John Hanson
John Hanson, author of "Fight & Win: Minneapolis Teamsters Strike, 1934" (Hard Ball Press), based on stories passed down from his father, a Committee of 100 member in the 1934 Minneapolis strike.
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APPEARANCES
3
PODCASTS
Oct 4, 2026
John HansonGUEST
He told me ever since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, but mainly since I was, like, 10 until 22.
John HansonGUEST
Like, I remember one day we were shoveling gravel out of a chicken coop, and w- we were putting it in my grandfather's pickup truck.
38 MINS LATER
Nina MoiniHOST
And can you tell us a little bit about what they actually won or what improvements were made?
John HansonGUEST
Well, they were actually going at the time for all truck drivers in Minneapolis to be organized into unions and to win contracts.
John HansonGUEST
And that's what they got after the deaths of these two men, and there had been great funeral marches.
John HansonGUEST
And because of this, there was a negotiated settlement, and the agreement amounted to recognition of unions in a number of these places, usually in the mid-sized and the larger businesses.
John HansonGUEST
And they got recognition, so they got work conditions improved, work hours improved, raises, and they could negotiate.
Nina MoiniHOST
What do you think people today can learn from what happened in Minneapolis in 1934? Do you see any parallels or any lessons?
Rick SmithHOST
What did your father tell you about that? And how did you approach writing about that issue? that event that he lived through?
John HansonGUEST
Other things he could talk about more, but Bloody Friday created a lump in the throat, if you want to call it that.
John HansonGUEST
He and my uncle, who was also a member of the union, well, my uncle was actually called in to be on the picket line on foot that particular day.
John HansonGUEST
And so my uncle and my dad were together And they'd been riding on some pickup trucks that Union had.
John HansonGUEST
But usually the pickup trucks would say, you know, we can only have so many people in the back, so some of you got to get off.
John HansonGUEST
So my uncle and dad got off and they walked behind the pickup truck for about a block.
5 MINS LATER
Rick SmithHOST
You can find it at hardballpress.org. What lessons from this book can we take today as we have to refight the battles of yesterday?