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| Memorial Day massacre of 1937 | |
|---|---|
| Title | Memorial Day massacre of 1937 |
| Caption | Striking workers and Chicago police, May 1937 |
| Date | May 30, 1937 |
| Place | Chicago, Illinois |
| Sides | Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America; Steel Workers Organizing Committee; Chicago Police Department |
| Casualties | 10 dead, 90+ injured |
Memorial Day massacre of 1937 was a violent confrontation on May 30, 1937, in Chicago during a strike by workers associated with the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America at the Republic Steel plant near the South Chicago neighborhood. The event occurred amid labor struggles involving the Congress of Industrial Organizations, United States Steel Corporation, and municipal authorities under Mayor Edward J. Kelly, becoming a flashpoint in labor history alongside episodes such as the Homestead Strike and the Haymarket affair. The clash drew national attention from publications like The New York Times, Time, and civil libertarians from organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union.
In the 1930s the Congress of Industrial Organizations led organizing drives across heavy industry, targeting firms including Republic Steel, Bethlehem Steel, and Youngstown Sheet and Tube. The Steel Workers Organizing Committee had been created by the AFL-CIO-aligned Congress of Industrial Organizations affiliate efforts and leaders such as John L. Lewis and organizers from the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America sought recognition from companies with ties to industrialists like Tom M. Girdler of Republic Steel and board members connected to J. P. Morgan. Tensions rose after confrontations like the Little Steel strike and legal decisions involving the National Labor Relations Board and the Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act) influenced bargaining leverage for unions such as the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and allies in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
On Memorial Day 1937 thousands of strikers and sympathetic members of unions including the CIO-aligned Steel Workers Organizing Committee and retail allies from the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America assembled near the Republic Steel plant in South Chicago. Organizers included figures associated with the CIO leadership and local labor councils who coordinated a march along streets patrolled by the Chicago Police Department under orders from Mayor Edward J. Kelly and influenced by business leaders connected to Republic Steel executives. The marchers intended to picket company property and included veterans of earlier labor fights such as participants linked to the Homestead Strike legacy and observers from the American Civil Liberties Union and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
As the crowd approached the gates, units of the Chicago Police Department under Superintendent Ordinary Command and officers deputized by city officials confronted demonstrators; officers included personnel from precincts with ties to aldermen allied with Mayor Edward J. Kelly. Police deployed batons and firearms in crowd-control actions similar in public perception to earlier incidents like the Haymarket affair, and media outlets such as The New York Times and Chicago Tribune reported the scene with images that spurred commentary from labor leaders including John L. Lewis and civil rights advocates like A. Philip Randolph. Eyewitness accounts collected by investigators from the National Labor Relations Board and legal teams representing unions described gunfire from police ranks and aggressive baton charges against pickets.
The confrontation resulted in multiple fatalities and scores injured; city morgues and hospitals such as Michael Reese Hospital treated victims while union halls in Chicago served as triage and information centers. Newspapers including Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, and Daily Worker published lists of the dead and injured, prompting statements from leaders such as John L. Lewis of the CIO and criticism from politicians including Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr. and civil liberties groups like the American Civil Liberties Union. Funerals and memorial services held in neighborhoods like South Chicago and at union meeting halls drew delegations from unions such as the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the United Auto Workers.
In the weeks after the killings, municipal inquiries by officials allied with Mayor Edward J. Kelly and independent investigations involving the National Labor Relations Board and attorneys connected to the American Civil Liberties Union produced competing accounts; prosecutors debated indictments while defense counsel cited precedents involving police authority from cases heard by judges associated with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Civil suits were filed by families represented by lawyers experienced with labor litigation similar to attorneys who had worked on cases before the Supreme Court of the United States such as those concerning the Wagner Act. Grand juries and coroner inquests convened amid pressure from labor leaders like John L. Lewis and politicians including Governor Henry Horner.
The massacre reverberated through American politics and labor relations; public opinion weighed reports from The New York Times, commentary in Time, and editorials in the Chicago Tribune and Daily Worker, while legislators such as members of Congress influenced by leaders like Robert F. Wagner debated labor policy tied to the Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act). The event intensified organizing drives by the CIO leading to broader recognition campaigns at firms like Bethlehem Steel and influenced municipal elections in Chicago where figures such as Mayor Edward J. Kelly faced scrutiny from opponents aligned with reformers and activists connected to the NAACP.
Commemoration of the killings included memorials by unions such as the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and annual remembrances by the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and successor organizations like the United Steelworkers; historians publishing in journals and books compared the incident to episodes such as the Haymarket affair and the Homestead Strike. The massacre has been discussed in scholarship involving labor history at institutions like the University of Chicago and in biographies of labor leaders including John L. Lewis, and it remains a reference point in studies of police-labor relations examined by legal scholars with interests in precedents before the Supreme Court of the United States. Plaques and local memorials in South Chicago mark the site, while archives at repositories such as the Newberry Library and the Chicago History Museum preserve documents, photographs, and union records.
Category:Labor history of the United States Category:1937 in Illinois