1956, The World in Revolt (2016) is a history of one year set on the global stage.
The year begins with peace talks. Author Albert Camus calls for peace in Algeria; Josep Tito is optimistic about an era of peace in Yugoslavia; and there are peace talks in Moscow to end the Cold War.
They are just talks, for the year 1956 is known for its time of revolt, revolution, independence, and freedom: “1956 saw ordinary people, all across the globe, speak out, fill the streets and city squares, risk arrest, take up arms and lose their lives in an attempt to win greater freedoms and build a more just world.”
The year 1956 was one of the most remarkable years of the 20th century.
This book is about “breaking points” where people are on the brink, and enough is enough! The book begins in January 1956 with Martin Luther King in the segregated city of Montgomery, Alabama, in America. In February, Simon Hall discusses France’s new socialist prime minister Guy Mollet, and the French colony Algeria, before mentioning Nikita Khrushchev’s “secret speech” at the 20thCongress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow.
This book is about “mass(ive) resistance” where people push back. The author takes readers back to America in March 1956 and the Declaration of Constitutional Principles – more widely known as the Southern Manifesto.
This book is about “defiance” where people such as Rosa Parks and Autherine Lucy just want to be able to sit on a bus or attend university.
This book is about “freedom” where people want to escape hardship and oppression. In April 1956, Slavomir Rawicz’s book The Long Walk is released – the memoir of the audacious escape of the former Polish army officer from the Soviet Gulag. At the same time, the legislative assembly in Accra, Ghana, publishes a proposal to be free from British rule. Hopes of imperial retraction extend into Cyrpus.
This book is about “massacre” where people pay a price for seeking freedom and for holding onto control. The author takes readers back to Algeria in May to the Palestro massacre.
This book is about “boycotts” as a means of non-violent resistance where, in Montgomery Alabama, Martin Luther King backs boycotts and an intellectual odyssey.
This book is about “rebellion” where the people of Poland fight to keep its Polish identity and in June, the workers at the Poznan metal works down their tools in protest at the low wages and poor conditions. By July 1956, Soviet communism is losing its grip on power, and a riot of angry young men erupt at a rock concert in San Jose, America, to denounce the latest musical ‘fad.’
This book is about “anti-establishment” and “anti-apartheid” where, in August, twenty thousand women march on the Union Building, the seat of the South African government in Pretoria, in a rally called Fighting Talk.
This book is about “diplomacy” where peace talks are conducted in secret in London and Paris from September to October to discuss the Suez Crisis, and the Poles discuss the Warsaw Pact with the Soviet Union.
This book is also about “uprising” where people in Budapest, Hungary, are on the brink of revolution.
This book is about “assault” where British forces seize Port Said, Egypt, in an attack in November, as part of the Anglo-French occupation force for the Suez Campaign. Meanwhile, America is discussing the Kadar regime and the Hungarian Crisis. In Cuba, Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, and Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara – the young revolutionaries – are on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico planning a surprise attack on Fulgencio Batista’s Cuban military.
This book is about “the cause” where people are arrested and confined for their beliefs. In December 1956, African National Congress leader, Nelson Mandela, is arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, for treason with 140 anti-apartheid activists. At the same time, the American Supreme Court puts an end to segregated seats on Montgomery buses.
This book is about “rage.”
Simon Hall ends the book with a summary of the year’s major events. For many, who were taking to the streets to call for change and freedom, they were aware of the global context and their interconnectedness within it. Many activists were writing to each other, seeking inspiration, motivation, and courage to take action.
The book is chronological and comparative. It is well-structured, well-written, and easy-to-read. It is also dense and extensive, including black and white photographs. Interesting historically, it adds a collective humanity to world events.
MARTINA NICOLLS
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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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