the Chicago Police Department shot and killed ten unarmed demonstrators in Chicago, on May 30, 1937.
Full Video of Memorial Day Massacre May 30, 1937 … Republic Steel Strike Riot … Uncut Newsreel with Narration from an Eye Witness … the film was illegally banned from being shown in Chicago by the Chicago Police Department which escalated into a massacre when Chicago police… https://t.co/7FKDVDrcgq pic.twitter.com/e2m7Vmtazl
— SubX.News (@SubxNews) May 27, 2024
Ten demonstrators were killed by police bullets during the “Little Steel Strike” of 1937. When several smaller steelmakers, including Republic Steel, refused to follow the lead of U.S. Steel (Big Steel) by signing a union contract, a strike was called by the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
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.”
May 30, 1937 was a sunny, hot day with afternoon temperatures reaching 88 degrees. By 3:00 PM, a crowd of around 1500 strikers and sympathizers had gathered at Sam’s Place for the protest meeting. About 15 percent of the crowd was made up of women and children. SWOC Organizer Joe Weber was chairman of the meeting. He introduced Leo Krzycki, an Amalgamated Clothing Workers organizer on load to the SWOC. Krzycki’s remarks concerned the national labor picture, the crowd applauding loudly at the mention of President Roosevelt and John L. Lewis. Krzycki told the crowd several anecdotes and concluded on an upbeat note, urging the crowd to support the right to organize.
Nick Fontecchio next reviewed the successes of the SWOC drive in the District, pointing to the increase in membership from 65 in July 1936 to 75,000 members at that time. He referred to the situation in Indiana Harbor where mass picketing was taking place without incident, while in Chicago police were defending Republic Steel which Fontecchio said, was violating the Wagner Act.
Weber read several resolutions to be sent to government officials in protest of police conduct at Republic Steel South Chicago plant. These resolutions were approved by acclamation. A member of the crowd then asked for recognition and moved that a march be undertaken to the plant gate to establish mass picketing. The motion was approved, and about 1,000 persons made a loose formation behind two American flags and began to march south on Green Bay Avenue. Their route changed, however, and they moved down a dirt road across a marshy prairie at 114th and Green Bay toward 117th and Burley Avenue. They moved across the prairie in the hot sun, chanting “CIO, CIO!”
Meanwhile, the police under Captain Mooney had formed a line in 117th Street between Green Bay and Burley Avenues. When they saw the marchers turn off Green Bay and begin to cross the prairie, Mooney ordered the police to a position on Burley Ave.
About 200 policemen in double file were waiting for the marchers with billy clubs drawn. Some of the officers carried non-regulation clubs obtained from Republic Steel, and some were equipped with tear gas from Republic stockpiles as well.
The marchers approached the police line to within three feet and began to spread out along the police line as those from the rear kept moving forward to see what was happening. Marchers implored the police to let them through to set up their picket line, demanding that their rights be recognized.
The confrontation continued for several minutes. Some marchers picked up branches and rocks from the prairie. Foul language came from both sides and the tension mounted. Several marchers in the front line, apparently convinced they would not let through, dejectedly turned to move back toward Sam’s place. Suddenly the tension snapped.
Unfortunately the newsreel film in mute on the question of how the violence started. The cameraman, Orland Lippert, testified that he was changing lenses at the time, a procedure that he estimated took seven seconds.
1937 Memorial Day Massacre … the Chicago Police Department shot and killed ten unarmed demonstrators in Chicago, on May 30, 1937.
— SubX.News (@SubxNews) May 27, 2024
Ten demonstrators were killed by police bullets during the "Little Steel Strike" of 1937. When several smaller steelmakers, including Republic… https://t.co/0sNXDOMXcT pic.twitter.com/CMDp2wtMkL
At Hearings under Senator Robert LaFollette, the following points emerged. Police on the east end of the line moved to cut off any possible attempt by the marchers to outflank the police line. Some marchers were beginning to move back toward Sam’s Place when a stick rose from the rear of the marchers’ line and flew toward the police. Almost simultaneously, tear gas bombs were thrown by police at the marchers.
As several more objects flew toward the police line, an officer in the rear rank of police drew his revolver without orders and shot into the air. Suddenly, policemen in the front ranks drew their revolvers and fired point blank into the retreating marchers. Approximately 200 shots rang out. Within 15 seconds the shooting had ended, but the violence was not over.
The entire police line now moved forward wielding billy clubs against any in the their path. Marchers who had dropped to the ground to avoid the bullets were struck repeatedly by policemen. Even women suffered from these indiscriminate beatings. The film clearly shows Lupe Marshall, a social worker from Chicago’s Hull House, being prodded and arrested.
This period of beatings lasted for several minutes after which indiscriminate arrests were made. Patrol wagons designed for eiqht prisoners were filled with as many as sixteen, the seriously wounded thrown in without any attempt to treat or dress their wounds. The treatment of the wounded was characterized as callous indifference by the Senate Committee, which declared that “wounded prisoners of war might have expected greater solicitude.” Patrol wagons with wounded took roundabout routes to hospitals.
Four marchers had been fatally shot and six others were mortally wounded. Thirty others had suffered gunshot wounds. Twenty-eight required hospitalization for lacerations and contusions, and about thirty others received some sort of emergency medical treatment. The gunshot wounds of the dead were all back or side wounds, only four were classified as frontal wounds. Police injuries were comparatively minor. Thirty-five policemen reported injuries with no gunshot wounds and only three policemen requiring overnight hospital care.
Reactions to the Massacre occurred immediately following the event. Sympathetic protestors clogged the business district in South Chicago and angry strikers were almost ready to proclaim war against the police. The Chicago press, particularly the Chicago Tribune, branded the marchers as Communists who had attacked the police with clubs, bricks, and guns in a plan to get into the plant and throw out the non-union workers.
The Lafollette Committee investigating the event came to four major conclusions about the Memorial Day Massacre.
First: the police had no right to limit the number of pickets in front of the gate as long as they were peaceful; and that the march would have resulted in peaceful picketing in front of the gate, not in a plant invasion.
Second: assuming that the police were justified in halting the march, it should have been done with a minimum of violence and not in the haphazard manner with which the confrontation was handled.
Third: the marchers’ provocation of the police did not be beyond the use of abusive language and the throwing of isolated missiles; and that the force used by the police to disperse the crowd was far in excess of that required.
Fourth: the bloody consequences were avoidable on the part of the police.
A commission of leading citizens of the Chicago area was also formed to investigate the Massacre. The commission grew out of a protest meeting held on June 8, 1937 at the Civic Opera House. The crowd, estimated at 4,000 people, heard Paul H. Douglas, a professor at the University of Chicago, later to become a United States Senator of Illinois.
The Massacre was only a part of the much larger story of the Little Steel Strike. The nationwide death toll in the strike reached sixteen as six other strikers lost their lives on a picket line in Ohio. All these incidents took place outside Republic Steel plants and involved strikers and local law enforcement agencies.
The deaths, back-to-work movements, and anti-union propaganda combined to demoralize the striking steelworkers. The strike had to be called off. In this situation, the SWOC turned to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The process of filing a complaint with the NLRB consumed a great deal of time due to opposing legal action taken by the companies. In August 1941, however, Republic Steel and other Little Steel Companies agreed to cease and desist from committing unfair labor practices. The Labor Board provided for a series of membership card cross-checks and secret ballot elections which later established bargaining rights for SWOC.
Memorial Day Massacre scrapbook of Gerry Jolly Borozan Archive ID: 2002-037-1
— SubX.News (@SubxNews) May 27, 2024
Southeast Chicago Historical Societyhttps://t.co/4KwLoRPqwu
Date Created: 1937-1997
Created By: Geraldine Borozan
Donor: Geraldine Borozan
Media Type: Scrapbook/Album/Diary
Language: English… https://t.co/gJ124T6yOQ pic.twitter.com/edVchJlNQF
One year later, “Little Steel” companies signed their first contracts (under compulsion by the War Labor Board) with the new United Steelworkers of America. Little Steel had only delayed the march of unionism. The sacrifice of the workers of 1937 had not been in vain.
The sculpture was created by Ed Blazak, a former employee of the Republic Steel company. It was originally sited on the property of Republic Steel near Burley.Ave. The sculpture, with its ten steel pipes, represent the smoke stakes of the ten steel mills within the area, now closed. They can also be Representative of the slain ten demonstrators.
A memorial plaque at the base of a flagpole with the names of the 10 people who were killed is located at 11731 South Avenue O, the former United Steel Workers Local 1033 union hall, which is now occupied by the United Auto Workers Local 3212. Thirty years to the day of the massacre, it was dedicated on May 30, 1967.
The Republic Steel Memorial Day Massacre Sculpture, created by former Republic Steel employee Edward Blazak, was dedicated in 1981. Originally located near the main gate at 116th Street and Burley Avenue, it was rededicated in 2008 and relocated to 11659 South Avenue O, at the southwest corner of the grounds of a Chicago Fire Department station housing Engine #104.
By automobile, from the Chicago Loop to the former USWA local 1033 headquaters at 11731 Ave. O, take I-90/94 (Dan Ryan Expy) South and merge with the I-94 (Bishop Ford Fwy). Then, exit at 103rd .St and turn East to Torrence. Ave, and turn South to http://106.St and turn East to Ave. O. Then, drive South to 117th .St and stop at 11731 Ave O, enter the parking lot. Memorial sculpture is to the North at 117TH. St by the fire station (this was dedicated in 2008).
From here you can reach the Pullman community in ten minutes. Backtrack to 103rd and Torrence. Ave and trun West on 103rd. Then, turn South on Cottage Grove. Ave and http://111.St, the Florence Hotel is in site to the East.
Senate Hearings: Violations of Free Speech and Rights of Labor. Part 14: Chicago Memorial Day Incident
PDF file of the LaFollette Committee hearings on the incident. Documents the testimony of police, strikers, witnesses, news reporters and doctors. Appendix contains coroner’s reports, photographs and Chicago Police documents including arrest records submitted as evidence.
Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, United States Senate, 75th Congress, 1st Session., “Senate Hearings: Violations of Free Speech and Rights of Labor. Part 14: Chicago Memorial Day Incident,” accessed May 27, 2024, https://tmk78.omeka.net/items/show/19
MemorialDay #Massacre #Chicago
http://illinoislaborhistory.org/articles/267-massacre-at-republic-steel.html
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