On this day in labor history, the year was 1941.
That was the day Indiana State Police began cracking heads of picketers in front of the Richmond International Harvester plant.
The Farm Equipment Workers Organizing Committee, or FEWOC, called a strike at six Midwestern plants earlier in the year.
14,000 workers walked out, demanding an elimination of piecework, wage increases, reemployment guarantees for draftees and union recognition.
Lucy Parsons addressed strikers in Chicago.
She reminded them of her husband’s frame-up and murder in 1886.
She added that the McCormicks and International Harvester had continued their unending war against labor for over 50 years.
In Richmond, workers voted 5 to 1 for a strike.
By March 27, Harvester officials there planned to reopen the plant with members of the ‘independent union.’ FEWOC battled these so-called unions at all the plants.
They were the rehashed old company unions the National Labor Relations Board had ordered disbanded.
Reports varied widely as to the number of workers ready to betray the strike at the Richmond plant.
When they marched towards the gate that morning, strikers closed ranks and sang, “Solidarity Forever.”
The battle began as strikers, armed with bricks and bats, fought police to prevent the scabbing.
More than 80 strikers were arrested on charges ranging from assault and battery to attempted murder.
The State Police and Richmond officers then raided strike headquarters and downtown CIO offices.
Records and correspondence were seized and furniture demolished. FEWOC leader Cliff Kerr avowed, “They are not going to get away with this brutal, undemocratic attack on the workers.
The union intends to fight. The combined efforts of the city… the police… and the Harvester Company are not going to break this strike.”
April 2 - Trouble in the Sweetest Place on Earth
April 1 - The Promise of 1946
March 31 - Hospital Workers Stand United
March 30 - 15th Amendment Adopted
March 29 - West Coast Hotel v Parrish Decided
March 28 - Partial Meltdown at Three Mile Island
March 26 - Police Attack UE Amid ‘46 Strike Wave
March 25 - Centralia Coal Mine #5 Explodes
March 24 - Exxon Valdez Runs Aground
March 23 - Texas City Refinery Explosion Kills 15
March 22 - ERA Passes the Senate
March 21 - Truman Signs Loyalty Order
March 20 - Another Deadly Explosion
March 19 - Wartime President Pushes for Labor Peace
March 18 - Wartime Workers Betrayed
March 17 - The Hoggs Hollow Tragedy
March 16 - Big Bill Haywood Talks General Strike
March 15 - The Grapes of Wrath Opens in Theaters
March 14 - Remembering Walter Crane
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