On July 24th there will be a street party to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1934 truckers strike in Minneapolis at the intersection of 3rd Street North and 6th Avenue North (a block south of Washington Avenue N. in the Warehouse District). This location is where police opened fire on unarmed strikers in 1934 killing 2 and wounding some 65 more. Many folks do not know of this strike that helped establish the Teamsters. Come learn some local history about regular people standing up for themselves and their families in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
The festival has been named One Day in July. It is free and open to all from 2 to 10:PM. There will be many speakers and bands including NE MPLS' own Paul Metsa. >From TC Independent Media: http://twincities.indymedia.org/feature/display/17251/index.php "Music and memory will combine in a street festival scheduled for Minneapolis' Warehouse District on Saturday, July 24, to honor the 70th anniversary of a bloody confrontation that resulted in the death of two strikers and the wounding of 65 more. The festival, called "One Day in July", is being organized by young members of Minneapolis labor unions who want to keep the history and significance of the 1934 events alive." Written below is an account of what happened that "one day in July" by Meridel Le Sueur. Her piece in its entirety can be read at: http://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/lesueur/minneapolis.html "In the hot afternoon for five minutes they fired point blank into the bodies of truckmen, most of them trying for cover. The street was littered with bodies. An old man on the sidewalk was seriously wounded, a young messenger boy was shot. Two men were lying in the pickets' truck, had not even gotten out of the truck, which shows how quickly the police opened fire. Instantly from the picket lines in the face of this fire, which came from BOTH sides of the street and from the center, young pickets rushed forward to pick up their wounded--and were fired upon. The pickets behind them came forward--unarmed men, without compulsion, without orders, advancing again and again in a colossal tide that filled the gap the instant it was opened by a prone man. The strikers picked up what wounded they could and took them, not to the hospital, but to their own headquarters, where they had set up their own hospital. What wounded men the police picked up were instantly arrested--for violence! A great many of these men were veterans and remarked that even in the war they were allowed to pick up their own wounded." I have heard over the years that public sentiment was so great in support of the strikers after this that 5 years later the Minneapolis Aquatennial was established to draw folks thoughts away from the strike onto more appropriately germane things, at least in the minds of the anti-union business organization known as the Citizens Alliance. who says the victors get to write the history? Tom Taylor Green Party Endorsed Candidate for MN House Seat 59A 612-788-4252 www.VoteTomTaylor.org "Raise less corn and more hell." Mary Elizabeth Lease REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
