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CHARLOTTE, N. C.
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CHARLOTTE, N. C.
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Memorial Day Massacre
Ten workers were killed, sere* of them shot in the back, when 150 Chicago policemen attacked
a peaceful parade of Republic Steel strikers on Memorial Day, 1937. Newsreels of the incident showed
as many as fo ir policemen at a time dabbing one defenseless striker. Slaty marchers required hospital
fare, 30 of them for gunshot wounds.
Memorial Day Massacre of 1937 A
Monument To Labor’s Early Battles
CHICAGO (LPA).—May 30,
1937, was a day at infamy and
violence to be remembered even in
this city which has become hard
ened to blood in its streets and the
roar of..gups in broad daylight.
There was gunfire and blood in
the streets on that Memorial Day
16 years ago, too. But the pistols
of Chicago policemen were not
brought into play to end the usual
upsurge of underworld violence.
The victims were working men. It
was the Memorial Day Massacre
of 1937.
, Movies taken of the event tell a
shameful story of an unprovoked
police attack on strikers at the
South Chicago Plant of the Repub
lic Steel Corporation. When the
gunsmoke had cleared, ten work
ers lay dead in the Chicago streets.
Police bullets had hit seven of them
in the back, three in the side. Thir-'
ty other people had received gun*
shot wounds and more than 60 of
the marching strikers were serious
ly hurt and required hospital care.
A St. Louis Post Dispatch re
porter described the newsreels of
the Massacre as follows:
*A vivid close-up shows the head
of the parade being halted by a
group of 160 policemen. The flag
bearers are in front. Behind them
the placards are massed. They bear
such devices as "Come on out—
Help win the Strike,” ‘‘Republic vs.
The People and the CIO.” The
leader of the strikers is arguing
earnestly with a police officer who'
appears to be in command.
“Suddenly, without apparent
warning, there was a terrific roar
of pistbl shots and the men in the
front ranks of the marchers go
down like grass before a scythe, as
mapy as a dozen in one heap.
“The police then charged the
marchers -with riot sticks flying.
Tear gas grenades are seen sailing
into the midst of the marchers and
clouds of gas rise over them. The
• crowd is in flight. The only dis
cernible case of resistance is that
of a marcher with a placard on a
stick,' which he uses in an attempt
to fend off a charging policeman.
| He is successful for only an in
stant, then he does go down under
a shower of blows.
“The ground is strewn with dead
and wounded, some isolated indi
viduals are caught, and with busi
ness-like precision, groups of po
licemen dose in. In several in
stances from two to four police
men are seen beating one man.
One strikes him across the face
using his club as he would a base
ball bat Another crashes it down
on top of his head and still another
is whipping him across the back.
Then one gives the fallen a final
smash on the head before moving
on the next job.”
A Senate committee which in
vestigated the brutal police attack
found that it was'-entirely unpro
voked. The marching steel strikers
were within the law. The committee
also denounced as biased and s
farce a local investigation of the
Massacre by city officials undet
Mayor Edward J. Kelly.
v:y ..... »
Labor’s League for Political
Education was formed by the
American Federation of Labor U
carry out the non-partisan politi
cal program of the AFL.
L. L. P. E. supports candidates
on the basis of their record
not their party labeL
Four Unjustly Hang After
‘Haymarket Riot, In Chicago
CHICAGO (LPA).—-A working
day of eight hours is taken for
granted by American Labor in 1958
but the long and Utter fight that
led to its achievement involves one
of the greatest outrages of justice
in history.
It is a story of police violence,
a packed jury, an unfair judge and
eight men convicted of a murder it
was freely admitted they did not
commit. The incident that led to
the rigged trial has become known
as the Haymarket Riot. It occur
red on May 4, 1886, in the midst
of nationwide strikes to win the
8-hour day.
Laws legalising the 8-hour day
had been on the books of a few
states for several years, but they
were so full of loopholes that the
shorter working day was only a
myth. In actual. fact, average
working tune was 10 hours a day,
six days a week. For some work
ers, such as bakers and bus driv
ers, 84 to 120 hours was a normal
work week.
The Federation of Trades and
Labor Unions, forerunner of the
AFL, decided in 1885 that it would
take determined action by labor
to make the 8-hour day a reality.
It resolved that the shorter work
ing day would start on May 1,
1886, and that general nationwide
strikes would take place if neces
sary to bring it about. The plan
also won the approval of other
labor groups.
In Chicago, some 40,000 workers
struck on the appointed day, pa
rading through the city to proclaim
their demand. By May S the num
ber had doubled and there were
numerous brushes with the police,
even thouh the parades were peace
ful demonstrations.
A rally of striking members of
the Lumber-Shovers Union was
scheduled for that afternoon on a
road near the McCormick Harves
ter factory and August Spies, edi
tor of the Socialist newspaper,
MArbeiter Zeitung,* was asked to
speak.
The rally site was known as
“Black Road” because of the num
ber of labor disturbances which
had occurred there after McCor
mick, in violation of a promise to
its workers, had fired union men
a few months previously and hired
strikebreakers to replace them.
Spies was in the midst of urg
ing the workers to stick together
in their fight for the 8-hour day
wh?n the McCormick factory let
out. As the strikebreakers emerg
ed, several men left the rally au
dience to attack them. The police
arrived in lare numbers and fired
on the crowd. One striker was
killed and several wounded by bul
lets and others were injured in the
melee.
Outraged at the police brutality,
Spies rushed back to his office
and printed a highly inflammatory
editorial in which he declared that
working men would have to use
force to win their rights. The edi
torial ended with the summons, **Tc
arms, we call you to snaaP*
Next day, there wore constant
flashes between tbs 8-hour strik
es and the police.- A rally te pre
test the McCormick killiac of tlM
day before was chcdatad for 7:81
p. m. at Haymarket Square and
Spies again was asked to speak.
A leaflet announcing the rally
was prepared and shown to Spies.
The last words on it were, “Work
ingmen, arm yourselves and ap
pear in full force.” Spies said he
would not appear at the rally un
less those words were removed.
Some 20,000 of the leaflets were
distributed and only about 200 or
300 of them contained the inflam
matory words.
About 3000 people showed up for
the rally, but a rain storm came up
in the midst of the speeches and
all but about 200 left. As Samuel
Fielden was concluding a talk to
the remaining workmen, 180 po
lice arrived on the scene, formed
a line and began to advance on
the crowd.
Fielden had just shouted to the
police that the meeting was a
peaceable one wfcen a bomb was
hurled at the police, killing on® of
them and knocking others off their
feet. The police immediately open
ed fire, killing one man and
wounding many others. About sev
enty policemen also were wounded
in the gunfire and' six of them
died later.
About 200 people who had been
at the rhlly were arrested and sub
jected to what was described as
“rigorous” police examination. At
the inquest for Policeman Degan
who had been killed by the bomb,
all the demonstrators then in the
hands of the police were charged
with his death.
Thirty-one people later were in
dicted, but only eight were brought
to trial. In addition to Spies and
Fielden, these were lftchasl
Schwab, Adolph Fisher, George
Engel, Louis Lingg, Albert R. Par
sons and Oscar W. Neebe. All were
leaders or members of an anarchist
organisation called the Interna
tional Working Peoples Associa
tion.
The eight were brought to trial
before Judge Joseph E. Gary with
the sole purpose in mind of con
victing the men to get rid of the
leaders of the anarchist move
ment.
The trial record shows that Gray
coaxed prospective jurors into
saying they could render an im
partial verdict after they already
had said their minds were made up
about the case. The jurors selected
included a relative and a friend of
the bomb victim.
Ths person who threw the bomb
wa3 never found and there was no
evidence produced at the trial to
show that any of the defendants
had had anything to do with the
blast. It was shown that Schwab,
Lingr, Fischer and Neebe were not
even in Haymarket Square when
the bombing occurred.
The jury brought in the expect
ed verdict—all guilty of murder—
after an eight weeks trial Seven
of the men were sentenced to death
and Neebe wgs given 15 years in
prison. Lingg committed suicide
while in jail and the sentences of
Field?n and 8ehwab were com
muted to life imprisonment.
The other four were hanged
Nov. 11, 1887, to spite of pleas
for merry from church, civic and
labor groups throughout the no.
tion. The newly-formed American
Federation of Labor, while con
demning the principle of violence
advocated by the anarchist move
ment, had joined in the pleas be
cause of the obvious injustice of
the jury verdict.
AFL President Samuel Gompers
had personally travelled to Spring
field to appeal to Governor Ogles
by to commute the death sentences.
Gompers charged that there had
been no semblance of a fair trial
and that that men had been found
guilty of murder on the ground
that advocacy of force makes the
advocate responsible for an act of
violence.
Six years later the case exploded
into the public limelight again
whon Got. John P. Altgeld pardon
od Fielden, Neebe and Schwab. It
was not the pardon, however, which
created an uproar which almost
ruined Altgeld’s career.
With full knowledge of what It
would mean to his future in poli
tics, Altgeld had written a pardon
order which made it plain that he
was not releasing the men as an
act of mercy. It was he who of
ficially charged that the jury was
packed, the judge unfair and the
verdict entirely against the evi
dence. There was only one infer
ence to be drawn from his conclu
sions—the State of Illinois had
itself committed murder in hang
ing the four men six years earlier.
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FROM
PYRAMIDE LIFE INSURANCE
COMPANY
Johnston Building Phono 8181
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
Labor Day Greetings
Ross & Witmer, Inc.
1614 West Morehead St. Phone 5-3374
Charlotte, North Carolina
Air Conditioning Contractors
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