November 1931


The following events occurred in November 1931:

November 1, 1931 (Sunday)

  • Thirty people were injured during rioting between fascists and anti-fascists at the French towns of Nice, Chambéry and Dijon when Italians came to the towns to pay their respects to Italian war dead.

    November 2, 1931 (Monday)

  • The DuPont company announced the invention of a new synthetic rubber called DuPrene, known today as neoprene.
  • Six more nations, including Great Britain and France, joined the one-year moratorium on building armaments. Since the agreement was an informal one, however, the League of Nations was uncertain whether the holiday had really gone into effect on November 1 or not.
  • The United States Supreme Court decided United States v. Kirby Lumber Co., upholding taxation on money saved by settling debts for less than the full amount owed..

    November 3, 1931 (Tuesday)

  • In Germany, Prussia's Interior Minister Carl Severing banned all parades and outdoor assemblies until further notice. Exceptions were made for gatherings of apolitical character such as weddings and funerals.
  • Born:
  • *Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese Roman Catholic bishop and leader of the government-approved Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association; in Qingyuan, Hebei province
  • *Monica Vitti, award-winning Italian film actress, in Rome

    November 4, 1931 (Wednesday)

  • The Jiangqiao Campaign was opened by the Imperial Japanese Army in its fight to take control of the Chinese region of Manchuria with the Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge, south of Qiqihar in the Heilongjiang province.
  • David Lloyd George officially stepped down as Leader of the Liberal Party and was succeeded by Sir Herbert Samuel. "As you are aware", Lloyd George wrote to Samuel, "I am completely at variance with the disastrous course into which the party recently has been guided. It may therefore ease matters, and at any rate save embarrassment to my friends, if I write to tell you that I am not a candidate for election to any office in the group." Several MPs joined Lloyd George's break from the Liberals to sit in Parliament as a small voting bloc known as the Independent Liberals.
  • The British drama film Michael and Mary was released in the United Kingdom.
  • Born: Marie Mansfield, American baseball pitcher in the AAGPBL, 1953 strikeouts leader; in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
  • Died: Buddy Bolden, 54, African-American cornet player

    November 5, 1931 (Thursday)

  • The Mahatma Gandhi attended a formal reception at Buckingham Palace and met with King George V for five minutes. Gandhi wore only his usual attire of loin cloth and shawl, which made for an extraordinary scene of contrast with the silken finery of other guests.
  • Five sailors on the battleship were killed in the explosion of an anti-aircraft gun. 27 others were wounded.
  • Neville Chamberlain became the new British Chancellor of the Exchequer.
  • The blasphemy trial of German artist George Grosz finally ended after three years. The court ordered the confiscation and destruction of the Grosz illustration Maul Halten und Weiter Deinen, which depicted a crucified Christ wearing army boots and a gas mask.
  • Born: Ike Turner, American musician; in Clarksdale, Mississippi

    November 6, 1931 (Friday)

  • The Italian government awarded prizes to the families with the most children.
  • The Sergei Yutkevich-directed film Golden Mountains, with music by composer Dmitri Shostakovich, premiered in Leningrad.
  • The Mahatma Gandhi met George Bernard Shaw and his wife in London.
  • Born: Mike Nichols, German born-American director, producer, actor and comedian; as Igor Mikhail Peschkowsky, in Berlin
  • Died:
  • *Thaddeus H. Caraway, 60, U.S. Senator for Arkansas since March 4 and previously U.S. Representative from 1913 to 1921, died of a heart attack caused by a blood clot in his coronary artery
  • *Jack Chesbro, 57, American baseball pitcher and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, from a heart attack

    November 7, 1931 (Saturday)

  • Mao Zedong announced the formation of the Chinese Soviet Republic in Jiangxi Province.
  • Ralph Capone, the older brother of Al Capone and a Chicago mobster, went to federal prison after being convicted of income tax fraud.

    November 8, 1931 (Sunday)

  • Police stations and the Governor's headquarters were attacked in the city of Tianjin by hundreds of Chinese rioters, reportedly at the instigation of Japanese operatives.