March 6 - International Unemployed Day

On this day in labor history, the year was 1930.

That was the day hundreds of thousands of activists and unemployed poured into the streets worldwide for International Unemployed Day.

It was a coordinated campaign to protest conditions created by the stock market crash just four months earlier.

Workers and the poor were the first to feel the most devastating impacts of what was quickly becoming the Great Depression.

Organized primarily by Communists, the day’s actions highlighted the work of the newly formed Unemployed Councils and had a mass appeal.

The Unemployed Councils worked to distribute food, prevent evictions, secure utilities and link the needs of the unemployed to the trade unions.

The councils mobilized the unemployed in support during strikes as a way to stop scabbing. They organized hunger marches and protests at relief offices. 

Tens of thousands came out in every city for Unemployed Day demonstrations.

In North America, cities like Boston, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Seattle and San Francisco all drew massive crowds estimated at 40,000 to 50,000 each.

Protesters demanded jobs and unemployment insurance.

In Chicago, tens of thousands overwhelmed the streets for over twelve hours.

In Detroit, and New York City, competing organizers challenged crowd estimates, with as many as 100,000 turning out in each city.

Confrontations broke out between protestors and police in both cities. Across the country, many of the unemployed were arrested or hospitalized.

In New York City, outraged communist activists asserted that protesters were met with water hoses, tear gas and guns as they marched down Broadway to City Hall.

Critics argued that crowd estimates were wildly exaggerated.

But the day of action forced governments around the world to acknowledge deteriorating conditions and devastating impact of the Great Depression.