25, 50, and 75 Years Ago

January 16, 2023

January 19, 1998

PARIS — Three thousand people marched here January 7 demanding government relief for unemployed workers. Some of the demonstrators carried signs reading “jobs!” Workers have been occupying 26 unemployment offices throughout France with the protests spreading rapidly.

Protesters are demanding a special year-end bonus of 3,000 francs for all unemployed, and increase of 1,500 francs a month in the special payments for jobless workers who no longer receive benefits, and access to special benefits for youth under 25.

“While immigrant workers are blamed for unemployment, the unemployed and undocumented are demonstrating together in the streets,” Doro Taoré, a spokesperson for a group of undocumented workers, told protesters, “so they won’t be able to divide us and pick us off one by one.”

January 19, 1973

The U.S. government is attempting to hide the horrible effects of the December bombing campaign of Hanoi and Haiphong. The Pentagon has refused to make public an official report describing the extent of the raids and damage they caused.

On Jan. 4 the North Vietnamese government released a preliminary survey of the death and destruction in Hanoi. It stated that 40,000 tons of bombs were dropped by U.S. planes on Hanoi alone in the 10 days beginning Dec. 18, killing 1,318 people and wounding 1,261. Social, economic, educational, and cultural establishments were bombed in 353 places, some as many as 10 times.

The destruction in Haiphong was described to journalists by North Vietnamese officials on Jan. 5. Fifteen thousand tons of bombs razed the city, leaving 305 dead, 882 wounded, and 5,800 homes and buildings destroyed.

January 19, 1948

DETROIT — 1,000 tenants and property holders attended the Detroit Area Rent Advisory Board hearings on its proposal to lift all rent controls in the Detroit area. The Board was considering landlord-inspired proposals which would either lift controls entirely or else provide for a flat 15% increase.

The hearing was the climax of many months of struggle between Detroit’s realty corporations and the organized tenants. This contest brought picket lines before the meetings of the landlord-controlled Advisory Board. It saw the resignation of the three UAW-CIO members from the Board, and the march of several hundred tenants on Lansing, the state capital.

Contrary to the original expectation of the real-estate interests, the Advisory Board was forced to postpone its decision to decontrol. The tenants won this first round in the battle.