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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday June 2, 1920
Minneapolis, Minnesota – May Day Celebrated by 10,000 Workers
From The One Big Union Monthly of June 1920:
[Part I of II.]
On May 1st, 1919, when the workers of Minneapolis attempted to celebrate International Labor Day, their parade was broken up several times by the police and other willing tools of the money interests, but they always succeeded in reforming and managed to continue their parade until their destination had been reached. All speaking was stopped by the police, but that did not seem to dampen the spirit of the workers, as will be seen from what happened on May 1st, 1920.
Only about two thousand participated in 1919, but as a result of police opposition all unions in Minneapolis took part in one gigantic parade on May 1st, 1920, with the result that close to 10,000 workers were participants in the largest and most enthusiastic May Day celebration that Minneapolis ever had. Not a word was said in regard to this by most of the local news perverters. Only one paper had the decency to mention the affair, in spite of the fact that it was one of the most important events of the day.
The parade was headed by the World War Veterans in uniform; next came a large thirty-foot banner inscribed “One Big Union.” Other banners were: “The Kaiser in a Palace in Holland; Debs in Jail in the United States; Is This Justice?” “Political Prisoners Have Been Released in Japan, France, Great Britain and Germany; Why Not Here?” “We Fought for Democracy ‘Over There’ and Now Have to Fight for a Living Wage When We Get Back.”
Most of the paraders marched by industries and left their craft banners at home as evidence of the uselessness of that form of organization. The only exceptions were the Printers, Bricklayers and Wood Workers and Cabinet Makers.
A donkey carried a placard inscribed: “I and all my relatives work in an open shop,” which created quite a hit except among those who were put in the “donkey class.”
[Emphasis adde.]
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SOURCES & IMAGES
BBH Quote re May Day, AtR p2, Apr 27, 1907
https://www.newspapers.com/image/67586856
The One Big Union Monthly
“Published Monthly by the General Executive Board
of the Industrial Workers of the World”
(Chicago Illinois)
-John Sandgren, Editor
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008910402
Volumes 2-3, 1920-1921
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101058908474&view=image&seq=9
OBU Mly-June 1920
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101058908474&view=2up&seq=330
Pages 6-8: “First of May in Minneapolis” by E.W. Latchem
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101058908474&view=image&seq=336
See also:
From the Twin Cities Daily Planet of Nov 16, 2009:
“Building on historic tradition, IWW opens Minneapolis office”
By Deborah Rosenstein (Workday Minnesota)
https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/building-historic-tradition-iww-opens-minneapolis-office/
Thomas Van Lear
-Socialist (SPA) Mayor of Minneapolis, Jan 1, 1917 to Jan 6, 1919
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Van_Lear
Minneapolis Teamsters and General Strike of 1934
-the strike that made Minneapolis a Union Town
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis_general_strike_of_1934
Minneapolis Bloody Friday of 1934
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Friday_(Minneapolis)
From the Minneapolis Labor Review of August 21, 2015:
Descendants of 1934 Teamsters strikers attend unveiling of memorial
http://minneapolisunions.org/mlr2015-08-21_1934_plaque.php
WE NEVER FORGET
John Belor and Henry Ness
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Minneapolis Truck Strike of 1934
-Poem by David Smith of Teamster Local 638
Here’s how to sing Solidarity Forever
Bonus Song
Tom Morello: Union Song