Labor activists mark bloody Friday events of 1934

On Sunday, July 20, 2025, labor activists will mark the 91st anniversary of the Bloody Friday labor massacre in Minneapolis with the traditional laying of a floral wreath, music, speakers and the words of participants themselves.
The commemoration is scheduled for 2-3 p.m. at 701 N. 3rd St. in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis.
The event will occur at the site of the fatal killings in 1934 by shotgun-armed police of two truck driver strikers, where 67 other strikers also were shot. The clash occurred as unarmed strikers sought to block a delivery intended to undercut their strike, which had immobilized most commerce in Minneapolis. An estimated 100,000 area residents turned out for the funeral procession for strikers Henry Ness and John Belor.
Two highlights of this year’s event will be the reading of what strikers themselves said about the clash, and the showing of a tapestry of the event created by artist Brooks Turner.
The event is sponsored by the Remember 1934 Collective, which keeps alive the memory of the landmark series of trucker strikes that year. The labor action is credited with making Minneapolis a union town and helping to spark passage in 1935 of the National Labor Relations Act, also know as the Wagner Act. The act’s stated purpose is to make clear “that it is the policy of the United States to encourage collective bargaining by protecting workers’ full freedom of association.”
A state-ordered investigation found that “police took direct aim at the pickets and fired to kill. Physical safety of police was at no time endangered. No weapons were in possession of the pickets in the truck. At no time did the pickets attack the police.”