The 129th Anniversary Commemoration Of The Bay View Tragedy

Via the Milwaukee Area Labor Council:

Here is a little refresher on what our forefathers were willing to sacrifice for things that we take for granted today.

Scott Walker Channels His Inner Jeremiah Rusk - Again

By now, the gentle reader is probably fully aware that on this past Friday afternoon, people were peacefully protesting the lack of justice regarding the murder of Dontre Hamilton, as they have done so several times in the past eight months. However, on Friday, in the course of their protest, they briefly blocked I-43.  As they say, it was a minor inconvenience brought about my a major injustice.

What the gentle reader might not know is that the cowardly Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke found himself to be above his head and ran to Scott Walker for help.  Walker granted Clarke's request and ordered out the National Guard, even though they don't have a mission or objective yet.

It reminded me of another Wisconsin governor that was a lot like Walker - Jeremiah Rusk.  But in 1886, it was laborers and not African Americans who were the targets:

Governor Rusk was under considerable pressure from employers to stop the strike. Employers were saying that they would turn the entire society upside down and use the bombing in Haymarket Square as their proof that a revolution is under way.

Rusk called the Mills and told Captain Treaumer of the Lincoln Guard "if the strikers try to enter the mill, shoot to kill." Captain Treaumer then ordered his men to pick out a man, concentrate and kill him when the order is given. The strikers spent the night in open fields nearby while the Militia camps stayed at the Mills with sentries posted. During the night the sentries were shooting at anything that moved. A Navy tug brought provisions for the guard.

May 5
Around nine in the morning the strikers gathered again chanting "eight hours," a reporter who slept with them reported that it was odd that this was a group with no real leadership, but everyone was united in one single purpose.

The crowd approached the mill and faced the militia who were ready to fire. Before Treaumer knew the crowd's real intentions he ordered halt, but the strikers, who were about two hundred yards away, did not hear him.

He ordered the militia to fire. The crowd was in chaos as people fled the scene. The Milwaukee Journal reported that six were dead and at least eight more were expected to die within twenty four hours.

It also needs to be pointed out that this isn't the first time Walker has threatened to use military force against peaceful protesters:

In 1886, Wisconsin made history right here in little old Bay View.  The situation then is being eerily repeated by our own Governor Rusk Walker who is calling for the removal of all worker rights in both the public and private sectors, and has threatened said workers with the National Guard if there is any "unrest."  What is worrisome is that he has not defined what he considers "unrest."

Back in 1886, workers were joining forces and demanding pay raises and eight hour work days.  They almost shut down every business in the city until they agreed to start treating their workers with respect and as people.  When the strikers came to Rolling Mills in Bay View, where things got ugly.  Governor Rusk, at the pleading of big businesses (WMC, anyone?), sent out the state militia.  The rest, as they say, is history...

One might have hoped better from even Walker, but when his supporters and fellow right wing nut jobs have no issue with mocking the death of a black man, I wouldn't put anything past Walker - especially if he thinks it might help his slim to nonexistent chances to be president.

127th Commemoration of the Bay View Tragedy

Never forget...

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126th Anniversary Bay View Tragedy

From the inbox:

Brothers and Sisters,

Join us to honor the deaths of 8-hour day marchers at the Bay View Tragedy Reenactment. This tragedy marks Wisconsin’s most historic labor incident.

When: 3:00 p.m., Sunday, May 6

Where: Bay View Rolling Mills State Historical marker site at S. Superior St. and E. Russell Ave

The annual event commemorates the tragedy of May 5, 1886 when the State Militia shot into some 1,500 workers marching in an 8-hour-day rally and killed seven in front of the old Bay View Rolling Mills, then Milwaukee’s largest manufacturing plant.

A free shuttle bus to the event will be available from 1:00 pm – 6:00 pm at the Holt Avenue Park & Ride - exit 314A – just north of the airport.

This year’s free outdoor ceremony will be followed up with a discussion forum beginning at about 4 p.m. led by Milwaukee Historian John Gurda, who will open the session with remarks and then look for comments from a panel of historians and worker activists, as well as the audience. The forum will be held at the Club Garibaldi, 2501 S. Superior St.

The program will also include a reenactment of the May 5, 1886 event, featuring actors reading from speeches of the period, accompanied by players of the Milwaukee Public Theatre dressed in period costumes, supported by larger-than-life-sized puppets.

Larry Penn, folksinger and retired Teamster, will perform several songs, including his own, “Ghosts of Bay View,” and “Solidarity Forever.”

Since 1986, members of the Wisconsin Labor History Society, the Bay View Historical Society and others have been holding this celebration to memorialize the tragedy, which was Wisconsin’s most dramatic labor event, and was important in the struggle of workers and their unions to gain decent wages, hours and conditions. We hope to see you there!


In Solidarity,

Phil Neuenfeldt, President

After 126 Years, Have We Forgotten?

Do you remember Frank Kunkel? How about Frank Nowarczyk? John Marsh or Robert Erdman? Johann Zazka? Martin Jankowiak? Not even Michael Ruchalski?

Do you remember the call "Eight hours for labor, eight hours for rest, eight hours for recreation?"

The names are those of the seven of the nine people killed in 1886 in Bay View, Wisconsin for demanding eight hour work days.

First, a little history.

In 1886, there was a nationwide movement for eight hour work days instead of the 10, 12 or even 16 hour days, which were the norm.  The movement was to culminate on May 1, 1886, with all workers not receiving 8 hour work days to go on a general strike.

In Milwaukee, the strikers grew to 1,500 in numbers. They had shut down every company but one - the North Chicago Railroad Rolling Mills Steel Foundry in Bay View.

Governor Rusk had called out the National Guard, at the behest of the well-moneyed business owners to break the strike.

By May 4, things were getting very dicey:

After this incident, the strikers left the Guard alone and they proceeded into the Mills joining the other units called. The strikers then asked the supervisors to wire their headquarters in Chicago to start negotiations on an eight hour work day. They agreed but the answer from Chicago was fast and short "No".

At this point no one in the crowd knew about the ugly events unfolding in Chicago, where police had killed striking workers, and a bomb killed a police officer in Haymarket Square and wounded several others.

Governor Rusk was under considerable pressure from employers to stop the strike. Employers were saying that they would turn the entire society upside down and use the bombing in Haymarket Square as their proof that a revolution is under way.

Rusk called the Mills and told Captain Treaumer of the Lincoln Guard "if the strikers try to enter the mill, shoot to kill." Captain Treaumer then ordered his men to pick out a man, concentrate and kill him when the order is given. The strikers spent the night in open fields nearby while the Militia camps stayed at the Mills with sentries posted. During the night the sentries were shooting at anything that moved. A Navy tug brought provisions for the guard.

May 5
Around nine in the morning the strikers gathered again chanting "eight hours," a reporter who slept with them reported that it was odd that this was a group with no real leadership, but everyone was united in one single purpose.

The crowd approached the mill and faced the militia who were ready to fire. Before Treaumer knew the crowd's real intentions he ordered halt, but the strikers, who were about two hundred yards away, did not hear him.

He ordered the militia to fire. The crowd was in chaos as people fled the scene. The Milwaukee Journal reported that six were dead and at least eight more were expected to die within twenty four hours.

Meanwhile, some strikers called for revenge on the militia but to no avail. For several days afterwards a few strikers were still marching throughout the city but no one would join them. The dead included a thirteen year old boy who tagged along with the crowd wondering what was going on and a retired worker who lived in Bay View. He was struck down by a stray bullet, as he was getting water and was not part of the strike.

Eventually, the strikers went back to work, but their spirits were not broken. Within two years, Milwaukee elected its first socialist mayor and things started to improve.

But now, 126 years later, we are under very different, yet at the same time, very similar situations.

We have a governor that heeds the moneyed corporate bosses over the people. We have a government that is willing to take away basic worker rights like the eight hour day, gender equality, race equality and have been working diligently to demonize and dehumanize professions such as teachers and nurses, who should be treated with the highest of esteem.

Likewise, we have had not just thousands, not just tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites from all walks of life converge on the Capitol to protest this usurping of democracy and of our rights.

Fortunately for us, we also have some more history between 1886 and now that gives us an option other than violence to deal with this corruption of our government. Thanks to Fighting Bob LaFollette and other Progressives, we have the recall. As the erudite Professor Edward Fallone explains:

The broad nature of the recall power reflects its role as the intended remedy for a broken democracy. A desire to reform the democratic process in America lay at the core of the Progressive Movement in America. Progressives wanted to strengthen the control of the people over the levers of government, while reducing the influence of the special interests, and the recall power was one way of accomplishing this goal.

Farmer reminds us that the term “Progressive” was an umbrella designation that included persons with many diverse motivations: Protestants demanding social justice for the poor, religious moralists opposed to alcohol consumption, and “good government” political reformers. (Farmer, pp. 4-5). Many contemporary critics like to attack the Progressives for their economic policies. However, only some Progressives focused on economic reforms. The uniting thread among the various factions within the Progressive Movement was the view that government in the United States had become systematically corrupt. Their common remedy was to install mechanisms into the very structure of government that would increase the role of popular democracy.

Progressives exalted the federal and state constitutions, with their delegations of authority to elected legislators and executives, as the only legitimate vehicle for making and enforcing the law. However, when they looked at how the constitutionally created organs of government were actually being operated during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – as opposed to how they were designed to operate — they saw that the real power of government was being exercised behind the scenes, and not by the people’s elected representatives. Legislative policy choices were being made in back rooms, out of the public eye, by political party bosses and corporate interests. Ready-made legislation was often brought to the floor of the legislature for quick approval, before the public was informed of the content of the bill or given an opportunity to comment. While lobbyists had a seat at the table, ordinary citizens were left with no power to influence policy. [This secretive union of corporate lobbyists and political interests, and the exclusion of public participation in the drafting of legislation, is echoed in the current day activities of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)].

And we are about to exercise that power to exorcise our government to shed the corruption that has infested it in the likes of the corporate controlled Scott Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch and four more Republican Senators.

But to do so, we have to start this Tuesday with the primary to see who the champion of the people is going to be. We have four fine people in Kathleen Falk, Kathleen Vinehout, Tom Barrett and Doug LaFollette.

It is our onus and our privilege to pick the person who will work to restore the rights taken from us and to make the state whole again.

During the protests and after, we all hailed Fighting Bob because he dared to stand up to the special corporate interests. He dubbed the Capitol Building the "People's House," a term we echoed all these decades later.

We praised him and continue to praise him because he had the guts to take it to them and gave them hell for what they've done.

Likewise, every year we gather in Bay View to honor the workers who sacrificed their very lives for the eight hour day, something we take for granted. They, like LaFollette did decades later, took it to the robber barons and the corporate raiders of our government, carrying banners which read, "The workmen do not beg, they demand."

Do we dare turn our backs on the memories of these workers or of LaFollette by choosing someone who will not take it to the corrupt and greedy oligarchs and plutocrats of our time? Will we be afraid to not beg, but demand, that all of our rights be restored? Will we let the transformation of the People's House to the Corporations' Boardroom be completed?

I, for one, say, "Hell NO!"

I will not dishonor those brave workers. I will not dishonor LaFollette. I will not dishonor the hundreds of thousands of people that sacrificed the comfort of their own homes, their safety and their freedom by protesting at the Capitol and then going out in all sorts of weather to gather the signatures that were required to get us where we're at today.

That is why I'm supporting Kathleen Falk.

She is the only one that has clearly stated that she will not settle for half-measures in getting back what was stolen and making the state whole again. She is also the only one that said that she will not beg or ask for this to happen, but will demand it, just like those workers so long ago. She is the only one that has shown that she is willing to stand up to those who would harm us and take it to them, as LaFollette did.

I will be voting for Kathleen Falk on May 8th. So will my wife. We hope you will join us in honoring all these heroes from past to present and the sacrifices they made and vote for Falk as well.

How can we do any less and still respect ourselves?

Five Reasons To Recall Walker

Scott Walker and his supporters are running scared, especially when the people started to reclaim their respective parts of the country, from Maine to Mississippi to Michigan to our own La Crosse.

His supporters, like the Koch Brothers, through their various front groups including Americans for Prosperity, the MacGuyver Institute, Franklin Institute, etc, are already pouring money into the state by running their scandalously and ridiculously false commercials to posing as credible sources to spread their lies and misinformation.

(If you want to know how sleazy the Kochs and their front groups are, they gained their foothold in Wisconsin by using the disgraced and disgraceful Mark Block, who had been barred from practicing politics in Wisconsin for three years for his sordid behaviors. That should tell you all you need to know right there.)

Meanwhile, Walker is currently jetting around the country, collecting major cash donations, sometimes millions at a time.  In fact, on Tuesday, the day that the recall kicks off, Walker will be in Wichita, Kansas, meeting with the Koch Brothers.  I don't think they'll be just enjoying tea and scones and I'm sure that Walker won't be walking away empty-handed.

But no matter how much spin the right try to put on stories, no matter how many lies they tell and no matter how many distractions they try to throw in our paths, we must stay focused on the mission at hand, which is to collect over 500,000 signatures in the next sixty days.

And to get that job done, we just have to remember the five main reasons why Walker deserves to be and needs to be recalled.  I present these to you now, gentle reader, in ascending order.

5) Bait and Switch


When Walker was running for governor, he ran on a jobs platform.  He pledged that he was going to create 250,000 jobs in his first term in office.  Despite this pledge, he has not one thing that would help create a job in the state.  Instead, we've seen social engineering to try to suppress and oppress the people of this state.  We have seen every form of manipulation up to and including flagrant abuses of power in order to do nothing but further his Prosser-like stranglehold on said power.  It is no wonder that Wisconsin is one of the leaders in this country when it comes to losing jobs.

By his own admission, the one thing that Walker did not even mention, even in passing, during his campaign was his plan to bust the unions.  I've read some of the paid pundits who earn their paychecks by iterating the talking points the Kochs or Bradley Foundation wants you to hear, saying that it didn't matter that Walker never said that he was going to do this.  But they're wrong, of course.  For if he had come out and said this, he would have suffered the same fate as the union-busting bill in Ohio, and get resoundly rejected by the voters.

In most fields, if one does a bait and switch  like this, promising one thing and then delivering something totally different and of much lesser quality and/or higher price than promise, it would be called fraud and would carry severe consequences.  Walker should be treated no differently for the fraud he committed.

4) We Can't Afford Him

One can hear right wing paid pundits in the hire of the Koch Brothers and the Bradley Foundation or Republicans - but I repeat myself - repeat the same two lies lines regarding money.  One line has to deal with "how expensive" a recall is going to be. The other line has to deal with how tax payers are supposedly saving so much money.

The supposed cost of the recall can be easily countered, as I have done a month ago when it first came up.  Basically, it would be a bargain to recall Walker compared to what he is costing us now (emphasis mine)

Using economic modeling software, it is possible to simulate how proposed reductions in public sector worker household income would directly harm Wisconsin’s economy. This includes detailed financial models of every county in the state which estimates the ripple effect of cuts in consumer disposable income in local communities.

This analysis shows that the proposed cuts in public worker compensation would lead to the loss of $660 million a year in economic production in the private sector. It would eliminate $46 million in property taxes or shift them to other taxpayers. It would noticeably increase the state unemployment rate.

Taking one billion dollars in purchasing power out of the hands of public sector households over the biennium would have a ripple effect in the economy equivalent to laying off sizable numbers of private sector employees in every county. For example, in Brown County the job loss would be the same as losing the entire payroll of Fleet and Farm of Green Bay. In Dane County, it would be like losing the payroll of Dean Health Systems; in Marathon County, like losing Kraft Foods. This “compensation cut” plan is a failed strategy that hurts economic recovery in Wisconsin.

For the second part, for some inexplicable reason, Walker and his cohorts have decided to stick with the story of how much money the Kaukauna School District supposed saved, even though we already know that the Kaukauna is a lie. The fact is that almost every single school district and municipality is being hurt badly by Walker's ideological attacks on their budgets. Even the affluent community of Elmbrook had to close on of their most popular schools because of Walker's slashing of the educational funding.

To fix the state's economic health, we need family-supporting jobs.  To get these jobs, the first thing we need to do is get rid of Walker.

3) The Attack On Wisconsinites

This is a generally broad category because there are just too many groups that are currently suffering because of Walker's ideological agenda of consolidating wealth and power.  It would be impossible to put one group over another, so it simply best to say that Walker has attacked just about every person in Wisconsin with the obvious exception of his cohorts (although there is talk of coercion and threats to those that were at risk of balking at following through on his agenda) and his wealthy donors.

In a span of just a few months, Walker has attacked:

• The working class, including and most  notably, public sector workers by taking away their rights and the ability of all worker, public or private sector, to earn a living wage, if they're lucky enough to find and keep a job.
• Women by trying to prevent their ability to make their own decisions regarding their health care.
• Children by not only slashing education funding by nearly a billion dollars, but also making sure that they are more likely to end up pregnant at a young age by not allowing them to have a rounded education in sex and the ways to avoid being pregnant or avoiding STDs.
• The poor, disabled and elderly by cutting tens or even hundreds of thousands of people off of health care programs like BadgerCare.  He also attacked them by making it much more likely to not even get to their medical appointments, even if it is a matter of life and death.
• Voters by disenfranchising many voters, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible to vote and imposing a poll tax on them.  Adding insult to injury is the gerrymandering done to skew the representation in this state to not represent the people but to try to ensure his cohorts remain in control of the legislature to further his maleficent agenda.
• People in higher education by trying to limit their right to vote, slashing funds to technical colleges even as businesses are wailing about the lack of a properly trained and educated work force and by raising tuition in the UW schools through the roof.
• Tax payers - oh, sure, Walker is claiming to save tax payers money, but the fact is that he is doing everything but that.  There is the hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent to defend against the lawsuits that keep flying in because people are not willing to just give up their rights without a fight.  There is also the fact that not only are taxes not going down, but fees are going through the roof, all in order to fund his personal program of campaign donor rewards.  

While some people might try to pass these assaults on Wisconsinites from all walks of life as "policy decisions," this does not change the fact that they are inexcusable and cannot be allowed to stand.

2B) Corruption: Walkergate

Some of Walker's defenders, like State Representative Robin Vos, feel that the recall laws are too lenient and should be changed so that recalls are only allowed for illegal or extremely egregious behaviors. Not only would this be a complete denial of Wisconsin tradition, but would also be an act of futility, since it would not save Walker from recall.

I, probably more so than anyone else, have tried to document all of Walker's unethical and corrupt behaviors in the Walkergate series. I started out months ago with "An Introduction to Walkergate."  The John Doe investigation into the sordid and illegal campaign tactics of Walker has reached all the way to his top advisers and even his current spokesman.  The investigation has gone wide and deep into all sorts of issues that will, in the least, leave a permanent stain on Walker's track record and could very well possibly put him into the same category of slimy politician as former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

The truly amazing part of Walkergate is that even though there is an ongoing John Doe investigation which includes, at least in part, the illegal use of government equipment and staff for politicking, he continues to do so with a state-sponsored campaign website.  The man either has great chutzpah or is simply so corrupt that he is not able to tell right from wrong anymore.

As even the Republicans have stated, corruption is an offense worthy of recall.  So there you have it.

2A) Corruption: Scott, you have a call on line one...

Remember this?

KOCH: Yeah. Now what else can we do for you down there?

WALKER: Well, the biggest thing would be and your guy on the ground probably seeing this is the well, two things. One, our members originally got freaked out by all the bodies here, I told them an interesting story, when I was first elected County Executive, in Milwaukee of all Places, the first budget I put through was pretty bold, aggressive, the union went nuts on my and got all sorts of grief, but a couple of weeks later I’m at a Veteran’s Day parade and I’m going down the line and usually unless you’re a veteran, or, ya know, when you’re marching with a veteran’s group politicians all get (tape skip) applause but nobody get’s up. I come down the lie 40, 50 people in a row hands up, thumbs up, you know, cheering, screaming, yelling, way to go, hang in there Walker and then after about 40-50 people like that there’s a guy flipping me off.

KOCH: (inaudible)

Walker: This goes on, you know, 40-50, ***(tape skip), the people who know it’s right will cheer you, applaud you, they’ll run through a wall for you, and the people that don’t like ya, they’re going to flip you off. But stop worrying about, ya know, them because the other day there were 70,000 probably about 2/3rds were against the bill, 1/3 were for. 70,000 people at the Capitol all week there’s been, ya know 15-30,000 a day but I remind all our lawmakers that there’s 5 and a half million people in this state and just because a bunch of guys who can jump off of work because their union rules doesn’t mean that the rest of the people in your district are with them. So one thing for your question is the more groups that are encouraging people not just to show up but call lawmakers and tell them to hang firm with the governor the better, because the more they get that reassurance, the easier it is for them to vote yes.

KOCH: Right, right.

WALKER: The other thing is more long term and that is after this, um, you know, the coming days and weeks and months ahead, particularly in some of these more swing areas, a lot of these guys are gonna need, they don’t necessarily need ads for them but they ‘re going to need a message out reinforcing why this was a good thing to do for the economy a good thing to do for the state so the extent that message is out over and over again, that’s obviously, that’s obviously a good thing.

KOCH: Right, right. We’ll back you anyway we can. But uh, what we’re thinking about the crowds was, a, was planting some troublemakers.

The only thing that I could possibly add to this blatant example of corruption would be Walker's sign off to whom he thought was David Koch after this conversation, in which he was soliciting for the Koch's help (remember they control Americans for Prosperity and the MacGuyver Institute who are running the current pro-Walker ads):

"Well, thanks a million"

1) Abuse of Power

While one could argue that Walker has abused the power of his office on a myriad of occasions, such as the power grab or the union busting or the rampant cronyism or attacking those of us who dare to speak truth to power, there is one example that stands above the rest in its egregiousness.

That is when Walker ordered state troopers to arrest political opponents and drag them back to the Capitol, including the then pregnant Senator Julie Lassa.

That is not only anti-Wisconsinite, that is anti-American.  That is the behavior of a petty despot and not that of a duly elected official in this state or this country.

The only time in the entire history of Wisconsin has another governor abused the power of his office more than Walker was when Governor Rusk sent out the state militia to gun down striking workers in the Bay View Massacre.  The workers were murdered in cold blood for having the audacity of wanting eight-hour work days.

What makes Walker's abuse of power even sadder is the fact that not only is it the most egregious, it's the most under-covered story.

Summary

Everyone in the state has a different opinion at what level of behavior is required before a recall should be initiated.  However, unless one is completely intellectually dishonest, Walker has crossed their personal threshold for inexcusable behavior in a public office.

Ironically, the ones that are saying that Walker shouldn't be recalled were the same ones that supported the recall of Milwaukee County Executive Tom Ament and/or the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, which only goes to show how hypocritical they can be.

While there are many examples that I have not included in these five points, such as Walker's willful failure to protect the environment or his inability and/or apathy in job creation, the five points I have listed in this now overly long piece is more than enough reason for most good people to recognize and agree that Walker has fully earned his ouster from the governor's chair.

It is time and beyond time for the people of Wisconsin to rise up and say "No more!" and take control of our lives and our state again.  It is time for justice to be served.

To help liberate Fitzwalkerstan and recall Walker, please click here.

Today's History Lesson

In 1886, Wisconsin made history right here in little old Bay View.  The situation then is being eerily repeated by our own Governor Rusk Walker who is calling for the removal of all worker rights in both the public and private sectors, and has threatened said workers with the National Guard if there is any "unrest."  What is worrisome is that he has not defined what he considers "unrest."

Back in 1886, workers were joining forces and demanding pay raises and eight hour work days.  They almost shut down every business in the city until they agreed to start treating their workers with respect and as people.  When the strikers came to Rolling Mills in Bay View, where things got ugly.  Governor Rusk, at the pleading of big businesses (WMC, anyone?), sent out the state militia.  The rest, as they say, is history:

After this incident, the strikers left the Guard alone and they proceeded into the Mills joining the other units called. The strikers then asked the supervisors to wire their headquarters in Chicago to start negotiations on an eight hour work day. They agreed but the answer from Chicago was fast and short "No". 

At this point no one in the crowd knew about the ugly events unfolding in Chicago, where police had killed striking workers, and a bomb killed a police officer in Haymarket Square and wounded several others. 

Governor Rusk was under considerable pressure from employers to stop the strike. Employers were saying that they would turn the entire society upside down and use the bombing in Haymarket Square as their proof that a revolution is under way. 

Rusk called the Mills and told Captain Treaumer of the Lincoln Guard "if the strikers try to enter the mill, shoot to kill." Captain Treaumer then ordered his men to pick out a man, concentrate and kill him when the order is given. The strikers spent the night in open fields nearby while the Militia camps stayed at the Mills with sentries posted. During the night the sentries were shooting at anything that moved. A Navy tug brought provisions for the guard. 

May 5

Around nine in the morning the strikers gathered again chanting "eight hours," a reporter who slept with them reported that it was odd that this was a group with no real leadership, but everyone was united in one single purpose. 

The crowd approached the mill and faced the militia who were ready to fire. Before Treaumer knew the crowd's real intentions he ordered halt, but the strikers, who were about two hundred yards away, did not hear him. 

He ordered the militia to fire. The crowd was in chaos as people fled the scene. The Milwaukee Journal reported that six were dead and at least eight more were expected to die within twenty four hours. 

Meanwhile, some strikers called for revenge on the militia but to no avail. For several days afterwards a few strikers were still marching throughout the city but no one would join them. The dead included a thirteen year old boy who tagged along with the crowd wondering what was going on and a retired worker who lived in Bay View. He was struck down by a stray bullet, as he was getting water and was not part of the strike.

One would hope that Scott Walker isn't as stupid as Governor Rusk was.  Unfortunately, there is little to show that he is not, since he already threatened to use the National Guard.

It is simply unbelievable that he would threaten people for wanting to make a living wage.  He's got to go.