Earlier today we posted an excerpt of our interview with Gary Cunningham that included his description of what it was like to be part of the Co-op Organization’s (CO) takeover of the Peoples’ Warehouse in May of 1975. Here’s an excerpt from our interview with Ken Logsdon about what it was like to be one of the people that the CO kicked out.
Like all eyewitness recollections, Ken and Gary’s differ somewhat. While Gary remembers discussions and no violence, Ken remembers violent threats and one injury. Peoples’ Warehouse staff members were in both camps, and you can hear the shock in Ken’s voice at being treated this way by people he thought of as friends.
By the way, we have a copy of the comic that Ken mentions, Invasion of the Stalinoids, which was created by anti-CO folks as a way to mock the CO’s authoritarian tactics. It’s part of a wealth of written polemics that all sides of the co-op wars threw at each other, which helps this history be so interesting to uncover.
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The Co-op Wars will screen online at the Minneapolis St. Paul Film Festival May 14-23, 2021 and Director Deacon Warner and Producer Erik Esse will answer audience questions at a Q&A with MSPIFF programmer Craig Laurence Rice on May 18 at 7pm CST. Buy tickets and RSVP for the Q&A here.
THE CO-OP WARS will be broadcast on select public television stations in the fall of 2021. We will also be partnering with co-ops and other organizations to present online screenings featuring Q&As with the filmmakers, co-op founders and issue experts. Sign up below to receive information about where you can see the film as details become available.