Us Americans, The Gogebic Lumberjack Strike of 1937, 94pp Comb-bound Illustrated

Description

Us Americans: The Gogebic Lumberjack Strike of 1937,
by Bruce K. Cox, viii + 94 pages, comb-bound, 8 ½ by 11.
The Gogebic Lumberjack Strike of 1937 was a major even in the history of Gogebic County, Michigan, and a violent beginning of the labor union movement that blossomed during the Great Depression.  It pitted poor lumberjacks against logging companies and independent operators and local government, and resulted in much violence on both sides.
As many as 6,000 lumberjacks and mill workers went on strike across the Upper Peninsula as left-wing and communist labor organisers succeeded in convincing the men to join the union and go on strike.
The men demanded a forty hour week, clean sheets on bunks, installation of showers, free meals for transients, and 55 cents an hour.
There were heated riotous battles in Marenisco, Michigan between the locals and strikers and the logging truck drivers, county and state police.  Three union men were stopped and beaten by state and county officers and forced to wade out into Lake Gogebic to wash the blood from their bodies and clothing. There were brutal beatings and kidnapping of the union leaders in Ironwood by axe-handle vigilantes. The head of one large logging company had paid a group of men to form a vigilante group to deal with the strike leaders, subsequently covered up.
Book includes information from people who actually participated in and knew about the events that took place.