Youngstown, O. - Today, 6/19/2017, marks the 80 year anniversary of the Stop 5 Riot at the gates of Republic Steel on Poland Avenue. This event is one that should never be forgotten.
Below is an eyewitness account of the bloodshed that took place that day, which was called ladies day where the picket lines were manned by wives of the striking workers. There are other accounts out there, from the police and the chairman of the board of Repbulic at that time, but we should start here.
Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
The most important passage from this account, in my opinion, is this: "Soon thereafter, the sky was lit up with flares fired from the plant and was followed with a fusillade of machine gun fire from the overhead cranes in the old tube mill". Jesus Criminelli.
The Vindicator reported that over 160,000 rounds of ammunition were purchased for the strike between Youngstown Sheet & Tube and Republic Steel. Let that sink in.
The photos of National Guard machine gunners below were taken in Warren not long after the Stop 5 incident.
Machine gunners on hot metal bridge in Warren. Trumbull Cliffs furnace in background. Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
Machine gunners on Pine Avenue in Warren. Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
The strikers were not innocent in all of this, at least some of them were waging warfare against the company. I'm not saying this should have given the company a license to kill, but they used it as justification. Photos of sabotage below.
Derailed box cars on Pine Avenue in Warren. Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
Pennsylvania Rail Road cars with hoppers opened up. Looks like they were hauling in limestone for the Blast Fce. Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
There was so much tension at the Republic mills becuase they refused to close them, and still had employees working inside that didn't support the union. See below for telegraphs that were sent to holdouts in the Warren works.
Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
Segregated religious services were held for the holdouts in the mills, who were forced to live in the plants for fear of reprisal as they left the gates.
Employee housing near the stainless mill. Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
Images below show how strong the tensions were between both sides. The holdouts in the mill hung an effigy of a CIO striker at the No. 1 hot strip mill, the strikers prepared a gate ramming car to breach the line.
Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
All of this fighting and bloodshed was all for naught. The union still was unable to organize, and after the murders at Stop 5 the National Guard was deployed and put the strike down for good. The union may have gained some ground, but 80 years later these mills are either demolished, in the process of being demo'd, or sitting there rusting. The photo below was taken days after the killings in Youngstown. They repealed the beer ban that was in place during the strike, and it was back to business as usual.
Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
Courtesy of Ohio Memory Connection.
