @benmandelker.bsky.social 's enthusiasm for this game! I'm currently working on some updates and improvements for a possible second (English) edition of Land and Freedom. Anyone who'd like to play test, hit me up and I'll invite you to my discord server. youtu.be/sW60RF7EZVs?...

You all know I’m a #boardgame addict; so here are some #boardgames that I’m obsessed with lately: youtu.be/nf728N5tvpM?...

#OtD 1 Aug 1902 Lola Iturbe was born in Barcelona. A maid and seamstress from childhood, she was a lifelong anarchist involved in the @CNTsindicato uprisings in 1933 and 1934, the 1936 revolution, and the founding of the Mujeres Libres feminist group stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8045...

#OtD 25 Jul 1934 Nestor Makhno, leader of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine during the Russian revolution of 1917 and co-author of the Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists, died in exile in Paris at the age of 44 shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/no-...

#OtD 24 Jul 1936 days after the start of the civil war, Buenaventura Durruti left Barcelona with an armed column and headed for Zaragoza which was occupied by the fascists. His workers' militia advanced and saved the Aragon front. More about the war: workingclasshistory.com/2020/06/17/e...

#OtD 19 Jul 1936 after a right-wing coup by General Franco, workers across Spain took up arms and launched a social revolution. The ensuing civil war pitted the working class against Spanish capitalists, German Nazis and Italian fascists. More in our pod: workingclasshistory.com/2020/06/17/e...

#OtD 17 Jul 1936 the Spanish Civil War began with a coup in Morocco as right wing generals rose up against the Republican govt. The coup was smashed by the working class, and full-scale revolution would break out in the coming days. Learn more in our pod: workingclasshistory.com/2020/06/17/e...

#OtD 14 Jul 1896 Spanish anarchist, rail mechanic and Civil War fighter, Buenaventura Durruti, was born. Involved in strikes, uprisings and bank robberies across Europe and Latin America, he was killed during the civil war. 500k attended his funeral stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8575...

No Pasarán". Cristóbal Arteche, 1936

Estoy emocionado de haber conseguido por fin mi copia de Tierra y Libertad! ¡No pasarán! #MasQueOca #JuegosdeMesa

Iconic shot encapsulating euphoria of revolutionary summer of 1936, La Rambla in front of Boqueria market. Recently we've learnt it's by Barcelona photographer Antoni Campañà and her name was Ana Garbín and was 21. She died in exile in France, 1977, anarchist and Catholic. Colourised: JuliusBackmaan

#OtD 10 Jul 1921 Jewish Lithuanian-born factory worker and revolutionary Fanya Baron escaped from the Ryazan prison in Bolshevik Russia, alongside nine others, with the help of an underground anarchist network stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8201...

In homage to Oliver Law, the first African-American commander of an American fighting unit, killed 88 years ago today on 9 July 1937 during the assault on Mosquito Hill in the midst of the battle of Brunete, whilst commanding the Lincoln battalion.

#OtD 16 June 1937 Andreu Nin, leader of the POUM, was arrested in Barcelona and subsequently disappeared. His fate was unknown until the 1990s when Moscow archives were opened. He had been tortured to death in a Soviet-controlled camp outside Madrid stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8801...

#OtD 8 Jun 1961 a group of Freedom Riders including Kwame Ture, Gwendolyn Greene and Joan Mulholland (pictured, l-r) were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for protesting against the unlawful segregation of public transport stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1081...

#OtD 2 Jun 1863 the Combahee River raid took place, Harriet Tubman led 150 Black Union soldiers. The only woman-led military operation during the American civil war. 750 slaves were freed and the estates of several slaveowners were looted and burned stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9200...

Agustí Centelles capturing the ideological complexities of revolutionary Barcelona. This CNT collectivised bus trundling past the Hotel Colon, controlled by the PSUC, Lenin there but above all Stalin watching down. Plaça Catalunya, 1936.

The editorial collective of Mujeres Libres, the anarchist women's organisation, on a terrace somewhere in Barcelona, 1937. Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona.

Just won Land & Freedom: The Spanish Revolution and Civil War on Rally the Troops for the very first time! A fascinating and fun semi-cooperative game with a lot to say on the nature of unity politics against fascism. Highly recommended, and looking forwards to @alexknight.bsky.social's future work.

My thoughts on the process of creating a boardgame out of the Sykes-Picot Agreement: boardgamegeek.com/thread/35094... 🎲✂️

CNT militia fighter outside the Bakunin barracks (today's Bruc barracks). 27/08/1936. Photo by Antoni Campañà. I know nothing about her.

Telling pair of photos by Agustí Centelles. Barcelona during 16 February 1936 elections won by the Frente Popular. disdain+suspicion in city of the wealthy; Barceloneta, smiles+hope in city of the poor. If first was in graphic novel you might think portrayal of Right was clichéd

En este Primero de Mayo qué mejor que estrenar la copia del Tierra y Libertad de @alexknight.bsky.social en el club @mis-wargameclub.bsky.social. Desde las 10h a las 15h @surikatus.bsky.social, @ivangich.bsky.social y yo hemos jugado 4 partidas en las que perdimos la guerra en 3

#OtD 1 May 1886 300-500k workers went on strike and rallies were held across the US, with the cry: "Eight-hour day with no cut in pay." The strike led to the Chicago Haymarket Affair and the start of May Day itself. More in this great book: shop.workingclasshistory.com/en-gb/collec...

So excited to finally have a copy of CHICAGO’68! Last week I had a chance to lay it all out and run one last round of usability checks before we go to print. Pleased as punch with the results: #boardgames #design

Today, on 25 April 1938, George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia was published, a year minus a day after his arrival in Barcelona following his first stint on the Aragón front.

Colourised photo of tram collectivised by the anarchist CNT trade union. Bottom of Plaça Catalunya in front of Cafè Zurich, 1936. Note the Hotel Colon controlled by the PSUC (Pro-soviet communist) in the background. Transport was collectivised in Barcelona throughout the war.

Robert Capa capturing Republican soldiers crossing a frozen landscape during the Battle of Teruel which saw temperatures drop to below -20ºC. There were +15,000 casualties from frostbite among ill-equipped troops on both sides during the battle, one of the bloodiest of the war.

How did the Spanish Civil War lead Paul Robeson to replace some of the original lyrics of “Ol Man River” with some of his own? Find out here. #Publichistory #Spain #scwmuseum #PaulRobeson www.vscw.ca/en/node/646

Front cover of anarchist magazine Tiempos Nuevos, (New Times), 1 April 1937. The magazine was published in Barcelona between 1934 and 1938.

Aprovechando que #Nacwargames ha editado en español el juego Land and Freedom de @alexknight.bsky.social os dejo por aquí el vídeo tutorial que grabamos en 2023 del juego. #boardgames #guerracivilespañola youtu.be/BCx71-ud3QM

Nice, I see #LandAndFreedom made it onto RTT. Look forward to learning to play, it's been on my list for a while. Congrats @alexknight.bsky.social! www.rally-the-troops.com/land-and-fre...

Hey! You can play Land and Freedom right now for free on Rally the Troops! And the game will even do the rules for you, so learning is a breeze. www.rally-the-troops.com/land-and-fre... #antifascism @ccxvii.bsky.social

#OtD 28 Mar 1918 Trotsky made an announcement ending elected officers in the Red Army so that former Tsarist officers could be restored. Slacking workers were also to be shamed in Soviet newspapers and specialists take over factory management from workers stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1...

Republican militia, brothers in arms, probably ideologically mixed, by Gerda Taro. Don't know the date or place. Wonderfully colourised as usual by Julius Backmaan on Instagrm...

For this Sunday's stream we'll play Land & Freedom by @alexknight.bsky.social to celebrate its release on Rally The Troops! See you there at 9pm French, 3pm EST (unless I am wrong because of daylight savings...) www.youtube.com/live/IQqU9z2...

John Brown's raid almost was successfully, then everything went horribly wrong in another @alexknight.bsky.social game