The Braddock Massacre at the Edgar Thomson Steel Works

In April of 1916 workers led by the American Industrial Union, an all-inclusive industrial union of Allegheny County, began a strike wave which spread throughout the East Pittsburgh area and shut down most of the firms controlled by Westinghouse in that vicinity. The strike quickly grew to include some 20,000 workers, 3,000 of them women. The strikers were demanding an eight-hour day and and a share of the enormous profits enjoyed by Westinghouse in the production of shrapnel shells and airplane engines for the war in Europe.

On May 2, thousands of strikers and their supporters marched to the Edgar Thomson Mill in Braddock and surrounded the mill where a thousand company guards were waiting for them. The press of the day blamed the foreign-born workers for the massacre which followed, and noted the militancy of women:

Four Girls Lead Frenzied Mob of Strikers in
Fatal Charge Against the Company.

The press further noted, that as the men were shot down, the women braved the hail of bullets and came to their aid:

Their women folk backed them up. When the men began to fall, the women rushed to the front and dragged the men away.

None of the company guards were killed nor were any injured. Two strikers died that day and a third striker died later from his wounds.

From The Pittsburgh Press of May 4, 1916:

The funerals for John Vargo (Dargo) and Michael Havrilka were attended by large crowds of strikers but without demonstrations other than a quiet march of about 200 mourners.

From the Pittsburgh Gazette Times of May 4, 1916:

From Pittsburgh Gazette Times of May 3, 1916:

SOURCES

Women and the American labor movement:
-from colonial times to the eve of World War I
-by Philip S Foner
Free Press, 1980
https://books.google.com/books/about/Women_and_the_American_labor_moveme...

"Hellraisers Journal: -The International Socialist Review: Pittsburgh Steel Strike & Homestead Tactics" by JayRaye
http://caucus99percent.com/content/hellraisers-journal-international-soc...

IMAGES

We Never Forget, Braddock Massacre, May 2, 1916
-by JayRaye

Braddock Massacre, Funerals, Pittsburgh Press, May 4, 1916
https://www.newspapers.com/image/143664038/

Braddock Massacre, Dargo, Havrilka, Pittsburgh Pst-Gz, May 4, 1916
https://www.newspapers.com/image/85459730/

From The Gazette Times, (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at newspapers dot com)
-Braddock Massacre, Dead & Injured, Pittsburgh Pst-Gz, May 3, 1916
-Braddock Massacre, Injured 1, Pittsburgh Pst-Gz, May 3, 1916
-Braddock Massacre, Injured 2, Pittsburgh Pst-Gz, May 3, 1916
https://www.newspapers.com/image/85459696

8 Hours, Old Grey Bonnet, Machinists' Monthly Journal, 1916
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=FfHNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcove...

See also:
Song card with 8 hour song:
https://books.google.com/books?id=6fpSAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=%22Co...

Song Sung by Pittsburgh Steel Strikers of 1916

Come on you rounders
We want you in the AIU.
All we want is an 8-hour day
With 9 and one-half hours' pay.

What are you? What are you?
We belong to the AIU.
What for? 8 hours!