Howard Petrick- V. R. Dunne

In 1934, Minneapolis was the most anti-union city in the country. It was controlled by the Citizens Alliance, an organization of the milling, mining, and bank owners in the Northwest. Since its formation in 1903 it broke every major strike in Minneapolis, by military force if necessary. An estimated 68,500 were jobless in the city and wages had fallen 27 percent. Forty-five percent of the workforce was part time. In February 1934, sixty coal yard workers in Teamsters Local 574 struck the coal companies closing all sixty-five coal yards. Not a truck moved and if one did break through the picket lines, it's coal would be dumped in the streets. The strike was won in three days. The weeks following their victory workers flooded the tiny union locals office wanting to join. In six months Local 574 had over 8000 members and Minneapolis was a union town. V.R. Dunne was a leader of that change. Howard Petrick met Vincent Raymond Dunne in 1965 and spent many hours with him discussing events in his life. In this solo show he brings Dunne alive.