Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-299) and index.

Preliminary Material -- 1. Revolutionary Trotskyism and Teamsters in the United States: The Early Depression-Years -- 2. The Mass Strike -- 3. Uneven and Combined Development: Class-Relations in Minneapolis -- 4. Trotskyists Among the Teamsters: Propagandistic Old Moles -- 5. January Thaw; February Cold Snap: the Coal-Yards on Strike -- 6. Unemployed-Agitation and Strike-Preparation -- 7. The Women’s Auxiliary -- 8. Rebel-Outpost: 1900 Chicago Avenue -- 9. The Tribune Alley Plot and the Battle of Deputies Run -- 10. May 1934: Settlement Secured; Victory Postponed -- 11. Interlude -- 12. Toward the July Days -- 13. A Strike Declared; a Plot Exposed -- 14. Bloody Friday -- 15. Labour’s Martyr: Henry B. Ness -- 16. Martial Law and the Red-Scare -- 17. Governor Olson: The ‘Merits’ of a Defective Progressive Pragmatism -- 18. Standing Fast: Satire and Solidarity -- 19. Mediation’s Meanderings -- 20. Sudden and Unexpected Victory -- 21. After 1934: the Revenge of Uneven and Combined Development -- 22. Conclusion: The Meaning of Minneapolis -- Appendix Trotskyism in the United States, 1928–33 -- References -- Index.

Available to subscribing member institutions only.

Minneapolis in the early 1930s was anything but a union stronghold. An employers' association known as the Citizens' Alliance kept labour organisations in check, at the same time as it cultivated opposition to radicalism in all forms. This all changed in 1934. The year saw three strikes, violent picket-line confrontations, and tens of thousands of workers protesting in the streets. Bryan D. Palmer tells the riveting story of how a handful of revolutionary Trotskyists, working in the largely non-union trucking sector, led the drive to organise the unorganised, to build one large industrial union. What emerges is a compelling narrative of class struggle, a reminder of what can be accomplished, even in the worst of circumstances, with a principled and far-seeing leadership.