06-07-2010, 03:10 AM
David Purcell Wrote:...
Everyone knows of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre where 7 gangsters were killed and all of the outcry and brouhaha it created. The public outrage, etc etc. Yet on Memorial Day in 1937 the Chicago police, without provocation, opened fire on peaceful workers picketing a steel company at 116th st. in South Chicago and 10 workers were killed and scores wounded. The picketers had nothing more dangerous than picket signs in their hands and yet 10 were killed, one more than the horrifying massacre 8 years previous. These were peaceful citizens striking for better conditions and they were murdered by the Chicago police. This wasn't a case of gangsters murdering fellow gangsters so you might wonder where all of the public outrage was? I'm sure you wouldn't be shocked at the news that these murders were suppressed by the media. There was a film crew, a Hollywood newsreel team, which captured this event on film. and another shock, the government suppressed the film.
Just another day in Chicago.
Thanks for posting this David. I googled this incident and added a thread on the subject to our forum board "The War on Workers and Labor Unions."
http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/...#post23724
IMO the quest to maximize profits at the expense of the work force--the desire for cheap, ideally free, labor--is the real story, real history.