Frank Milnor and Clem H. Norwood, members of the United Textile Workers on strike against Philadelphia’s Cambria Hosiery mill, were murdered by police defending their picket line on August 31, 1933. Fifteen thousand workers attended their funerals.

‘Two Killed by Police in Philadelphia Strike’ from The Daily Worker. Vol. 10 No. 210. September 1, 1933.

Fired Upon Workers Fired from an Overturned Truck of Scabs

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Aug. 31. Two pickets were murdered and at last 18 other strikers were wounded when police opened fire on a picket line of workers of the Cambria Hosiery mill who have been on strike for eight weeks. The two slain workers are Clem H. Norwood and Frank Milnor.

The shooting occurred when the strikers, numbering 2,800, prepared to prevent any strikebreakers from taking their jobs, overturned a truck containing 14 scabs which was being protected by police. Shots were fired from under the truck and killed one of the workers instantly; the other died in the hospital later. Police disclaimed all knowledge of those who did the shooting.

The strikers, in a pitched battle which followed, militantly defended themselves against police attacks, smashing the hated Blue Eagles flying in the windows of the sweatshop plant.

Many hosiery and textile mills in the city were forced to close when workers left the mills to join in a demonstration in protest at the murder of the two picketers. The Cambria mill owner also stated he would not try to reopen the plant.

Clem M. Norwood had been working here since he came to this city from North Carolina seven years ago. Beside his widow, three small children survive him.

The occupants of the truck were placed under police guard when it was learned Norwood had been killed, and later they were removed to a police station.

Protest meetings are being arranged in Kensington and the workers of the entire city are being mobilized to participate in the funeral by the Trade Union Unity League and the Communist Party.

’15.000 Participate in Slain Strikers’ Funeral’ from the Daily Worker. Vol. 10 No. 214. September 6, 1933.

A. F. of L. Officials Plead for Boss Class Loyalty

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Sept. 5. In indignation and sorrow, 15,000 Philadelphia workers gathered at McPherson Sq., Kensington, to pay their respects to Frank Milnor, who with Clem H. Norwood, gave their lives on the picket line at the Cambria Silk Hosiery Mill last Thursday, victims of police bullets. Norwood’s body was sent to North Carolina, his birthplace, for burial.

The funeral arrangements and open-air meeting were in the hands of the A.F. of L. officials who feared the tremendous resentment of the workers against this murder and attempted to dampen the workers’ spirit and divert the meeting into a patriotic demonstration.

Speakers were all A.F. of L. officials: McKeown, Leader and Ritchy of the Hosiery Union, and Adolph Hirschberg the Coral Labor Council. No mention was made of the class struggle in which these two workers fell victims of boss class hatred and oppression. No criticism of the police or the arming of scabs was voiced by these labor “leaders.” Strikebreaking was defended by them and one speaker attributed the murder to “God’s will.” A large detail of police mingled with the crowds and escorted the slain picket’s mother behind the murdered picket’s bier. No doubt this was arranged to give patriotic color to the gathering. Hirschberg even spoke of this working class mother as a “gold star” mother.

To lessen the effect of this boss class murder, A.F. of L. officials in a circular entitled “Ruthless Murder,” ask that the flag of American imperialism be lowered at half mast during the next week in open alliance with the bosses in their brutal deeds against the working class.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1933/v10-n210-sep-01-1933-DW-LOC.pdf

PDF of issue 2: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1933/v10-n214-sep-06-1933-DW-LOC.pdf