Radical America - Vol 6 No 6 - 1972 - November December

8/8/2019 Radical America - Vol 6 No 6 - 1972 - November December

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RADICLNovember-December

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NovmbDcmb Volm n, Nmb 6

RADICAL AERIA

Jmes ee ORKI CLAS S LITACY THE DEPRESSO 1

Stghto Lyd THE POS SLTY OFRADCALS I THE EARLY 930S:

THE CASE OF STEEL 37De Rose d Theodoe Rosegrte

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o cosgmt bass

Second Class ostage pai at Boston Maschuts and additona magoffices


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Worng Cs Mitanc

i the Depreon

by Jme ee

This essay is a itial reiew o reent iteratue on

abor strugges in the 0s. It is also an attempt to answersome o the questions adias are asing today about themost eposie period o woinglass miitany in Ame-

ian historyI we an understand the history Ameian woers made

during the Depression we might be abe to see the ontem-poray woring lass more early We might be able tooer a better eplanation or the oinidene o ass on-

siousness and onseratism in some ode worers ando the eposie miitany and potentia radialism o manyyounger woers We annot understand where the Amer-

ia woring ass is going unti we ind out where it hasbeen.

The history o the CI in the yeas during and ater theSeond Wold War has made it easy to underestimate the

importane o woringlass miitany in the 190s Buteorge Rawi has wisely paed the period in omparatieperspetie. In 1940 when woringass organizations iermany Itay Spain and Frane were suppressed by theFasists Amerian worers looed ba on a deade oitories o a sae and quaiy moumenta in the iter-natioal history o the woring ass These itories resulted ro the power o ranandie worers; they e-

tainly produed the rapid epansion o the CI and probablypreented the growh o an Amerian Fasism. 1) at by 1940 the perentage o unionized blueollar

worers had more than doubled in all industries eeptbuiding ad lothing Oeral this meant that the umbero worers in unins inreased rom . 1 milion i 190115 o the noagriutural wor ore to 7.0 million


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in 1940 (28%). Of course the ost important ains came

in the massproduction industries, especially rubber, autoand steel, the keys to the mode Aerican economyBut as Rawick points out the formal oraniation" of

workers into unions is only part of the labor history of the'30s order to undrstand the scope of workinclassmilitancy durin the Depression we hav to know howmany manhours were lost to production because of strikes,the amount of equipment and material destroyed by indus-

trial sabotae and dlibrate nlience th amount of timlost by absenteeism the hours ained by workers throuhslowowns and the limitin of the seedup throuhworkinclass initiativ" Not all of this information is nowavailable but there is data on strikes. Only 840 were re-corded in 1932 1700 in 1933 and 1856 in 1934 (befor theO appeared); 2200 work stoppaes were launched in 1936and 4740 erupted in 1937 (the year of the sitdowns); the

fiure dropped to 2500 in 1938 when the Roosevlt reces-sion struck out aainst the labor movement and climbed back up to 4288 in 1941 All of this occured in the midstof a reat deprssion and after more than a decade of in-activity " Rawick nots But most important it all occurred not because the older unins attempted to oranieindustrial workers" but because the workers oraniedthemselves often in spite of the old unions (2)

This hih level of strike activity increased in the 1940sdespite the effects of orld War II and exacted a hih eco-nomic price from employers it also won union reconitionand unprecednted political power for industrial workers.More inificantly, perhaps militant action in the 30s aveunskilled laborers a reater sense of selfrespec and classconsciousness; it also forced the most powerful sements

of the rulin class industrial manufacturers to reco-nie the workin class as more than simply labor power" What capitalists considered a passive, framented objectof exploitation and tchnoloical manipulation" in the 1920sthey accepted in the 1930s as an active unified policalsubject". The needs of industrial workers could no lonr be suppressed; they had to be satisfied to some deree in


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order to ensure continued economic development ()

shot the chievements of the Ameicn oin clss inthe 1s re impesive on ny scle; nd their impes-siveness should not e oscured y susequent histoicldevelopments

TERRETATIONS OF LIBERAL LABORHISTORIANS: IEWS FROM THE TO DOWN

I The Question of RnkndFe Militncy

Irvin Besteins Ture" is the ledin lierlinterprettion of lor history in the 19s (4) The ooktrets ll of the violent hih points of the decde, ut on thewhole it flttens out the story The uthor descies mssstrikes s simply eruptions in the inevitle process tht

led to ureucrtic unionism As Stuhton Lynd points out,Bestein trets militncy from elo s form of crowd-like ehvior tht hd to e chnneled into ureucrticunionism nd collective rinin in order to stilieunlnced industril reltions (5) Tur issupposed to e Hi g Aan W - ut it is minly history of reltions eteen ledersin unions, mnemen, nd overnment Bernstein de-scries the i strikes of the iod ut he inores thernkndfile workers ho mde those strikes These peo-ple re supposed to e the suject of his next ook Ho-ever the study of workers lives nd jos should not hve

een seprted from the story of their ctions; e cnotunderstnd the ltter without hvin cler knowlede ofthe former

Dvid Brody, ledin lierl lo histoin, wrote the folloin in revie of Bernsteins ook: There is notmuch tht is fresh in the y of nlysi in TuulentYers With some xceptions here nd there Besteintends to follo fmilir nd ellmrked pths The pu-lin questions rein unnsered Wht ws the ntureof rnkndfile ilitncy? Wh s its effect on union


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policy? (6)

Brody poses imporant questions about the nature andeffect of rankandfile militancy in the '30s, but he is unable o answer hem a recent essy, he writes that or-anied labor was nearly bankrupt of resources and ideasat the onset of the Depression John L Lewis seemedmerely a labor boss of the most conventional kind, and alarely discredited one at that Brody continues atwas there hidden in this sad spectacle that drove Lewis

without takin anythin awy from the mans qualitiesto play so extraordinary a role over the next few years? (7) (my emphais)

The hiddn ariable that Brody seeks is not so hard to find it was the insurency of rankandfile workers thatswept the country in the early Depression years and peakedin the mass strikes of 134 at Toledo Minneapolis and SanFrancisco Art rei, a Trotskyist labor editor empha-

sied the importance of these strikes in his critical 164

inneapois Genea Stike Batt e 134

4


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account Lbor's Step. Althouh Totskyists weesinificant only in Minneapolis eis note that othe adicals (A. J. Mustes Ameican Wokes aty in Toledoand the ommnit aty n San Fancisco) helped to makeall thee stikes manificent example of labo t-les (8) The labo actions o '34 wee opposed by mostAFL leades but they foced othe tade unionists led byJohn L. Lewis to fom new indutial unions in ode toecuit millions of discontented wokes in masspoduc

tion industies As Saul Alinsky wote of the 1934 stikesin hi unauthoied bioaphy of Lewis

Befoe the yea was out seven hunded thousandwoke had tuck. Leis could ead the evolutionay handwitin on the walls of Ameican industy He kne that the wokes wee seethinand achin to be oanied so they could stike

back. veyone wanted to hit out the employeaainst the woke and the woke aainst the empoye and anyone else ho they felt was not inthe (wokin) clas Ameica as becomin moecass concious than at any time in its histoy. (9)

Alinsky's ecently epinted bioaphy demonstates the

mpoance of Leis's peonal qualities and of his undis-puted contol ove the laet national industial union inthe nation (the United Mine Wokes) but it also show thatankandfile insuency tansfomed a conventional labo

boss (to use Body's ods) into a militant leade Aswith William obbett the eat Bitish labo adical Leis's populaity e out of hat . P. Thompson call adialectic with the people. (10) Libeal histoians like

Body only look at Lewis's elationship with the ank and file fom the top down Theefoe they do not see that JohnLewis was a folloe as well as a leade.

It is inteetin to note that Benstein implicitly econie the impotance of the 1934 insuencies by devotina vey lon chapte to these stules hich he entitleuption (11) Howeve Tubuln does not elabo


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rate on the inflc thse mas trike had on Lews and

other CIO leaders Sidey Fines book which de-crbes the wave of factory occupaton in 193637 alotries to dmnsh th igficance of ankandfle ntatve The author admts that he mpotant tdown stkesaaint Akon ruber compane ean pontaneously" inearly 1936 but he wrtes more about the ubequent sup-portve ole f the CIO leade tan he does about the intal ceatve ole of the ankandfile woe (o an ex-

cellent account of the event n Akon fom the bottom up,ee Ruth McKennys Indutial Valley, reprnted by een-wood n 1971) ine alo admt tat te mave enctdown stes in the pn of 1936 wee le the ubequent action n Amecan nduty, because they eentated wthout offcal union authoaton at a tme whenthe labor movemnt as weak He uets tat the VA Wleadeship notced the mlitant tdown tke wave n

rance whch the Popula ront ovenment oppoed, alonwith the leaershp of te CGT unon and te Fench ommunst Pay But Fine doe not sugest that Amercanauto worke, who also ead the newpape and head teadio, mht have ntced the effectvene of te tactcsadopte by thei Fench countepat (12)

dscusn the imortant stdown at outh Bend, De

toit, Atlanta, and Cleveland that led up to the cucal strkeat Fln in 1937 Fine refer to several cases n which theintatve came from the rank and file, but he ve moeattenton to the stikes whch thee wa evidence of VA Wleaderhip For example, he note that the crucal stdownat Fishe Clveland has uually ben vewed as spontaneous n on, but in the tet he only quotes VA W lead-es who suppoedly agitated for the strke Fne assin

the followng quote fom a rankandfile leader to a foot-note: It was just a pontaeous movement on the part ofthe workers ()

When he comes to the Flnt itdowns, Fine say that the first acton in Fsher ant umber 2 wa entiely spon-taneous ad that the followup strike in Fishe umbe 1was ntiated by ob Travis and Wndham Mortimer, both


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"We Wo: Strikes at Fshe Plt #

etwners Howeer, he later rtes t

hat the strkers n

the umber I stdown comunty dpayed a ferce ndependence n ther relatonshp wth the A W leadershpn dscussn the secret actc usd tn the key en-ne plant at lnt (Chey Numr 4 ne es ost ofthe credt to Tras and Roy Reuther of te UA W nternatonal (14) Usn hs own oral htor tervews, tauhtonLynd challenes ne on ths nt yd found that ermt

Johnson a local leader ntated the state to take heyNuber 4 wth rankandfle upport (15) Fne tres tocast doubt on the noton that the C wa cauht unawares

by thestdowns n Cleeland and t, but he s not erysuccessful, because much of h on evdence shows thatthe ntate for the mass strkes of 13637 n auto came

from the bottomke Bernsten, ne sees the roth of the CO as an

netable deelopment that channe the eplose mltancy of the early 30s nto collcivebaann aree-ments whch outlawed local wldct strikes 6) Therefore,these liberal hstorans do not look arefll or crtcallyenouh at the rns of th C Thy do no realze asaul Alnsky wrote that ews nd the oter leaders of thenew unons had to respond to te tdwns een thouh they


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opposed them (17) The mta auto orkers dd force

Les's had e ated the auo dustry orgazed asFe argues bu f t had o bee for the stdos Lews oud have orgazed t from he top do as he dd coaad stee. Because they vew he bureaucrac deveopmeof the CI as evtabe bera hstoras ke Fe adBerste do ot see the fuece of the rakadfersat the outset or do they expore the optos ope to theabor movemet the cruca years of the md0s yds

artce hs ssue attempts to dea th both these ssues.Aother rece study oad Grubbss bera hsory ofthe uther Teat Farmers Uo (ST FU) Cotto aso provdes some hts as to the reatoshp betee the macy of the uorgazed ad the orgazaoof the C IO. (18) I 1956 thousads of sharecroppers adagrcutura aborers (backs as e as htes) oed theSTFU ad auched spotaeous marchg strkes agasthe paters the easter Arkasas eta spte of theracst ad repressve measures auched agast them. 197 the eaders of the uo decded to o the CI adk up th the mtat atoa abor movemet that asseepg dustry owever the STFU's affato th theCI's Commused Agrcutura Workers Uo as adsaster. As Mark Naso pots out ( a artce Grubbs

fas to cte) the CI offcas "smothered the STFU thcerca ork ad "crushed t th faca ad bureau-cratc obgatos (19) As STFU orgazer . L. Mtchesad a recet terve : "The CI ad the CP tred toforce the STFU to the patter of a reguar trade uoad t coud't ork. (20)

bera abor hstoras fa to uderstad the ature ofrakadfe mtacy ad ts effect o the CI because

they have a etst bas that eads them to mstrust or fearthe "masses The bas s reforced by the uestos theyask ad the methods they use to aser them. For exampeBerste s rghty terested the mass strkes of 194but he does ot ask ho started them or hat ther atereffect as o orgazed abor. Furthermore he uses radtoa prted sources that force hm to emphasze the

8


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roles of ellknon leaers n busness labor an gove

m ent. When he oes use nterves they rarely nclue theperspectves of rankanflers or local leaers Fne actually oes have access to scores of nterves th orkers ho partcpate n the stons but he ses themmanly as footnote materal. Hoever t s not smply anelts bas or conventonal methoology that leas lberalsto gnore the orkers on the lne Ieology s nvolve asel.

The lberals' unllngness or nablty to use class anal-yss n ther ork leas to a topon ve of the strugglesn the 0s a ve that emphaszes the confct of nterestbeteen labor leaers an corporate managers thout evaluatng the arger conflct beteen classes The lberalslanguage ncues references to class ar an classstruggle t's har to escrbe the '0s n any otherterms but ther eology prevents them from acceptnga class anals that coul pace the volent epsoes of theepresson nto a larger hstorcal frameork.

II. Lberals Ves of the Hstorc Role of the Left

the lberal hstorans' eologcal assumptons preventthem from seeng the mportance of rankanfle mltancy

n the class struggle of the 190s ther grosser poltcalpreuces prevent them from accuratey assessng the partthe Left playe n those struggles. Although BernstensTurb lacks the vcous Rebatng that characterze earler lberal accounts there s stl a notceableantCommunst preuce n the book For example n rtng about the Mnneapols general strke of 194 hesays that Trotskyst unon leaers "must have knon that

the polce set a trap for ther moble pckets on July 20Blooy Fray hen 67 orkers ere oune to fa-taly. "The Marxst octrne of class ar Bernsten rtes th ts nverson of ornary means an enspresumably ustfe n ther mns th ecson to senunsuspectng pckets nto the ran of polce gunfre Theunon no ha ts san martyrs. (21) He makes ths ser


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ous chrge, eve thogh he sys the evidece is circumstti he eders mst hve o ot the msh

ecuse rtice i th io ewspper te dy eforereveed the preprtios ig pce t the site of themsscre It is ot cer why the striers were ususpectig, sice ost of te red the ppers to erstei doe ot suppose tht the worer, i the midst ofwht he cs css wr, chose to te their chnces in tte t is much esier to me Leftit eders who weremiputig the woers his view give the io orgizer credit for mor infece th they hd d methe io memers seem ie crowd eig ed to thesghter

Whe he is not ttcig Leftists, ernstei teds to psover them without discussing their roe t For exmpehe mentions, ut does ot discss or yze, the roe ofA . Muste d the sociist Americn Worers rty in

the crci oedo trie of 14 He te time to note,however ht fter the strugge eded this prty s sooforgotten () How does he ow? A itte or hitorymight hve show tht there were some who rememered,even tody imiry, ernstein writes the Communistsout of his rrtive of the Frcisco Geer trie of4 eve thogh they pyed n ctive suprtive roe inorgizig, picetig, d fightig ( He ts out the

Reds ony when he is discussig Hrry ridges disptedmemership i the Prty Fie sys tht Leftwingerspyed ig prt in e itow trie of 17 ut he doesot discuss their prt t y egth (4)

imiry, ond Grus is wiing to give the ciit Prty credit for ogizing the outher et Frmer Uio (5) Athough the prticipted ess directyin th firs of thi ion th the C did i the uios itorgized, the ciits were reponsie for foudig, fdig, d defedig e F H L Mitche, ciistwho ws cofouder of the F dmits tht the primrycse of the crper protest ws the peopes desire toget their shre of te ew e AAA eefits, t he soexpis tht the unio grew up first in orthester Ar


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kansas beause of he S's organizatonal aivies in heearl

0s, espeial among baks ()

here are pen of reasons for riiizing e aionsof he f, espeia he Comunis Pary, in the PopularFron period, as Lnds arie in his issue suggess Buhere are no grounds for aepting he berals vew hathe eds were usual manpulaive and opportunisi bnaure. fat, he wre the oughest, mos ommtedorganzers in the labor movement As Theodore Draperwres of the C P s man effors during the hrd Periodn the earl 0s t was more srprising that the Communs organzers were able o figh so hard for so long ashe dd han tha he were uabe to win 7) deed, asSaul Ainsk showed t was he ftwingers who zeal-ous worked da and ngh o fgh against the niismand dsllusonmen tha swep the workers after AFL bureauras smashed the spirt of unonsm hat surged p

n 4 I was the Lefwingers who kept organizingn hese lean ears, and so, when it ame me to buld heC Lewis had no hoe bu o aep he support of heCommunsts. (8)

he ontroversal role of he Communist r in helabor ovemen has to be disussed in wo parts hemilitan hrd Perod (184) he ar esabisheddal nions and tred o organze unsklled workers ignored

b he AFL n heav indusries ike auto and see and inetraive ndustres lke oa mning and oon produ-on. he stressed radal polits and nerraal a-is even in repressve saes lke Kentuk Alabama, andCaiforna.

Drars artle on he Comuniss aional MinersUnion in he Appalahians and im nns riia pamphleon the CPs Canner and Agrulura orkers Unon nalifornia dring the earl 0s show how ourageos anddeermine Par organzers were, even n he mos dan-gerous irumstanes () he aso show, however, howeasil he ommniss were smashed h did he Csdua unons fal to advane beond he frststrke sage?

Draper notes tha he Communiss who tred o organize


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Counist Miners' Union Band in 93

Southern coa miners in the eary 0s ater amed them-seves for the faiure of their dua union. They bamedtheir organizationa methods their sectarianism their opportunism their ack of trained forces and so on Theybamed everything raper rites but the Party ineIt is odd that raper Bernstein and other iberas aumethat the C's duaunion strategy as sectarian becausethse same historians appaud the CI for spitting fromthe corrupt AFL in 195. (0) ua unionism as in facta correct ine in the eary 0s hen the traditiona tradeunions ere simpy refusing to organize discontented ork-ers As Staughton Lynd points out in this issue it as un-fortunate that the C P did not maintain its independence fromthe AFL onger because it might have given the rankand

fie movement among steeorkers some crucia assistance in 194The ideoogica aspects of the C P ine in the Third

Period might have been too sectarian or utraeft forKentucky miners Aabama sharecroppers and Caiforniamigrants but many of these orkers responded to theCommunists' recruiting efforts even though the recruited


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orked through dual unons. C unons aled n the hrd

Perod not merely because ther organzers ere too sec-taran, as the lberals suggest, but because they encoun-tered severe represson and depended too much on outsdeleadershp.

Ater a short transtonal perod n 193435, the Com-munst Party adopted a Popular Front strategy It stoppedcrtczng the Ne eal and joned orces th other polt-cal groups opposed to Fascsm. Party membershp n

creased rom 30,0 n 1935 to 55,000 n 1938 and 80,000n 1942, and changed rom a strong proletaran majorty th a de geographcal dstrbuton to a membershp n hch orkers ere outnumbered by proessonals, ntel-lectual, and htecollar orkers concentrated manly nNe ork State urng the early opular Front perd,the Communsts ganed a strong oothold n the labormovement, especally n the ne C IO alates, becausethey ere better organzers and trade unonsts than any-one else. Mark Nason has shon that n the late 30s Cunon leaders adopted the same bureaucratc approach tounonsm that the labor bosses used. Ambtous tradeunonsts ere attracted to the Party n these years be-cause t oered advce on strategy and tactcs, but, ththe excepton o a e ethnc and occupatonal groups, large

numbers o rankandle orkers ere not attracted tothe CP, partly because t tactly supported Roosevelt ater1935 (31) Ater 1941 the CP consoldated ts poer n cer-tan unons by acceptng the undemocratc practces oother labor ocals and by eagerly cooperatng th thegovernment n enorcng the artme "nostrke pledgeWhen the Communsts deemphaszed poltcal educatonand agtaton thn the unons durng the late 30s, they

played nto the hands o Murray, llman Reuther, andother labor leaders ho ere able to purge the Redsmore easly ater the War because the C aled to buldup poltcal suprt among the rank and le, even n theunons t domnated.

beral hstorans have oten gnored or dscredted therole o the et n the 1930s, but a more balanced cture


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i begiig o emerge becaue the l etit are otelig their o orie

L LEFTSTS TEL TER WN STRES

e o the problem ith memoir i that peope havevery elective memorie Take Wyham Mortimer orexample e a a importat orgaizer a oicia i theUite Auto Worker Uio e a alo a Commuit

Mortimer ko a great eal about the C activitie ithe UA W o al leve Uortuately hi recetly pub-ihe autobiography raize give u very e iight ito the ature o thee activitie (2) We ollo Mortimer career a trae uioit uite cloely but e learvery ittle about the Commuit Party or about it eecto the author Maybe peope ho poure their heart aoul ito a revolutioary party caot be expecte to give

u heavy itera criticim but e ca expect them torite about hat ie a abor i the Party ere ike Per-hap the aul memorie o the atiCommuit hyteriaater the War til hag too heavily o the memorie ootime Re ike Mortimer

Thi i ot the cae hoever ith e eCaux a Re ho a Pubicity irector o the C rom 195 util thepurge o 1947 Raical he tel u a little bit aboutPary ie urig the 0 a he give u a importat accout o Commuit activity ithi the C eCaux arguerather covicigly that the Re ere more miitatmore emocratic trae uioit tha ayoe ele i theabor movemet e rite at oe poit :

teruio emocracy a ot oe o the C

Te Commamet ei ho ha ought oga har to cetralize cotrol over hi o uiocautioe e uio agait rakailimMurray i Stee ra thig rom the top oillma trie to o the ame i Textile The tumultuou emocracy o the early Auto Workerhorriie the C big hot They' have like a

1 4


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topcontroe Organizing Committee as in Steeand Textie The boisterous auto orkers umped

the gun on them The communists the Left didmost to push rankanfie democracy and mademany neyorganized orkers think it one of theCIOs cardina principes. The idea made a hit Itheped communists to get eected and in officethey ere sharpy atched for any breache ofthis CIO principe

In addition to being more democratic than other CIO affiiate eCaux maintains that the Lefted unions erees corrupt and more principed about their members

genera abor interests And the Communists he riteswere far ahead of the ret of the abor movement in the0s on the uestion of eua rights and opportuniies forback orker ()

These points are corroborated by James Pricketts artice on the C P in the UA W (4) But eCaux hardy has theast ord on Communist participation in the CIO unions.For one thing eCaux udges the Communists record ondemocracy by the CI yardstick hich ceary makes themook good Lynds reearch pubished in this issue chaenges the contention that the Communists pushed rankandfie democracy epeciay in th years after 195

hen the C P advocated oring from ithin. fact eCaux doe not discuss the impact of this party ine fuy;he ony says that it as formuated to have the idet possibe aea.

eCaux aso fais to discuss hat kind of sociaist poitics if any the CP tried to push in the unions during thePopuar Front. abor Radica does make a feebe effort todefend the communists against the charge that they constanty "sitched their ine due to outside infuence bysaying that this did not greaty differeniate them fromother union eaders eCaux rites : Most CIO eaders

ere highy poitica and made their unions sitch ine atthe behest of the Wahington Administration to adust tochange in nationa and foreign poicy and in some cases


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just to be sure they ere o the opposte sde to the commust e. (Page 240) No ths s a ce slap at lberalpartsas of the CI bosses ke Professor Berste hohypocrtcally attack the Reds for alays heg to the -teratoa Commust le but t does ot take us very fartoard uderstadg the effects of CP poy o uo orgazg.

What do the autobographes of Mortmer ad DeCauxtel us about the tactcs the Commust orgazers used?

Ufortuatey they do't gve us much deta about the utsad bolts of orgazg though both cota terestg ac-couts of the semmltary tactcs used the stdostrkes. DeCaux metos the mportace of the Cs ork the Uemployed Coucs durg the early '30s 934Commusts recruted members of the Coucs to assst the volet pcketg at Toledo AutoLte ad at SaFracsco the geeral strke. Later members of the

Coucs got jobs dustry ad formed the ucle of theCommustdomated uos. The Reds also formed lttlesocal cubs the eghborhoods as a ay of gettg to

Clohng Workers Prepare for Batt le


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orkers outsde the plats. (35) Recet terves th or

gazers o the Uted lectrcal Workers Uo have alsosho that Commusts the aster states orked effec-tvely through cultural socetes amog ethc groups (36)

Oe of the best dscussos of tactcs used by the eft the '30s ca be foud Farrell Dobbss autobographcalaccout of the Meapols geeral strke of 1934. ste Rebelo s the remarkable story of ho a few Trot-skysts placed themselves key posts of a bgcty

trasportato system ad the gave mltat drecto to astrke that erupted to a urba class ar Dobbs ho sstll a leadg member of the Socalst Workers Partyputs hs poltcs up frot amster Rebello sstgo the mportace of the Trotskysts' vaguard role the Meapols geeral strke (37) Irocally the Trot-skysts lke ther btter oppoets the Stalsts omore support from rakadflers ho thought they eremltat uosts tha from those ho thought they ererevolutosts Ufortuately Dobbs does ot carry hs accout of the Trotskyst role the Meapols labor movemet beyod the bg strke 1934 t ould have bee -terestg to compare the Trotskyst efforts at poltcaleducato to those of the Commusts the late '30s.

Aother Trotskyst ho partcpated epresso strug-

gles has rtte the best "Old Left hstory of labor the1930s : Art Pres a labor reporter ad edtor for the - hose bor's i Ste as publshed 1964 (38)Hs book recogzed the mportace of rakadfle sur-ge cy ad effectvely crtczed the bureaucratc leadershpof the AF ad the CI. Ulke the three memors reveed ths secto Pres 's study s actually a hstory ot ampressostc autobographcal accout Of course

Pres's rtg o the Commusts s more polemcal thahstorcal He eaggerates the extet to hch the "Stal-sts helped to bureaucratze the CIO after 1935 ad heuderestmates the cotrbuto mltat Commust orgazers made especally battlg racsm

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The Old Leftists give us much more inormation on the

role of the Left in the labor movement than the liberals,but they leave many questions unasked and unanswered.Brian Peterson's comment about the literature on American labor in the 30s still holds true: "There are no ade-quate historie of Communist trade union activities. (39)

"NEW LEFT * REVISION AND RESEARCH

New Left history in the ' 60s contained two forms of em-phasis. One involved writing history from the bottom upIt meant identifying mass movements and other forms ofresistance that challenged the capitalist class and brokeout of te liberal consensus in American history. The second emphasis in New Left history focused attention on corporate liberalism and the rulers ability to coopt reform

and labor movements. Some Marxist historians called fora total view of the past that brought both of these ap-proaches together in a dialectical understanding of theclass struggle. However, New Left historians of the UShave not yet written that kind of total view of the past intotheir work.

Staughton Lynds recent research on the CIO in the 30s is a good example of the first kind of emphasis writing

history from the bottom up. Lynd is especially concernedwith the problem of elitism in historical research. He feelsthat a "topdow view has biased the work of previouswriters, especially the liberals. I his article on "guerrillahistory in Gary, Lynd seemed to be writing historians outof the picture entirely: He hoped that the people wouldwrite their own history (40)

The striking story of Jess Hull tt appears in this issuews recorded by Dale Rosen and Ted Rosengarten in that

* Although the historians mentioned in this section cameout of the New Left of the 960s, they have evolved a dif-ferent kind of politics in the 1970s. The section is labeledNew Left largely to distinguish it from the politics dis-cussed in the previous two sections

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spirit They say, qute rihtly, that this "ma is hs o

hstoria ad tha "his tstimoy cotas ts o aalysis The discussio of Jess ulls membershp thelabama Sharecroppers Uio (SU) presets a black per-spectve o radical orai the South dur the 0s,hle recetly published itervies th . L Mtchell adlaude Wlliams of the rkasas Souther Teat FarmersUio (ST FU) offer hte perspectives o the terracalora i the same decade (1) These oral hsores ofSU ad STFU leaders are comparable to the "persoalhistories of local I militats that Lyd collected for aprevous ssue of adcal merca (2) They sho thatoral hstory s a valuable method because t reveals hestories of local oraers ho are usually ored thestadard accouts

It should be poited out, hoever, that the oral hstores

thus far collected by radcals are larely those of mltaleaders, people of the rak ad fle to be sure, bt leaders evertheless Most of he peopl iterveed Studs Ter-kels popular oral hstory of the "reat depresso arealso leaders of a sort () There are a fe pla folks me ho pop up to tell ther story, hoever adther accouts are usually prety depressi They are mportat i uderli the fact that the oraii drives of

the 0s succeeded uo oly 22% of the orkpopulatio, ad that millos of people remaied uemployed ad uoraed throuhout the epresso

oever, i the years betee 191 ad 19 the spo-taeous oraiato of the Bous rmy march o Wash- ito ad the militat cty demostratos oraed bythe ommustled Uemployed oucils shoed hat mayuemployed orkers could oraie hemselves, despitether depressed coditio () Members of he ocilsalso helped ae the violet mass strules lauched byhe electrcal orkers of Toledo ad the dockorkers ofSa Fracisco 94 Terkels tervies reveal otherforms of roup actio amo the uemployed later the0s, ad Woody Guthres recetly republshed autoboraphy shos ho rasets cooperated (eve across race


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lies) whe they ra up aaist railroad bulls ad the

like while ridi the rails. (5)But whether oral histories are o the uemployed worker

or o the oraied worker, they are ot eouh i ad othemselves Lyds article i this issue o Radical Amer- ica shows how importat oral history ca be or explaiithe class strule ro the rak ad iles poit o view.It also suests that the historias aalysis is helpul, otbecause it makes sese out o the workers experieces,but because it puts them ito historical ad political co-text ad adds iormatio (or example, about the machia-tios o maaemet or overmet oicials) that miht ot have bee kow to people who were i the thick o thestrule

It is especially importt that Marxist historias uder-std militat movemets withi the class cotext i which

they struled It is ot eouh just to kow that militacye xisted; we have to kow how much it really threateedboureois heemoy ad how much it really altered themeas o productio ad the social relatios betweeclasses. But the irst step is to id out whe ad wheremlitat resistace appeared ad how it developed, becausethe ull dimesios o worki class strule i the 0s(ad i other decades as well) are ukow

act, it is mportat to lear more about the ature orakadile militacy i the 0s so that a ew overviewo the period ca be costructed that does ot cotai thebias oud i most liberal ad may New Let accouts, abias that emphasies the importace o class collaboratioad the total heemoy o corporate liberalism. RoaldRadosh is a New Let labor historia whose work is weakeed by his topdow perspective () Radoshs writi

o the corporate ideoloy o America labor leaders emphasies the thiki o a ew me like Sidey illma whowere actively tryi to iterate uios ito the corporatecapitalist order it ails to evaluate the actios o workersthat orced recoitio out o uio ad overmet bu-reaucrats as well as idustrialists I this New Let viewo the 0s, the class strule seems just as oesided as

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t does n ld et accounts n whch the workers alwayswn unless they are cuelly deceed or olently re-pressed Beore we can wrte a real class analyss o thelabor strule n the '3s and 4s, we hae to know whathappened, at the bottom and at the top.

Stauhton ynd nds edence o mltant rankandleactty larely throuh oral hstory nterews, whleJeremy Brecher nds a smlar sort o nsurency n tra-dtonal sources, such as the New York mes hs re-cent book he rue U Mass surnce Amerca k Pr, Brecher ncludes asecton on the Depresson decade n whch he arues thatthe most mportant actons o the 3s, the key strkes o934 and the stdowns o 9337, were ntated by rank-andlers wthout the help o oraned partes, unons, orother anuards. act, he says that oranatons o thsknd oten opposed mltant mass strkes or tred to chan

nel them n drectons ther leaders could control TheLetwn partes were enerally preoccuped wth buld-n ther own oranatons. To support ths chare, theauthor ctes the example o ommunst and Socalst unonleaders n the Flnt stdown strkes who aled to dscussthe reopenn o the plants under workers' manaement.(47) Unlke ynd, Brecher does not thnk that a reoluton-ary party could hae made a sncant derence n thelabor strules o the 3s e arues that the leaders osuch partes hae always responded to worknclass pro-test n ways that were selsern

Strke ! descres seeral strules durn the late 3sn whch I ocals and ommunst leaders played anobstructonst role, but t does not proe that ths was aunersal phenomenon throuhout the perod. Furthermore,

Brecher's arument als to explan the role o the P nthe Thrd Perod (beore 935) when ommunsts adopted areolutonary lne and led solated but sncant strkes.ston Popes book on the Gastona, North arolna textlestrke o 929 (llhands l Preachers) and TheodoreDraper's artcle on the Appalachan coal strkes o 93(cted earler) show that ommunst dual unons jumped n

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\ Il 0


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aer wldcas had sared 48) owever, m Das pam

phle o alora mra workers pos o ha hep's Arculural ad aery Workers Uo acally saed ad led several mla srkes 193233 49)Ad Farrell Dobbss eamser Rebello dcaes haroskys Ray Due led he coal drvers srke ha pre-cpaed he Meapols eeral srke o 1934 De adhs comrades also ave he larer srle mla lead-ershp Ths s corroboraed by Irv Berse, who s

ceraly o apolos or roskysm. 50) Brecher does o accou or hese ad oher srkes he eary 30s,whe members o revoloary pares sad or acceleraed mass sureces

Eve we ra Brechers debaable po ha he ealways parcpaed mass srkes aer hey bea, wesll have o kow who sared hem he rs place Somepeople have o sar srkes, eve spoaeos oes

Brechers book ves us he sese ha here are rakad-le mlas dow here ac as leaders he kd opeople Lyds oral hsores have deed), bu we do olear much abo hem

ac, Srke preses a raher absrac pcure o heworkers, as a mass ha srkes ou spoaeously avaros pos hsory or reasos ha are o erelyclear We are o old why some workers srke ad ohersdo o. We do o kow who he local leaders were, herewere ay Ad we do o e a sese o he racal, ehca d relous dereces amo workers ha mh help oaswer hese quesos Brecher oers ew shs ohe dyamcs o workclass mlacy he 1930s, bhs work leaves ma mora Quesos uaswered

WAT APPENED TO TE MIITANY OF TEEARY 30s AND FORMATIVE YEAR OF TE IO?

A very eeral aswer o hs qeso wold ru as ol-lows he mass srkes o he early Depresso years, especally 1934 orced labor leaders o orm he I adorae dusral workers; rakadle mlacy co


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tine to rn ot of these leaders control throgh the sit-

down wave of 1937; the recession of 193738 increased n-employment and pt workers on the defensive while CIO bosses consolidated their gains and extended their contromore flly over the new nions dring the ar nionmembership increased bt militancy was checked by thenostrike pledge and other forms of coercion and after thear, the greatest strike wave in American laor historyerpted in 1946 only to be followed by the crippling Taft-

Hartley Act and the prges of Reds from the nionsThese events and those which folowed in the cCarthyperiod paved the way for the COs increasing Cold arconservatism 51) The general contors of this history are

fairly well known However a more detailed elanation isnecessary

hat happened to the labor militancy of the period afterit peaked in the sitdown strike wave of 193637? Art

Preis, the historian who has answered this qestion mostdirectly shows that the Roosevelt recession of 193738 ptthe workers on the defensive and allowed labor bosses toconsolidate their contro or example, after the disas-tros defeat in the ttle Steel strikes in 1937 hil r-ray ewiss heir apparent took nearly absolte controlover SOC At the same time the leaders of the CIO were

beginning to retreat from the bold organizing forays of theearly days 52)

The effects of World ar n on the labor movement can be seen even before Pearl Harbor or example considerthe orth American Aviation strike of 1941 in thernCalfornia, described by yndham oimer in one of the

few interesting sections of his atobiography UA organ-izers, inclding ortimer and Richard rankenstee were

working closely with the strikers and felt that the entireaircraft indstry on the est Coast was ready to fall intothe lap of the CIO like a ripe plm bt at a crcial pointin the strggle rankensteen ted fink and denonced thestrike as commnisted and inspired Then, for the firsttime in his administration, Roosevelt sent in US Armytroops to break a strike ortimer, who blamed Sidney


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llman for these eents, rote a stnn letter to the

Is ne presdent, hl Murray, condemnn ths sellout,but t as to no aal 53) lman and Rooseelt kne theUS ould enter the War, and they dd not ant anythn tostop arcraft producton. The permanent ar economy asndn up

espte I ctore at Ford and Bethehem Steel n191 the abor moement lost momentum because mostunon eaders accepted the Goernments arme no

strke pede. John L. Les and the Unted Mne Workers ed a sprted resstance to the plede. 192 they eft theI n dsust, and n the folon year they launchedmtant strke n flarant olaton of the plede Butmost other abor leaders, ncludn the ommunsts, re-fused to folo the UMWs exampe

Of course, n Labors Ste Pres attacks the reactonary roe of the ommunsts n the unons after the Naattack on Russa n 191 e summons speca ndnatonhen he compares the ommunsts acttes th those ofhs comrade n Mnneapos ho ed the most mltantunon n the country, Teamster Local 5. In 191 theTrotskyst leaders of the local, ncludn Farre obbs,had to be mprsoned for "sedtous conpracy under thene mth ct n order to alo the FL to rean contro

of the mtant Mnneapols abor oement Many ofress crtcsms of the P durn the War are el-founded, but hs Trotskyst poltcs ead hm to exaeratethe deree to hch the ommunsts contrbuted to the bureaucrataton of the I n the 190s (5)

Ths proces as realy rooted, Stan Wer contends, nthe nsttutonalaton of collecte barann that oc-curred under the orst possbe terms at the start of

World War II "ompulsory arbtraton of reance became a enera pattern throuh the ntates of the WarLabor Board n hch I eaders partcpated ccordnto Wer, ths led to the deeneraton of I eadershp andto the cementn of the cooperate trpartte arrane-m ent beteen oernment, abor, and manaement bureaucrats (55)

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Aer he amai aioal srike wave o 194 (which

idled 4,00000 workers, wice he umber recorded i197 he year o he sidows), Preis shows how a ruh-less ailabor campai culmiaed i he disasrousTaarley Ac o 1947 ad he Red Pures. Alhouhsrikes coiued a a hiher level i he lae 40s adearly 50s ha hey reached i he 0s he early miliacy o he IO declied yicism spread amo he rakad file while aserism ad bossism rew wihi he

leadership (5)

W T WERE TE AOMPLISMENTSAN LITATIONS OF TE IO?

id he IO a ay ime represe a model or sociallycoscious uioism? avid Brody arues ha may o

he ew uios coiued i he radiioal job cosciousmold esablished i Gompers's ime, bu he also says ha i he early years he IO lacked much of he corrupbossism ha characeried he AFL uios The uioi- i impulse came from he raks, he wries, ad wih i(came) a marked resisace o ouside direcio. The re-cuime o oficers was likewise abormal, Brody co-

iues The rakadilers ad Lewiers caapuled io leadership were moivaed more by calli ha byambiio (57)

addiio o leavi a radiio o miliacy ad cleauioism rom is early years, he IO seemed o chae is members aiudes oward capialism A ieressudy published i 1941 foud ha 8% o he IO rubberworkers ierviewed i Akro expressed lile sympahy

wih he cocep o corporae propery (oly 1% believed i i sroly), while jus % o rubber workers o i heI disapproved o he cocep ad 15% deeded corporaepropery rihs sroly. (58)

The IO also helped o break dow ehic esios wihihe labor moveme. ac, he 190s mih be see as hemo crucial period i he maki o a whie worki class

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i the US This decade witessed the culmiatio of a pai-

ful series of experieces with idusrialism tha bea withthe Yakees ad the Irish i the early 19th etury adcoiued with Italias, Slavs, ad uther "poor whites

i the early 20th etury. The first uified, militat re-sposes to idusrialism occurred duri the wrecetextile strike of 1912 ad the atioal steel strike of 1919uri the strules of the 0s white workers drew otheir experieces ad thoe of their fathers ad radfah-

ers ad embraced the ew idustrial uioism o he Ibecause they kew it could help to break dow may of theold atioalistic prejudices hat employers had used to di-vide them

Furthermore, the ew uioism of the late 0s brouhta uprecedeted umber of black workers io he labormovemet ad helped to udercut white racism I theirrecetly republished study, orkers ios (which oriially appeared i 199), ayto adMitchell coducted iterviews with 900 workers of bothraces i steel, meatpacki, ad railroad car shops, adfoud that participatio i I uios had actually modifiedsome of the race preudices held by white workers (59) TheI recruited black workers (200,000 by 190) becausetheir labor power i some heavy idustries was too power-

ful to be iored but i the process its oraiers struck importat blows at the racism that divided workers i keysectors of the ecoomy owever i the late 190s Ileaders halted their uher oraii efforts ad puredthe ommuists who were the most outspoke advocates of iterracial oraii ad i the 1950s these leadersmoved steadily toward the exclusioary policies of theFL (0) The reat efforts the labor movemet made to

achieve racial solidarity i the 0s did ot permit a real iteratio of blacks with the emeri white workiclass

Like blacks, wome were recruited maily i the lare idustries where their labor power could ot be ioredWomes participatio i labor strules icreased durithe War whe they were hired to fill may assembly lie


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jbs. A e men h rganied r he in he 3s

and 4s hae le us sme spiried accuns (6) burhe ms par emales hae been rien u he labrhisry hese decades Fr eample, in all he lauda-ry riig abu Daid Dubinsky by Bernsein and hers,he rank and ile he Inernainal adies GarmenWrkers Unn is neer menined 2) I is as hughDubinsky rganied he enire unin by himse I Wmenplayed crucial srikesuppr rles a inneaplis in 34

and a Flin in 37 as ell as in her cnlics, and heyparicipaed in impran rganiing dries in he garmen indusry amng hers (6) N men are in he prcess riin he hisry hey made hen

The s deelpmen as a classcnscius memenas limied als by is dependence n he DemcraicPary. ne he reasns ha s many yung rkers, in-cluding many milians, rushed in he Ne Deal caliin

as ha hey hugh heir nely rganied per uldpu hem in a cnrlling siin ihin he DemcraicPary any rkers liked Rseel simply because hegae jbs he unemplyed and helped unins rgan-

ie hers, h realied ha FDR as n a cnsisenriend labr, hugh ha hey culd rce he Presiden sere heir ineress ike Jhn eis, hey madehe misake hinking hey culd ihdra he mass ie

suppr hey musered r Rseel and he Demcras in19

s rkers chse FDR and his pary because heDemcras presened a "gd, humaniarian, and a imesprrkingclass image, hile he Republicans preseneda ad callus image because heir clse relainshipih big business During he 3s here didn seem bean

y her real alernaie The acinalied cialisPary ls is cnac ih he rking class in he 2s,and he mmunis Pary, hich had a srng piin inhe I, spped criiciing Rseel and he Ne Dealduring he Ppular Frn Neerheless, rkingclassdiscnen ih he Demcras increased in he lae 3s asa resul he Rseel recessin, riing unemplymen


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ad epessi lab gaies. Whe ewis aacked

he Demcas ad sli wih Rsevel i 1940, hee wasa peial peig he mai a lab pay, asA Peis suggess. 4) Bu ewis esed Wilkie ad heAF ad I bsses lied up slidly behid FR.

Whe he US eeed he Wa, hese same ui iials, icludig may leades he ew uis, gaheed beeRsevel like "eudal pes eig hei sevies akig, ad, as he Gveme execised me ad mecl ve cllecive bagaiig, lab bsses becameme ad me depede up he avs he Dem-caic Pay. Alhugh husads wkes led by ewsad he Uied Mie Wkes, ebelled agais he waime esicis, Rsevel w me supp by sheddighis aished image as "D New Deal ad adpig heme apealig ideiy "D. WiheWa uig all

hese yeas he e, ad espeially he mmuis Pay,ailed e a gd ciique Rsevel's Pay aviable aleaive i

NUSIN

Why is he wkiglass hisy he 190s impa he Le day Fi all i is ecessary ude-

sad he hisy he wkig class i de appeci-ae is accmplshmes ad evaluae is deeas Aeellig Suds Tekel abu a exadiay sike amghe milia uba ciga makes i Tampa i he 0s, seYglesias explaied ha he sidaiy his aive cmmu iy ad he ciical ielligece his paes ad elaives made i diicul him ead pliical aalyss,"eve hse he New L-, wh alked i a "degay

way abu gliyig he wkes "The wkig class Ikew, Yglesias cluded, was jus gea 5) isias he ld e peced he wkes ad

hei leades ealusly, hse he New Le pjec-ed he ailues he psWld Wa I yeas a back i he pas cusig he class cllabai uileades, hey iged he miliacy he ak ad ile

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Stauhton Lynds "persona histories o the IO sho that

this miitancy had reat poitica potentia in the 190s andsuest that it survived into the 1970s Lynds essay in this issue shos that the Let, and speciicay the ommunistParty, aied to respond to orker insurency in one cru-cia industry, stee It aied in other industries as eSociaists o today have somethin o vaue to earn bystudyin the reasons or those aiures there is a "es-son in the abor history o the 190s, it is this : The Let

must be exibe enouh to respond to the speciic needs ooca miitants and to raise poitica demands that arereevant to those needs

Vi ct orious Sit -Dow Strikers 137

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FTNOTES

1 George Rawick : "Working Clas s SelfActivity, _ America, Volume 3, Number 2 (1969) Page 27

2 id.3 Guido Baldi : "Theses on Mass orker and Social Cap

ital, adical America Volume 6, Number 3 (1972) Page 16 4 Irvin Bensten Trbulet Years : A Hiso merican rker 133- 1941 (Boson Houhton Mifflin

1969)5 Stauhton Lynd : "Crowd, Rank and File, and Party in

the Organiztion of the CI unpublished paper presentedt Midwest Regional Conference of the Radical Historians'Caucus, Evanston linois, ctober 14, 1972, ae 1

6 Review in Hitory Volume 12, Number 1 (1971)Page 167

7 David Brody : "Labor an the Great Depression : In-terpreive rospects, Histor Volume 13, Number2 (1972), age 239

8 Art reis : Labor' s Step ew York Pathinderress, 1964), age 32

9 Saul D Alinsky : 1. wis : M Unauthorize ograh (New York Vintae, 1970 originally published in1949), e 72

10 E P Thompson : Makin9Enlish Working

Class (New York Vintage, 1963), Pages 757-758

- Bernstein : Turbulent Yers , Chapter 612. Sidney Fine :-: General Motors

of 193637 (AnnArbor University of Michigan Press, 1969)age 123-24 and 127.

13 !., ages 142 and 369, Note 63, a quoteby C K.Beckman one of the local leaders of the sitdown

14 Ibid Paes 144, 172, and 26715 ghton Lynd : "hat Is Radicl History ? : Remarks made at panel discussion durin the Organiation ofAmerican Historians meeting, Los Aneles April 1970 Theimportance of Johnsons role is also emphasized by Preisin Labors Ste Page 57

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n the daner te netabty aacy ee By

Lbr and the Great epren Pae 27 Anky . , Pae 878 nad H . Grubb : C -

Farme Cape HUnerty Nrth Carna Pre 1971)

9 Mark Nan "The uthern Tenant Farme Unnand the CI Radca Amerc Vume 2, Number 5 198),Pae 5253

20 Remrk made by Mtche t a meetn he Rad-c Htran Caucu n Cambrde Machuett ctber 5, 1972

21 Bernten urbuent Year Pae 2322 Id Pae 22923 ee Chare P Larrwe "The Geat Martme trke

3 t Vume 11 Number 1970), PartI Pae 17 2 Bernten : t , Pae 259, and Fne S- Pe 171

25 Grubb : Cttn Pae 3 and 752 Mtche nterew ctber 5, 1972 The cunder

the TFU a nted that the Unn tk e eea Huey Ln "hare ur Weath cub n nrtheat A-kana

27 Thedre rape "Cmmunt and Mner 19281933, ent pn 1972), Pae 379380 28 Anky l Lew Pae 152153 29 raper preuy cted and Jm Dnn : Cmmu-

nt ranze the Factre n the Fed New EnandFree Pe pamphet Btn, 1970)30 !., Page 392 See also Irving Bernstein : H istoryflAmerican W oker. 19 9 -933 (Bos-ton Houghton Mifflin 1960), Pages 20-2 and ArthurSchleinger Jr. Politics2 Upheaval, Volume IIIof Age2 Roosevelt (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1960)Pae 190195

31. For important statistics on shifting social and ethnicbase of CP membership see Nathan Glazer : The cialEAmericn Communism (New York praeg; 1959),Pges 92 114, nd 16 For criticism of the C's rol

e in3 2


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the C I see Nason : "he Southen Tenant Fames Unonand the CI pevousl cted

2 Wndham Motme : Oganze ! Boston BeaconPess 1972)

en DeCau : abo adcal : Fom the obbes to-

Boston Beacon Pess 197), Pages 29244 James R . Pckett : "Communsm and Factonalsm

n the UAW 191947 Scence cet Volume 2,Numbe 1968), Pages 257277

5 Have Conno quoted n Staughton nd edto) Pesona Hstoes of the CIO adcal Ame Voume5 Numbe 1971), Pages 5455

6 on ome : emaks made at the Radcal Hsto-ans Regona Confeence MI Ap 15, 1972 See alsoJulus Emspacks naatve fom the Columba al Hs-to Poject ecent pubshed b the Yok me.

7 Fae Dobbs : eamste Rebelon New Yok Path-

fnde Pess 1972), Pages 41528 Fo the Communsts vew of the peod see chadO Boe and Hebet M . Moas : abos Untold New Yok Unted Electcal okes 1955), Chaptes 9and 1

9 Ban Peteson : Wokng Class Communsm - Ameca Volume 5 Numbe 1 1971), Pages 944

4 Staughton nd : Guela Hto n Ga -

ctobe 1969) 41 H. Mtche ntevew fom Coumba al HstoColecton publshed on mcocad b the 1972), and Caude Wllams ntevew n Studs eke ! : M Qsto 2 Depesson NewYok Avon 1971), ages 282

42 Staughton nd edto) : "Pesonal Hstoes of theCIO adca Aeca Volume 5 umbe 1971), ages4976

4 eke : mes 44 See oge Danels : Amy estpot Connect-

cut Geenwood 1972), and ane J. eab : Unted WeEat : he Ceaton and Oganzaton of the UnempoedCouncs n 19 Hsto, Voume 8 Numbe 41967), ages 15

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45 Woody Guthrie : 8u fo Glo (New York Avon,19

7 1).46 See Ronad Radosh : "The Corporate Ideoogyof Amer

ican Labr Leaders from Gompers toHiman in James

WeinsteinandDavid Eakins (editors) : For A New

s in History and olitics Sudies on < ew 'York, V intage, 1970), ages 125-15 1 . 47. Jeremy Brecher : Srike ,! A T,ru Histo: of MassIn,surgence (San Francisco Straight Arrow,

1972) Pages 20 and 57.48 Lison Pope : n Pryachers : A Stud


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60. See Sumner Rosen : "Black Workers in the CI Era,

1935-1955, in Julius Jacobson (editor) : Thy Neg andica La (w York, Anchor, 1968,Pag 18808

6 1 S Ro Potta : ra on th (ditd yJ . . Bffll, Nw York 1944, th iography of a C organir who took part in th Goodyar and Flint trik ntrviw with womn organir of th 30 can fondin Studs Terkel : Division StreeI Ameca (ew York, Pan-thon, 1961, Pag 5771, and in a Strik in Minnapoli, Rd ffal, mr and 3 (197, Pag 7383

62. See, for example, "David Dubinsky, The ILGWU, andth Laor Movmnt, Laor itory Volm 9, SpcialSpplmnt (19 68 , and Brntin : Pag8489 and 708-71

63 S o : amt Pag 81-8 and 86,and Fin : it-o\, Pag 00-01 and 69-70 n th dirct rol of womn trikr at Gatonia, Pop : Mihand n , Pag 58.

64 Pri : or' iant S, Chaptr 965 Yglia intrviw in Trkl : Pag 11

STATEMNT OF OWNERS HI P MANAGEMENT AND CIRC ULATION, 1 Title ofpublication: Radical America 2. Date of filing Nov. 1971 . . Frequency of ssue:

B-monthly Location of known office of pulication: 878 Massachusetts AveCambridge, Mass 02140. 5. Location of he headquarters o general buiness officesof the pulishers: 1878 Massachusetts Ave Camdge Mass. 02140 6. Names andaddresses of pulsher editor and managing editor Radcal America 1878Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge Mass. 02140; Paul Buhle and James O'Brien 1878Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge Mass 0240; Paul Buhle and ames O'Ben1878 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge Mass 021 7 Owner ames O'Bien 878Massachusetts Ave Cambrdge Mass 02140 8 Known bondholders mortgageesand other security holders owning or holding 1 % or more of total amount of bondsmortgages or other securites None

Extent and nature of circulation (after each item the first number s the averagenumber of copies each of the past 3 issues; the second number is the actual numberof copies of single issue published nearest o filing date) A otal no copies printed500; 8. B Paid Crcuation: 1 Sales through dealers and carriers street vendorsand counter sales 820 2. Mail subscriptions 111; 1198. C. Total paidcircuaton 2056; 2018 D Free distribution by ma carrier or other means 1 Samples complimentary and othe free copes( 2; 6 2 Copies distributed tonews agents but not sold 215; 285 E Tota distribution 219 F Office useeftover unaccounted spoiled after printing: 12; 1481 G Total ;

I certify that the statements made by me above are correct and completeames O'Brien Coedtor

S


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NEW F PPHE NE

by John Hewetson : narrave account of e lileworking class n mass actions which overew

Fascism and e cOr-revolionary activies of e Allies nreesblishng urgis contro reprint fm Freom Pressedion ( pages )

RA Reprints

ilustraife; printed as

by Marcia Salo Rizi : striking ghicsreco of the conflicts and struggles of a wom's

a specia suppement e JulyAugust issue of( pages )

, by James ggs reprnt of Chapter wren

in ; an insigul sketch a interetaon of the CIO decline the

emergence of auomation a the changng of workers (NewEngla Free Press pages, )

Works fom Oer Publishers

, = : gorgeous textof words and pictues of strugges a personal defianceagainst oppressors of al ks colected and desi n e bestadions of te W (lidarity Book Shop pages, $)

, by M. Vei : earae crtique ofof wers, and e function of e

"revolionary eader in mainining is division by sflng econtoll initiatves of e masses compi i and usatby Lrraine and Fry Perlman in an asnishing array of colors andpaes exceeding e desi of The Incoherence of e Intellectual

(Back & R Press, pages, $

Punching Ou by Marin Glabern : reprnt of pamphlet conaninga personal forcefu description of workers' struggles gan contolover puction (joer Truh Organization pages )

Surrealist Research & Monograph Series

by Paul Gan : Number Fou of e Series a delious

by noted wrier on American Bues music ( pages ilustatby drawngs of frogs )


39/100

i Ealy 1

Casy tug Ld

Rcnt hitorian aociatd with th Lft hav foundindtria union organing in h 130 puling havdcind to oin in th ira cration of it rultpointing to th partia intgration of company and unionuracrci in adminitring C contract (C Wrightl (1 and th C' dfinition of nion organing thatmad it impol to concntrat on potica organiation that chalngd capitalit intitton (Mar aon W hav dwlt o happning which for ra hitorian ar mrly prlminary or tranitory, uch a th

ma tri in Todo, Minnali and an Francicoin 134 (3 th improviation from ow of oca indutriaunion and ranand-fi action commtt (4, or th manyindication of intrt in a Laor arty or Farmr-orParty 5

Not Thi ay ring togthr matria om of whichw initialy prntd in Grrila itory in Gary Li

rao (ctor 1969 What appnd to th Militancy ofth C ? m RanandFl Viw, a papr rad at tAmrcan itorical Aociation mting (Dcmr 170;and Prona itori of th Eary C, Radica Amr

o

ia (MayJun 1971, rprintd a a ampht y th wEngland Fr Pr A colction o th intrviw whichar th ai of thi wor will pihd y Bacon Pr


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But thi i not nough n th 1890 th driv for indu

trial unionim undr Eugn D ld to a confrontationwith a Dmocratic Pridnt, rcognition of th nd forindpndent laor politic and th formation of the SocialitParty. Thre wa a tp-tp tranition firt to conomic organization on a roadr cal thn to politicalorganization vry much in th mannr outlind in ThCommunit Manifto Thi did not happn in th 1930(or at firt glance appear not to hav happned and w

mut a why. liev that ther i a connction twnt difficulty experincd y w Lft hitorian in anwring thi qution and th difficulty xperincd yw Lft woring-cla organizer. w had a ettr idahow radical hould hav actd while union wer eingorganizd w might ettr undertand how thy hould acttoday

Thi ay conider th cae of tel

Whn the ational Rcovry Adminitration came intoxitnc in Jun 933, the fl A L union in the tlindutry th Amalgamated Aociation of ron, Stl and

,'

in 973 under the tit : Cla ditd y Alic and StaughtonLynd. hould li to than Profor Carroll Moody oforthrn llinoi Univerity for hi rmarale cholarlygenroity during my wor on ranand-fil movment int e permittd me to xamine not only a firt draft ofa tudy on th raand-fil movment in th AmalgamatedAociation of ron, Stl and Tin Worr ut th noton which that tudy i ad. hav mad clar in th footnot tho fw cae in which a tatment in th prntay i mad on the authority of Profor Moody rarch n general, howvr hi rearch ma it poilfor m to advance mor confidntly concluion which hadrached indepndently on the ai of pronal rcollection of telworer and of document they had avd


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Tin Wok pot l than 5,000 mm By thtim of th Amalgamat annal convntion in Apil 1934it mmhip ha inca to a nm vaioly timat at 50,000 to 00,000. (6 avy Conno, thn alao pot living in Pittgh, mm it thi way

Along cam th w al, an thn cam th RA,an th ffct wa lctic all p an own thovally. Th mill gan opning omwhat, an

th tlwok a in th nwpap aot thiRA Sction 7 A that gaant yo th ight toogani All ov th tl conty nion localpang p pontanoly ot y vit of thAmalgamat Aociation; thy colnt hav cal. Bt th local pang p at Dqn,omta an Baock Yo nam th mill townan th wa a local th, carying a nam lik

th Bl Eagl o th w al local Thpopl ha nv ha any xpinc in nionim.All thy knw wa that, y golly, th tim ha comwhn thy col ogani an th Govnmnt gaant thm th ight to ogani I (7

Thi makal oganiing iv wa cai ot y ankan-fil tlwok with littl hlp fo fll-tim ogan

i of th Amalgamat At th US Stl Ega ThomponWok in Baock, fo xampl, an Amalgamat ogani povi mmhip ca an volnt oganifom th mill tn in a wk with 500 of thm ign(8 Walt Galnon wongly tm th Amalgamat oganiing campaign of 1933 nccfl (9 A a mattof fact, th Amalgamat iv twn Jn 1933 an Apil1934 ign p aot th am nm of tlwok thatth Stl Wok ganiing Committ, ing 00 flltim ogani, ign p in a compaal pio of tim,fom Jn 936 to Mach 1937

Th lf-oganiation of th ank an fil wa at lat affctiv a th topown pofionalim of th C, whichha fa gat oc at it ipoal Galnon himlf

9


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qtes ee ressman as saying that as the spring

SWC cld nt have wn an NR electin n the basi r wn membership r the reslts the rganizingcampaign t date" in either ig ittle Steel 10 Thebest testimny t this eect cmes rm the man wh cllected SWOC des avid J Mcnald later president the United Steelwrkers America Cntrary t ninprpaganda sme which helped t rite the steelwrkers did nt all all ver themselves t sign a pledge

card with the SWOC, Mcnald states in his atbigraphy

What we hped wld be a trrent trned t, instead, t be a trickle Under r arrangement iththe Amalgamated, it wld carter a lcal ninas sn as we had engh men signed p in a plantt rm the ncles an eective rganizatinOtentimes the lcals cnsisted the hal-dzen

men daring engh t sign the charter applicatinWhen these skeletn reqests straggled in, e assigned impressively high ldge nmbers in the hpethat tsiders wld think we had that may lcalsOnly Mrray and kne h thin the tally as althgh ewis ld insist n the trth whenever visited Washingtn then ld shake his head innderment at the lack prgress 1

Accrding t Mcnald, SWOC membership was a shaky000 at the end 196 and hen US Steel signed a cntract in March 9 SWOC had signed p nly % its emplyees

Mcnald ers a hatl explanatins r steelwrkers absence respnse t SOC a 50-year traditin nn-ninism the ear lsing bs, and the act that smewrkers were as apprehensive abt dictatrship rm aninternatinal nin as they ere armtwisting rm theiremplyer" Only the last these makes any sense whenne recalls that st three years bere the same steelrkers had enthsiastically rganized lcal nins Theqestin presents itsel hy did the rganizing drive


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19-4 strngly spprted by the rank and file fail t

achieve the nin recgnitin accmplished by the SWCdrive f 19-7 with weaker rank-and-file backing ?

The rank and file sght t achieve nin recgnitinthrgh the Amalgamated in 19 194 and 195 The 19effrt was the by-prdct f a spntanes strike by calminers in the captive mines" f western Pennsylvaniawned by the steel cmpanies (1) These miners ined theUnited ine Wrkers after the passage f the NRA st assteelwrkers were ining the Amalgamated te in Jlyminers at the C rick mines wned by US Steel strckfr recgnitin f their new UMW lcals and the right telect checkweighmen UW president Jhn ewis agreedwith President Rsevelt that the men wld g back twrk and that their grievances wld be referred t a special gvernment bard The men refsed their representa

tives vting 1 t 4 against retrning t wrk fr the present A 44year-ld rish immigrant named Martin Ryanemerged as their spkesman By the end f September 1970000 miners were n strike

Then the strike spread t steelwrkers On September miners marched int Clairtn ennsylvania where thelargest cke plant in the United States made fel fr USSteel mills thrght the Mnngahela Valley ndreds f

cal miners and an estimated half f the wrk frce atClairtn circled the gates f the Cairtn steel and byprdcts wrks in an endless march day and night Meanwhile at Weirtn West Virginia 50 miles away 1000mre steelwrkers went t demanding recgnitin f theirnew ldges f the Amalgamated The natinal president fthe Amalgamated Michael Tighe declared bth the Cairtn and the Weirtn strike tlaw"

Jhn ewis and Philip Mrray leaders f the UMWand ftre leaders f the SWC and C persisted in attempting t get the miners back t wrk Cnnr describes the part played by Mrray

Vice President Mrray f the United Mine Wrkers smmned the rankand-fie leaders t Pitts-


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brgh Tday he wared he y ae ighig

he ca cpaies; b igh i y eai srike y wi be ighig he Gvere heUied Saes Tday y are cdcig a srike;igh y wi be cdcig a rebei Tdaywe ay say we are gig dey he greaes riedweve ever had i he hisry his ai Preside Rseve) B e y rieds he car agais y as srg as hes bee r ye ca ca he Ary ad Navy

Marti Rya eader he srikig miers aswered Mrray Why d y ask 5000 me g back wrk isead eig e ma reside Mses he rickCpay) sig he crac ? The rakad-ie deegaes rered ayete Cy ad caed 0000 iers

geher csider Mrrays back-wrk rder Themiers ved cie heir srike i he rick Cmpay siged a crac

iay cber 30 1933 ewis ad Mrray sigeda crac beha ricks iers wih e her haMyr Tayr he sae a wh wd sig a cracwih he i March 193 ccerig seewrkers epyedby US See isrias dier as hw mch his crac

achieved r he iers b whaever i achieved washaks he pressre r bew e wh srck wih ahrizai ad wh resed ewiss ad Mrraysrders g back wrk The srikig seewrkersachieved hig A Weir he srikers rered wrkwih a prmise ha a eeci r i represeaiwd be hed eceber 15 The eeci red be a eeci r cpayi represeaives hewrds Cr The grad acica pa r he iedr sees ie ad i wrkers cceived hespr he e by ca rak-ad-ie eaders i bhidsries had bee sced by a srger ied rha Washig he i eaders ad he see cpaies


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,

The leades of he eio sike, Billy Log ad el

ooe, ow joied wih ohe pesides of ew malgamaed lodges o lauch a secod effo o uioize seel ach 5, 1934, 5 delegaes fom 50 of he ewly-fomedlodges me i Pisbugh o pla saegy fo he malgamaed coveio he followig moh ( 13 Fis amog equalswas Claece wi, peside of he malgamaed lodge ahe Bie ill woks of Yougsow Shee ad Tube, Yougsow, Ohio, ad of he Sih isic of he malgamaedwhich icluded Yougsow, Caoasilloasfield adClevelad

wi is dead ow, bu Robe R R Books of Yale ivesiy ieviewed him i he lae 1930s, ad fuhe ifomaio ca be gleaed fom a scapbook i he possessio of his wife wi was he aihesis of he demagogueusually placed a he head of cowds by hisoias 4 yeas

old i 1934, he had woked a seel mills i he MahoigValley sice 1906, ad had beloged o he malgamaedsice 1910 e was chaima of he sike commiee i hismill duig he 1919 seel sike e was maied ad hadhee childe e was a skilled olle ad had voed emocaic all his life, ecep i 193, whe he voed fo Noma Thomas

wi descibes he ohe ak-adfile leades as veymuch ike himself

lmos all of us wee middle-aged family me,well paid, ad of glo-Sao oigi os of uswee fa bee off ha he aveage seelwokead did have much o gai fom akig pa ihe moveme ecep a ceai amou of pesoal

pesige lmos all of us could have doe beefo ouselves if we had suck wih he compaiesad o boheed abou he es of he me Bu fovaious easos we did

We wee sue, he goes o,


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that the mass f steelwrker wanted ndstral

unnsm and s dd we Bt t wasn't lear t sntl we set ut t get t that we wld have t fghtnt nl the mpanes t ur wn nternatnalffers and even the Gvernment. he press flearnng was slw and panfu, and a lt f sdrpped the wa 4

Cntrar t hn es's ssequent alegatns, Al

these fellws had a nn nhertane f ne knd r antherng's father had een a mltant n the Amalgamated Assatn f rn, Steel, and n Wrkers, and arl Freks father had een a Knght f ar (15) reverthe rankandfle presdents f the new ldges devepedthe prate f allng tgether ldge representatves dstrt nferenes hese dstrt meetngs had n nstttnal standng The had een sed ears efre fr

the prpse f nfrmal dsussn f mmn rganzatnal prlems, and n the rse f tme had ded utNw the were revved at frst wth the santn f thenatna ffers, wh attended and spke at man f thenferenes n tme mre r less permanent ffers werehsen fr eah dstrt )

he Marh 5 gatherng rught tgether delegates frmldges all ver the ntr A general stke was n prgress n led; the ver da the steelwkers met a natnal strke n at had een averted; general strkes nMnneapls and San Frans were ttle mre than amnth n the future Steelwrkers, t trned t the strkeweapn elegates deded t take ak t ther ldges frppsed presentatn t the Amalgamated nventn nAprl 7, the fllwng strateg All ldges shld reqest

egntn frm management at the same tme f regntn s dened, a strke date shld e set; the At Wrkes the Mne Wrkers and the alrad Wrkers shlde apprahed wth the dea that these three grups tgether th steewrkers, shuld at tgether f neessart gan lletve arganng fr an ne grp What wasenvsned was a natnal strke, and f need e a natnageneral strke, fr nn regntn


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The Amalgamated nventn adpted ths strateg. The

nventn as adpted resltns t the eetthat

theCmmttee Ten rankandle leaders whh had drawnp the strke prgram shld e nlded n all negtatnsarsng rm t, that n ldge shld sgn an agreem ent ntlall ld sgn at ne, that lltme Amalgamated rganzers shld e eleted rather than appnted, and that thenatnal nn shld n lnger have the wer t delarelallntated strkes nathrzed (17) The new mem

ers the nn appeared t have taken t ver rm thenment leadershpThe rankandle leaders nderstandal nd ths hs

tr pprtnt rghtenng. Mst s were apale lal r dstrt leaders," rn realls, t we had verlttle dea what the natnal ptre was lke We werempletel nprepared r a strke We had n nds, nentral leadershp, n natnal rganzatn eept the

Amalgamated's ers, and the were ppsed t strkeatn. rwn and hs wrkers egan t lk r help

The trned rst t a grp r ntelletals eerBlankenhrn arld ttenerg, arve O'Cnnr, andStephen ashensh. Blankenhrn had edted the nterhrh Wrld Cmmssn reprt n the 1919 steel strkee was lse t Jhn . ews and Senatr Wagner andlater helped t reate the aFllette Cvl ertes Cm

mttee ttenerg as a stdent at the Unverst Pttsrgh dng researh n the steel ndstr, OCnnr a lar jrnalst wh drng ths perd plshed MellnsMllns, and ashensh an nvestgatr r the NeCmmttee

Appearng at the 1934 Amalgamated nventn wth a .tpewter, ttenerg (and Cnnr) asssted the rank

andle delegates n pttng tgther the resltns thewanted the wa the wanted them and gettng thngs gng.18) Thereater the ntned as a ehnd the senesleadershp grp rptall knwn (ease Blankenhrnn partlar was nerned lest hs assatn wth therank and e eme pl) as The Bg Fr Althghthe had n mne and had t wrk n the qt, rememers


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w, (hey gave us somehg lke aoal leaeshp

a way hey wee a foeue of he Seel okes Ogaizg Commee beleve s fai o chaaceize he Big Fou (wh he

paal ecepio of OCoo as Social emocaic ellecual, he sese ha hey ha a eecy o ely opublcy a goveme eveo ahe ha o hecollecve powe o he wokes, a o avoi coopeaowh he Commuis Pay

Bu fou me wh ypewes a coecos coul oeally be he fucoal equvale of a SWOC Accg ohe ecsos of he Amalgamae coveio all logeswee o ask fo ecogio o ay 2 1, a f ecogiiowas efuse a sike ae was o be se fo he mle ofJue O ay w woe o Ruebeg askig if Ruebeg coul ge hm he aesses of he me who ha lehe 1933 ske he capve mes a of he leaes of

he Seel a eal okes usial io (SThe S was oe of he ual uos sposoe by he

C ommus Pay ug he socalle Thi Peo of eaoal Commus saegy (19) was foue Augus 1932 a clame a membeship of 10,000 o 15000The SMW jusly eouce he NRA calle o wokgpeople o ely o he ow powe ahe ha o ese

ial pomses, goveme boas, a socalle labo leaes By ay 934 i ha le local sikes, fo isace iWae, Oho as Chcago aa; a Ambge, esylvaa These ha ofe ee vole efea

Afe he ae ske whch esule i he schageof may skes a he epaue fom he cy of a ee commuy of Fish seelwokes, he local Commus Pay was covice of he impossbily o oga

ze epee labo uos opposo o he ol AFL(20) a sough o pesuae Wllam Z Fose a oheaoal Pay leaes o abao ual uoism seelThe ak-a-fle moveme he Amalgamae ofeehe SM a oppouiy o ovecome s solaio fomhe mass of seelwokes A he S offee he aka-fle moveme, whch ha los s ow local skes a


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Clairtn and Weirtn, the natinal structure and resurces

s adl needed if a natinal steel strike were t ecmea realithe difficult was that in Ma 1934 the SMWU had nt

aandned the dual uninist line SMWU literature urgedits memers and smpathizers simultaneusl t take thelead in the rganizatin f unied cmmittees t implementthe decisins f the cnventin and t prepare fr a strike and t uild the SMWU int a pwerful rganizatin n

their mill 2 his was a tactic which lked tw was atnce t never has wrked it never will wrk and it did ntwrk in the spring f 934

rwin and uttenerg arranged a meeting with the SMWUleadership fr Ma 20 he urged all memers f the Cmmittee f en and f the Big Fur t e there s as t determine (in rwin's wrds) a central plan f attack set up

a central ffice with a secretar, determine a unifrmmethd f demanding recgnitin, find ut what help theSMWU culd give us, and discver what the natinal fficers were ging t d t ust up ur plans hree dasefre he meeting, rwin wrte t uttenerg hat he nlalliance which shuld e sught with the SMWU was cperatin n the cnduct f the strike hat c-peratinshuld e asicall thrugh lcal int cmmittees which

wuld wrk in unisn even against the rders f the Amalgamated natinal ffice, rwin elieved 22ragicall rwin ws unale t atend the meeting e

cause his wife was seriusl ill e was represented utteng, susequenl research directr fr swac cauthr with Clintn Glden f he namics f ndustrialemcrac, and steel-cmpan executive Blankenhrn wasapparentl nt at the meeting, ut his taped reminiscencesmake i clear that he was part f the discussin

here were telegrams t me, and as a matter ffact was in ittsurgh when that meeting washeld, and talked with at Cush (ne f the SMWUleaders) and the SMWU s, and tried t get therass tacks n it and in frnt f them advised

-


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th rakadfilrs ths s w't walk ut

f hr ad kp thir muths shut istad f makig pulic prucmts, u hav chic utsimpl t sa that th cam ad saw u ut uhad thig t d with thm th hav a paidmmrs t dlivr lt thm dlivr thm quitl

Blakhr ad Ruttrg prsuaded th rakadfil

ladrs t t wrk with th SMWU23

Yt rspsiilit fr th failur f th Ma 20 mtigfalls quall th SMWU ctrast t rwi's prpsalsfr cprati visil at a lcal lvel ut hidthscs atiall, h (th SMWU watd th rakadfil grup ad th SMWU t issue a jit statmt frmthis mtig, a jit call fr a jit cvti t fcuspulic attti th issues ad lcal rgaizatis t

issu jit statmts ad call jit mass mtigs wasprfctl clar that th watd t frmaliz th whl affair ad t sur that th SMWU was i th limlight asa rgaizati As sn as th had withdraw (frm thmtig, the rakandfile grup vtd thums dwn thwhl prpsitin W'd hav smard immdiatel asCmmunists w had accpted

hs wrds frm rw's itrviw with Brks ar

prhaps mr ths f Rutterg tha ths f rwi, whwas t at th mtig 24 But th fact rmains that thSMWU apprach cutrpsed a ft dual uin nt l tth natial structur f the Amalgamatd, ut als t thidpdnt lcal ldges that th stelwrkers had uilt frthmslvs he and later the rakadfilrs shwedthmslvs quite ale t stad up t Rdaiting ad hadth SMWU t placd s much mphasis its w rgaizatin live uitd acti might hav e pssileh fact that (t lk ahad th rakadfil laders adth frmr SMWU ladrs asil stalishd a wrkigrlatiship th xt Nvmr aftr th SMWU iallaadd dual uinism is strng vidc t this ffct

n Ma d Jun after the failur f th Ma 20 mtig,thigs wt frm ad t wrs O Ma 22 fiv f th rak


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a-fil las w o aioal ofic of Aalga

a a a $100,000 fo i o l si, s of ios iig ss, a oos i ios bilig fo si aqas Ty wcoosly fs Iwi oos o s of Coi of T a w wol a ov igof si alog, call o logs fo oy (ylog a alay a ollas, a slc ascay fo o ow go" Oly wo o bs

of Coi so is la io owI was v so isgs i y lif, " Iwi bs

A is oi fo illcals s bac oo c sag, gig aa-fils o a i caaigo Wasigo, w y col aac aioal ss aio a oflly baass Psi io ivig o i balf sa, a-a-fil lasag. Ty go bliciy, b ill ossibiliy ofa sccssfl si As o of co af i wasall ov, Ty s os of i i i Wasigo ia fil a o s Roosvl. Tis ig ao af Roosvl ca issio aog slwos a a si was cssay, a Roosvl wols i a las i a l (5 T cios ws wic ig av b s fo local si

aaio w sqa, as aioal scay of SMWI igly obsv ( I Fis isic of Aalgaa a Pisbg, w o a a osa slwos ga o so si ovo May 7, a ig a o la, af si acollas, aac oly 53. (7)

I ow aas a i icig a-a-fil laso Wasigo, Rbg, Blao, a Rasbs

ac as ags fo Jo L. Lwis I iviws cocby Psylvaia Sa Oal isoy Pojc i 1968 a969, Rbg sa a a sl si i o cooff bcas of ivio of Jo Lwis a PiliMay, wo cosl agais i fo fa a a aboivsi wol wa i cola las o ov i aally ogai sl isy T MW a o co

4 9

"


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ac wi raad-fil slworrs il sprig of 1934,Rbrg w o A a poi y bga o xrcisiflc rog myslf, ad y assigd Jo Bropyfrom MW o b liaiso ma" Baor was o wo p llig Jo wis ad Pilip Mrray ay sold g corol of raadfil commi ad

- "

s m as a basis for ir ioiig wor Ad so cosl a go from Blaor wic i r passdo o slworrs, was o o sri ow bcas Jowis was goig o com r ad av a big orgaiig

campaig a wold sad a cac of big sccssfl"Rasbs, for is par, said a w av o sowsrg amog ra-ad-fil slworrs i ordr ocorag Jo wis o a ris . Ad so yo ad wol rad sri ad aciviy o iflc Jowis o com i as wll as o iflc Cogrss o passa Naioal abor Rlaios Ac"

Trog Rbrg, Blaor, ad Rasbs

raad-fil ladrs wr brog bfor Saor Wagr, sposor of a ac, wo gav m a lcr abo ogagig i a prmar sri ad gav m a lcr aJo wis was goig o com i r ad do is job rigad do yo fllows mss i p 8) Pig is vidc ogr wi wiss rol drig coal ad slsris of 1933 yposis sggss islf a if Lwis


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scc 1937 w a a f fa 193

i was ay bcas Lws i s bs o a s aisa ois wo co o s oy cool

Mai s coas a isaify fs ocog Aagaa ogs, a s a aoac T coas ac ag os fo cas of as a, a as Gay, aag o oss bas i ls so a s occ (9

As sio o Aagaa as ca ascia covio i sbg fo - awic, accoig o aa of covo a sa was o b s cogo a b fs Ros, gov iaos, gas, a a cofs goof a-afil as assb fo covo.

T sagy of s Roosv of Aagaaasi, a aay of Rbg a assocas a

of o L Lwis, was o av Wia G, AL si, co o covo a oos y ao gov labo boa as a aav o a wao Rbg os o oo of abo officas a govsaivs a covo : Socia voio waso a Bil G was i oy o. Co Gowas o of o wo G a ai a

coac i as o wa o say sa i. (30 T swas cal off. As ws ca ov ao i basi Baoc swos o io cas (31Rbg aso s s a Iwi go a a os cofic of ay lgas, a siao fo wc Rbg aas o f a o sosbiy

T was o b o o ffo a oaio by a a fi, i 1935 ig s of 193, w

i o a-a-fi ov og by soig aa-fi sa of offics a was gi Aagaas fal f ob 193covio of AL a soio was ass gg AL xciv coci o a acio i ogaiig sMawi gov boa ca i o a off a walo a o oig ocio was

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icig , rwi reebers, a e seelworers weresirrig agai

More iora a ay of ese eves was e fac a six os oo lae e Cois ary abaoeal iois. SMW caers issolve so a eirebers col joi e Aalgaae Accorig o rwi,i Noveber 1934 ra-a-filers a SMW fially googeer. Moey becae available for seelworers o ravelo cofereces (3, a a series of eeigs bega o ea

e iea of a aioal srie agai B wereas i esrig of 1934 e Cois ary wae a seel srieoly e SMW col blicly el o lea i, i esrig of 1935 e Cois ary wae a srie oly exlsio fro e Aalgaae col be avoie Reaig ar of e orgaiaio ey a reviosly scorebecae e riary goal of ary ebers i seel.

Tese forces cae o a ea a a eeig of 400 ra

a-file seelworers a 100 ra-a-file iers iisbrg Febrary 3, 1935 Or for iellecal frieslaye eir by-ow-failiar role. Reberg wroe orwi before e coferece warig i of Cois iflece, a Coor wroe o rwi afer e cofereceacig as a iereiary for a ae ir ary iWasigo, o rge e ra a file o o ac by iselfb o cosier co-oeraio wi a coiee of e AFexecive cocil o orgaie seel (33

ewis, oo laye a reicable ar. Js as MicaelTige, resie of e Aalgaae reaee o exelfro e Aalgaae ay seelworers wo aee eFebrary 3 eeig, so a Faga, isric irecor of eMW, isse siilar warigs o issie iers Afere eeig bo e carrie o eir reas, Faga sa

ig Yo ca be a eber of e MW a be affiliaewi a Re gro Ta eeig was absolely Re. Tosefellows o believe i aoriy or law a orer or ayig else. Teyre a asiie crow of arlor bolseviss (34 Tis is e sae a Faga wo i Aril 1936 le aelegaio of e esylvaia AFL sae coveio o eaioal Aalgaae coveio earby, a roose a

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the Amalgamated aept 500,000 fm Jh L. Lewis ad

wk with him t gaize steelRttebeg, Tighe, ad Faga twithstadig, the gatheig f akadfile steelwkes ad mies tk plaeas shedled t was a extadiay asi. M adMs wi, Bill Spag, Mel Me, Ry allas, Ceil Alle,ad Lew Mis epeseted the ak-ad-file leadeshipi the Amalgamated eset behalf f the ak-ad-filemies was Mati Rya, leade f the 933 stike i the

aptive mies The less f 933-34 had bee leaed.A eslti ws adpted that The steelwkes kw fmthei w expeiee that they a see help i theistggles fm the lab bads the Fedeal ageies,bt that thei ly defese is the pwe f thei w gaizati, exeised by the allig f stikes if ad wheeessy

This time, gaizati was t left t aftethghtA mmittee ws amed t pe headqates i ittsbgh al fiae mmittees wee t be pessed itsevie at e Mst emakable, i view f sbseqethisty, wee speehes by Mati Rya ad (adig tthe pess) mes the speakes eqally deigMihael Tighe ad Jh L. Lewis The e had betayedthe steelwkes ad the the had betayed the mies,

adig t the pevailig setimet at this meetigLewis ad Tighe have ified y f yeas, delaedRya, ad will tie t d s til y demad ad getthei esigati ad emval. (35)

Why did these ak-ad-file steelwkes ad miesfail t pess twad a atial gaizig ampaig ?This time ad the Amalgamated leadeship wee tgig t pemit thei atial veti t be apted ad

sed t legitimize a ebel mvemet. Withi days f theFebay 3 meetig Tighe expelled the ldges epesetedthee What was itial was the ak ad files espset the explsis ee the Cmmist aty, with its ewfd e f lab ity, ad Jh L Lewi, jkeyigi Washigt f passage f the Wage At ad GffeyAt, gai had detemiig iflee.

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The eelle lges eesete the vewhelmig ma

ity the Amalgamate membeshi. (36 They mightsimly have eclae that they wee the Amalgamate, egaize as eeal uis iectly ailiate with theAFL, a i eithe case ceee t gaize steel. t aeas that may membes the a-aile mvemet the a a ile the a a ile, s t sea wate t this. OC ets that at the Febuay 3meetig sme iiculty was eeiece i stemmig the

aaetly weul setimet may elegates that aieeet ui shul be state w. (3

A ieeet ui was eactly what the Cmmuistaty ha bee tyig t buil the yea bee but w lge esie. The esuces which might have iacea gaizig ive wee use istea t camaig eistatemet i the Amalgamate. The Natial Ogaizig

Cmmittee set u by the Febuay 3 meetig istibute50,000 lealets i Ail callig Uity F All Steeles Ou gam, the lealet state, is the estati uity i the ui a the gaizati the gaize steel wes. (38 wsuits llwe t cmelTighe t eistate the eelle lges These wee successul, a August 1 935 it was ace that ityha bee este. the meatime, hweve, athe stie

theat ha swelle a bee issiate, with the esltthat the Amalgamate, t which the eellees w eistatemet i mi-summe 935 ha by the bee eucet the emty shell it was tw yeas bee

iiatig the stie theat 935, Lewiss misleaeshi augmete the misleaeshi the Cmmuist atyEaly i Mach a eetig t imlemet the Febuay 3 ecisis was hel i eit, attee by steelwes m

lliis, iaa, Ohi esylvaia, a est VigiiaCeece se

Radical America - Vol 6 No 6 - 1972 - November December

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Transcript of Radical America - Vol 6 No 6 - 1972 - November December