Labor History Archives

Massacre at Republic Steel, part 2 By William Bork http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/republic.htm We left off:  “On Saturday, Captain Mooney received an anonymous report that an attempt would be made the next day to invade the plant and drive out the non-union workers. Without checking the rumor with any SWOC official, he ordered 264 policemen to be on duty at Republic Steel on Sunday afternoon. The stage was set for the tragic events of Memorial Day.” “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.” The Wagner Act later became the National Labor Relations Act, NLRA. They both gave more equal footing between workers and corporations allowing rules for collective actions by working people. In 1947, the NLRA was amended by the Taft-Hartley Act which significantly weakened collective actions. Now the original NLRA with the Taft-Hartley and Landrum-Griffin changes are collectively referred to as the Labor Management Relations Act, LMRA “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!" (Map from http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/disasters/memorialday_strike.html ) 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.” We have seen similar scenarios repeatedly in other legal collective actions. Today Coke is killing union organizers in Columbia; Corporations are fighting a war in Iraq for control of that Country’s natural resources, and workers in the U.S. are being stripped of rights on a daily basis. It can all happen again. Corporate Values are not Human Moral Values. “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. 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. (Picture from http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/memorial.htm ) 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.” (Picture from http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2824.html ) Corporations are basically Dictatorships. They prefer maximum profit and complete control of the means of producing wealth which is now Human Resources. Nothing has changed in how the Corporate Elite and the politicians they get elected see the world. Corporations such as Halliburton have used our Government, our money and our lives to gain control of oil. These are Corporate Values. Things will get worse for working people in America before they get better. “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.” This is critically important! The mainstream press has always been controlled by Corporations and present an editorial view as “fair and balanced news” reflecting Corporate Values. Many young workers today are voting for Corporate Politicians, ensuring a less rewarding life both materially and aesthetically. “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. (Picture from http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago /disasters/memorialday_strike.html ) 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. Why did the police work in concert with the Corporations? Why is allegiance to power and money able to override the law in the minds of the police? Does law enforcement work for people or Corporations? Has anything really changed as far as Corporate Values and Corporate Politicians are concerned? What good are Labor Unions today? They provide a check to untrammeled Corporate Power. 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). So, if a Corporation, operating through our police, kill picketing workers, does the owner, CEO, President, or Board of Directors get tried for murder? If the picketers killed 16 upper level management personnel, what would happen to those picketers? Who really runs our Democracy? 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. 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. Check out these links which also tell the Republic Steel story: Another story about Republic Steel http://www.uhigh.ilstu.edu/soc/labor/memorial_day_massacre.htm "I wouldn't call the Little Steel Strike 'fun,'" he said, "but it had its humorous moments. Like the time the chief of police in Warren said that it was Gus Hall who was Public Enemy Number One, not John Dillinger. So he sent a whole detail of police to serve an arrest warrant on me - and while they were looking for me I walked into the police station and surrendered. They were so surprised they didn't know what to do." http://www.pww.org/archives97/97-05-29-2.html “According to an article on the Illinois Labor Museum Web site by William Bork, the companies "believed that unionization would infringe upon what they felt was their management prerogative." It claims Tom M. Girdler, Chairman of the Board of Republic Steel Corp., vehemently opposed the union.” http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2005/05/29/business/business/8220c88b0642de938625700e00651d72.txt They were lined up for a knock-down, drag-out fight, no quarter asked, no quarter given. Tom Girdler was granted nominal leadership; a latter-day "robber baron," to use Matthew Josephson's phrase, he was a natural for such a position, and we shall see later how his tactics led to the Memorial Day Massacre. But he did not introduce the concept of violence; it was not necessary for him to do so. As far back as 1933, the steel companies were arming themselves for the coming struggle. For example, the following order was shipped to Bethlehem Steel. The invoice, entered on the books of Federal Laboratories and signed by A.G. Bergman, is dated September 30, 1933:              12 blast type billies             100 blast type billies, cartridges              24 Jumbo CN grenades lot No. X820              24 military bouchons              48 1½" cal. projectile shells (CN)              24 1½" cal. short range shells (CN)                4 1½" cal. riot guns, style 201 sr. No. 337, 386, 390, 403                4 riot gun cases That makes for quite a sizable armament, but Youngstown Sheet and Tube went in for more and deadlier protection against unarmed strikers and their dangerous wives and children. On June 6, 1934, this firm was billed for the following order:              10 1½" cal. riot guns 201, $60 ea.              10 riot gun cases 211, $7.50 ea.              60 1½" cal. long range projectiles, $7.50 ea.              60 1½" cal. short range projectiles, $4.50 ea.              60 M-39 billies, std. barrel no disc, $22.50 ea.             600 M-39 billy cartridges, $1.50 ea.             200 grenades 106M, 10% disc., $12 ea. http://www.trussel.com/hf/republic.htm

The labor movement is organized upon a principle that the strong shall help the weak. The strength of a strong man is a prideful thing, but the unfortunate thing in life is that strong men do not remain strong. And it is just as true of unions and labor organizations as is true of men and individuals. And whereas today the craft unions of this country may be able to stand upon their own feet and like mighty oaks stand before the gale, defy the lightning, yet the day may come when those organizations will not be able to withstand the lightning and the gale. Now, prepare yourselves by making a contribution to your less fortunate brethren... Organize the unorganized! John L. Lewis http://www.umwa.org/history/jll1.shtml