The Ludlow Massacre may be a relatively obscure event of the early 20th century history of the labour movement, but it nonetheless played an important role in the unionisation of America in the forties and the fifties, and in the establishment of labor protection laws. On April 20, 1914 members of the Colorado National Guard attacked a tent colony of striking coal miners and their families causing the deaths of 39 people including 2 women and 11 children.

“The Ludlow Massacre and the assassination of Greek immigrant and labour leader Louis Tikas (Elias Spantidakis) is one of the decisive moments of the American labour movement. It's already an extremely important story for Americans, but for us, as Greeks, the connection is even deeper. We feel it's an event that connects, a century later, 1914’s USA to the labour and immigrant demands in 2014 Greece”, Lamprini Thoma, producer of Palikari, told ThePressProject International.

Ιt took four years of research, planning and communication with some of the best intellectuals on the subject for Lamprini Thoma (who is also a journalist journalist for ThePressProject) and photographer-turned-director Nickos Ventouras to take the plunge and produce a documentary about Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre with the title ‘Palikari’, a word that means ‘brave, valiant youth,’ in Greek, something that uniquely captures the qualities of the key figure in the strike.

Dialogos Radio, the NY based radio affiliated with TPPI, will serve as the media sponsor for the first-ever U.S. screening tour for this documentary, which will take place in several cities across the United States in September and October. The tentative screening schedule is as follows:

  • September 19th, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. American Premiere.
  • September 21st, Detroit, MI. Screening organized by the Cretans Association of Detroit.
  • September 27th, 3:00 pm, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Norfolk, VA. Flyer here.
  • October 3rd, San Francisco, CA at San Francisco State University, as part of a special one-day colloquium titled “Revisiting Ludlow: Its Enduring Legacy.”
  • October 8th, Kansas City, MO, at UCMO. Screening and Q&A.
  • More dates and cities are to be added to the above program as well once they are confirmed.


Producer Lamprini Thoma and director Nickos Ventouras will be present at the above screenings.

Dialogos Radio will reair its recent interview with Lamprini Thoma as part of its first broadcast for the 2014-15 season, for the week of September 11-18.

For more information about the film and to view a trailer, visit www.palikari.org.  To download the press release for the NYC premiere event by Dialogos, click here.