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The Morning Star 2026 Conference
What can we learn from the ‘Red Summer’ of 1919?
ROGER McKENZIE draws inspiration from the black self-organisation of the early 20th century
National Guards accost black men on the streets during the ‘Red Summer’ disturbances, Chicago, Illinois, 1919 [Chicago History Museum / Public Domain]

LIKE many people in the depths of the winter I have begun to look forward to the warm days of the summer.

But looking ahead this year I am reminded that it will be the 125th anniversary of the “Red Summer” of 1919.

The summer of that year was as red in Britain as it was on the other side of the Atlantic in the United States.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
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