Thursday, 6 March 1930: International Unemployment Day Rattles European, U.S. Cities

International Unemployment Day

New York – Detroit – Chicago – Boston – Milwaukee – Pittsburgh – Philadelphia – Cleveland – Washington – Seattle -- Berlin – Hamburg – Munich – Vienna – Manchester:  

In dozens of cities in Europe and the United States, International Unemployment Day is observed with demonstrations and marches, many of which erupt into riots, all organized by the Communist International, or COMINTERN. 

In New York, a crowd estimated at widely divergent numbers – from 35,000 to 110,000 – marches down Broadway toward city hall, and is broken up by an estimated 1,000 police.  As many as 100 are injured and another 100 arrested.  Police Commissioner Grover Whalen calls it the worst riot in the city since the World War. 

In Detroit, a crowd estimated from 30,000 to 100,000 turns out for a demonstration that devolves into a two-hour battle with police, who charge the crowd with horses, injuring anywhere from 5 to 26.  31 are arrested. 

In Chicago, a crowd estimated from 10,000 to 50,000 marches peacefully for four hours.  Crowds in other U.S cities range from 50,000 in Boston to 10-25,000 in Cleveland, where the crowd battles police.  Seattle sees 10,000 demonstrators battle police.  International Unemployment Day is reportedly observed in a total of 30 U.S. cities.

In Washington, several hundred communist demonstrators march in front of the White House.  Some attempt to climb the White House fence and are pulled down by spectators.  Then the whole crowd is dispersed by police with tear gas.  9 are injured, 13 arrested. 

In Berlin, where demonstrations were banned, smaller groups of demonstrators nevertheless clash with police in various outbreaks.  One is killed and 14 injured, half police.  270 are arrested.  Two people are killed in Halle, Germany, where marchers attack police by throwing rocks.  56 are arrested in Munich.

 

In Bilbao, Spain, 400 communists and socialists battle each other, some with gunfire.  Police arrest 40. 

In Vienna, a crowd of 1,500 attempts to rush police guarding the university district, where students are shouting derision at the marchers. 

Moscow:  Meanwhile, the Soviet newspapers Pravda and Izvestia publish front-page editorials urging workers and the unemployed worldwide to rise up in revolt against capitalism. 

International Unemployment Day in New York

Elsewhere:

London:  Meanwhile, back at the stalled naval conference, the French delegation returns, now that France finally has a government again.  Work on caps and parity of naval fleets is expected to resume.  

Moscow:  The government evicts 5,326 traders, former noblemen, landlords, officers and other members of the non-laboring class, from their homes, freeing up 33,367 square meters of living space, which the government then distributes to industrial workers and demobilized Red Army soldiers. 

Tripoli:  Native forces serving Italy clash with a fleeing band of Libyan resistance fighters south of the city, headed by Sulelman Sefennasser.  He and one of his sons are killed in the fighting, and his wife and five other sons are taken prisoner, along with the entire caravan.