Mapping the mass eviction struggles of the 1930s would be a telling project. Here, a then Polish neighborhood in South Chicago, The Bush.

‘Chicago Young Communists Lead 1000 in Fight Against Eviction’ from Young Worker. Vol. 12 No. 21. October 9, 1934.

CHICAGO, Ill. One thousand workers massed in South Chicago, in the “Bush” districts on September 24th, while a committee of one hundred members of the Steel and Metal Workers’ Industrial Union, and the Marine Workers Industrial Union, under the leadership of the Young Communist League, put back the furniture of an evicted family at 8339 Buffalo Ave.

This working class family was thrown out of the home in which they had lived for a number of years, on Monday night, because of inability to meet the mortgage payments to the South Chicago Loan Corporation, whose president is Mr. Ridzewsky. In desperation, the son of the family went on Monday night to the only place where he could get help the headquarters of the working class organizations of South Chicago at 9133 Baltimore Ave.

The Young Communist League immediately took up the case, mobilizing one hundred members of the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union and the Marine Workers Industrial Union to fight the eviction. One hour after the appeal for help was made, one thousand workers were on the streets, helping to move the furniture back in the house.

A handful of police arrived to stop the action, but finding a tremendous crowd of workers on the streets, they retired for reinforcements. In the meantime, speakers from the Young Communist League, the Marine Workers Industrial Union, and the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union, mounted on benches to explain the role of the bosses in causing evictions, and the role of class-conscious workers in stopping them–while the crowd cheered.

The workers saw–through both words and actions–that the Communists are the friends of all of the working people, and the only group that will defend them against the landlords and agents of the Illinois Steel Corporation in South Chicago.

When the police arrived, one hundred strong, the furniture was already back in the home, and they could not interfere with this victorious mass action.

A mass meeting was called by the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union for Friday, Sept. 28th, to discuss this case with the workers of the neighborhood. Because of a pouring rain, only a few workers came to this meeting.

The Daily Calumet, South Chicago local paper and mouthpiece of the Illinois Steel Corporation, pretending to be impartial, played up the weakness of this mass meeting to support the pretended innocence of Mr. Ridzewsky and his South Chicago Loan Corporation.

Mr. Ridzewsky hid behind the loan corporation, pretending that he personally is the friend of the Polish people, and is trying to do everything for them. He said that he had tried to find another home for the evicted family, and that he could not stop this eviction, because the money of the people in the neighborhood was invested in the South Chicago Loan Corporation.

The Young Worker was produced by the Young Workers League of America beginning in 1922. The name of the Workers Party youth league followed the name of the adult party, changing to the Young Workers (Communist) League when the Workers Party became the Workers (Communist) Party in 1926. The journal was published monthly in Chicago and continued until 1927 when it moved to New York City and remained in print until 1937. Editors included Oliver Carlson, Martin Abern, Max Schachtman, Nat Kaplan, and Harry Gannes.

For PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/youngworker/v12%20n14%20-%2025%20Young%20Worker%201934%20July%20Dec.pdf