istoryworld
Events relating to democracy
Lenin and comrades launch in Munich a radical newspaper, Iskra ('the spark')
In his pamphlet What is to be done? Lenin argues for early action to promote revolution
Irish politician Arthur Griffith launches Sinn Fein, as an organization campaigning for a strong and independent Ireland
Lenin's supporters become known as the Bolsheviks ('majority') as opposed to the Mensheviks ('minority') after a split at the party's Second Congress
Emmeline Pankhurst founds the Women's Social and Political Union to fight for women's political rights in the UK
Transvaal politician Louis Botha forms Het Volk ('The People'), a party committed to Afrikaner self-government
Troops fire on a demonstration in St Petersburg, in the event which becomes known as Bloody Sunday
Industrial Workers of the World (with its members later known as Wobblies) is founded in Chicago as a radical union initiative
Strikes and riots sweep across Russia in the wake of St Petersburg's Bloody Sunday
More than 360,000 Norwegians vote to end the union with Sweden, with only 184 against
The Ulster Unionist Party is founded in Belfast to oppose Home Rule
Henry Campbell-Bannerman leads the Liberals to a massive election victory in the UK on a promised programme of reform
Britain's Labour Party achieves its first electoral success, winning twenty-nine seats at Westminster
The Liberals win a majority in election for Russia's new duma and press ahead with proposals for land reform
Mahatma Gandhi, confronted by racial discrimination in South Africa, launches a programme of passive resistance (satyagraha)
The All-India Muslim League is set up at a meeting of the Muhammadan Educational Conference in Dhaka
A separatist party in Spain, Solidaridad Catalana, makes electoral gains in Catalonia
The Young Turks of Salonika organize a successful uprising against the autocracy of the Ottoman sultan
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded in response to two lynchings in Illinois
Mahatma Gandhi, on a visit to India, publishes a pamphlet entitled Hind Swaraj ("Indian Home Rule")
Edward Carson, previously a prominent Conservative politician at Westminster, becomes leader of the Ulster Unionist party
A revolution begins in Mexico that will last ten years before being resolved
Sun Yatsen and others merge several smaller Chinese political groups into the Guomindang, or Nationalist Party
Emiliano Zapata leads peasant groups in the Mexican revolution, under the slogan 'Land and Liberty'
Edward Carson tells a vast crowd in Northern Ireland that they must be ready to defend their Protestant province by force
