Memorial Day Massacre

Memorial Day Massacre explores a shameful and largely forgotten episode in labor and media history, made all the more vital today as union organizing catches fire in the United States after years of union busting efforts and the decline of American manufacturing. 

During the height of union activity across America in 1937, workers at smaller steel mills were fighting for their unions to be recognized as had already been done by the largest firms. In Chicago, workers at Republic Steel were striking for an 8-hour day, 40-hour week, and extra pay for overtime. In anticipation of the strikes, Republic set up a headquarters for Chicago Police at the mill, and armed them with wooden clubs and tear gas. As the strike commenced, Chicago police opened fire on the striking Republic Steel workers and their supporters in an open field, killing ten and wounding 40 others. Nearly all of them were shot in the back as they fled.

Press reports at the time generally accepted the false police accounts that the unionists, allegedly led by Communists and foreigners, were "rioting" and attacked first. Orlando Lippert, an on-scene cameraman, managed to capture the truth on film for Paramount News. However, the footage was so damning to the official narrative that Paramount suppressed any screenings out of fear of sparking unrest across the country. 

It was not until Paul Y. Anderson, a famous reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at the time, revealed the cover-up. Then, under Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr., a congressional committee held hearings and screened the footage for the first time, inspiring national outrage. But the damage to the labor cause had already been done, slowing union organizing for years to come.

Memorial Day Massacre tells this story via interviews with first-hand observers, archival news photos, and the complete shocking Paramount footage —previously never screened at this length — which was preserved by the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress in 1997. Through an honest reckoning with this tragic event nearly a century ago, we might better understand the demands of workers and the ways in which corporations, press, and law enforcement align to resist them.