Memorial Day Massacre

On May 30, 1937, Chicago police attacked a Memorial Day gathering of unarmed, striking steelworkers and their families. The police shot and killed ten of the strikers.

By Howard Fast
Memorial Day in Chicago in 1937 was hot, humid, and sunny; it was the right kind of day for the parade and the holiday, the kind of a day that takes the soreness out of a Civil War veteran’s back, makes him feel like stepping out with the youngsters a quarter his age. It was a day for picnics, for boating, for the beach or a long ride into the country. . . Most of the strikers felt good.

Tom Girdler, who ran Republic, had said that he would go back to hoeing potatoes before he met the strikers’ demands, and word went around that old Tom could do worse than earn an honest living hoeing potatoes. The strike was less than a week old; the strikers had not yet felt the pinch of hunger, and there was a good sense of solidarity everywhere.

Because it was such a fine summer day, many of the strikers brought their children out onto the prairie to attend the first big mass meeting; and wherever you looked, you saw two-year-olds and three-year-olds riding pick-a-back on the shoulders of steelworkers.

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/memorial-day-massacre/

It was a time like today, when unions were growing stronger. The workers were on strike against Republic Steel, and the police attacked them with weapons supplied by the company. The tragic story is told in a new PBS documentary. “The mass media, right up to The New York Times, was supporting the police story that they had no choice but to open fire on this mob,”

https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/memorial-day-massacre

A PBS film on this has been censored by the right wing PBS board of directors.

https://youtu.be/jId4f3SE4vc

Read more in a Truthout article, “A Memorial Day Massacre.”

https://truthout.org/articles/a-memorial-day-massacre/

It’s a dramatic, shocking and violent film. Some 200 uniformed policemen armed with billy clubs, revolvers and tear gas angrily charge an unarmed crowd of several hundred striking steelworkers and their wives and children, who are desperately running away. The police club those they can reach, shoving them to the ground and ignoring their pleas as they batter them with further blows. They stand above the fallen to fire at the backs of those who’ve outraced them.

Police drag the injured along the ground and into patrol wagons, where they are jammed in with dozens of others who were also arrested. Four are already dead from police bullets, six others are to die shortly. Eighty are wounded, two dozen others so badly beaten that they, too, must be hospitalized.

The close-ups are particularly brutal. As one newspaper reviewer noted, “In several instances from two to four policemen are seen beating one man. One strikes him horizontally across the face, using his club as he would a baseball bat. Another crashes it down on top of his head and still another is whipping him across the back.” |

https://revolutionresource.org/2025/03/01/evil-blues/
Mean And Evil Blues

https://youtu.be/UhlGf0l7Jd8
Mean And Evil Blues · Dinah Washington · Tab Smith & His Orchestra
The Complete Dinah Washington On Mercury, Vol.1 (1946 – 1949)

https://youtu.be/2HLXZJ93rNY
Otis Spann plays “Can’t Stand Your Evil Ways”

Evil Blues…
“Evil is goin’ on wrong
I am warning you, brother
You better watch your happy home”
https://youtu.be/Tcc48h6aFZU
Evil Blues · Count Basie And His Orchestra · Ed Lewis · Jimmy Rushing · Chu Berry
The Complete Decca Recordings ℗ 1939 The Verve Music Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc. Released on: 1992-01-01 Vocalist, Composer Lyricist: Jimmy Rushing
Composer Lyricist: Count Basie Composer Lyricist: Harry Edison
https://youtu.be/PwTBlXa2GDI Evil Gal Blues · Aretha Franklin Unforgettable: A Tribute To Dinah Washington (Expanded Edition) ℗ Originally released 1964. All rights reserved by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment Released on: 1964-02-18 Composer: Leonard Feather Composer: Lionel Hampton Conductor: Rober Mersey Drums: Gary Chester Organ: Paul Griffin Bass: George Duvivier Harmonica, Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone: Buddy Lucas Trumpet: Ernie Royal Trombone: Bob Asher Vibraphone: Teddy Charles Vibraphone: Teddy Cohen Organ: Ernie Hayes Guitar: Al Gorgoni Guitar: Vinny Bell Trumpet: Eugene (Snooky) Young Trombone, Contractor: Robert Ascher Saxophone: Seldon Powell Saxophone: Eddie Barefield Violin: Paul Winter Violin: Leo Kruczek Violin: Felix Giglio Violin: Louis Gabowitz Violin: Samuel Kissell Violin: George Ockner Violin: Jack Zayde Viola: Julius Schachter Viola: Theodore Israel Viola: Richard Dickler Cello: Anthony Sophos Cello: Alan Shulman Performance Arranger, Producer: Robert Mersey

https://youtu.be/ETZ2BLTkCoM
Howlin’ Wolf – Evil