Romanian-born Alex O’Lari (Olex Olari), was unemployed rubber-worker in Akron, Ohio, a member of the Communist Party and president of the Akron Unemployed Council, when he was shot defending a fellow worker from eviction on October 5, 1932. He died several days later, leaving a widow and four daughters, one of which joined the Young Communist League at his mass funeral.

‘Worker Shot as 300 Fight Akron Eviction’ from The Daily Worker. Vol. 9 No. 243. October 11, 1932.

‘Worker Shot as 300 Fight Akron Eviction’. October 11, 1932.

Jobless in Militant Self-Defense–Protest Demonstration Called for by Mass Organizations and Unemployed Council–Bosses’ Terror Drive Aims to Halt Successful Fight for Relief

AKRON, Ohio. Oct. 10. Three hundred Akron workers fought against the eviction of Mike Maccheroli at 729 Moon Street. In a struggle provoked by policemen Davis and Robinson a worker by the name of Alex O’Lari was shot in the back. Davis was badly beaten by the angry demonstrators. He has a concussion of the brain, according to announcements.

Doctors state that O’Lari was seriously hurt by the bullet which pierced his back coming out through the abdomen. The Unemployed Councils and mass organizations of workers will hold a protest demonstration on Monday evening in Perkins Square. The struggle comes with a background of increased activities of the Unemployed Councils for winter relief.

The Akron press and the mayor have instituted a city-wide man hunt for the leaders of the Council with the intention of smashing the militant unemployed movement in its successful fight for relief and against evictions.

‘Mass Protest on Murder in Akron’. October 15, 1932.

Funeral Procession Monday Past Factory

AKRON. Ohio. Occ. 14.—Alex Olari, the worker shot in the back by a policeman here when the officer was trying to break up a demonstration against eviction of an unemployed worker, has died in the hospital. Without permission, the hospital authorities performed an autopsy on his body.

Olari was a member of the Communist Party, and of the Unemployed Council. He knew that his chance to survive was very slight, and stated as he was taken to the hospital that he was “glad to give his life for the interests of the working class.’’

Feeling runs high against this brutal murder. The jobless and workers of Akron continue to demonstrate against evictions, for relief, and against the police terror. The workers are so roused that the city authorities have released Alex Stilagyi and Gaitano Juiiano, arrested Oct. 10 for distributing leaflets for a protest demonstration against the murder.

A great mass funeral procession will start Monday noon at Perkins Square and will march to the court house steps where a demonstration will be held. Following that the procession will go through the working class neighborhoods, past the rubber factories, two miles to Mt. Hope Cemetery.

‘8,000 Score Murder of Olex Olari’. October 18, 1932.

Pledge With Clenched to Carry On Fight for Relief–NEGRO AND WHITE UNITE–Communist Candidates Are Endorsed

AKRON, O., Oct. 18. Eight thousand employed and unemployed workers, many of them Negroes, stood in the drenching rain on the steps and lawn of the court house here in a funeral demonstration against the murder by police of Olex Olari.

This worker was shot in the back by a policeman while taking part in a demonstration against eviction of an unemployed worker.

The funeral was a demonstration not only against the murder of Olari. but also for relief, and against evictions.

The procession past the rubber factories to the cemetery had 150 cars and a total of 2,500 marchers. It was conducted jointly by the Young Pioneers, the Communist Party, the Workers’ Ex-Servicemen’s League, the Unemployed Councils, and other mass organizations.

B.D. Amis, Negro worker and Communist district organizer at Cleveland, was a principal speaker at the court house. He called on the rubber workers to provide a thousand more to take Olari’s place in the struggle.

The 15-year old daughter of the murdered worker spoke, and there and then joined the Young Communist League.

Other speakers were: Williamson, organizer of the unemployed councils and Communist candidate for state treasurer; Harris, district organizer of the Trade Union Unity League. Wilt was chairman.

Pledge to Carry On.

The workers took the pledge with clenched fists, to carry on the fight in which their comrade fell. Hundreds joined the unemployed councils and other mass organizations at the funeral. Many joined the Communist Party. The court house meeting endorsed the Communist candidates.

Thousands of workers lined the streets to watch the funeral procession. The police did not dare to arrest the leaders, in spite of their earlier attempts to terrorize the workers and prevent the demonstration.

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/1932/v09-n243-NY-oct-11-1932-DW-LOC.pdf