Monday, May 31, 2010

this date in steelworker history Memorial Day massacre of 1937

sad day for workrs and this is not in many history books.

Memorial Day massacre of 1937



In the Memorial Day massacre of 1937, the Chicago Police Department shot and killed ten unarmed demonstrators in Chicago, on May 30, 1937. The incident took place during the "Little Steel Strike" in the United States.

The incident arose after U.S. Steel signed a union contract, but smaller steel manufacturers (called 'Little Steel'), including Republic Steel, refused to do so. In protest, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) called a strike. On Memorial Day, hundreds of sympathizers gathered at Sam's Place, headquarters of SWOC. As the crowd marched across the prairie towards the Republic Steel mill, a line of Chicago policeman blocked their path. When the foremost protestors argued their right to continue, police fired on the crowd. As the crowd fled, police bullets killed ten people.

Years later, one of the protesters, Mollie West, recalled a policeman yelling to her that day to, "Get off the field or I'll put a bullet in your back." No police were ever prosecuted.

Today, on the site of Sam's Place stands the union hall of the United Steelworkers and a memorial to the 10 people who died in 1937.

In the book Collected Writings by Dorothy Day (who was present), the events of the protest are summarized thus: 'On Memorial Day, May 30, 1937, police opened fire on a parade of striking steel workers and their families at the gate of the Republic Steel Company, in South Chicago. Fifty people were shot, of whom ten later died; one hundred others were beaten with clubs'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day_massacre_of_1937


http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/memorial.htm
has more info

"As a show of support, hundreds of SWOC sympathizers from all around Chicago gathered on Memorial Day at Sam's Place, where the SWOC had its strike headquarters. After a round of speeches, the crowd began a march across the prairie and toward the Republic Steel mill. They were stopped midway by a formation of Chicago police. While demonstrators in front were arguing for their right to proceed, police fired into the crowd and pursued the people as they fled. Mollie West, a Typographical Union Local 16 member and a youthful demonstrator at the time, still recalls the command addressed to her: "Get off the field, or I'll put a bullet in your back."

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