Workers in Labor's Golden Age, 1950-1980

In 1954, union membership as a percentage of the entire US workforce reached an all-time high of almost 35% (although the absolute highest number of union members didn't hit peak until 1979, at 21 million). The Census Bureau declared that by the middle of that decade, the middle class encompassed 60% of the US population. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) merged to form the AFL-CIO, ending two decades of internecine warfare--and leaving much of the business community fretting about the growing power of those they labelled "union bosses." This apparent strength masked weaknesses in the movement, however; coupled with the postwar shift into a "post-industrial" economy, this meant that by the early 1970s, organized labor found that the rug had been pulled out from under them, and they were ill-equipped to deal with the consequences.

To illustrate this, we will look at five discrete events that happened in the 35 years between 1950 and 1985: the 1950 "Treaty of Detroit"; the 1959 Steel Strike; the 1970 General Motors strike; the 1978 Chrysler "bail-out," and the 1981 PATCO strike. These events will illustrate the limits of union power during the era, and how ill-prepared the movement was as the ground shifted beneath their feet.

1950 "Treaty of Detroit"

After attempting to get GM to "open the books" in 1945, UAW president Walter Reuther had been able to solidify his control of the UAW, and obtain ever more generous contracts for his members. Doing so usually necessitated lengthy, annual strikes, which slowed production--much to the frustration of management, who wanted longer contracts that would allow them to project costs into the future. In 1950, Reuther acquiesced on this point. In return for a substantial raise, health care, and a pension plan, GM received agreement for a five-year contract. This contract, in fact, proved to be too long for union tastes, which found itself having to plead for a wage re-opener before the contract was up, because inflation ate away most to of the raise; after 1955,  new contracts were negotiated every three years. But the pattern had been set--in return for generous contracts, management sought stable relations with it workers, and largely got union officials themselves to enforce factory discipline.

To accomplish this, Reuther believed that productivity in factories had to continually improve--which meant that more work had to be done by fewer people. This meant that the union took no action as more machinery moved into factories, and fewer workers were hired to work in these same factories. There is an apocryphal story told about a Ford Motor Company official giving a tour to Reuther of the new Cleveland Engine plant in Brook Park, at the time the most highly-automated foundry in the world. The company official was supposed to have smirked to Reuther, "None of these machines will every pay a dime of union dues." Reuther is alleged to have retorted, "And none will be buying Ford cars, either." Ironically, both men were later proved correct.

1959 Steel Strike

The difficulty and danger of resisting managements' push for greater productivity in perhaps illustrated by the 1959 Steel Strike. The Steelworkers had a clause in their contract that prevented companies from changing the number of workers assigned to any particular job. In contract negotiations that year, this became a real sticking pointAfter a protracted fight, the Steelworkers were able to protect that clause--despite President Eisenhower's invocation of a clause in Taft-Hartley that forced the workers back on the job because of a "national emergency," and losing an attempt to get the Supreme Court to decide the clause unconstitutional. Because of the length of the strike, however, many steel consumers had begun importing steel, which they found cheaper than US-made steel despite shipping costs (because of lower labor costs and government supports that allowed foreign companies to sell steel below their cost) In 1962 contract negotiation, while retaining the clause, Steelworkers' president David McDonald offer not to enforce the clause; by 1965 this stand cost McDonald his position, and dissatisfied rank-and-file member swept an insurgent slate. Despite this mandate from the membership, however, the clause was negotiated away in the next round of contract talks. Despite these concessions, however, US steel manufacturers were unable to regain the ground lost, and the industry continued to spiral downward throughout the 1960s and 1970s, resulting in Black Monday, September 19, 1977 in Youngstown, Ohio.

1970 General Motors Strike

In part because of the level of military spending as a result of the US involvement in the war in Vietnam, a super-heated economy was sending the prices of most consumer goods through the roof (a condition made even worse in the fall of 1973, when an oil embargo doubled the price of gasoline overnight in the country). The response to these greater costs on the part of industry was to seek ever increasing productivity levels from workers, while trying to hold the line on wage increases. Into this situation stepped a new president of the UAW, Leonard Woodcock, who had taken over for Walter Reuther when the latter was killed (with his wife) in a small plane crash. Woodcock was not seen by most as the selected heir to the throne, so with a contract to negotiate, he was under a great deal of pressure to produce something substantive in a difficult situation. As if to increase the pressure on gaining important concessions, Woodcock decided to take on the most powerful of the Detroit Three, General Motors. The result was the longest strike in UAW history, and 113-day walkout that eventually got some important concessions (including a worker favorite--the ability of workers to retire with full benefits after 30 years of service, popularly known as "30-and-out"). But the union was unable to wrest any concessions on so-called "management prerogatives" like staffing levels. How important this was to workers became evident in the period after the contract was signed, when workers walked of the job in a variety of locations in protest of working conditions; perhaps the most famous of these so-called "wildcat strikes" took place in Lordstown, Ohio, where workers engaged in an extended battle with management over a variety of workplace issues.

1978 Chrysler "bail-out"

The fall-out from the oil embargo was particularly difficult for the smallest and weakest of the Detroit 3, the Chrysler Corporation. Plagued by poor management for an extended period, which had soured its relationship with its workers on the shopfloor, by the late 1970s Chrysler was having difficulty convincing its creditors that it would be a viable company into the future. Just the year before, the company had hired a former Ford Motor Company executive named Lee Iococca to head up the company's turnaround effort, which included a new small car known as the "K" car, and something called a "mini-van." Without a line of credit, however, the company would not be able to get these automobiles into production--and creditors were reluctant to lend anymore money to the company without some guarantee of getting their money back. So Chrysler turned to the federal government as its guarantee for these loans (it should be noted that the government would only be responsible for the loans if Chrysler could not make its payments). A Democratic president, along with a Democratically-controlled House of Representatives and Senate, agrees to guarantee the loans for  Chrysler--if its workers agreed to wage and benefit concession. Douglas Fraser (himself a former Chrysler worker), reluctantly agreed to this--if he was given a seat on the Chrysler Board of Directors. In order to get the guarantees, Chrysler agreed to this stipulation. Initially hailed as a new, innovative approach to employer/employee relations, within three years Fraser resigned from the board, and denounced the agreement. In part, this was because during the next round of negotiations, both General Motors and Ford asked for similar concessions from the UAW in order to remain "competitive" with their smaller, weaker rival. Thus the downward spiral of concessionary bargaining began, as companies threatened to move production without ever more concession from their workers.

1981 PATCO Strike

Dissatisfied with Federal Aeronautic Administration (FAA) policies toward air traffic controllers, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) endorsed Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election, particularly after Reagan endorsed the union's side in their dispute with the FAA. If the union officials were expecting better labor relations with officials from a Reagan administration, those expectations were crushed in August 1981. When PATCO officials authorized an illegal strike (federal employees, even those who belong to unions, are forbidden by law to strike). Reagan invoked Taft-Hartley, and gave workers 48 hours to return--or he threatened to fire them all. PATCO members, convinced the air traffic system would fall apart without them, called Reagan's bluff. Only it wasn't a bluff. Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers, and forbid them from re-applying for their positions (this was eventually rescinded by Bill Clinton). By cutting flights in half and using supervisors and military personnel to scab (replace those fired)--and by avoiding any major accidents (although there were a number of unpublicized close calls), Reagan was able to ride out the storm over these actions--and embolden private industry to follow his wake.

Conclusion

I argue that, in part, the difficulties that labor faces today are a result of those factors that gave the movement its greatest strengths in the 20th century. When the labor movement was revitalized in the 1930s, it was in part because government actively assisted the labor movement by creating apparatus to facilitate labor organizing. These efforts were assisted by the economic conditions of the time, which severely tested people's faith in the capitalist system, and made those who challenged that system more likely to be listened to.

The Flint Sit-Down Strike and the Rise of the CIO

The video shown in class Monday is Sit-Down and Fight: Walter Reuther and the UAW. Material below will supplement the viewing of that video.

The Rise of the CIO – initially these letters stood for the Committee for Industrial Organization; after the break away from the AFL, the organization became known as the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

A) Formed in the fall of 1935 – by unionists inside the AFL who believed that unions had to begin organizing workers by industry to begin combating the economic clout of large corporations.

1) John L. Lewis – president of the UMW; to this point Lewis was an autocratic leader (and he remained that in the UMW). Lewis’ change of heart was probably dictated by his unions inability to organize “captive” mines—that is, the mines owned by the steel companies.

(a) Communist organizers – Lewis utilized numerous Communist and Socialist organizers in his drive, mainly because of their superior organizing results. When asked if he were concerned that these organizers might persuade workers to join these other organization, Lewis replied, “Who gets the pheasant, the dog or the hunter?”

B) Flint Sit-Down Strike (1936-1937) – in many ways, this strike was the defining moment for the early CIO, and certainly for the fledgling United Automobile Workers (UAW).

1) GM employed 80% of the Flint workforce at this time, either directly or indirectly, so the economic impact of the company on the community was huge, and the corporation could usually rely upon city government to be compliant with their wishes.


2) GM workers began strikes around the country in November and December of 1936.


(a) Toledo GM workers – had successfully struck the Chevrolet Transmission plant on Central Avenue in the spring of 1935, with hardly any violence; many Toledo union members had advocated asking other GM workers to go out on strike as well—in fact, a caravan drove to Flint. The AFL representative actively discouraged this action, however. The corporation responded by pulling out half the machinery in the plant over a Thanksgiving lay over, with a resultant loss in jobs.


(b) UAW plan – the leadership of the union planned to strike Fisher Body plants in Cleveland and Flint after the start of the year, when workers received a bonus from the corporation, and more labor-friendly administrations took office in Ohio and Michigan


3) The Sit-Down Strike – this tactic allowed a militant minority to shape events; by occupying the building, workers were able to ensure that their would be no scab replacements—and that the threat of attacks on the workers would be minimized because they were inside with all of the expensive machinery.

(a) First utilized in Akron – this tactic was first used by tire workers in Akron, even if Flint workers get most of the credit.

(b) Battle of Running Bulls (January 11, 1937)

(c) Workers seizure of Chevrolet Plant #2 forced GM to bargaining table.

The Early 20th Century Rise and Fall of the Labor Movement

I)      I.             The Expansion of the AFL

A. Wilson Administration--Woodrow Wilson's administration courted the support of labor, particularly in his campaign for a second term. This is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that Wilson became the first sitting president to address a convention of the AFL

1. Creation of the Department of Labor--in 1913, Woodrow Wilson created the cabinet-level position of Secretary of Labor, and appointed former United Mine Workers union official William B. Wilson (no relation) as the first secretary.

2. Clayton Act--although it fell far short of being "labor's Magna Carta" that it was proclaimed by Samuel Gompers, the Clayton Act was intended to limit the power of the courts to use the Sherman Anti-Trust Act against labor strikes, since the legislation exempted labor unions from prosecution under the anti-trust law.

2. Commission on Industrial Relations (1915)--reported that much of the labor unrest of the previous two decades was due to the refusal of management to bargain collectively with unions.

4. Adamson Act (1916)--gave railroad workers the right to bargain collectively, as well as setting the eight hour day as the standard work day, with overtime pay guaranteed for any time worked over that eight hours.

B. Wartime Labor Conditions

1. End of European Immigration--the outbreak of hostilities in Europe largely ended immigration from the continent to the United States, since immigrants were now needed by their homelands for manufacturing war goods and cannon fodder. The danger of transatlantic travel during wartime also deterred immigration.

2. Economic Expansion--although the outbreak of war in Europe initially caused a brief recession in the United States, by 1915 the demand for war goods from Europe was largely responsible for an economic boom, because US companies were relied upon to provide these goods.

1.US job market--the lack of European immigrants meant that companies could no longer use the immigrants transitory status--and willingness to work for less--to keep wages depressed. Employers also had to increase their recruitment efforts within the United States.

2. Internal Migration--the economic expansion encouraged a great number of Americans to move from their rural homes--North and especially South--to industrial urban centers in the North

II. Industrial Democracy

A)     Definition – actually, there is no one definition of industrial democracy—it meant different things to different people.  To workers, it meant that they would have a say in how a factory or other kind of business would be run.  To owners of the factories and businesses, it meant that for the duration of the war they would tolerate government interference in the running of their business, in return for guaranteed profits—but only to the end of the war.

B)     A. Different views of Industrial Democracy

1)      1. Americanization programs – largely under the control of the capitalist class, intended to make workers think and act like “Americans.”

(a)    a. Banishment of German language newspapers – distribution of German language material through the mail was banished in 1917, which effectively ended the large German press in the United States.

(b)   2. Company-sponsored programs

(i)                  a. Ford Motor Company – in the period just before the war, Ford introduced his famous “Five Dollars a Day” program, which he proposed to pay workers in his factories five dollars a day (about twice the then going rate for factory workers).  To qualify, workers had to pass inspection from the Ford Social Department, who ensured that workers were living frugally and would not dissipate the salary that they were to receive.  Immigrant workers, in addition to this, were also required to attend language classes if they did not speak English, and were lectured on work habits, personal hygiene, and table manners; they were also encouraged to move out of ethnic neighborhoods, and not to take in borders.

(c)   b.  Loyalty organizations – groups like the American Protective League were formed by natives born to enforce their vision of Americanization upon the foreign born, as well as other natives who did not fit their vision of proper conduct.

(d)   Restrictions on immigration – although the numbers of immigrants was not restricted by law until 1924, and the effect of that law did not come into effect until 1929 (when, due to the world-wide depression, immigration would have fallen off, anyway), restrictions were placed upon immigration before that time period.

(i)                  Literacy test – immigrants had to prove that they could read and write in their native language—a law the AFL staunchly supported.  The law was passed by Congress over President Wilson’s veto

2)      B. Industrial democracy for working people.

(a)    1. Labor as a partner in society – the symbolic importance of the positions that AFL president Samuel Gompers held should not be discounted in importance; this gave the working people that he represented (the single largest group, and growing during this time period) the impression that they finally had some influence in government.

(b)   2. Success of labor actions – with sympathetic members sitting on the War Labor Board, which was charged with adjudicating labor disputes, labor unions increasingly won recognition from companies, and modest wage increases for the workers they represented (which companies could afford to grant because many of them operated with “cost-plus” contracts from the Federal Government—which meant that the companies were guaranteed a certain level of profit).

II)                 a. Reaction to Industrial Democracy – after the signing of the Armistice, companies in the United States moved to rescind many of the agreements that had been reached during the war years.

A)    3. 1919 Strike wave

1)      a. Seattle General Strike – a strike instigated by the International Associations of Machinists, who represented shipbuilding workers in the city.  Eventually, most workers in the city joined the machinists on strike, and a workers’ strike committee ended up running the city for three days—providing law enforcement, food distribution, and other essential services.

2)      b. Rossford Ford Plate Glass strike – led by the IWW, began the same time as the Willys-Overland strike; strike leaders were swiftly arrested, and carted off to Wood County county seat Bowling Green (with the assistance of a number of volunteer deputies recruited from the normal college there), where they were held largely incommunicado.  Catholic school children were told that there parents would be excommunicated from church if they attended a strike rally in Toledo; management in the factory armed and deputized by county; after several weeks, with the assistance of strikebreakers, strike defeated.

3)      c. Willys-Overland strike – Willys attempted to unilaterally impose a wage cut on workers; offered a profit-sharing scheme to workers, which was rejected.   When wage cut imposed anyway (in the form of a longer work day with no increase in wage), many workers walk off job at normal quitting time; workers are fired, and strike called.  Workers from Lagrange Street area board west-bound streetcars on Central, all workers who cannot produce a Chevrolet work badge are made to get off the streetcar.  Strikebreakers are hired, and housed within the company compound; strikers surround compound.  Sweeping injunction granted after North Carolina auto dealer claims business adversely effected.

4)      d. Steel strike – AFL made concerted attempt to organize steel workers during the war, and this attempt continued during period just after the war.  Most success occurred in the area around Chicago, and result encouraged attempts to organize workers in the Pittsburgh area.  Leadership of this drive was given to former Wobbly William Z. Foster, who had headed up a similar drive on the behalf of the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butchers to organize packinghouse workers in Chicago area.  Steel companies refused to negotiate; used Foster’s syndicalist past to discredit him, and eventually crush the strike.

5)      e. Boston Police Strike – walkout of the Boston Police force led to several nights of general lawlessness, although property damage was fairly minimal. The governor of Massachusetts, Calvin Coolidge ordered the firing of the entire police force, and mobilized the state militia to police the city.  This strike, perhaps more than any of the other of the hundreds that occurred, scared those in power most.

B)     4. Reaction of governing elite

1)      a. Red Scare – led by US Attorney General (and Presidential wannabee) A. Mitchell Palmer, a nationwide coordinated attack against known and suspected radicals took place in early January 1920, when hundreds were arrested, with a suspension of the rights of habeous corpus; some of those arrested are deported on minor violations; some of those who were American citizens—like Big Bill Haywood—jumped bail and left the country (Haywood fled to the Soviet Union, and is buried in the wall of the Kremlin).

2)      b. Institution of the “American Plan” – this plan was part carrot, and part stick.  While unions were unwanted in the workplace, in many factories the indiscriminate powers of the foreman were curtailed, and powers to hire and fire were given instead to newly instituted personnel departments.

(a)    c. Power of foremen curtailed

(b)   Institution of personnel departments

(c)    Grievance procedures

(d)   Profit-sharing and stock options plans

(e)    No collective bargaining, however

1)      Fordism – Ford’s contribution to the automotive industry was his drive to reduce the cost of the automobile, so that it would become more widely accessible to the general public; Ford accomplished this by increasing the number of specialized machines used to create parts for the automobile.  This had two advantages: it decreased his reliance upon skilled workers, who could demand higher wages; and it allowed him to set a specific pace of manufacturing, rather than letting the workers set their own pace

(a)    Model T – extremely limited choice (it came with no options, and in one color—black), but this allowed Ford to perfect its manufacture—which in turn allowed Ford to drop the price of the automobile from $950 when it was introduced in 1909 to $290 at the height of its popularity in 1924

(b)   $5 a Day – the famous $5/day wage, instituted in 1914, was approached by few workers, but it helped limit the turnover of 300%; the higher overall wage also allowed workers to purchase the product that they were manufacturing (analogy to Bush directives for Americans to do their “patriotic duty” and purchase stuff in reaction to Sept. 11)

(c)    Increased mobility – ownership of an automobile allowed many more people to move to the suburbs (or “into the country’); also created a greater demand for recreation—along with more workers employed in routinized labor.

2)      Sloanism – named after the President of the General Motors Corporation, Alfred P. Sloan.  Sloanism is in many ways the perfection of Fordism; automobiles were provided in a variety of styles (kind of), and a variety of price ranges

(a)    Creation of the General Motors Acceptance Corporation – GMAC created in order to provide financing for potential automobile purchasers who could not pay cash for an automobile.

(b)   Triumph of Sloanism – by 1927, falling sales of the Model T forces Ford to shut down production, and re-tool for the production of the Model A.  In 1924, Ford had commanded 55% of the new car market.

(c)    Increased importance of advertising – used to help people differentiate between largely undifferentiated products; advertising allowed companies to manufacture desires in their customers.

III. The Strikes of the 1920s

A. Coal Mining

1. Battle of Matewan

2. Battle of Blair Mountain--after the events at Matewan, the UMW called on miners and other union members to assemble in West Virginia, armed, to ensure the safety of union miners in the state. Some 10,000 to 15,00 men answered the call, and marched south to Mingo County, where they took part in the largest armed insurrection in the United States since the Civil War.

B. Railroad Industry

1. 1922 Railroad Shopmen's Strike--when the Rail Board approved a 7 cent an hour wage reduction, shopmen voted to go out on strike. The railroads were able to hire enough strikebreakers to fill about three-fourths of the positions; this provoked a violent response from strikers, who attempted to intimidate strikebreakers to stop them from taking their jobs; this in turn brought forth the full police force of the government.

C. Textile Industry

1. 1929 Gastonia Strike--although textile manufacturers had moved South to avoid labor confrontations, working conditions in the mills provoked workers in Gastonia, North Carolina, to attempt to unionize in 1929. Led by members of the Communist Party, the strike provoked violence from both mill owners and local government. After the headquarters of the National Textile Workers Union (NTWU) in Gastonia was attacked, and striking workers evicted from their company-owned homes, a tent city was erected on the outskirts of town, guarded by armed strikers. When the sheriff showed up to demand the strikers turn over their guns, an altercation occurred and the sheriff and several miners were killed. Eight miners were charged with murder, and convicted on rather flimsy evidence--thus breaking the strike.

The IWW and Class Warfare in the Early 20th Century

I. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

A. Founding

1. The Continental Congress of the Working Class--The IWW was founded at a meeting of political and labor radicals in Chicago in 1905. Attendees at the meeting included Eugene V. Debs, Daniel DeLeon, Helen Gurley Flynn, and Mother Jones. Perhaps the most important attendee was the vice-president of the Western Federation of Miners, William D. "Big Bill" Haywood, however. Haywood not only chaired the meeting, but also represented the largest contingent of workers in the now organization

2. Western Federation of Miners--The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was founded in 1893, founded by groups of miners in the west. Whereas the UMW represented largely coal miners, the WFM represented a lot of  "hard-rock" miners, those mining minerals, in the region. As did the UMW, the WFM attempted to organize not only miners, but also surface workers; eventually, the WFM transformed itself into the Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers.

a. Bloody conflicts between the WFM and mine operators--in particular in the Cripple Creek strike of 1903-1904, when the full weight of the state of Colorado was used to crush the strike, the WFM determined that they needed radical allies.

3. Left-wing factionalism--besides the WFM contingent, the founding convention also featured the two leading socialiss of the time, Eugene V. Debs and Daniel DeLeon. DeLeon was know for his hostility toward the AFL; Gompers was a "labor fakir" and "the greasy tool of Wall Street," while the AFL was "a cross between a windbag and a rope of sand." This hostility, however, also was oftentimes evinced against other leftist who had differing opinions from DeLeon's, as well. The Debs' faction evolved into the Socialist Party of American (SPA), which became the largest most radical political party, while DeLeon was forced out of the IWW in 1906.

4. "Big Bill" Haywood--among the variety of humanity at the convention, the person who became the most important to the IWW was the chair of the meeting, William Haywood. A rugged hulk of a man, Haywood was well-known for his sinister appearance, in part the result of a boyhood whittling accident. Haywood followed the footsteps of both his mather and his stepfather by entering the mining profession at the ripe old age of 14. His belief that "the working-class and the owning class have nothing in common" was shaped by his early personal experience.

a. Boyhood in Utah--Haywood's father died of pneumonia when Haywood was just 3 years old, leaving him and his mother destitute. The economic situation of the family improved only slightly when she re-married; Haywood entered the mines at the age of 14 because of family need.

b. Haywood also attempted to make a go of it as a homesteading farmer after his marriage, but lost his claim when the US government seized the property (with no compensation) to make an Indian reservation.

5. Cripple Creek--During an organizing drive in the goldfields southwest of Denver in 1903, the WFM was attempting to organize miners, smelter workers, and reduction workers near Cripple Creek. A couple instances of minor violence (whether instigated by strikers or agents of the mine owners is under dispute), the governor of Colorado agreed to call out the militia--over the local sheriff's objections. Insisting that the state could not afford to keep the militia on duty for an extended period of time, the governor insisted--and local mine owners agreed--that the mining companies would pay for the militia. This led to the wholesale arrest and deportation of strike leaders and other "trouble-makers," without trial or even charges being brought forward. From this experience, the WFM leadership concluded that radical allies would be needed.

B. The Spirit of the Wobblies--The IWW had the greatest appeal to itinerant workers of the West--mainly miners, workers on construction gangs, and migratory harvest hands, among others. IWW organizers also had some success immigrant workers in steel mill, packing plants, and textile mills.

1. Free speech fights--IWW members gained some noteriety in cities in the west for their insistence upon exercising their rights to free speech--clambering on top of soapboxes on sidewalks to rail against the evils of capitalism. For these acts, members were hauled off to jail, beaten, fed rancid food, and sentenced to inordinately long jail terms--which induced hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of other members to come to town to join their comrades.

2. The Man Who Never Died--Joel Emmanual Hagglund, sometimes known as Joe Hillstrom, but best known as Joe Hill, is best remembered today as the bard of the IWW, the most popular songwriter of an organization known for its love of song. Hill was executed in 1914, convicted of a murder the evidence suggested he never committed.

3. 1916 Everett Massacre--IWW organizers working with shingle fanners in Everett, Washington were run out of town by a "Citizens Alliance" (sponsored, of course, by shingle manufacturers), some 300 Wobblies returned determined to again exercise their First Amendment rights. The men boarded two ferry boats, and sailed back across Puget Sound from Seattle to Everett. Upon their arrival, the sheriff called out, "Who is your leader?" The Wobblies replied en masse "We are all leaders!"--whereupon, the shore party opened fire, killing at least five and perhaps as many as 12.

4. 1917 Bisbee Deportation--in July 1917, after the IWW called a strike against the Phelp-Dodge Mining Company which had refused to bargain with the union (and 80 percent of the workers walked off the job), company officials and company allies (and there were plenty, since Bisbee was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Phelps-Dodge) rounded up strikers and strike sympathizers and transported them--against their consent--from Arizona to a deserted spot about 20 miles east of Columbus, New Mexico, leaving them in the desert their with no food or water.

Labor and the Progressive Movement

I. Employers and Unions: A New Understanding

A. The Imperial Impulse--The War With Spain

1. The War for Capitalist Markets

2. The Response of Euguene Debs and the Socialists

3. The Response of Samuel Gompers and the AFL

B. The National Civic Federation

1. Early History

2. Make-up of the National Civic Federation

3. Samuel Gompers and John Mitchell

II. Role of Coal

A. Stoking the Fires of Capitalism

1. Railroads--coal provided the fuel for locomotives--but it was also instrumental in the manufacture of most railroad-related material, including the manufacture of the locomotives it powered, the rolling stock these locomotives pulled, and the rails that the trains ran on.

2. Skyscrapers--coal was instrumental in making the structural steel that allowed for the transformation of architecture, and the creation of the urban landscape as we know it.

3. Automobiles--coal was also instrumental in producing the main product that was responsible for effecting the emergence of another fossil fuel that dominated American life during most of the 20th century.

B. Growth of Coal Mining in the  19th Century

1. 1840--7,000 men were employed in mining coal in the United  States,  who mined 2 million tons
2. 1870--186,000 coal miners mined 37 million tons.
3. 1900--677,000 coal miners mined 350 million tons

C. Transformation of American life--coal powered the technological  change the transformed American life in the second half of the 19th century  and the first two decades of the 20th.

D. Capitalist enterprise in coal

1.  Intensification of capital--at the beginning of the 20th, the coal industry began a period of consolidation. In Colorado, for example, two companies, Victor Coal Company and Colorado Fuel and Iron (owned by the Rockefellers) mined most of the coal in that state.

2. Early stage of consolidation--in 1900, no one company owned more than 3% of the national market; but of America's 100 largest companies, a dozen were mining companies.

II. Life of Mother Jones

A. Mary Harris

1. Discrepancies in her life story

a. Birth date--According to Autobiography of Mother Jones, she was born May 1, 1830. According to her baptismal certificate in Cork, she was baptized in August of 1837. Her parents were not married until 1835. What explains this discrepancy? Although she was not as old as she claimed, she was advanced in years at the time this book was written, which may have effected her memory. As May 1 became identified with the labor movement, what could be more appropriate than the mother of the labor movement claiming that day as the one of her birth, as well? Her advanced age rendered her activities more weight, and allowed her to transcend the limitations that most women had to operate under during this time period.

2. Immigration

a. Potato Famine – it is likely that Mother Jones’ father and older brother left during the Potato Famine (1845-1847); between 1845 and 1853, over 200,000 people a year left Ireland for another country.

b. Immigration to Canada – it is likely that her father immigrated directly to Canada from Ireland—passage was less expensive the year he most likely left; in the 1850 US Federal Census he is listed in Vermont, but the family resided in Toronto, Canada.

3. Education – she attended a normal (teaching) college, but did not finish.

4. Pre-marriage work--Teacher at convent school in Monroe, Michigan. She also worked as a seamstress in Chicago. Before the outbreak of the Civil War, Jones moved and became a school teacher in Memphis, TN

B. Mary Harris Jones

1. Married George Jones – in 1861, shortly after moving to Memphis, Mother Jones met and married iron molder and union member George Jones.

2. Raising a family – the Jones’ shortly had four children in their brief marriage, three girls and a boy

3. 1867 Yellow Fever Epidemic--Mary Jones lost all four children and her husband to the epidemic

4. Move back to Chicago--and worked as seamstress

5. Great Chicago Fire 1871

6. Period between 1871-1894 – the mystery period in the life of Mother Jones

7. 1877 Great Upheaval – may have been in Chicago, put she was not a leading figure in the strikes in Chicago as she claimed (probably a part of her persona).

8. 1886 Haymarket Square – although she disdains the politics of the Chicago anarchists, she upholds them as men of ideals, to be emulated

9. 1894 Coxey’s Army – her first real appearance as Mother Jones; she is part of an advance party for a western band of unemployed who are marching east to join up with Jacob Coxey for his march on Washington.

C. The Emergence of Mother Jones-- Mother Jones is able to use her age and gender to her advantage; because of her age she is able to act in ways that other women are restricted from.

1. Appeal to Reason – socialist newspaper which Mother Jones helped get off the ground; eventually had 750,000 subscribers, and often reached many more readers.

2. Radical political ideas appealed to a great number of people during this time period.

III. United Mine Workers

A. Founded-- January 1890, struggled to remain in existence during that decade, having to overcome a disastrous strike in 1894.

B. 1897 Central Competitive Field Strike--the Central Competitive Field stretched from western Pennsylvania to central Illinois. The strike began July 4,  1897 in response to attempts to implement a wage cut. The strike lasted until January 1898, but ended  in a union victory--a pay raise,  8-hour day, dues check-off, and union recognition.  The settlement also benefited operators, because the settlement helped end the cutthroat competition.

C. 1897 Eastern Pennsylvania Anthracite  Strike--miners in the anthracite district, not members of the UMW, went on strike because of wage cuts.  A  group of 200 marched  to a mine in Lattimer,  Pennsylvania to call miners there to join the strike; mine guards shot into the group, killing 19 miners.

D. John Mitchell--the UMW president, believed that the National Civic Federation was key for settling labor disputes--which is why he accepted the deal brokered by President Roosevelt that ended the strike without the anthracite operators recognizing the union as sole bargaining agent for the miners. Jones, on the other hand, argued that workers could only rely upon themselves, and the power they could claim by withholding their labor.


6. George F. Baer and the Divine Rights of Money

7. Theodore Roosevelt and the Strike Settlement

D. Women Workers and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

E. Ludlow

1. Coal Mining in Colorado

2. Coal Industry and Colorado Politics

3. The Colorado Coalfield War

The "Pure and Simple Unionsim" of the American Federation of Laboir

Samuel Gompers, ca. 1890

A)     Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Union (FOTLU) – founded in 1881 as an umbrella organization of craft unions, one of whose leaders was the young president of the Cigar Makers International Union, an Dutch-English immigrant Jew named Samuel Gompers (who transforms this organization into the American Federation of Labor—AFL—in 1886, because of his interpretation of events after Haymarket).

1)      Samuel Gompers--later in life, Gompers was once asked what it was he hoped to gain for workers. His answer was "more"--more money, better working conditions shorter hours. Gompers and his organization aimed to gain a bigger share of the pie through collective bargaining--that is to say, by signing contracts with businesses, and then ensuring that they lived up to those contracts. This approach came to be known and "bread and butter" unionism or "pure and simple unionism." Gompers and his followers made accommodations to work within the capitalist wage system, which is perhaps the most striking difference (of many) between the AFL and the Knights of Labor.

2)     The Eight-hour Day – FOTLU in its early years was but a pale shadow of the Knights of Labor, and by 1884 had become a stagnant organization of about 25,000 members. In late 1884, through 1885 and into 1886 the organization agitated for the establishment of the eight-hour workday (the current “norm” was at that time was ten hours, although many workers worked longer days at the command of manufacturers), after a resolution submitted by Carpenters' Union leader P.J. McGuire was passed. FOTLU proposed a general strike after May 1, 1886 if a law were not passed limiting workers to an 8 hour work day. Workers around the country were greatly enthused by this prospect--particularly a group of anarchists in Chicago.

(a)    May 1 – FOTLU called for a general strike of all workers who had not been granted an eight-hour workday on May 1 of 1886

(b)   200,000 workers heeded the call around the country, and went out on strike.

B)  Haymarket

1)    Strike at McCormick Reaper – workers had been on strike at McCormick for several weeks before May 1 in a wage dispute

a)      Police violence – on May 3, the McCormick strikers were joined by other workers from around the city, in a show of support. The Chicago police (not for the last time) reacted by firing on the crowd, killing four workers and wounding many more. In response, an anarchist group called for a mass meeting the next evening in a working-class neighborhood near the old Haymarket.

b)      International Working People’s Association – this was an organization of anarchist, mostly philosophical anarchist who used means of agitation to persuade workers to join their cause. Many had previously belonged to the International Working Men's Association (also known as the First International), but had been forced to leave due to doctrinal differences with the Marxists heavily represented in that organization.

c) Anarchists and the turn toward "propaganda of the deed"--by the early 1880s, some socialists, frustrated by the seemingly slow pace of social change, and fired by the idea that a single person could, even by the seemingly inconsequential act of resistance or assassination, spark the masses to revolution, some individuals began carrying out acts against buildings or people in power as a means of sparking the revolution.

d)      Events at Haymarket

(i)    Only 1,500 people show up in dismal weather, perhaps only 300 or so remain near the end of the meeting.

(ii)   Chicago police march in, read “crowd” the riot act, and order them to disperse.

(iii)    A bomb is thrown (probably by Louis Lingg); some in the crowd, which had been forced to the sidewalks with the arrival of the police, begin firing into the police as well, who return the fire.

d)      Reaction of ruling elite – the indiscriminate arrest of Germans (and German-Americans), labor union leaders, socialist, and anarchists.

e)      The trial – the Haymarket Eight were indicted for conspiracy (none for direct involvement in the battle). The trial lasted six weeks

(i)    Albert Parsons – charismatic speakers, Confederate veteran, married to Lucy

(ii)   August Spies – editor of the anarchist newspaper, who printed a circular announcing the meeting that encouraged workers to come armed

(iii)    Louis Lingg – the likely bomb-maker (and possibly the thrower), who hung himself (possibly so as not to implicate the others.

f)      The sentence – all eight were found guilty of conspiracy after a trial of six weeks, and sentenced to hang; four swiftly were (Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fischer, and George Engel. Three survivors were eventually pardoned by Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld (also important during the Pullman strike) in 1893.

F)  American Federation of Labor – established in 1886, in the aftermath of the Haymarket Square incident; provided an outlet for craft unions to distance themselves from the radicals arrested because of Haymarket.

1.      Pure and Simple Unionism – emphasis upon so-called bread and butter issues—wages, working conditions.  Accepted the capitalist system (which other working class movements did not do, including the Knights of  Labor).

a.       Need to control hiring practices – to maintain enough control to maintain wages and working conditions, workers had to maintain solidarity (by refusing to work at job sites that used non-union labor), and control the number of people who gained access to the trade.

b.      The “Walking Boss” – craft unions developed system to police members and the companies that hired them—the business agent, or “walking boss.”  BA’s job was to make sure that all of the craft people employed within a certain craft were union members; this left BA’s susceptible to bribes and “sweetheart” deals with firms.

2.      Running a Labor Union like a business – AFL unions were often run on the business model, with up-to-date accounting practices, etc. AFL unions charged an initiation fee, and relatively high dues, in order to build-up funds that could be used for a strike fund, and to pay benefits to members in case of death or serious injury.

The Knights of Labor

I)                 Union building period – in the years following the Great Upheaval, working people sought out organizations that they felt could help them cope with the developing capitalist system

A)    Origins of the Knights of Labor – founded in Philadelphia in 1869 as a union of tailors, the organization remained small and secretive until the former mayor of Scranton, PA was elected to the position of Grand Master Workman by the name of Terrence V. Powderly.

1) Uriah Stephens--became the 1st Grand Master Workman, and it was his vision that largely shaped the organization. Stephens, who had to abandon his studies to become a minister after the Panic of 1837, and instead became an apprentice tailor. Stephens' religious background informed his vision about the universality of labor--and this influenced the vision of the organization from its inception to its demise.

2) Secrecy and Ritual--during the early years of the organization, membership was a tightly kept secret. Part of the reason for this secrecy was due to the hostility of employers to any labor organization during this time period. But this secrecy also added to the allure of the organizations, as well, with its secret handshake, mystical ceremonies, and special symbols. This secrecy inhibited enlarging the organization greatly, however; it wasn't until 1872 (3 years after its founding in 1869) that a second chapter was founded, and not until 1874 that the organization was established outside of the greater Philadelphia area.

3) Goals and Program--the ultimate goal of the Knights of Labor was to reform--or, better yet, transcend--the emerging capitalist economic system. To accomplish this, the Oder welcomed all "producers"; meaning everyone but doctors, lawyers, bankers, gamblers, and liquor dealers.

4)      Organization by location – rather than organize workers by craft, the K of L organized workers by location, by city and/or neighborhood. Eventually they succumbed to demands by skilled workers, however, and in addition also organized workers by job skill.

a) General Assembly--the ultimate authority in the K of L, the General Assembly met once a year, and was made up of representatives from the various District Assemblies.

b) District Assemblies--made up from a number of local assemblies.

c) Local Assemblies (LA)--local assemblies generally were made up of two different kinds of organizations: mixed assemblies, which consisted of workers from a variety of different trades; and trade assemblies, where all members belonged to a specific trade. This make-up was largely determined by local conditions and the size or the local working population; cities with larger populations tended to have LAs more oriented toward craft differences, while LAs in smaller cities tended to have greater diversity within their ranks.

5)      Bi-racial organization – the K of L avoided being trapped by the conundrum of racial differences between black and whites, and organized black workers (and often integrated them within District Assemblies, which was the base level in the organization).

(a)    This bit of racial understanding did not extend to the Chinese workers, however, who were excluded from membership along with liquor dealers, cardsharps, lawyers, and other such scum. This policy may have been influenced by the small number of Chinese workers, their geographic concentration, and the expectation that Chinese immigration (and labor competition) could be closed off by the Chinese Exclusion Act (first passed in 1882, renewed in 1892, and made permanent--until 1943--in 1902).

B) Terence Powderly--When Uriah Stephens retired from the Order in 1878 to run for Congress on the Greenback Labor Party ticket, Terence V. Powderly was chosen to be his successor in the position of Grand Master Workman.

1) Early life--Powderly was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania in 1849, the son of Irish Catholic parents who emigrated to the United States in the 1820s. Powderly worked as a young boy as a switch tender in a local rail yard, but at the age of 17 he left to become an apprentice machinst.

2) Working life--after serving his apprenticeship, Powderly became a member of the International Union of Machinists and Blacksmiths, and by 1874 he had also become a member of the Knights of Labor.

3) Political life--at the same time Powderly was rising through the ranks of the Knights of Labor, he was also becoming active in local politics; participating first in the activities of the Greenback-Labor Party, and then being elected mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1878. Powderly held that office until 1884, serving simultaneously as mayor and Grand Master Workman until 1884.

4) Personal life--Powderly was of a slender build, and of less than average height. A convinced teetotaler, he had little patience for those who enjoyed drinking--which meant that he had little time for the conviviality of the tavern where much union recruitment took place. This undoubtedly had some adverse effect upon the view that K of L members developed of Powderly.

5) Contribution to the Knights of Labor--although Powderly presided over the great expansion in membership of the K of L, Powderly was not dedicated to the movement in the same way as, say, William Sylvis, but he nevertheless worked very hard to build the organization.

6) Influence with the Roman Catholic Church--Powderly was himself a devout Roman Catholic. The Church was very wary of secret organizations--particularly those that modeled themselves after the Masonic Order, and generally forbid members from joining these types of organizations on pain of excommunication. Powderly's handling of the situation helped persuade Cardinal Gibbon to intercede with the Pope on the Knight's behalf, and permitted the Knights to make inroads with Roman Catholic workers.

7) Cooperation--Powderly's core belief that cooperation between management and labor would permit the two sides to transcend their differences, and also to set up consumer and producer cooperatives, were all producers would receive a fair price for the fruits of their labor.

a) One of the 135 cooperatives established nationwide was started in Toledo by local reed workers.

C) The Rise of the Knights of Labor--both the rise and ultimately the decline of the K of L was in part a result of economic and social circumstances beyond its control

1)      Organizing success – although the official position of the organization opposed strikes, the K of L had great success organizing workers as a result of successful strikes that the union became involved with. As the economic recovery of the late 1870s and early 1880s began to lose steam, employers began to attempt to impose wage cuts on workers as they had in the wake of the 1873 Depression. Workers, again, attempted to resist these wage cuts, and many walked out on strike. While most of these strike were defeated, workers organized by the Knights of Labor were largely successful in forcing employers to rescind these wage cuts.

(a)    Southwestern System strike (1884) – workers of Jay Gould’s Southwestern System went on strike in response to Gould’s insistence that they take a pay cut; the success of the strike almost double the membership of the organization, to approximately 110,000 members, by 1886--with a much larger population of workers sympathetic to the K of L, but who were not official members (perhaps as many as 500,000).

(b) Southwestern System strike (1886)--workers in the Southwestern System, feeling (perhaps over)confident because of past success, went out on strike against Gould's rail system again in 1886. This time, Gould was better prepared, and successfully prevailed upon state governments to use the militia to break the strike in a variety of states. As a result, the strike was defeated, and discouraged rail workers began falling away from the organization

2) Organizing failure--the failure of the 1886 Southwestern System strike (in the workers' view, caused by Powderly's failure to support them in their efforts), coupled with the defeat of Knights-organized packinghouse workers that same year in Chicago, led to a precipitous decline in membership, as members left as quickly in 1886 has they had joined in 1885. The Knights of Labor lost most of its influence as a result, and it became little more than a paper organization.

D. Who were the Knights of Labor--and Why Did They Join?

1. People of diverse opinions were members (at one time), from Samuel Gompers (first president of the American Federation of Labor, to Albert Parsons (one of the accused Haymarket Anarchists).

2. United by their opposition to the wage system--or the "slave wage" system, as they saw it. This is difficult for we moderns to understand, I think, because we have become so inured to it; how would one survive on the sweat of ones' face (to borrow from the biblical term) if not from wages? For Knights, that answer was to transform society through the organization, to build workers' cooperatives, and to find other means of exchange than cash.