ABSTRACT

Besides parades, pickets, demonstrations and rallies, marches have always been one of the most preferred forms of social actions in the struggle for justice. Individual or mass marches historically started with the civil rights movement and then were adapted by the labor movement in the pursuit of gaining visibility and recognition. Although marches in cities or long walks from one city to another vary in terms of their organizations, structures or goals, they have one fundamental aspect that is shared between them; marches represent strong political activism. In Turkey, the effective use of these visual tools and political statements of collective action dates back to 1960s. The first long march in Turkish labour history, which covered 730km and took 34 days was organized by the workers of the municipality of Çorum in 1966 when they were dismissed from work. This study aims to give a detailed picture of this march including the marchers’ strategies, public image, media coverage and political atmosphere of the era as well as political outcomes of the walk itself