Radical America - Vol 8 No 4 - 1973 - July August

8/8/2019 Radical America - Vol 8 No 4 - 1973 - July August

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RDICAL

Evol.S, no.4 $1

WOMEN IN OFICE WOK

WOR PLAC ORGZING

BIRTH COO AND EUGNICS


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A

July-August, Volume Number

WOMAN'S PLACE IS AT THE TYPEWRITER:The Femnization of the Clerica Work Force,

Margery Daves THE UNITED FRONT IN AMERICA: A NOTE,Staughton Lynd

BLAK WORKERS, WHITE WORKERS,Noel Iatin

THE POLITICS OF POPULATION: Brt Controland the Eugenics Movement, Linda Gordon

WORK IN AMERICA: Encounters on the Job,Stan Weir

REBELS IN THE RANKS: A Review Essay,

James Green

Cv: Typist at Work wt a Dictating Macinein (Storage Batteries undr the Table)

Editors Frank Brodead, arge Daves, Linda Gordon, JimGreen, Michael Hisc, llen Hnter, Jim Kaplan, DonnaKarl, Jim OBien, Wesley Profit, Paddy Qick, BeckyTippens

ssociate Editors: Pal Ble, Ellen DBois, Martin Glaberman, Mark Levtan, Mao Montano, Mark aison, BanPeterson, Stan Wei

RADICAL AMERICA Pblised bimonthly at Upland Rd.,Cambridge, Massacsetts Sbscription rates: perye, for two yes, for tree years; with pamphlets per year Free to pisoners Blk rates: % redctionom cover pice for or more copies Bookstores may orderon a consignment basiscd ss Ps d s cuss d dd m- cs


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os Pc is t th

Ty wt:Te ezao

of e leal abo Foe

ae Davies

A lre prprin f e recen isricl reserc buwen in e lbr frce s fcused n indusril wr-

ers usin eir specific fcry experiences s del frviewin e clss s wle On e er nd relivelylile enin s been iven clericl wrers Tis issurprisin in 1 968 fr exple ver 4 percen f wenin e U S lbr frce were eplyed s clericl nd sleswrers wile nly 1 6 5 percen were eplyed in e in-dusril wrfrce ( 1 ) Tis essy is cnribuin discussin ied firs clrifyin e rle f secreril prleri nd secndly brdenin e defini-in f e rin clss include er n se inindusril prducin In priculr ere re illins flwlevel clericl wrers s f e wen w frn iprn seen f e wrin clss

Te essy i s isricl i n scpe nd fcuses n e fe-inizin f e clericl br frce Wen nw fr e


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art f the clercal rkfrce, but th a t alathe cae e eter a ce t ate cler-

cal rk ? the elg th reect t effce rker chage ? What are the cect beteea eual egetat f the clercal labr frce a her-archcal relat the ffce ? The frt te aerg thee quet t lk at the 9thcetur ffce (2

TE NETEENTCENTUY OFFCE (3)

Mr Vhle ffce, t retrg a tuat retre, queee u a crer ablk at a ea all Three feet f ktt flreark asage brg the clet t Mr Vhle etblack r a agle rful ark thebrghtet suer rg a ecubere ba black bulkhea f cellerage tarcase, agat

hch belate cvlas geerall trke therbr Mr Vhles chabers are all acale, that e clerk ca e the r thutgettg ff hs tl, hle the ther h elbh at the ae esk has equal faclte fr kg the fre A ell as f uhlese sheebleg th the sell f ut a ut, s referable t the ghtl (a fte al cut f

utt fat cales a t the frettg f archet frs a k greas raers The athere there stale a clse (4

T f the basc characterstcs f 9thcetur ffces, the Ute State as ell as Dckesa Egla are thatthe ere sall a taffe alst excluvel b e

Cesus ata fr 870 fr exale, sh that ut f 76 639ffce rker the Ute States e ubere l869 e ere 975 ercet f the clercal labr frce (5Wth the excet f a fe baks, urace caes agveretal braches st ffces the Ute Staterr t the Cvl War usuall ctae abut t r threeclerks Ths s t surrg sce t catalt fr

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wee also elatively small until the last deades of the 19thentuy Fo eample in Batley (6) Heman Melvilledesied a Wall Steet lawye s offie of the 1 850s whihonsisted of the lawye thee opyists and an eand oy

The small sie of offies at this time meant that the elationship etween employe and employee tended to e avey pesonalied one The leks woked unde the dietsupevision and often the diet eyesight of thei employes Although the tasks of a lek wee enelly well-defined the o of the opyists in Batley was to tan

sie legal douments they wee also often asked to donumeous othe tasks y thei employes t was lealythe employe who set the limits of the lek s o theewas no question hee of the lek eing uled y the ineo-ale pae of a mahine

The pesonal enevolene of an employe ould go a longway towad making the hieahial elations within an of-fie moe toleale An employe who spoke niely to his

leks let them leave ealy if they wee feeling sik ogave them a Chistmas goose helped to eate woking onditions against whih the leks wee not likely to eel.By teating his leks with kindness o politeness, a patenalisti employe was also likely to e ale to get them towok hade fo him

This pesonaliation of the wok elationship etween thelek and his employe in the 19thentuy offie lies at

the oot of the phenomenon of employees eing devoted tothe fim A lek who spent foty o fifty yeas of his lifewoking fo the same small offie of an insuane ompanydid not neessaily wok so long and so had out of a eliefin the impotane of pomoting that patiula ompanyskind of insuane The soue of the deotion of this hypo-thetial employee was muh moe likely the netwok ofpesonal elations he had uilt up in the offie ove the

yeas t was poaly moe impotant to the employee topodue a good woking elationship with his oss withwhom he was in onstant ontat than to podue fo e-ample, impovements in the insuane ompanys filingsystem Needless to say that that good woking elationshipno dout depended in pat on the employee poduing im

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provements in the filing system. Butwhether the employeecared more about the selling of insuranceorhis personal

relationship with his employer, the endresult tended to bethe same: the clerk became a devoted employee of thefirm " who was not likely to rebel or go out on strike

Not all lerks the 9thetury offe spet all therworkg ays leral postos A lerkshp aso serveas a appreteshp for a youg a who was learigthe usess efore he ove o to a aageral postoThese youg e were ofte ephews sos or grasos

of the frs aagers a owers the faly usess trae ts sos y havg the work as lerks for a peroof te ost lerks however ee up wth gol wathesstea of aageral posts retur for ther years ofevote serve

Thus the lerks a offe at ay partular te aefro fferet lass akgrous a were lkely to havevery fferet oupatoal futures (Sos of etrepreeurs

A lWchroom t Metpoit Life Isurce Coy, New Yok.

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an professonas wou work as cerks for ony a shorpero of e before on on o anaera obs Men

fro he workn casses sons of arsans or owevecerks wou probaby work as cerks for he res of herves few wou be prooe o anaera posons)

POTCACONOMC CHANGS

n he as few ecaes of he 19h cenury Aercancorporaons unerwen a pero of rap rowh an consoaon These chanes whch arke he rse of oern nusra capas ha been snae by eveopens n banks nsurance copanes an pubc ueshey ha sprea o anufacurn enerprses by he urnof he cenury (7 As busness operaons becae orecope here was a are ncrease n corresponencerecorkeepn, an offce work n enera Ths epanson

of recorkeepn an he proferaon of councaonsboh whn an beween frs creae a ean for an epane cerca abor force n 880 here were 505offce workers who consue 3 percen of he abor forceby 890 here were 750, 1 50 offce workers (8 The nuberof offce workers has been ncreasn ever snce (SeeTabe #2 ) n orer o f he nee for cerca workers ,epoyers urne o he are poo of ucae feae abor

As eary as he 820s, woen ha been recevn pubchh schoo eucaons Worceser Massachuses openea pubc hh schoo for rs n 182 Boson an New orkCy so n 826 (9) n 880, 3, 029 woen rauaefro hh schoo n he Une Saes, as copare o ony0605 en The fures for 900 show an even reaer spary 56808 feae hh schoo rauaes an 38075

ae (0)Un he en of he 9h cenury schoos were he an

pace of epoyen for hese eucae woen The fenzaon of eeenary an seconary eachn ha akenpace wh he nroucon of copusory pubc eucaonan consequen ncrease n eachn obs n 80 en were60 percen of a eachers an n 860 hey ae up ony 1

percen ( 1 Woen were hre n eucaon becaue hey


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were a cheap replaceen for he winlin supply of aleeachers As Charles Willia lio observe soe years

afer he feinizaion of priary school eachin waslarely coplee is rue ha senienal reasons areofen iven for he alos eclusive eployen of woenin he coon schools bu he effecive reason is econoy f woen ha no been cheaper han en hey woul nohave replace nine enhs of he en in Aerican publicschools (12

Bu eachin was abou he only ob ha rew on he pool

of eucae feale labor in subsanial nubers The professions law eicine business, collee eachin boh eclue woen an i no eploy lare nubers ofpeople The 1890 census for insance coune only 200woen lawyers ( 1 3 Social work was sill he preserve oforal refoers like Jane Aas he rowh of socialwork as an ccupaion wih overnen funin i nocoe unil he 20h cenury Nursin was beinnin o eploy soe woen by he en of he 19h cenury in 1900here were 1 08 691 nurses an iwives, alhouh only1 1 000 of he ha becoe rauae nurses an achieveprofessional saus (1

n he las ecaes of he 19h cenury, he siuaion washen he followin There were ore woen han enrauain fro hih school every year These woen con

siue a pool of eucae feale labor which was beinrawn upon only by eleenary an seconary schoolsConsequenly here were lierally housans of woenwih rainin ha qualifie he for obs ha eanelieracy bu who coul no fin such obs clue froos of he professions hese woen were reaily available for he clerical obs ha sare o proliferae a heen of he 19h cenury The epansion an consoliaion of

enerpris es in he 1 880s an 890s creae a lare eanfor clerical labor he lare pool of eucae feale laborconsiue he supply

WOMN NTR TH OFFC

Prior o he Civil War here were no woen eploye insubsanial nubers in any offices alhouh here were a


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few woen saere here an here who worke as bookkeepers or as opyss n awyers offes (5) Durng he

Cv War, however, he reuon of he ae abor foreue o he raf ove Genera Frans as Spnner heU S Treasurer, o nroue feae era workers nogovernen offes A frs woen were gven he job ofrng paper oney n he Treasury Deparen, bu,hey grauay ove no oher areas of era work Theeperen prove suessfu an was onnue afer heen of he war Coenng upon hs nnovaon n 869

Spnner eare upon hs wor ha ha been a opee suess Soe of he feaes (are ong ore anbeer work for $900 per annu han any ae erks whowere pa oube ha aoun ( 6 A he e, en erkswere beng pa fro $200 o $800 per year (

Ahough woen sare o work n governen offesurng h Cv War, was no uni he 880s ha woenbegan o pour no he era work fore n 880, he

proporon of woen n he era abor fore was peren n 890 ha jupe o 2 peren By 920 woenae up haf of he era workers 50 peren of aeve offe workers (nung senographers, ypss,sereares shppng an reevng erks offe ahneoperaors, an era an knre workers no esewhereassfe were woen n 960 2 peren of he were(See Tabe #2 Ths reenous nrease n he nuber ofwoen offe workers has hange he oposon of hefeae abor fore Whe n 80 ess han 005 peren ofhe woen n he abor fore were offe workers by 890 peren of he were n 960 29 peren of a woen n he abor fore were offe workers

When woen were hre o work n governen offesn Washngon urng he Cv War, a preeen was esab

she Ths preeen faae he enrane of woen narge nubers no he era abor fore a he en of he9h enury Woen ha goen a foo n he offe oor nhe Cv War an he prejues agans woen workngn offes ha areay sare o eerorae by 1880A seon faor whh ease woen s enrane no he offe was he nvenon of he ypewrer By he 890s heypewrer ha gane wesprea aepane as a paa


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offce achne (8)Varous Aercan nvenors ha been workn on wr

n achnes snce he 830s They ha enerally beenhouh of as crackpos by capalss an he eneral publcalke an ha selo f every been able o e anyone ounerwre her aeps o evelop a anufacurable achne

By he early 870s an nvenor nae Chrsopheraha Sholes ha anae o prouce a farly workable

achne The Re non faly whch ha anufacureuns sewn achnes an far achnery bouh herhs o sar akn ypewrers Bu hey no sellvery well People bouh he ou of curosy for herown prvae use bu busnesses were no ye wlln oco heselves When aske o wre a esonal forhe achne he bouh n 875 Mark Twan reple

Genleen Please o no use y nae n anyway Please o no even vule he fac ha owna achne have enrely soppe usn he Typewrer for he reason ha never coul wre aleer wh o anyboy whou recevn a reques by reurn al ha woul no only escrbehe achne bu sae wha proress ha ae nhe use of ec ec on lke o wre leers

an so on wan people o know ha own hscurosy breen lle oker

ours ruly

Sal Cleens (9

People were curous abou he ypewrer bu was nounl he las wo ecaes of he 9h cenury ha busnesses bean o buy he achnes n lare quanes

sees farly clear ha was no unl busnesses bean o epan very raply ha eployers saw he usefulness of a echancal wrn achne Chanes n hesrucure of capals enerprses brouh abou chanes nechnoloy no one was nerese n akn he ypewrer

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a workable or manufacturable machine until the utility ofhavin such a machine became clear But the typewriter no

oubt also ave rise to chanes in office proceure Writinwas faster on a typewriter The increase in corresponencean recorkeepin was cause in part by the eistence ofthe machine For eample Robert Lincoln OBrien maethe followin comm ent in the Atlantic Montly in 90

The invention of the typewrter has iven a tremenous impetus to the ictatin habit ( ) Tismeans not only reater iffuseness inevitable withany lessenin of the ta on wors which the laborof writin imposes but it also brins forwr tepoint of view of the one who speaks (20)

The typewriter also facilitate the entrance of womeninto the clerical labor force Typin was seneutral because it was a new occupation Since typin a not been

ientifie as a masculine ob women who were employeas typists i not encounter the criticism that they weretakin over men s work In fact it i not take lon fortypin to become womens work in 1890 638 percent ofthe 3318 clerical workers classifie as stenoaphersan typists were women; by 1900 tat proportion h risento 767 percent The feminization of lowlevel clerical work

proceee etremely rapilyIt is important to etermine why women wante to becom office workers Most women at the en of the 19tcentury probably worke out of economic necessity Thishols true for the unmarrie sinle woman of mileincome oriins who worke until she marrie an was suprte by her husban as well as for the immirant workinclass woman sinle or marrie, who worke to keep

her family from starvinClerical work attracte women because it pai better

than i most other jobs that women coul et In northeastern American cities at the en of the 19th centuryclerical waes were relatively hih omestic servantswere pai $2 to $5 a week; factory operatives $1 50 to $8a week epartment store salesirls $ 1 50 to $ 8 a weekwhereas typists an stenoraphers coul et $6 to $ 1 5 a

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TABL #

Senoraphers an ypss, for he Une Saesan by se 870930

Toal Male Feale % Feale870 1 54 7 7 4 .5%880 5000 3000 2,000 00%890 33,00 2 , 00 2 300 638%

900 2 600 26200 86,00 767% 9 0 326,700 5300 263,300 806%920 6 5 00 5000 56700 9 8 %930 8200 3600 77500 956%

Source Alba M wars Coarave Occuaonal Sa-scs for he Une Saes 87090 Publshe as parof Volue V of he Repor on Populaon of he 6h Census

of he Une Saes Washnon D C , 93 Tables 9 an0 Fures for 880 an on are o he neares hunre

week (2 ) Also, clercal work enjoye a relavely hhsaus A woan fro a lencoe hoe wh a hhschool eucaon was uch ore lkely o look for clercalwork han for work as a house servan or as a facory rlakn paper boes pckles or shoes An as he passae

below ecerpe fro The Lon Day shows a clercal poson was covee by worknclass woen who usually coulfn work only n sweashops facores or eparensores

The Lon Day he auoboraphy of Dorohy Rcharsons a oo eaple of he way n whch soe 9hcenuryworkn woen reare clercal work Rcharson caefro wesern Pennsylvana o New ork Cy as a youn

woan she s very vaue abou her backroun bu hehns she rops lea o he concluson ha she cae froa lencoe faly ha ha fallen no ba fnancalsras For several onhs she wen fro job o job, makn paper boes, shakn ou newlywashe launry ecer accoun of hose ays s ol n a one of say ao


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the ong hors an or worng ontons an a tone ofonteptos pty for the oose oraty of the other

worng grls Rharson fnay went to seretarashool an got a poston as a seretary, leary a step pn the opatona strtre as far as she was onerne

ha often thoght wol e to earn shorthanan typewrtng ( ) went to nght shool fvenghts out of every wee for eatly sty wees,rnnng onsetvey save for a fortnghts nter-

at the Chrstas hoays when we worenghts at the store ( )

When ha thoroughly earne the prnpes ofy trae an ha attane a spee of soe hnrean o wors a nte, the harest tas was yetbefore e Ths tas was not n fnng a poston,but n fllng that poston satsfatory My frst

poston at ten olars a wee hel only one ay fae to rea y notes Ths was ore beaseof frght an selfonsousness, however than ofneffeny My net pa e ony s ollars awee bt t was an eelent tranng shoo ann t learne selfonfene, perfet aray,an rapty Athough ths poston pa e twoolars less than what ha been earnng brewng

tea an offee an hanng t over the ounter annotwthstanng the fat that new of plaes where ol go an earn ten ollars a wee hose torean where was There was etho n yaness however let e say ha a onseratean onsentous epoyer an athogh ha agreat eal of wor an although t ha to be one

ost puntlously, he never alowe e to wor aoent overte He opene hs offe at nne nthe ornng an was not epete before quarterafter he ose at four sharp Ths gave e anopportny for further provng yself wth avew to eventually tang not a tenollar but atwentyollar pton went ba to nghtshoolan too a three onth spee orse, an at

the ae te ontne to a to y genera eu


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caon and sock of knowlede by a syseaceadn of popla books of scence and econocs becae eendosly neeed n yself as an

econoc faco, and becae eendosly neesed n oe wokn ls fo a slapon of ew (22)

Howee despe e fac a woen wee pon nooffces a e end of e 9 ceny ey sll e wdsappoal An enan of 875 sow a socked aeoenen offcal openn e doo on an offce a asbeen aken oe by e lades (23 Te woen ae peenn eseles befoe a o, fn eac oes aeadn Hae's Bazaa splln nk on e foo nso don eeyn b wokn e enan akewoen wokn n an offce see lcos woen aeseen as folos ceaes ncapable of don an onesdays wok

,

Te aist of 7 sows e oos at wod foow if women weepemied engage n offe wo

Oh conep was no he only neae eacon oe enance of woen no he offce Blen ces e fol-lown passae fo The Tewe Gl a noel by OlePa Rayne wose heone s an Aecan yp fallen onad fnancal es n London

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Three cerks (ae in seedy back coas heedes wih hair he coor of a fs, wen on chaf

fin one anoher for wo inues afer cosed hedoor wih osenaious unconsciousness of y in-sinifican presence The younes afer awhie wheeed around on his hih soo and brokeou wih he chivary of his cass and ae, Wewha s your business

My voice rebed a ie bu usered up

courae and spoke"

have caed abou your ad-veriseen He eyed e up and down a sender and,

wi venure o say if no prey a eas ineresin ookin

How any words a inue he asked afer aon pause

sreched he ruh as far as is easiciy

woud peri Nineyseven answered The edes cerk wih he foy head wheeed

around and ook his urn o sare He had hairyhands and are oeeyes deeced an undercurren of doube eanin fe disareeaby ike sher in he presence of Ahasuerus a fa and oiy Ahasuerus of fify He perusede up and down wih his sa pis eyes as if hewere buyin a horse, scruinizin y face, y f-ure y hands y fee fe ike a Circassian inan Arab savearke (2)

The overones of seuaiy in he passae o TheTewrier Gir are hard o iss The ipicaion heresees o be ha a decen ir is riskin her oraiy if

she ries o invade he ae preserve of he office Wheheror no such sensaionais was backed up by any insances of seducion or corrupion he essae seescear he office was a danerous pace for a oan ofvirue

ven in 900 soe peope counseed woen o eavehe office and reurn o heir hoes, where hey rihfuybeoned The edio of he adies Hoe Journa dward

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Bo gave us such advice n he pages of hs magazine n1900

A business house canno prosper unless eachposiion has in i he mos compeen incumbenwhich i is ssible o obain or ha paricularsion And alhough he saemen may seem ahard one, and will unuesionably be conroveredi neverheless is a plain simple fac ha womenhave shown hemselves naurally incompeen ofill a grea many o he business siions whichhey have sough o occupy ( The ac is hano one woman in a hundred can sand he physicalsrain of he een pace which compeiion hasforced upon every line o business oday ( This magazine has recenly made a careul andhorough invesigaion and inuiry o he hospialsand saniariums or women and he resuls verify

and subsaniae he mos general saemen hacan be made o he alarming endency among busness girls and women o nervous collapse osuch nuber o paiens has ever been received byhese insiuions during any previous period ofheir exisence as in he las year or wo (

have recenly been ineresed in asceraininghe deinie reasons why eployers have el ha

he posiions in heir esablishmens were nomos eecively filled by wom en ( n imes opressure women clers were ound o be eihernecessarily absen or hey invariably gave ouThe lac of execuive abiliy was given as hemain reason in piions o rus and he ricioncaused by he objecion o women subordinaes oreceive orders rom one o heir own sex Pending

or impending marimonial engagemens were alsoa very pronounced cause The proprieies alsocame in for heir share he erchan no eelinga he could as his eale secreary or cler oremain afer business hours The rader el hahe could no send a woman of on a mission whichreuired hasy pacing and preparaions or ravel

4

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at an hours notice Then too women do not careto trave aone The newspaper editor fet that hecoud not give his fmae reporter indiscriminate

assignments or send her out aone at a hours ofthe night ( ) ness in the famiy which woudnot necessitate a mans absence at the officeeeping the woman at home was another reason( ) And as carefuy went over the reasonseach pointed to simpy one thing the unnaturaposition of women in busness t was not menta

incompetence But God had made her a woman andnever intended her for the rougher ife panned outor man and each step she too proved this un-controvertibe fact to her t was not man thatstood in her path it was hersef (25)

THE SHFT DEOLOGY

However, sixteen years ater Bok used the pages of theLadies Home ourna to admonish women to return homeanother writer in the same magazine not only took for

granted the act that women worked in ofice s, but also

found that certain em inine qualities were particularly

suited to clerical work. The stenographer plus " was de-

scribed :

shoud describe the euipment of the ideastenographer as foows : Twenty percent represents technica abiity that is the abiity towrite and read shorthand and to typewrite rapidyand accuratey thirty percent euas genera information that is education other than that inshorthand and typewriting and the ast and most

important ifty percent shoud ascribe to person-aity ( There are two inds of personaity concrete

and abstract : the one you can see the other youcan fee The concrete side is that which the sten-ographer sees when she oos in the mirror Thestenographer who wins must oo good not inthe sense that she must be beautifu, for dividends


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are neer deared n pink heeks and assieaures b she shd ake he ery s

her persna eipen ( )Tha her kind persnaiy he absra

kind is he re ipran eeen in he sengraphers eipen r i ines her eperaen Thsands sengraphers say in edire psiins bease hey ak he abiiy adap hir nd hse ixed prinipes harny and piis whih s preai in abig nderakings

A arge epyer sengraphi hep said e ne

expe r y sengrapher he sae serie ha ge r he sn wih his exepin he sn en ges n a srike and i is neessaryr e se ariiia igh b pay y sen

grapher wrk six days eery seen and expe her a he whie radiae y ie wihsnshine and sypahei ineres in he hings a rying d

is he spiri in whih he sengrapher iesand wrks as we as he e her wrk haakes her priabe She s be adapabeagreeabe res Perhaps n singe wrd s

nderwries her sess as resy his is hekeywrd in a r new gspes saesanshipand eiieny Or grea enerprises are shwings wha exen resy an be apiaized (2)

Frne agazine in a series nsigned aries nen in Bsiness arried he argen a sep rherand eaed serearies wih wies :

The whe pin he whe prbe in herwrds is ha wen py he ie bease heae epyer wans he here hy he wanshe here is anher esin whih ann be an-swered erey by saying ha ne here hey ake he wrk ery niey is dbess re ha

en ake he wrk niey Their nsius


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or bono nnon o day o arry andr ono or bono wllngn o bdrd by n rndr anabl and obd-n and rlv o abon w a dl or n o p r dvoon no raral wor a a only parally xplan al ployr prrn nda awon and by vr o o o r o woanly ra ar apabl o ang o a orplaan pal and ol pla do

no nda wy ployr dr a nd oo rar an an o l o abo andpng yong n nn pon arng rypwrr no prdnal d o g a aprob pr plaon only ool

On g wll pla owa a ollow : o ndral rvolon wa d-doaon o won n worng la b or do rvd wa aoryrvd n wllodo la o w o ployr w blong b ordo rponbly wa no rponbly orno rponbly o pa o Connly n wllodo la won wr prnd rw dln n w donn w dln

and nally w a odd xr o rbllon andndpndn w angd a o Aranoy n yar a ollowd ar n pro pprla o a pprlao wa nown o oran dappard al wa no longr ar n own dnngroo and dradl n own dn nor dd a allrd o wv dagr and r ar vo and rbl H wa on onrary or or l al a o a or or npr-dabl woan And rnd

H rnd lo o poon H rgrd old doly old obdn old dvoon o pronal nr And ndng l nabl o rra la lo parad n

o abo rrang n o


20/124

a e waned in e oice was no e oiceisress described a leas iywo ies a year

by Aerican sorsory wriers His very preyand very clever and very expensive wie was al-ready isress enog and o spare a ewaned in e oice was soeing as c liee vanised wie o is aers generaion ascold be arranged soeone o balance iscecboo by is railroad ices cec is bag

gage ge i seas in e or row ae isdager o e denis lisen o is side o esor give i a corageos loo wen ingswere blaces and generally now all ndersandall (

eer or no any sc speclaive explanaiono e ale desire or a eale oice is sondere can be no dob a e desire exiss and

a i is e ale eployer wo is ciely responsible or e eale secreary (7

n 900 e adies Hoe ornal warned woen aey cold no sand e pysical srain o woring in aaspaced bsiness oice a bsiness girls and woenwere ap o ser a nervos collapse B by 916 eornal was coparing e al eale secreary o

soe eavenly body wo radiaed e oice wi snsineand sypaeic ineres ad no aen very long ore ideology o si and or people o accep e presenceo woen in oices Bo ad arged in 900 a woenby vire o eir nare were nsied o e oiceB only a ew years laer e ornal cae close o arging a e naral eperaen o woen ade egood senograpers And by Forne ad concoced a

llledged isorical jsiicaion or e asserion awoans place was a e ypewrier

oen so e argen wen are by nare adapablecoreos and sypaeic in a word passive Tisnaral passiviy aes e ideally sied o e job ocarrying o an endless nber o roine ass wio acoplain Frerore eir dociliy aes i nlielya ey will aspire o rise very ar above eir saion

8


21/124

V/.-

T r al bo pard plaa poblya ary wll o day b opg w o ob

T ag o ay a op or-w wo o r ploy vry d ad d waa dpo w o d a proal ray Hrra aar arbd o ob opoal rary ypay adapably ory ad wo aral adda or ob oall lral wo wr proal ar or lag poporo o lral wor wo w ograp- yp l l ad l ao dologalra dvlopd pazg ppod gra dx-ry o wo T wo wr ldo agd oo pala bo b ad od a pool ro

w ay xv old draw a wd ao lowlvl lral wor poal aar- a ypay ad oy d l poaDxry ably o do wor y ad aaly wa or pora o log ar ypwrbga o b d a a ar o or b opopl ard o ag a wo dowd w dxrogr wr o g opraor o a

9


22/124

Elzabeh ake saes ha woe seeed o be espeally sed as ypss ad swhboad opeaos bease heywee olea o oe ael ad aally dex-os (2

OMANS PACE N HE OCE HERARCHY

hehe was o he wah o he pesoales ohe dexey o he es, woe ae o be see as

aal oe wokes hy dd hs deoloy develophe deoloy s obvosly oeed o he ezaoo he leal labo oe I woe wee eployed lae bes oes he was o sps ha adeoloy sy he pesee hee developed oewee oally eployed oes bease hey weeheape ha he avalable ale labo oe As opoaos expaded a he ed o he h ey hey wee

oed o daw o he pool o edaed eales o eehe apdly eas dead o leal wokes he expaso o apals s dd o eal a splepoleao o sall hey oes sead ea a ealyexpaded oe se wh lae -bes o people wok a sle oe he sao waso loe ha o he hey oe whee soe o he

leks wee ee appe aaes he expadedoe se o he oay boh wh a apdowh o lowlevel deaded obs

was paly woe who lled hose llevel obsy 20 o sae woe ade p ove 0 pee ohe ypss ad seoaphes he ed Saes (Seeable # ) oe whose aal doly ad dexey

ade he he deal wokes o hese obs o he booo he oe heahy y hap po he doly o heeale haae wes lke Splla he LadesHoe oal povded a ovee aoalzao o hea ha os lowlevel leal wokes deaded obswee woe

s poa o po o ha deea oewokes by sex s o he sae as dvd he o

ops dsshed say by eye olo he sexal dv

2


23/124

o o labor e oe were e old e aoryo aageral poo ad woe ll e aory o low-leel leral ob a do w regeedby e poo w e ad woe old ode e oe

e e deology o pae eale labor r a-eed el e early 20 ery e ed Saewa by ad large a pararal oey Pararal rela-o bewee e ad woe w e ade de-o ad woe ollowed e were arred oer o e

oe ee pararal oal relao eed ery oeely w oe brearae were e ea byw e worker were old wa o do wa oe a exreely peroalzed oe For alog e ber o leral worker wa lare ey were oe dded o alleog grop o a e or x yp eograper orle lerk wold be drely aoable o oe perorAd a peror wa a a (a wa geerally e

ae e early 20 ery ad oe leral workerwere woe eay o ee ow pararal paer oaleeale relao wold reore e oe erary

e egeao o e oe work ore by ex prooed a ao were a dole a o leral worker wold ollow wo rebello e dree o a relaely all grop o aager e deology a woe

by re o er ee doly were arally edo ll e lowleel leral ob a be ee a a por-a bre o e ably o e eraral oerre


24/124

TABLE 2

Fminization of the Clerica br orc

totl1870 female

% female

total1880 female

% female

totl1890 femae

% femal

toal90(b female

% female

toal90(b femal

female

al90(b fmal

', fmal

al190(b fmale

% female

tal9(b femal

% fmal

tal950(b fmal

fmal

oal9IO(b fmal

% femal

SURCES:

okkepersAccouna nsnd Cahiers

39,164(1)

893(2)

2%

75688(6) 4,95(

6%

10,968

28,050

17%

257,400

79009%

491.60189,00

38%

742,000

312,700

9%

9075

5'

91,300

47,'.70

5

MessengersErrand and OfficeBys and Girl ()

7820(346,6%

12,447

228

%

45,706

1,658

4%

63,700

3,80

6%

951006,400

7%

99500800

8%

79,500

510

6%

0,7

3,

5%

590

10,600

8%

3,20

1,20

18%

Fr 1870-90: Janet M. Hooks, Women's Occupationshrug Svn Decades, U. S Dpartment of Lbr.Women's Bureau, ulletin #218, Washington, D.C.,947. Table IA : Occupations of Wmen Workers, 1870-

94; Tabl lB: Occupation of A11 Workers, 1870-

9

2 2


25/124

CONTINUATION OF TABLE #2

Feminization of the Cerca br Force

Stegrphers Shipping and Clerical OfficeTypists and Receiving and Kindred Mahinecrearies Clerks Wrkers (ne) c) Operats

29,655(4)

930(5)

3%

64,151(7)

2,315(7)

4%

2973(7)

45,553(7)

21%

357,100

104,400

29%

1034200

386,800

37%

2,092000

1,0384

50

27540004509

53%

1174900 229700 1973600

096400 9,10 702500

93 4 36%

1629300 297,400 2354200

15380 207 252900

94% 7% 53

2,312800 294600 30164

22326 250 788700

96% 8% 59

36200

3200

89

64200

5500

86

46200

20300

82

3800

236400

74

For 1950-1960: Brea of the Cens Cesusof Pop la-on Unied Saes Summar, Washngon D. C., 960Tabe 201 Dtailed Ocpaton of he Expeiened

Civilian Lbr Force By Sex, for he Uned Sae1960 and950.

2 3


26/124

ooos or Tabl #2

(a Mssgrs rrad ad oic boys ad girls iclds lgraph ssgrs hrogh 00

( igrs rodd o o h ars hdrd

(c E C o lswhr classiid

Css igrs siad ad addd bcas odrco i ohr sas

(2) Css igrs siad ad 2 addd bcas o drco i ohr sas

(3) 0 addd bcas o drco i ohr sas

( Parly siad ad addd bcas o drcoi ohr sas igrs do o icld Absracors oaris ad jsics o pac classiid i 0i h grop Clrical orrs (c

Parly siad ad 6 addd cas o drco i

3 ohr sas igrs do o icld Absracorsoaris ad sics o pac clas siid i 0 ih grop Clrical orrs (c

(6) Esiad

0 ad 00 daa parly siad ad 10 daa irly siad igrs do o icld Absracors oaris ad sics o pac classid i 0 ih grop Clrical orrs (c

4


27/124

Foonoes

1 U S Deparen of Labor, oe n s Bureau 1 6Handboo of oen orers (oens Bureau Bullein#24 ashingon : Governen Prining Office, 1 6 p

2 Concree inforaion abou feale office worers isno easy o find n a coprehensive bibliographical Guideo Business Hisory Henriea Larson poins ou ha i issignifican ha he wors dealing wih he subjec (officeanageen are concerned largely wih syses and

achines he office worer has been lef in neglecedobscuriy (Larson 14 pp 771772

There are a few analyical sudies of office worers, heos noable of which are David Locwoods The Blac-coaed orer and C righ Mills hie Collar heAerican Middle Classes Grace D Coyle focuses onwoen in offices and he ind of wor hey do in oenin he Clerical Occupaions in The Annals of he AericanAcadey of Poliical and Social Science, vol 143 (May,12 orune published a series of aricles on oen inBusiness in 135 he oen s Bureau of he U S Depar-en of Labor has issued a nuber of bulleins on officeworers n addiion here is uie a long lis of boos ad-dressed o woen which ell he how o be beer secre-aries he ain poin of hese anuals sees o be ha

woen should be certain o please heir (ale bosses andha hey should be nea and accurae abou any nuber ofoffice ass And doed hroughou he proinen woen sagazines are aricles abou he business woan

inally here are soe ficional wors which provide acerain aoun of insigh ino office wor Barleb (156by Heran Melville is se in a all Sree lawyers officeof he 1 5 s and describes he en who wor here as

copyiss Ali ce Adas ( 12 1 by oh Taringon is abouhe daugher of a whiecollar eployee who is forced ogive up her hopes of joining he upperclass social cliuein own, accep her own iddleclass saus and finallyclib h begried sairway of he local business col-lege in preparaion for becoing a woring girl

Bu all in all here is very lile inforaion abou he

2


28/124

hisory of female clerical worers However here arebis and pieces of evidence upon which his essay is based

3 For he purposes of his discussion he erm hcenury office will be used o describe hose office srucures which eised prior o he widespread monopolizaionand bureaucraizaion of capialis corporaions a processwhich was well underway in he Unied Saes by he end ofhe 1h cenury The modern office will be used o describe he srucures which developed afer ha bureaucraizaion The descripion of he 1hcenury offic which

follows is based primarily on Daid Locwoods Th Blaccoaed orer and on C righ ills hie Collar heAmerican iddle Classes

4 Dicens Charles Blea House (Boson Houghonifflin 153 p 415

5 Hoos Jane omens Occuaions Throuh SevenDecades (omen s Bureau Bullein #21 ashingon : Gov

ernmen Prining Office 147 Tables IA and B6 elville Herman Barleby in The Piazza Tales

(firs published 56 Garden Ciy Doubleday 1617 See Alfred Chandler Srae and Srucure Cam

bridge ass T Press 162 Also see Sephen HymerThe ulinaional Corporaion ad he Law of UnevenDevelopmen in Jagdish Bhagwai (ed Economics and heorld Order acillan Company 172

Bureau of he Census Deparmen of Commerce andLabor Special Repor of he 12h Census Occuaions ahe 12h Census ashingon D C 4 Daa is for number of persons engaged in specified occupaions Officeworers includes booeepers and accounans clers andcopyiss and senographers and ypewriers (ypiss

Baer Elizabeh Faulner Technoloy and omensor (ew Yor Columbia Universiy Press 164 p 57Baer argues ha girls were given high school educaions because he number of women eachers was increasing en were being araced by business opporuniiesand silled rades and he phenomenal growh of publicschools creaed an alarming shorage of eachers Bu relief from he scarciy of male eachers of course

2


29/124

reuired ha girls as well as boys be augh (p 57) How-ever he fac ha so many girls go high school educaions

in he 1h cenury sill seems raher surprising unfor-unaely recen analyss of he rise of mass educaion inhe Unied Saes do no remar upon i (See ichael KazThe Irony of Early School Reform Cambridge ass6 or Samuel Bowles Uneual Educaion and he Re-producion of he Social Division of Labor in he Review ofRadical Poliical Economics iner 7 ) For more informaion abou he hisory of womens educaion see also

Thomas oody A Hisory of omens Educaion in heUnied Saes ew Yor 2

Daa for high school graduaes from Federal SecuriyAgency Office of Educaion Biennial Surve of EducaionCied in he Saisical Absrac of he Unied Saes (152)p 2 One possible explanaion for he fac ha morewomen han men were graduaing from high school a he

end of he h cenury is he following : In he case ofworingclass men and women he boys lef school owor The money hey could earn was badly needed by heirfamilies Bu if girls enered he facory labor force heirwages would be considerably lower han hose of heirbrohers This fac coupled wih aiudes ha men werehe more imporan breadwinners and ha womens placewas in he home may have reuled in woringclass girls

saying in school longer han heir brohers A any rae iis clear ha figures on high school graduaes mus be broen down by class and probably also by ehnic group before he dispariy beween male and female high schoolgraduaes can be adeuaely explained

1 1 Kaz ichael The Irony of Earl School Reform(Cambridge Harvard Universiy Press 16) p 5

12 Ibid p 513 Smus Rober omen and or in America (ewYor : Columbia Universiy Press 5)

14 Baer Technology and omens or pp 62631 5 Sumner Helen L Hiso of omen in Indusry in

he Unied Saes (6 1 s Congres s 2nd Seion U S SenaeDocumen #645 Bureau of Labor 11) p 23

16 omen in Business I Forune XII (July 135)

p 53


30/124

7 bid, p 5318 The following accounofhedevelopen of he ype-

wrieris basedon Bruce Bliven, Jr., The Wonderul Wri-ing Machine NewYor : 1954.

bid p 622 bid p 342 Sus, oen and or p is very diicul o

ind saisics abou clerical wages a he end o he hcenury broen down by sex Bliven and Sus do no ciesources or heir wage saisics

22 Richardson Dorohy The Long Day (5 reprinedin illia Oeill oen a or Chicago QuadrangleBoos 72 pp 2672

23 The engraving is reproduced in Bliven p 7324 Blven neru rng achne, pp 757 Blven

gives no dae or The Tyewrier Girl bu he conex ohis arguen leads o he conclusion ha he novel was a

lae h cenury poboiler25 Bo Edward, The Reurn o he Business oanin he Ladies Hoe ournal (arch 6, p 6 a in-debed o Elaine ehingon o he Universiy o ichigana Ann Arbor and her unpublished anuscrip, Theoens agazines and he Business oan or his reerence ehingon poins ou ha Bo did noshrin ro also poining ou ha oice wor was he bes

paid and os respecable eployen or young woenhe was uie happy o have his agazine relec opposingopinions in order no o alienae any o is one illion sub-scribers ehingons paper is exreely useul as asource or aricles abou oice worers in he proinenAerican woens agazines

26 Spillan, Harry C , The Senographer Plus in heLadies Hoe ournal (February 6, p 33

27 oen in Business Forune X (Augus 35p 55 is ineresing o speculae why i was in 35 haForune published is deense o woen in he oice ispossible ha during he Depression here was soe criicis o he eployen o woen as clerical worers whenuneployen raes or en he radiional breadwinners were so high

2 Baer Technoloy and oens or p 742 8

l


31/124

T h Uitd Frot iArica: A Not

Sago d

Dbat has bn oind about what happnd in th 30s.

moirs by participants and articls by young scholar-activists sing to undrstand and start again incras involum. Thr is a srious dangr that th discussion willbcom mor acrimonious as it bcoms mor intns.Bsids th gnrational confrontation btwn Old andw Lft with all its invitabl pain and ambiguity, thris th tndncy of both th acadmic and Lft political sub

culturs to turn diffrncs into disputs.t would b much asir if thr wr a prsuasivmodl of how political radicalization might hav occurrdThat it did not occur on a significant scal is clar. OdLft organizrs now this ust as wll as thir w Lftcritics , and indd nw it at th tim yndham ortimris said to hav rmard that whn h wald through aworingcass nighborhood in Flint on Sunday morning at

th hight of sitdown activity, vry radio was tund to

9


32/124

Father CoughinThere is no persuasive mode of a different path ony

the brute fact that by the end of the 3s the Left had notbui a abor party or a mass radica movement and thatthe argest organization on the Left the Communist Party was supporting President Roosevet A promsing beginning especay in 335 in creating woringcassunity, had given way to a broad muticass aiance of uncertain poitica thrust Yet the aternative to what happened

is not readiy apparentMost radica organizers in the 3s wored within theframewor of a twostage mode of radicaization which hadbeen beueathed them by the Communis anf Thefirst stage was the formation of industria unions A generation of American radicas of a persuasions simpy assumed that industria unions woud be inherenty more disposed to radicaism than craft unions, because they reached

out to incude the unsied bacs women those whosestae in the existing system was east, and because as argeaggregations of oring peope they seemed destined forradicaizing confrontation between the cass as a whoe andstate power

The probem for this twostage mode when appied inthe 30s is that the second stage of radicaizing confrontation with state power did not occur There was penty ofgovernment vioence but it was amost entirey oca otony in the s but euay in the period after ord arI ( , the nationa government smashed emerging industriaunions n the 30s the nationa government sponsoredthem Roosevet, wavering between rhetorica endorsementof the CIO and rhetorica neutraity toward it remained thepoitica beneficiary of whatever happened in the streets

Right after the Memoria Day Massacre in South ChicagoStee orers Organizing Committee odges there passedresoutions addressed to their beoved president, Roosvet

True, ibera historians eaggerate the benevoence ofthe ew Dea toward union organization But radica historians are in danger of underestimating the difference beteen the nationa government which smashed the Puman

strie and the ste strie, and t nationa govern3


33/124

men hich ep hands o dring he Flin sidown.The paradoxical ac abo he agner Ac is ha i a-

irmed boh he inen o sop sries and he ndiminishedrigh o srie in neqivoca erms. The Senae commieewhich repored he ac he ex o he ac, Presiden Roose-vel in signing he ac ino law and he Spreme Cor inpholding is consiionaliy all emphasized ha is mainprpose was o sop sries. However he draers o heac also rejeced binding arbiraion and in Secion 1 3 and

elsewhere proeced srie aciviy Their reasoning was (a ha a signiican percenage o sries occr becaseo ailre o recognize and ilize he heory and praciceso collecive bargaining

) ha collecive bargaining is impossible wiho herigh no o agree ha is he righ o srie in he even oan impasse

and hereore (c) ha o legiimize collecive bargaining

in order o preven he occrrence o sries reqires hereenion o he righ o srie as an inegral componen ocollecive bargaining

I was he hope o hose sponsoring his legislaion hasries wold decrease. In he shor rn sries increasedand oo he more milian orm o sidowns B he na-ional governmen sc o is sraegy o benevolen ne

raliy I is as i he governmen consciosly oo ischances on miliancy in order o be sre o oresallingradicalism

A some poin (wheher beore or aer he governmenaliniiaive seems sill nclear a par o he American bsiness commniy edorsed his coopive sraegy and independenly implemened i. The besnown example is hedecision o Unied Saes Seel o recognize he Seel or-ers Organizing Commiee in March 137. There has re-cenly come o ligh a leer and memorandm rom Thomas. mon o he Hose o Morgan and Unied Saes Seelo Presiden Roosevel explaining he reasons or hischange in policy On ovember 3 4 1 , Lamon wroe oRosevel as ollows abo Unied Saes Seel's decisionor and a hal years earlier

3 ]


34/124

he Board of United tates Steel had nownfor some months that C

hairman of the

Boarl was gravely concerned over the steady ap-proach of C I O demands, especially as evincedin the disastrous strie in the General otorsplants C expressed to me more than oncehis fears that if fullfledged strie sic weresprung on U S Steel it would cost our wormen in loss of wages our stocholders an-

other and might prove such a maorcrisis as to constitute almost a social revolution

Knowing this was not surprised when C said he wanted to explain o J P P orgaand me the plan which h had evolved in his ownmind t was simply this o sit down with Lewisand see whether he could reach an understandingwith him that would avert the strie that wouldaccredit the CIO as a leading bargaining agency,but yet would leave intact the principle of the openshop I remember very well JP saying at oncein effect that yron was running the steel com-pany that yron new the labor relations betterthan he did J P added that we all had to realize

that collective bargaining had come to stay, andthat of course he approved yrons plan eedlessto say, that was my own view

n those days C taled the whole matterover freuently with the Corporations officers andmembers of the ard Finally at a large meetingwith the presidents and vice presidents of all the

subsidiary companies in ew Yor he laid out hisviews He left that meeting to eep an engagementwith Lewis at his own home in ew Yor andwithin a wee he had completd the arrangement(2

As a result ofthis sophistication on the part of the Fed-

eral Government and a part of American business, organ

izers woring within the framewo r of the two-stagemodelof the Manifesto were left inthe first stage without an ob-


35/124

vious way to mov on to th scond Trotsyists in inn-apolis for instanc did valiant wor in organizing th

Tamstrs Union but got nowhr in building a politicalLft. (3)Th outstanding Lft ffort to dal with th unxpctd

circumstancs of th 30s was th Communist Party's co-alition stratgy of unitd and popular fronts Al Richmondargus in his mmoir that this stratgy was not imposdon th Amrican Party by oscow but was dvlopd onth basis of Amrican nds and xprincs. (4) thin

that for a tim this was so but in a somwhat diffrntsns than Richmond suggsts

Richmond fls in looing bac that a coalition stratgywas ndd to combat fascism but that th Lft rrd tactically in th dirction of al allianc and no struggl.Similarly Arthur Kinoy ss a distortion of th stratgyof unitd front struggl against fascism Kinoy blivs

that history had placd on th agnda of th Lft in thiscountry as in othrs th blocing of th most ractionarysction of financ capital from turning to opn fascism.n Kinoys viw th Amrican Communist Party pursudthis corrct objctiv incorrctly by a growing rliancon th libral wing of th ruling class whos political manifstation was th Roosvltld Dmocratic Party rathrthan on th cration of an indpndnt massbasd anti

capitalist popl's party. Contrary to both mn bliv that th coalition stratgy

in th Unitd Stats was to bgin with a rsns not to thRight but to th libral cntr. Thr was no fascist mov-mnt in th Unitd Stats comparabl to th thrust of thfar Right in Grmany taly Spain China Franc hathappnd in th Unitd Stats was that th CommunistParty busy in building th small Lftdominatd unionsof th Trad Union Unity Lagu found itslf isolatd fromth surg of spontanous organization of local industrialunions aftr th passag of th ational ndustrial RcovryAct in 33. Party m mbrs doing industrial organizing ata local lvl insistd that th national Party rorint itslfso as to dal fratrnally with indpndnt unions and withnw locals which had calld thmslvs part of th Amri

can Fdration of Labor for want of an altrnativ. Othr


36/124

Left paties had simia expeiences.Between the hash and isoating poitics of 12133 and

the band and sefabasing poitics of ate yeas thee thuscame about an intemediate episode fu of inteest fo thepesent Roughy i may be dated fom the coming to poweof Hite and Roosevet eay in 1 33 to the fomation ofthe Committee fo Industia Oganization in ovembe135 and Roosevet's second campaign in 136. The stat-egy of the Left in that time was as Richmond ighty em-

phasizes expeimenta and ocaized It was not mechanicay adopted afte some oveseas initiative The best sum-may phase fo what was attempted then had it not ac-uied othe sectaian meanings woud be the unitedfont fom beow

inimay this meant that anandfie woes associated with diffeent Left tendencies shoud see ways to acttogethe against thei common enemies. David ontgomey

and eemy Beche spea of the 111122 upsuge whenthe od ines dividing evoutionay goupings tended tobea down and thei oncecompeting oca membes thewthemseves into actua cass stugge without egad tothei fome ideoogica and oganizationa hostiities (6)Something ie this aso happened in 33135. n contastto the ate 13s thee wee no union bueaucats withwhom one coud hope to ay Rathe the fet need was fopeope active at the gass oots to oin foces in coectivestugge This was the spiit esponsibe fo the oca gen-ea sties in inneapois Toedo and San Fancisco in134.

It is impotant to eca that despite Roosevets geatpopuaity when fist inauguated and again afte the sec-ond ew Dea of 1 35 1 37 in 1 34 and 1 35 thee was

much disiusionment with ew Dea abo poicy. The a-tiona Recovey Administation to which woing peopehad enthusiasticay esponded in 133 was enamed theationa Run Aound".

Thee is no wa that the woingcass mood of thoseeas can be consideed antifacist What was to the foewas a gowing disenchantment with ibeaism and withRoos evet Those who ie mysef did not expeience hattime can I thin get a sense of it by ecaing he mood of


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SCC aciviss and he norhern blac communiy in 162164 Jus as Kennedy was hen criicized for rheoricallyespousing civil righs ye sanding by while hose who acedon his rheoric were ailed beaen and illed so on hebloody pice lines of 13335 men wonderingly asedhemselves here was Roosevel ?

ha one observes in he general sries of 134 is ahappy fusion of he inransigence of he Third Period andhe abiliy o widen an acion beyond is iniial proagonissThe ypical scenario was for one group of sriing worers

o be beaen on he pice line and hen for he enireworing class of he localiy o wal off heir jobs in suppor Trosyiss in inneapolis Socialiss and useiesin Toledo Communiss in San Francisco all appear o haveaced in a manner ha avoided he secarianism of heyears preceding and he opporunism of he years ha fol-lowed

lecorally he hrus of he Lef in 133135 was o

ward a labor pary (no a people 's pary) Throughou 135Communiss and Socialiss advanced his obecive arlBrowder and orman Thomas appearing ogeher a a adison Suare rally in he fall The Cenral Commiee of heCommunis Pary called for a Labor Pary buil up frombelow on a radeunion basis bu in conflic wih he bu-reaucracy puing forward a program of demands closely

conneced wih mass sruggles sries ec wih he lead-ing role played by he milian elemens including he Communiss The Pary is Cenral Commiee saed shoulddeclare is suppor for he movemen for a Labor Paryand figh in his movemen for he licy of he class sruggle resising all aemps o bring he movemen under heconrol of socialreformism (7) As have wrien elsewhere he formaion of local labor paries was endorsed

by labor convenions and councils in Connecicu isconsin Oregon Toledo and Paerson ew Jersey local laborpary ices were formed in San Franci Chicago andSpringfield assachuses and in Ocober 135 srongsupr for a labor pary was voiced a he annual AF of Lconvenion

n ovember sweeping Scialis vicories were recordedin Bridger Connecicu and Reading Pennsylvania n

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Detri, Attrney auice Sugar running fr alderman na Labr Party ticet, us missed electin plling 55,574

Speaing an audience f 1500 in ew Yr Ciy, FarmerLabr Gvernr Flyd Olsn f innesta prediced that anainal farmerlabr party wuld mae a bid fr pwer in 36 r 140 As 135 came t an end the Seatle CentralLabr Cuncil endrsed and affiliated wih he ashingtnCmmnwealth Federain; a FarmerLabr Federatinwas frmed in iscnsin; the funding cnference f theSuh Data FarmerLabr Party was held; and Vice-

president Francis Grman f the United Textile rersannunced ha frces wring fr a nainal farmerlabrparty wuld pen an ffice in he near fuure ()

The ppularfrnt sraegy which replaced hat f heunited frnt frm belw prduced a ualiaive change Thechange did n happen all at nce Alhugh the CmmunistPary hped fr a Rsevel vicry in 136, i did nt fr-

mally supprt him and indeed declared publicly Rse-velt stands fr capitalism, n scialism () As late as3 the Cmmunist Pary criticized he incnsistenciesand vacillatins f the Rsevel administrain" and calledfr a prgressive realignment" based n beginnings suchas he FarmerLabr and Prgressive parties f inne-sa and iscnsin, the American Labr Pary in ew Yrthe Cmmnwealth Federatins f he Pacific and Labr's

n Partisan League 0) everheless the directin fchange was clear In 35 the Partys center f graviy wasranandfile wring peple By 13 i was an amrphuscalitin f scalled prgressive frces

The united frn was based n he ran and file nt n alefcener" calitin with unin bureaucrats The uniedfrn was imprvised n he basis f American needs, ra-

ther than fllwing an internatinal line The unied frntattaced he Demcraic Pary insead f supring i asafer 1 36 The unied frn was a respnse the prmisesand failures f liberalism whereas he ppular frnt wasdireced a fascism verseas

may be, fr reasns indicated a the utset that therewas n real ssibility f a mass radical mvement in thiscunry in he 130s If here was such a pssibility he

3


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pe r i lay in pursuing e end e sraegy eunied rn rm belw

FOOOS

1 ) Ralp Desmarais in wr wic e as nly begun publis as empasized a gvernmen repressin labr aer rld ar se undersd limis wiin wicall resnsible labr leaders e 13s resriced eir

aciviy2) mas Lamn Memrandum r e Presi-den : e Lewis Diaribe Agains p M and M C "vember 3 14 Persnal File 7 Franlin D RsevelLibrary Hyde Par ew Yr Larry Sarp a isry su-den a rwesern niversiy called is maerial myaenin e are all in is deb

3) Bill iclas e Help Our Own : A Hisry cal

574 nernainal Brerd eamsers unpublisedMaser's essay rern llinis niversiy 173

4) Al Ricmnd A Ln iew Frm e Le HugnMilin : Bsn 1 73 ) Caper 8

5) Arur Kiny By ay planain unpublisedpliical es say Page 1 e pin is resaed in a cn-densed versin e es say A Pary e Peple inLiberain December 173

6) See eir aricles in Radical America vember-December 173

7) On e Main mmediae ass e C p U S A adped by e Cenral Cmmiee plenum January 1518135 and publised in e Cmmunis Februay 135 we is reerence an unpublised Dcr's disserainn e Cmmunis Pary by irgil gel

8 ) e nied Labr Pary 1 46 1 52 " in LiberainDecember 173 ) Cmmunis Pary iscnsin e Cmmuniss

and e FarmerLabr Prgressive Federain Ocber136 Page 2

1 ) Cenral Cmmiee e C P S A e LaFllee ird Pary May 138 Pages 1 and 26 DryHealy was ind enug send me ese w pamples

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the independent radical newsweeky that has been the motconsistent and reiabe source of anti-imperiaist news and a8'sfo more than 25 )eas; onthespot epots from Indchina, MiddeEast, Afican libeation mo\ement Peopes Repubic of Chnaepots fom the picetlines nion has and an-ande casof the Ameican abo mo\ement coveing Blac ibeaton

tugges th movements of the ef omens emancipationfarmorer vets the impeachment moement curent flmsb etcSpcml t n,'#

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Gran 33 West 17th S New Yor, NY: r a tw r !bip I

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Rvw of RadcalT

Polcal EonomcsAckerma & MacEwan on the New Economic PolicyBabson on the Multinationals and LaborBowles on ducation and Labor SupplyGintis on Alination and Powerll on Proprty and the Means of Production

Qui ck on Womn ' s WorkTabb on Capitalism, Colonialism, and RacismWebb on Taxes and t Vermont WorkeWeisskopf on Imperialism in India

Send for Compet List

URPE

Offic of rganizational ServicesMicigan Union

Ann Arbor, Micigan

rough timesformerly th ricl thapisttls, , sis s, and nws of

th owing mnl hlth vmntrking tods hun ltn

gh t p x

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D b ( ) Dg $D $7


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oduio Igati

The llwing is a speech by el gnain given in Pr-

land, Oregn in e are publishing i nw because wesee i as an impran cnribuin a discussin racism and a rvluinary respnse i. The L is ncagain acively dbaing he meaning racial divisins inh wring class. hin his renewd deba is s im-pran ha we are publishing his analysis even hughhere is sme disagreemen amng Radical America edirs abu several gnains pins. Paricularly we d

n all agree ih his cncepin ha whie suprmacy ishe ey elemen in he ppular accepance capialisrul Furher here is sme disagreemen amng usabu he cncep whie sin privilge

nehlss his spech has many srnghs we wuldhere lie call aenin w hm. Th irs is g-nains insisenc n a maerialis analysis racism. Rac-

ism is irs a sysem maerial discriminains againsnnwhie peple insiuinalized in ghe husing inerir segregaed schling and racesraiied mplymenRacis idlgy is hen a rainalizain and ugrwh racis pracics n he her way arund nrunaelyan idealis analysis racism cninues lurish evenin h L racism is sill en discus sed as i i weremerely a se bad ideas ised n he wring class rm

abve n answering his idealism, gnain has drawn n hisexperience as an rganizer er exampls hw srug-gles agains insiuinal racism can be ugh. This leadsus he secnd gnains srng hmes e are inunanimus agreemn wih his insisence n he imprance building principled pliical ppsiin he insiuinsand pracices ha perpeuae racism, evn i i deprives

he Le sme inds suppr in he shr run4


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Black orrs,

White ors

N Ignatin

n ne department f a giant steel mill in nrthwest ndi-

ana a freman assigned a white wrer t the b f per-ating a crane The blac wrers in the department felt thatn the basis f senirity and b experiece ne f themshuld have been given the b which represented a prm-tin frm the labr gang. They spent a few hurs in them rning taling amng themselves and agreed that they hada legitimate beef. Then they went and taled t te white

wrers in the department and gt their supprt After lunchthe ther crane peratrs munted their cranes and prceeded t blc in the cane f the newly prmted wrer ne crane n each side f his and run at the slwestpssible speed, thus stpping wr in the department Bythe end f the day the freman had gtten the message. Het the white wrer ff the crane and replaced him witha blac wrer, and the cranes began t mve again.

A few wees after the abve incident, several f the white

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worrs who had ond h blac opraors n h slowdownoo par n ngs n Gln Par a vrually allwhscon o Gary wh h a o scdng ro h cy nordr o scap ro h adnsraon o h blac ayor Rchard Hachr hl h scssonss dandd nhr words h powr o a h dcsons whch achr lvs was clar ha h or was racally n-sprd

A a larg ar upn anuacurng plan n Ch-

cago a blac worr was bng rd ou or a rpar obon an assbly ln Th oran had bn harassng han ryng o dsualy h durng hs hrday ralprod Ar wo days o hs h aory o h worrson h ln blac and wh wald o hr obs dandng ha h an b accpd or h ob Th copanybacd down and wor rsud

ar on so o h sa wh worrs oo par nracs donsraons a a Chcago hgh school Th d-onsraons wr calld agans ovrcrowdng n an ap o p ou svral hundrd blac sudns who hadbn ransrrd o h school as a rsul o rdsrcng

C AR

Th orgong ancdos ndca so o h coplx-s and conradcons oprang whn h lvs and whnh nds o h wh worrs n hs counry On h onhand dsplays o docrac coopraon and rarnal r-laons wh blac worrs, and, on h ohr hand xa-pls o bacwardnss and slshnss whch ar unbcongo brs o a socal class whch hops o rconsrucsocy n s ag ha s ang plac s a cvl war

n h nd o h wh worr n h couny on hjob n vry sphr o l h s bng acd wh a chocbwn wo ways o loong a h world wo ways o ladng hs l On way rprsns soldary wh h blacworr and h progrssv orcs o socy Th ohrway rprsns allanc wh h orcs o xploaon andrpron

d l o spa a b abou hs cvl war and xansom o wha ans or h dvlop o rvoluonary

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his sor of behavior Ye large numbers of hem live heirlives in his way and for a cerain porion of hese i

pays offBecause of he peculiar developmen of America and he

naure of capialis policy in his counry here is a specialelemen added o he general compeiion which exissamong all worers ha special elemen is color whichhrows he compeiion on a special basis ha raises coloro a special place in he compeiion among worers

All worers compee ha is a law of capialism Bublac and whie worers compee wih a special advanageon he side of he whie ha is a resul of he peculiardevelopmen of America and is no inheren in he objecive social laws of he capialis sysem.

n he same way ha some individual worers gain ad-vancemen on he job by currying favor wih he employer

whie worers as a group have won a favored posiion forhemselves by siding wih he employing class agains henonwhie people. his favored saus aes various formsincluding he monopoly of silled jobs and higher educaionbeer housing a lower cos han ha available o nonwhies, less police harassmen a cushion agains he mossevere effecs of unemploymen beer healh condiionsas well as cerain social advanages

ere rying o explain why people ac as hey do andparicularly why whie worers ac as hey do hie woring people aren supid. hey don ac in a racis fashionsimply ou of blind prejudice. here are much more sub-sanial causes he sysem f whiesin privileges which lead hem o behave in a selfish exclusionary manner.

A blac seel worer old me ha once when he wasworing as a helper on he unloading docs he decided obid on an operaors job ha was open All he operaorswere whie He had wored wih hem before in his capaciyas helper hey had been friends had eaen ogeher andchaed abou all he hings ha worers al abou. henhe bid on he operaors job i became he as of he oheroperaors o brea him in. He was assigned o he job andsen o wor wih hem on he euipmen and given hiry

days o learn he job uicly became clear o him ha

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he oher worers had no inenion of permiing him o geha job. They operaed he euipmen in such a way as opreven him from learning how. orers are very silleda ha sor of hing

Afer wo wees one of he whie worers came o himand said, Lisen, now wha's going on here. You worwih me on Monday and ll brea you in" The person whoold me his sory agreed a leas here was one decenwhie worer in he bunch Friday afernoon came around,and he whie worer approached him. ih some embar-

rassmen, he admied ha he had o bac down from hisoffer. s bad enough when all he guys call me a n-lover bu when my own wife uis aling o me, well juscan go hrough wih i

The man who old me ha sory never succeeded in geing ha job

ha made hose whie worers ac in he way hey did ?They were willing o be friends " a he worplace, bu

only on he condiion ha he blac worer say in hisplace " They didn wan him o presume o a posiionof social eualiy if and when hey me on he ousideAnd hey didn wan him o presue o share in he beerjobs a he worplace. Those whie worers undersood haeeping hemselves in heir place in he company schemeof hings depnded upon helping o eep he blac worer in

his place.They had observed ha wheneve he blac people forcehe ruling class in whole or in par o mae concessionso racial eualiy, he ruling class sries bac o mae ian eualiy on a worse level of condiions han hose enjoyed by he whies before he concessions The whie worers are hus condoned o beleve ha every sep owardracial eualiy necessarily means a worsening of heir own

condiions. Their bonus is cu Producion raes go upTheir insurance is harder o ge and more expensive. Theirgarbage is colleced less ofen. Their children's schoolsdeeriorae.

This is how he whiesin privilege sysem wors f asmall number of whie worers do manage o see hroughhe smoe screen and join in he figh ogeher wih heblac worers, he ruling class responds wih bribes ca


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jolery hreas violene and pressure muliplied a housandfold o drive he hining whies ba ino he lub of

whie supremaiss. And he purpose of all his is o preven he whie worers from learning he bla eampleo preven hem from learning ha if blas an fore on-essions from he boss hrough sruggle how muh moreould be aomplished if he whie worers would ge inohe sruggle agains he boss insead of agains he blaworers

A ommon approah o he problem posed above is haof he whie radial who goes ino a shop whih has a ypi-al paern of disriminaion agains bla worers. nseadof direly aing up ha issue and aemping o build asruggle for eualiy he loos for some issue lie speedupwhih affes all worers o one degree or anoher He aimso develop a sruggle around his i ssue o involve all heworers in he sruggle He hopes ha in he ourse of he

sruggle he whie worers hrough ona wih blas willlose heir aiudes of raial superioriy This is he ap-proah o he problem of unifying he woring lass whihprevails wihin he radial movemen oday

don' hin i wors. Hisory shows i doesn wor Theresul of his sor of false uniy always leaves he blaworer sill on he boom always seems o be he de-mand for raal eualiy he las one on he lis ha issarified in order o reah a selemen and elebrae hegrea viory" of he sruggle

Presenday unions are o a onsiderable een he endprodu of his sor of approah. is bla and whie o-geher on he pie line and afer he srie is over hewhie worers reurn o he silled rades he mahiningdeparmens and he leaner assembly areas and he bla

worers reurn o he labor gang and he open hearh. Everyviory of his ind feeds he ison of raism and pushesfurher off he real uniy of he woring lass whih musbe esablished if signifian progress is o be made

There is no way o overome he naional and raial divisions wihin he woring ass eep by direly on-froning hem. The problem of whie supremay mus befough ou openly wihin he woring lass

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HUG THE CHAS OF A ACTUAL RETCHEDESS

Over eigty years ago Tom atson te Georgia agrarianprotest leader wrote te ollowing words, ll o proondm eaning

Yo migt beseec a Sotern wite tenant to listen to yo pon estions o inance taxation andtransportation yo migt demonstrate wit mat-

ematical precision tat erein lay is way ot opoverty into comort yo migt ave im almostpersaded' to te trt, bt i te mercant wornised is arm spplies (at tremendos sryor te town politician (wo never spoe to im except at election times came along and cried e-gro rle ' te entire abric o reason and commonsense wic yo ad patiently constrcted wold

all, and te poor tenant wold oyosly g tecains o an actal wretcedness rater tan doany experimenting on a estion o mere senti-ment te argment against te independentmovement in te Sot may be boiled down into oneword nigger.

Tese words are as tre today as wen tey were irstwritten. ey apply wit eal orce to worers as well asto armers and te trt o tem is not limited to te Sot.Ted Allen a contemporary stdent o tis problem as ptit tat wite spremacy is te eystone o rling classpower and te witesin privilege is te mortar tat oldsit in place.

Tere are two points in wat I ave been saying so ar

tat are distinctive and tat wis to empasize.Te irst point is tat, or revoltionary strategists teey problem is not te racism o te employing class btte racism o te wite worer (Ater all te bosss racism is natral to im becase it serves is class interests.It is te spport by wite worers or te employers racialpolicies wic represents te cie obstacle to all socialprogress in tis conry inclding revoltion.


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The second poin is ha his suppor has is basis in realcondiions of life. is no simply a maer of ignorance

and prejudice, o be overcome by exhoraion and appealso reason.

The second uesion wish o ae up is where doessocialism come from ?

TO MPOSE ORDER O CHAOS

In heir daily aciviies woring people express he drive

o reorganize sociey so ha hey become he masers ofproducion insead of he servans of producion he essenial meaning of Socialism would lie o cie a few examples of his sriving of worers

One of he characerisics of seel producion is ha imus be coninuous o sop he furnaces is a cosly andimeconsuming operaion ( heard a sory ha once inColorado around he pulled a srie a a seelmill and, insead of baning he furnaces, simply waledoff he job According o he sory ha furnace sands o-day over sixy years laer, wih a solid bloc of iron insidei unusable

Seel is a coninuous operaion and has o be mainainedha way ha he seel companies do is operae a sysemof hree shifs , and a sysem of relief on he job a worer

can leave he job unil his relief shows up The worersae advanage of hs in various ways There is one mill now of n which he worers have organized a roaionsysem among hemselves, in which hey ae urns callingoff, allowing he person hey are scheduled o relieve eighhours overime in heir place There are a couple of dozenpeople involved in his, hey have i organized in urns andi would probably ae a professional mahemaician sev-eral wees of sudying aendance records o figure ouheir sysem allows each worer o ge an exra day offevery few wees and hen receive, in his urn, an enlargedpaychec wihou woring a single hour more han nor-mal You see, he company poss is schedule of wor andhen he worers proceed o violae i and impose heirown.

Of course hey don have everyhing heir own way hen

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the abseneeis gets oo severe the copany cracks downand hreatens reprisals and the workers are forced to

slack off for a while Then when the heat is off hey goback o heir own schedule.

Anoher exaple One of the characerisics of he capi-alis schee of production is he division between ain-tenance and production workers This is universal undercapitalis There is one category of workers who perforthe sae operaion inute after inue for their enire

lives and anoher caegory of workers who go around fix-ing achines when hey break down In he nited Staesthis division has been adapted o serve he syse of whiteskin privileges hie workers are generally given prefer-ence for he jobs in ainenance which are usually easiercleaner ore interesting and higher paying than produc-ion jobs.

The workers respond o this division in ways hat a first

sigh see bewildering hen they ge angry at he co-pany producion workers will not perfor the siplest andost rouine ainenance ask They will sop an entireoperaion waiting for a ainenance worker to change afuse.

A back worker in ainenance one of the few old hissory He was called to repair a piece of euipent tha had

failed nable o locae the trouble he called his foreanto help The forean was also unable o find he troubleand so he called a higherup. They stood around for a whilescraching heir heads and hen decided to go back o theoffice and sudy the scheaic drawings of the euipeno see if hey would reveal the rouble After he foreenhad lef he black ainenance worker asked he produc-ion worker who was also black wha was wrong with the

achine He replied that he had thrown he wrong swichby isake and blown soe obscure control device Hepoined it ou after swearing he aintenance worker osecrecy and it was fixed in three inues His atitude was no one had asked hi what was wrong and if they reaedhi like a dope he would act like a dope

This is one side of he workers response o the arbi

trary aintenanceproducion spli On the other hand theyake efforts o overcoe the barriers in heir way to

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master the entire prcess f prductn in rder e-press their full human capacities. Prductin wrers d

everything they can t learn abut their euipment On smeccasins they g t great lengths t mae repairs them-selves wihut calling the maintenance department.

aintenance wrers als shw this striving t breadwn artificial barriers. any times they vluntarily graba shvel r perfrm her tass which are utside f heirb reuirements But if he freman rders them t d itthey will curse him and refuse.

These effrts by bth prductin and maintenance wr-ers t brea dwn the arriers erected between them rep-resent he striving f wring peple t master the euip-ment which maes the things they need t gain cntrl verthe wr prcess s hat labr itself becmes a surce fsatisfactin t them.

There are many her eamples that indicate he effrts

f wrers t impse their rder n the chas f capitalistprductin f we want t nw what scialism in the UniedStates will l lie we shuld carefully study he activities f the wring peple tday because the ingrediens fthe scialist sciety appear righ nw in embrynic subrdinated ways.

TH ULTAT XPLOTD

w I mus tie gether the tw lines f argument havebeen pursuing s far and ps e the uestin where deshe blac struggle fit int all this ? Please nte by blacstruggle I mean the autnmus blac mvement d ntmean any particular rganizatin althugh a number frganizatins are part f it. I am referring t he tendencyn the part f large numbers f blac peple especiallywrers t find ways f acting tgether independent fwhite cntrl and white apprval and t decide their cursef actin based simply n what they feel is gd fr lacpeple nt what serves sme scalled larger mvemen

The elements f such an autnmus blac mvement eist. They are repressed and subrdinated ust as the autn-mus effrts f wrers generally are repressed. The

cnscius and determined effrts f the white ruling class


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o flod he blac communiy wih drugs are one indicaionof he serious hrea he blac movemen poses o official

sociey.In spie of all he effors of he ruling class o suppressi he blac movemen eiss How does i fi ino he general movemen of all he oppressed o revoluionize sociey ? I wish o mae hree poins

Firs of all, he blac worers are he ulimae eploiedin his counry. They have no possibiliy of rising as agroup o oppress anyone else. In spie of wha many whies

hin abou such subjecs as welfare blac people receiveno favors as a group from he capialis class

In he second place, he daily aciviies of he blac people especially he blac worers, are he bes eisingmodel for he aspiraions of he orers generally as adisinc class of people Oher groups in sociey when heyac collecively on heir own, usually represen parial and

occasionally even reacionary ineress The aciviies ofhe blac worers are he mos advanced oupos of he newsociey we see o esablish.

THE CHALLEGE TO HTE ORKERS

In he hird place he auonomus movemen of blacpeople poses a consan hallenge o whie worers o, in

he words of he blac publicis C L R ames ae heseps which will enable he woring people o fulfill heirhisoric desiny of building a sociey free of he dominaionof one class or one race over anoher.

The blac movemen poses a challenge no merely owhie worers in general, bu hose whie inellecuals,worers or no who regard hemselves as in so me senseradical or revoluionary. This is a challenge which in hepas hey have generally no lived up o This challenge isno somehing limied o hisory eiher i coninually comesup, in new ways as well as old ones Le me offer a feweamples.

The sysem of seoriy was originally fough for by heunions as a defense agains individual favoriism and arbirary discipline by he boss Through a fairly involved


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process, senioriy has been adaped o serve he needs ofwhie supremacy he boss decided whm to hire firs, an

the senioriy sysem placed he union label on he practiceof relegaing blacs o the status of las hired, first firedAs blac worers press forward wih heir demands forfull eualiy in all spheres of life hey increasingly comeino conflict wih the senioriy sysem and other deviceswhich uphold whie supremacy, such as certain types oftess and so forh he whie worers ofen react defensively. n many cases they insis hat heir resisance is

no due to any preudice against blac people, bu is merelyan obection o bypassing wha has become he regular procedure for advancemen On more than one occasion, blacworers have forced he employer o open a new ob areato hem only o run up agains the rigid opposiion of whiteworers.

hie revoluionaries mus undersand and help hemasses of whie worers o undersand, hat the interessof he enire woring class can only be served by standingfirmly wih he blac worers in such cases.

Or consider he dispute over obs in he construcionrades, which reached a pea several years ago in a number of ciies, and is sill going on in some places. n Chicago i oo he form of, on one side, a communiy coalitionled by Rev. C ivian, a number of elemens around

SCLC and Operaion PSH and various diverse forces fromamong he blac community and youh, along with apparenly, some financial bacing from the Ford Foundaion andhe Chicago orhwestern Railway he aim of the srugglewas to gain enrance for blacs ino he consrucion rades he means used was to surround various ongoing construction sies with mass piceing in order to sop woron them unil blac worers were admited in proportion totheir numbers in the ciy. On he other side was a unitedfront of the consrucion unions and conractors. Of coursetheir defense was hat they do no pracice racial discriminaion that blac worers simply had no applied for orpassed he ests for admittance.

ha is he siion of radicals to be in a case lie this ?here have been arguments hat the Ford Foundation and

oher such forces are using he blac movement to weaen

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h onsruion unions and driv down h os of labor

Tha argumn is no wihou validiy i is diffiul o b-liv ha h Ford Foundaion and h Chiago orhwsrn Railway ar unslfishly inrsd in h aus of blaworrs

m radial groups from a lofy posiion of supposdobjiviy, oo i upon hmslvs o advis h bla oaliion ha insad of diring hir sruggl agains hadmidly unfair assignmn of jobs hy should rognizh fa ha hr was a shorag of jobs in onsruionand should join wih h unions o xpand h numbr ofjobs, whih would bnfi bla as wll as whi and avoidh dangr of dividing h woring lass as h prsnsruggl was allgdly doing This of ours was mrlya radialsounding vrsion of h argumn givn by honsruion unions and onraors hmslvs who would

wlom any suppor from any uarr whih offrd o xpand h indusryTh rspons of h bla masss o his argumn was

o prss forward h sruggl o opn hos jobs up or shuhm down Thir aions showd hir onfidn ha iwas hy who wr using h Ford Foundaion and no hohr way around, and ha as for h problms of h onsruion indusry, hs ould no b of onrn o hm

unil hy bam par of iSom lisnrs may sns h jusi in wha hav bn

arguing and a h sam im usion is praiabiliy.hrin lis h basis for sablishing solidariy among hworing lass s i possibl o xp whi worrs orpudia privilgs whih ar ral in h inrss ofsomhing so absra as jusi

POSO BAT

Th answr is ha h sysm of whisin privilgswhil i is undniably ral, is no in h inrss of whiworrs as par of a lass whih aims a ransforming soiy o is roos Th apan of a favord saus bywhi worrs binds hm o wag slavry, mas hm

subordina o h apialis lass Th rpudiaion ha is

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he acie rejecion hrogh srggle of his faored sasis he precondiion for he paricipaion by whie worers in

he srggle of worers as a disinc social class A mea-phor whch has been sed in he pas and which sill findappropriae is ha whiesin priileges are poison baia worm wih a hoo in i o be willing o leap from hewaer o exer he mos deermined and iolen effors ohrow off he hoo and he wor is he only way o aoidlanding on he dinner able.

Le me offer a hisorical parallel Bac in he 3'when people were organizing he CO one of he problemshey had o face was ha many worers in he plans hadwored o a means of srial which consised of gainingadancemen for hemseles in rern for faors for heboss Old imers sill al abo how bac in he days be-fore he nion if yo waned a promoion or een waned oeep yor job in he een of a layoff yo had o mow hebosss lawn or wash his car or gie him a bole of whiseya Chrismas n order o bring a nion ino hose plansha sor of aciiy had o be defeaed. was ndeniablyre ha hos e who washed he foreman's car were he lasworers laid off On wha basis was i possible o appeal ohe worers o renonce his sor of behaior which heyfel was necessary o heir srial ? he basis of he ap

peal was ha i was precisely ha sor of behaior whichbond hem and sbordinaed hem o he company and hahe ineress of solidariy of he enire wor force demanded he repdiaion of sch indiidal arrangemens.

The appeal fell on deaf ears nil i began o seem hahere was a real pos sibiliy of maing some basic changesin hose plans Unil he CO was presen as a real forcenil he momenm bil p nil people began o feel ha

here was anoher way o lie besides mowing he boss slawn hey were no willing o repdiae he old way (Thechanges in he life of he worers in he plans broghabo by he coming of nionism are described in a nmberof boos. Permi me here o cie hree Broher ill cKiby Philip Bonosy yndham orimer's Aobiorahand perhaps bes of all dinan Hear by ahew ard)

Today as a rel o f he CO i n as areas of American


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idustry ay worer who was suspected of doig the sortsof favors for the forema that were oce tae for grated

would be ostracized ad treated with cold cotempt by hisfellow worers . (Some people may argue that the previousstatemet is a eaggeratio ad that the spirit of togetheress ad combativity has deteriorated over the years Tothe etet that they are right, it should be oted that thisdeterioratio is i large part due to the habit of subserviece ecouraged by the geeral acceptace by white worers of racial privileges)

The time will come whe the masses of white worers iour coutry will regard with disdai those amog them whosee or defed racial privileges i the same way they owhave oly cotemt for someoe who would wash the foremas car i retur for preferetial treatmet

A POERFL MAGET

Today the blac movemet represets a alterative tothe domiat mode of life i our coutry i the same waythe CO represeted a alterative to the old way of life ithe factory The relatios which blac people especiallyblac worers have established amog themselves ad theculture which has arise out of their struggle represet amodel for a ew society The blac movemet eercises a

powerful attractio o all those who come ito cotact withitCosider the matter of the sitio of wome a

Documents

Radical America - Vol 8 No 4 - 1973 - July August