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The Minneapolis Truckers’ Strike Was Led by Left Revolutionaries

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The Minneapolis Truckers’ Strike Was Led by Left Revolutionaries


Bryan D. Palmer

The leadership of the Minneapolis Teamsters came out of the Communist Party. Many of them had been active in radical politics and revolutionary politics for years. Some of them were members of the Socialist Party, particularly its ethnic Scandinavian section. And some were members of the IWW, the Industrial Workers of the World, or the Wobblies.

The four, I would say, key figures were three brothers, the Dunne Brothers — Vincent Ray Dunne, Miles Dunne, and Grant Dunne — and a Scandinavian socialist named Carl Skoglund. They had all been, by the late 1920s, very active in the Communist Party. But they left the Communist Party in 1929 when they were expelled for refusing to abide by a party dictate, the Communist Party dictate, against James P. Cannon, who led a very small group of people away from the party because of Trotsky’s critique of the degeneration of the Communist International and how that affected the American party.

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Cannon was expelled along with those who were aligned with him. And the Minneapolis Teamsters who were members of the Communist Party, they really didn’t understand or know what the issues were. But they knew enough to know that this was a big deal, signifying a potential break in the party. They thought that if there was going to be a fight around Trotskyism, they should at least be allowed to read the documents and come to their own conclusions.

In this, they basically ran up against a party bureaucracy, led by Jay Lovestone, that was trying to silence people. It stopped them from reading documents, stopped them from looking at what was going on in the wider Communist International. When the Communists in Minneapolis, the Dunne brothers, Skoglund, and others said, “Well, we’d like to read the material, and we’d like to find out what this is about,” they too were expelled.

And so they aligned with Cannon and others in an organization, the first Trotskyist organization, called the Communist League of America. And it was as members of the Communist League of America that they devised this protracted strategy of organizing and building a new kind of unionism.

They were revolutionaries who understood that it wasn’t necessarily a revolutionary situation, and that the struggle wasn’t to build a kind of revolutionary entity within the Minneapolis Teamsters; but instead, that the struggle was to build a mobilization that would achieve union recognition and develop mass-production unionism within the AFL, which was dedicated to craft unionism.

In some senses, it’s kind of a contradiction — the notion that Teamsters and workers in the trucking sector were a highly skilled workforce. They weren’t, but they had this notion of the privileged elite workers being the ones who should be organized. This was a centerpiece of the IBT ideology, if you will. The Trotskyists saw the need to organize all workers who worked in the sector, including those who just unloaded produce in the markets, who heaved coal and who loaded up the trucks, as well as the drivers. And this was anathema to the employers in the sector who wanted nothing to do with a union that organized all workers as opposed to just a few who moved the actual trucks.

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Minneapolis, MN

Man fatally shot in Minneapolis, 17-year-old arrested

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Man fatally shot in Minneapolis, 17-year-old arrested


The scene of the shooting on Thomas Avenue North.  (FOX 9)

A man was fatally shot after an argument early Tuesday morning in Minneapolis. 

Fatal shooting on Thomas Avenue North

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What we know:

According to Minneapolis police, around 2:30 a.m., officers responded to the 1600 block of Thomas Avenue North on reports of a shooting inside a home.

At the scene, officers found a man with several gunshot wounds. The man was taken to the hospital, where he later died, police said.

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Authorities say that an argument led to gunfire, and the suspect fled the scene before police arrived.

A 17-year-old was arrested in connection to the shooting, and police say they are investigating “connections” between the teen arrested and other violent crimes in Minneapolis this year. 

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What they’re saying:

“Another family has forever been impacted by senseless violence,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara. “Settling disputes with a firearm is completely unacceptable, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure justice in this case.  Every available tool in the juvenile justice system must be used to protect young people who pose a danger to themselves as well as the community.” 

What we don’t know:

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Police did not specify the gender of the 17-year-old. And the other crimes the teen could be connected to were not specified. 

The man who was fatally shot has not been identified. 

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The Source: A press release from the Minneapolis Police Department. 

Crime and Public SafetyMinneapolis



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41-year-old convicted in triple homicide at Minneapolis encampment

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41-year-old convicted in triple homicide at Minneapolis encampment


A 41-year-old was found guilty in the murders of Christopher Martell Washington, Louis Mitchell Lemons, Jr., and Samantha Jo Moss at a homeless encampment in Minneapolis, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

According to a criminal complaint, Earl Bennett rode an e-bike to a tent in the encampment in October 2024, asked to see one of the victims inside and began shooting shortly after being allowed inside. Surveillance video showed him leaving the tent and riding away on his e-bike.

Washington and Lemons were declared dead at the scene, and Moss died at the hospital a week later.

Woman dies nearly a week after triple shooting at Minneapolis encampment; suspect charged

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Bennett is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 16 in this case, the attorney’s office said.

Other cases

Bennett is also a defendant in two other cases.

He was shot by law enforcement after pointing a gun at officers in St. Paul days after the murders.

Officers later learned Bennett had shot and critically injured a man earlier in the evening at a sober living home on the 3500 block of Columbus Avenue South.

The gun Bennett pointed at officers in St. Paul matched the casings found at both the encampment and sober living home shootings.

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SPPD releases bodycam of officers shooting and injuring man charged in encampment triple homicide | Man seriously injured in Minneapolis shooting, suspect not in custody

These cases both remain open.



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Jury finds man guilty of murder in Minneapolis homeless encampment shooting

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Jury finds man guilty of murder in Minneapolis homeless encampment shooting


A jury found a man guilty in the murders of three people at a Minneapolis homeless encampment, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

Earl Bennett was found guilty on three counts of second-degree intentional murder for the Oct. 27, 2024, shooting at a small encampment next to railroad tracks near Snelling Avenue and East 44th Street.

The victims were identified as 38-year-old Christopher Martell Washington of Fridley, 32-year-old Louis Mitchell Lemons Jr. of Brooklyn Center, and 35-year-old Samantha Jo Moss of St. Louis Park.

Charges say investigators obtained surveillance video from the area that allegedly captured the suspect, later identified as Bennett, arriving on an electric bike and entering a tent at the encampment. About 15 minutes later, video captured the sound of several gunshots before Bennett exited the tent and left on his bike.

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The manager of a sober house in south Minneapolis, where Bennett is accused of severely injuring another man, identified Bennett as the suspect in the surveillance video from the encampment shooting.

Later that same night, officers in St. Paul responded to a shots fired call near Snelling and Charles avenues. Upon arrival, they found a man, later identified as Bennett, with a gun.

As officers approached, Bennett pointed the gun to his head, police said. Officers began talking with him, trying to get him to surrender, but he then started walking south down Snelling. Once he reached the Snelling and University area, he began walking around in the intersection, according to police.

Police said officers fired “less lethal” rounds at Bennett to try and get him to surrender, but he still would not.

Bennett then pointed his gun at police, according to the department and witnesses, and that’s when officers shot him.

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The four officers who shot Bennett were all cleared of criminal charges, with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office concluding the use of deadly force was legally justified under state law.

Bennett also faces charges of second-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm in connection to the armed encounter with officers in Ramsey County.

In Hennepin County, Bennett was also convicted of illegally possessing a firearm.

Bennett’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 16.


If you or someone you know is in emotional distress, get help from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Trained crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day to talk about anything.

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In addition, help is available from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. Call the NAMI Helpline at 800-950-6264 or text “HelpLine” to 62640. There are more than 600 local NAMI organizations and affiliates across the country, many of which offer free support and education programs.



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