George Lansbury (1859–1940) was a British socialist, editor and campaigner who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Throughout his political life he fought for equality, social justice, women's rights and world disarmament. Before entering the national scene he served in the East End of London in numerous local government posts. Elected to parliament in 1910, he resigned his seat two years later on the issue of women's suffrage, and was briefly imprisoned after publicly supporting militant action. Lansbury became editor of the Daily Herald newspaper, which maintained a strong pacifist stance during the First World War and supported the 1917 Russian Revolution. Although he returned to parliament in 1922 he was excluded from the brief Labour government of 1924, but served as First Commissioner of Works in the Labour government of 1929–31. After the economic crisis of August 1931 Lansbury refused to join the National Government under Ramsay MacDonald and became leader of the Labour Party in opposition. His pacifism in the face of rising European fascism put him at odds with his party, and in 1935 he resigned the leadership. He spent his final years travelling in the United States and Europe in the cause of peace and disarmament.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lansbury

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

295 BC:

The oldest known temple to Venus (Venus Anadyomene by Titian pictured), the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, was dedicated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(mythology)

1534:

In Montmartre, near Paris, Ignatius of Loyola and six others took the vows that led to the establishment of the Society of Jesus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Jesus

1907:

Jamaican American Raphael Morgan was ordained as the first Black Orthodox clergyman in America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Morgan

1945:

The Gyokuon-hōsō was broadcast in Japan, announcing the unconditional surrender of the Japanese army and naval forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan

1963:

President Fulbert Youlou was overthrown in the Republic of Congo, after a three-day uprising in the capital. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois_Glorieuses_(1963)

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

avail: 1. (transitive, often reflexive) To turn to the advantage of. 2. (transitive) To be of service to. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/avail

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Spirituality is much wider than any particular religion, and in the larger ideas of it that are now coming on us even the greatest religion becomes no more than a broad sect or branch of the one universal religion, by which we shall understand in the future man's seeking for the eternal, the divine, the greater self, the source of unity and his attempt to arrive at some equation, some increasing approximation of the values of human life with the eternal and the divine values.   --Sri Aurobindo https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo