Rioting Across America - The Great Depression (video)

[HoosierDaddy]

Perhaps leaning toward the 'political' which is banned on the FL...I would guess.

 

[sheeplady]

I apologise if my comment was taken as being a little provocative. I sympathise with the plight of many hard up Americans during that period. But the cops were just doin' their jobs. Just sayin'.[huh]

In the incident I mentioned, many of the police were actually firing on their neighbors, friends, and family members. I'm pretty sure it wasn't an ideal or easy situation for anyone involved.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

It's interesting to watch this. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Hmmm..don't really think they are near the same...if you look and listen closely. Just MHO,tho.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I was speaking more on Civil Unrest in tough times, a very broad way to look at it, but I don't want to get political and get myself in trouble!

Hmmm..don't really think they are near the same...if you look and listen closely. Just MHO,tho.

 

[MikeKardec]

I can remember stories of my grandfather and a couple of other solid citizens joining the 3 policemen of their little North Dakota town at the train station in the middle of the night. A group 200 that was assumed to be part of the International Workers of the World had hijacked a train and was riding up the line wreaking havoc in every town they came to. The party had fizzled out by the time they approached grand dad's town, the train stopped outside the railyard, someone came running up the tracks, he took a look at the eight or nine cops, WWI vets and shopkeepers armed with pistols and shotguns, then ran back into the night. Ten minutes later the train reversed out of sight. There probably was a political point to all of it but it never got reported in the newspaper account that I saw. It sure did nothing to win the support of the North Dakota farmers.

Years later (during the depression) my dad was tangentially involved in a plot to stage a "food riot" in Oklahoma, incited by a guy sent in by Communist International and supported by the Oklahoma communist party(!) Occasionally when I have told this story here in LA the response is along the lines of 'there were no real communists in the US, that was all just McCarthyism." Interesting story though because the head of the OK CP went on to a job as the US correspondent for Pravda ... A job I doubt he could have gotten if he wasn't vetted at the highest levels.

Bizarrely, I miss the Soviet Union. They were so serious that it was always good for a laugh and they sort of gave a lack of style, well ... style.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There were plenty of Communists in the US in the thirties -- you could buy The Daily Worker at any newsstand in New York, and Earl Browder was often heard giving talks on the radio. I have a recording of a program put on over a tiny station in Brooklyn in 1936 by the New York Young Communists League, promoting their candidate for City Council, who actually did rather well in the election. The Popular Front was actually quite fashionable for a time -- until the Hitler-Stalin pact came along and the backpedaling started.

The Worker took itself much less seriously than a Soviet paper would -- they were sort of like the pinko cousin of the New York Daily News, and the paper was often read by people who had no use for the politics, they just liked the paper for its features. The Worker had one of the best sports sections in the country, and their sports editor, Lester Rodney, was the only acknowledged Communist ever accredited as a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

 

[Silver Bird]

Perhaps leaning toward the 'political' which is banned on the FL...I would guess.

Thank you for clarifying Edward's viewpoint. I'm afraid that this thread headed in that direction on the second post. In view of what we are experiencing today and the influence the unions are now exerting with the OWS , there's no way this can not be perceived as political. Same as it was then. Sorry if I overstepped the boundaries here, and I won't continue on this course, but it needed to be said Respectfully exiting this thread.:sorry:

 

[AtomicEraTom]

On a similar note, Milwaukee had several Socialist Mayors, including during the McCarthy era. The last one was elected in 1960.

There were plenty of Communists in the US in the thirties -- you could buy The Daily Worker at any newsstand in New York, and Earl Browder was often heard giving talks on the radio. I have a recording of a program put on over a tiny station in Brooklyn in 1936 by the New York Young Communists League, promoting their candidate for City Council, who actually did rather well in the election. The Popular Front was actually quite fashionable for a time -- until the Hitler-Stalin pact came along and the backpedaling started.

The Worker took itself much less seriously than a Soviet paper would -- they were sort of like the pinko cousin of the New York Daily News, and the paper was often read by people who had no use for the politics, they just liked the paper for its features. The Worker had one of the best sports sections in the country, and their sports editor, Lester Rodney, was the only acknowledged Communist ever accredited as a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

 

[Tomasso]

As I was saying: Going to a riot without a cup is pure folly.......

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Bizarrely, I miss the Soviet Union. They were so serious that it was always good for a laugh and they sort of gave a lack of style, well ... style.

That's why I collect Soviet/Russian watches. lol

 

[LoveMyHats2]

More to the point, you don't see people willing to *stand up* in the face of such attacks anymore. So much easier to de-friend the bad guys on Facebook. That'll fix 'em.

That is true in general, but there are some people that are willing to take a stand for their beliefs.

In some manner, if the public or a group, organization, demonstrates it seems that the media and government immediately makes it such a negative story and takes away from the motive of the demonstration.

 

[Saint-Just]

A great film about the depression, that made a lasting impression, was "Brother, can you spare a dime?"

[video=youtube;llhRGUYMcfU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llhRGUYMcfU[/video]

 

[Edward]

Not trying to offend but, exactly what sort of talk do you take this to be?

Ah, thought that was clear. Political talk is expressly forbidden by the rules of the Lounge, and I was referring to that. Of course, there has to be a bit of flexibility there, given how widely "politics" can be interpreted, but for the most part it is pretty clear where it crosses the line. Of course, experience would suggest that some politics are more forbidden than others.

Nice watches above. Most of my favourite watches are Russian, especially the Vostoks. As reliable, sometimes moreso, as much more expensive stuff I've had, and very affordable. I likethe aesthetic, myself, though some are more subtle than others. Rarely as gaudy as the likes of a modern Rolex.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I don't know how high quality they are, but I have a Pobeda. It was a pretty good watch until I dropped it about five times. It has a movement that has been used for at least fifty years.

I think we need to get back on topic, not that my post helped

 

[LizzieMaine]

Here's a scholarly look at the most important of the anti-foreclosure movements of the Depression, the Farmers' Holiday Association. Although the paper focuses on the group's activities in Minnesota, it does give a general overview of its regional scope and origins. Although many opponents of the group tried to tie it to Communist influence, the consensus of historical researchers is that it was a genuinely spontaneous movement among farmers who'd simply had enough. One of their most frequently used tactics was to swarm foreclosure auctions, overwhelm outside bidders, and then purchase the property being auctioned themselves for a few dollars -- after which they returned it to the foreclosed farmer who'd lost it.

The Association's rallying song was very well known thruout the Midwest --

Let's hold a Farmer's Holiday!
A Holiday we'll hold!
We'll eat our wheat
And ham and eggs,
And let them eat their gold!

 

[dhermann1]

There was plenty of thuggery on both sides, both labor AND capitol. And when the bosses hired thugs, they had no compunction about just killing innocent bystanders.
This is why FDR had such a HUGE challenge. Folks on the right called him a socialist and a communist, but there are many others who realize that he very possibly saved us from communism, which was his objective all along.

 

[O2BSwank]

An excellent book about what occurred during the Great Depression by those that lived it, is
"Hard Times" by Studs Terkel. He interviews people from all walks of life and they share their stories with him. I was amazed by the social unrest and labor activities that I had never heard of before. Terkel writes on a wide range of subjects. his best known work is probably "Working". However he writes about social stratification, race, age, and WW2,"the Good War"

 

[Connery]

Chicago: Memorial Day Massacre of 1937

"The Memorial Day Massacre of 1937 took the lives of 10 steel workers and injured 105. The Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) organized a peaceful protest that was to take place on Memorial Day in 1937. The SWOC was attempting to organize the steel workers into an industrial union. When the company refused to recognize the union the workers went out on strike. The workers were striking against Republic Steel, part of the group of steel companies known as "Little Steel", who did not want to grant them union recognition. The workers met at Sam's Club on 112th and Green Bay Avenue and decided to picket in front of the Republic steel main gate. When the group arrived at 116th Street, a line of police officers, about 300 ft. wide, met them. The workers tried to talk to the police about letting them picket in front of the main gate. What happened next is unknown, but the police opened fire on the crowd. Gas bombs and shots were fired at the crowd. As the police move forward at the crowd, they began to club and beat them to the ground. They then started to arrest people and throw them into patrol wagons. Some were seriouly wounded. When the day ended, 4 people were killed, 6 would later die in the hospital, and 30 suffered gunshot wounds."

Here is the link with pictures. http://www.neiu.edu/~reseller/esstmemdaymass.html

"A Coroner's Jury later called the killings "justifiable homicide" while the press, notably Colonel Robert McCormick's Chicago Tribune, used the massacre to stir anti-union and anti-Communist sentiment. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in response to a request by organized labor to intervene, said, "The majority of people are saying just one thing, 'A plague on both your houses. "

 

[LoveMyHats2]

An excellent book about what occurred during the Great Depression by those that lived it, is
"Hard Times" by Studs Terkel. He interviews people from all walks of life and they share their stories with him. I was amazed by the social unrest and labor activities that I had never heard of before. Terkel writes on a wide range of subjects. his best known work is probably "Working". However he writes about social stratification, race, age, and WW2,"the Good War"

Good book!