It was 1:00 A.M. and dark when workers wearing white armbands began arriving at the General Motors Chevrolet-Fisher plant in the Leeds District of Kansas City to set up their picket lines. It was a warm night. The men lingered in loose knots, boots scuffing the gravel as they waited. New arrivals were waved into the groups…
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Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory
Part 2 of a three-part series on the 1934 Fisher Body strikes in Kansas City, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Tarrytown. While workers in Kansas City were voting to walk out, in Cleveland, 2,800 Fisher Body strikers jammed into the cavernous assembly hall at the Metal Trades Temple on Walnut Ave. They were there to hear…
More Brains Than Teeth
Workers at the General Motors Chevrolet—Fisher Body plant hadn’t had time to wash the dirt from their hands before climbing the steps of the Atheneum Club on Linwood Avenue in Kansas City on Saturday, April 28, 1934. Passing through four imposing Greek Revival columns at the entrance, 400 autoworkers jammed the formal auditorium. The overflow…