Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Association

The origins of the Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Association can be traced back to the organization of the Minneapolis Commercial Club in 1892. This club numbered more than 5000 businessmen and their firms among its membership, ranging from the influential Pillsbury and Dayton companies to neighborhood hardware stores. Many of the group's civic and industrial goals were similar to those followed today by any large city's chamber of commerce. In 1903, however, labor agitation led the Commercial Club to form the Citizens Alliance of Minneapolis, which managed to break every strike in the city from that time through the United States' entry into World War I.

In 1911 the Commercial Club merged with two minor civic groups to form the Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Association (MCCA). The Citizens Alliance faded into the background for a number of years as the MCCA refined its intelligence and paramilitary functions during World War I. Membership in the Citizens Alliance, which in later years became the better known anti-labor-union group, was derived almost exclusively from the ranks of the larger MCCA.

The outbreak of World War I presented the perfect opportunity, fueled by patriotic fervor, for the MCCA to solidify its control of the city's labor force. Threats from the left included the Nonpartisan League (NPL), which had captured both the executive and legislative branches of government in North Dakota in 1916. Early in 1917, the Nonpartisan League moved its national headquarters from Fargo to St. Paul and increased its efforts at infiltrating both the Democratic and Republican parties in hopes of gaining power in Minnesota. Another threat was posed by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which organized strikes for higher wages, shorter hours, and union recognition throughout many western states in 1916-1917. Particularly violent strikes occurred on the Mesabi Iron Range in northern Minnesota during 1916. The MCCA considered labor conditions in Minneapolis to be perfect breeding grounds for both the political threats from the NPL and the structural threats from the IWW, and acted vigorously to counter them.

The MCCA's role in crushing the Twin Cities streetcar strike of 1917 has been well chronicled (see William Millikan, "Defenders of Business....," Minnesota History 50 (Spring 1986): 2-17. While the records of the MCCA held by the War Records Commission do not provide many clues to this incident, they include several examples of MCCA operations during World War I and its immediate aftermath (1917-1919). During that period, opposition to MCCA operations (primarily defined as union activity) was viewed as traitorous, un-American, and a threat to the war effort.

From the guide to the Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Association records, 1916-1919., (Minnesota Historical Society)