Note: A full report on the May 3, 2009 event will be on this site soon.
Rep. Moore asks 'why,' and answers:To keep worker rights alive today
The tragedy involved the killing of seven persons that brought a frightful end to a series of rallies and marches during the Spring of that year – 122 years ago -- by workers throughout the nation seeking establishment of an eight-hour workday.
Since 1986 – the 100th anniversary of that event – this commemoration has been held on the first Sunday of May at the Bay View Rolling Mills historical marker site and the location of the massacre by members of the State militia.The audience this year was greeted by a sunny, mild day, welcome after the long, snowy winter of the area, and by a short, but punchy speech by Representative Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee).
“This is a celebration of keeping the issue of worker rights alive for 122 years,” she said to open the event.”She cited the presence of Agnes Zeidler, widow of former Mayor Frank Zeidler, whom she called “our great leader” and “godfather of this event.”
She said she was pleased to see young people at the event, seated at the feet of their elders, learning about the history and culture, about “our place in the world.”She asked: “Why would we want to celebrate an incident at the rolling mills that took a mere seven people’s lives? What is that in the scheme of things? What are we navel-gazing and focusing on this incident that occurred in the 19th Century?”
She answered the question: “Because the more things change, the more they stay the same.”Moore cited a visit she had with a labor leader the day before from Colombia who told of hundreds of workers and labor leaders being killed for supporting their causes. She said the gathering in Bay View had meaning “so that we can say never again, never again in the world.”
“To stand up for labor rights, wherever they are. There a no few lives that are not precious,” she said. “We have set the standard for the world on this issue.”Moore also told of a recent visit she had to South Africa, as a member of the House Financial Services Committee, where she has learned that the positions of representatives of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were to limit wages because of the demands of world economics, she said.
“We’re gathered here today that those seven workers who died here have reminded us that we still have to stand up to those
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Rep. Moore said the message to corporate interests should be: “You won’t roll us any more because as long as we can remember. I have stood out here [at the Bay View Tragedy event] when it was cold, when it was raining. Every year we’re going to stand for what we’ve always stood for and that’s the dignity of workers, anywhere, anytime and anyhow.”
Rep. Moore concluded: “Thank all of you for remembering.”
Alderman Tony Zielinski presented the society with a plaque containing a resolution by the Common Council honoring the Labor History.He said the issues confronting workers in the 21st Century are “new issues, issues that we didn’t confront 100 years ago.”
Milwaukee, he added, is a leader of the “sweatshop-free movement.” He told of companies taking jobs overseas and exploiting workers there. The effect has been to diminish wages and conditions of workers in this country and exploiting these workers overseas, oftentimes paying 20 cents an hour, without health care benefits and Social Security. He called for legislation that would prohibit the purchase of goods that are produced in sweatshops overseas. Zielinski said Milwaukee was the first city in the nation to pass legislation to not purchase such goods, and that efforts are being done to have other governmental units to do the same. He expected the Milwaukee Area Technical College would be the next to pass similar legislation.“And we are going to move city after city, university after university, and we will have an impact.”
Milwaukee is also at the forefront is the “Fair Trade Movement,” he said, by becoming the first city to be declared a “Fair Trade City.”Anita Zeidler, a daughter of the late mayor, read the names of the seven persons killed on May 5, 1886, followed by a moment of silence; her sister, Mary, laid the memorial wreath at the foot of the historical marker site.
David Drake, representing the Bay View Historical Society, urged participants to support the work of the Society, whose members join in planning the annual event. He said the Bay View Society is looking for members and contributions as it seeks to maintain its ownership of the Beulah Brinton House, which has become a community center. He said the late Beulah Brinton had supported immigrants to the community years ago, maintaining a library and providing other support for immigrants.
The master of ceremonies was John Utzat, a local author and columnist who has written several histories of the area. He outlined the historical events of May 5 1886.
For summaries of the Bay View Tragedy events of the recent years, including speeches and pictures, go to following links:
For May, 2007, click at may 07 BV.pdf and for the May 2006 event, click at may 06 BV.pdf .
A BRIEF HISTORY:
From the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sunday, April 30, 1995
When Bay View strike turned to bloodshed
Troops opened fire on workers demanding eight-hour day
by john gurda
We gather each year to remember a tragedy. The date, May 5, is always the same, and the place is always the site of a vanished steel mill in Bay View. Even the people are generally the same, a motley bunch that includes union activists, college professors, Bay View residents, and former mayor Frank Zeidler, the group's godfather.
The tragedy we remember took place in the first week of May, 1886. For a few days in that long-ago spring,
A general strike, affecting everyone from bakers to brewers, began on May 1 and soon brought the city to a grinding halt. On May 2, nearly 15,000 striking workers massed for the largest parade in
On May 4, a group of laborers, many of them Polish immigrants, resolved to bring the mill's leaders to heel. Nearly 700 of them gathered at St. Stanislaus Church, on the corner of 5th and Mitchell Sts., for a brisk morning walk to Bay View. When a conference with mill executives there proved fruitless, the laborers served notice that they would return.
"Uncle Jerry" Rusk called out the militia in the meantime, and the troops spent an uneasy night inside the plant gates. On the morning of May 5, they faced a phalanx of marching workers that had swelled to at least 1,500.As the crowd surged down Bay St.toward the mill, the militia commander ordered them to disperse. At a distance of 200 yards, it is doubtful that the marchers heard him above their own noise. When they continued to advance, the commander ordered his troops to open tire.
At least seven people fell dead or dying, including a 12-year-old schoolboy and a retired mill worker who was watching the commotion from his backyard. The rest of the crowd beat a hasty retreat to the city.Reactions to the incident varied wildly. Most Milwaukeeans were appalled by the carnage, but many considered the militia's actions justified.
"I seen my duty and 1 done it," crowed Gov. Rusk, staking his position as a champion of law and order. Others took the shootings as chilling evidence that industrial property was valued more highly than industrial workers.
The Bay View incident ended, for the time being, all efforts to institute the eight-hour day, but it also galvanized
Resources: The Bay View Tragedy and Its Impact
Suggested Readings
Workers and Unions in Wisconsin History: A Labor History Anthology. By Darryl Holter. State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 1999. (See Pages 34-46 "The Bay View Tragedy," by Robert Nesbit, an excerpt from The History of Wisconsin, Volume III, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, 1985.)
Development of the Labor Movement in Milwaukee. By Thomas W. Gavett. University of Wisconsin Press. Madison, Wis., 1965. (See Pages 50-71: Chapter 5 - RIOT!) NOTE: This book is out of print, but may be available in major Wisconsin libraries.
The Labor Movement in Wisconsin: A History. By Robert W. Ozanne, State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Madison, Wis. 1984. (Chapter One: "The First Unions")
Additional Readings
Labor's Untold Story. By Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais. United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), 1965 (Second Edition). (See Pages 65-104: Chapter III - The Iron Heel).
The Badger State: A Documentary History of Wisconsin. By Barbara and Justus Paul. October 1979. (See Pages 341-351.
May Day: A Short History of the International Workers' Holiday 1886-1986. By Philip S. Foner. International Publishers. New York. 1986.
The American: A Middle Western Legend. By Howard Fast. Duell, Sloan & Pearce. 1946. This novel was a best seller when published more than 50 years ago. It tells the story of John Peter Altgeld, an Illinois governor who showed surprising political courage in the aftermath of the Haymarket Tragedy.
Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America. By J. Anthony Lukas. Simon % Schuster. 1997. Although this concerns an 1890s labor struggle in the Idaho mines, the author traces much labor history in the late 19th Century, including mentions of Wisconsin incidents. A large book, but worth it for interested readers.
For an extensive Labor History reference list please visit the Wisconsin Labor History Society Reference Page.
Suggested Web sites
A good start into the web is through the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO site, www.wisaflcio.org. Click on "labor history" and find other links, plus a good bibliography.
And, there's our sister society, the Illinois Labor History website at www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/.
See also the Wisconsin Labor History Society Links Page.
Provided by: Kenneth A. Germanson, President, Wisconsin Labor History Society
