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Red Scare, American Plan, New Deal, the C.I.O and the Dust Bowl
Red Scare – Palmer Raids • Series of raids through the country targe2ng radicals 1919-‐1920
• Between 6,000-‐10,000 were detained, over 4,000 arrested and 500 individuals were deported
• Prompted by fear of radicals aDer Bolshevik Revolu2on, series of bombing targe2ng U.S. officials and Industrialists, Wave of strikes in 1919.
• Significance • Target of radicals was also against labor
• Many radical ac2vists were involved in the labor movement
• Gave employers the opportunity to wage offensive campaign against labor
American Plan • Employer language: They have the right to hire whoever they want, regardless of union membership.
• Reality: Blacklis2ng of union members and the refusal to recognize a union-‐ even if the majority were represented.
• Name “American Plan” was created to exploit the sense of post-‐war na2onalism and to promoted the idea of rugged individualism
• Painted labor unions and ideas of collec2vism as “subversive” and “foreign” and “alien”
• “Every man to work out his own salva2on and not be bound by the shackles of organiza2on to his own detriment.”
An2-‐Union Strategy • Renewed interest in using injunc2ons • Injunc2ons were used to limit picke2ng, publicly promo2ng unions or strike ac2ons, speaking to workers, mee2ng, etc.
• Con2nued use of private detec2ve agencies as company armies and military. • Example: West Virginia Mine Wars (1920-‐21). UMWA. Matewan (Sid Ha^ield). Mother Jones. Ba`le of Blair Mountain – largest armed rebellion since the Civil War. 10,000 miners and 3,000 private detec2ve agents – Baldwin-‐Felts – scabs (Logan’s Defenders) and local police. Army called in by Pres. Aerial bombs dropped by military. UMWA lost. Not un2l NLRA.
• Yellow Dog contracts • Full advantage was taken to exploit any indica2on or union leadership corrup2on or radical connec2on.
• Used collapse of infla2onary post-‐war boom to cut jobs – over 5 million workers lost their jobs (1920-‐23)
• Welfare Capitalism – in order to discourage unionism – employers made working condi2ons so favorable that workers would no longer consider unions of any value – at the same 2me increasing produc2on and efficiency through labor-‐management coopera2on. • This was done through Taylorism and Company Unions and Employee Par2cipa2on/Involvement Programs. Profit-‐sharing schemes, bonuses in company stocks. Socials such a company picnics, glee clubs, dances, sport events.
• All designed to foster employee loyalty.
• 1923-‐29 – Era of Capitalism -‐ economic condi2ons turned around -‐ pro-‐business government, concentra2on of economic power into fewer hands and steady decline of union membership. Combina2on of growth (investment) and consumerism, stable price – increased stable employment. Workers began to believe that union’s were no longer necessary – good paying, steady job.
• Against the success of American capitalism in the 20s, labor had few effec2ve defenses or responses. • Influence poli2cs – forma2on of the Conference for Progressive Poli2cal Ac2on (1922-‐1924) – minimal success before its collapse.
• The Great Depression – October 29, 1929 -‐1939 • By 1933, 11,000 of the United States' 25,000 banks had failed. • Massive unemployment -‐ 12 and 15 million workers, or 25-‐30 percent of the work force
• Decline in industrial produc2on (47%) • Acute defla2on (wholesale price index decline by 33%) • Food Riots • Significant structural and philosophical change in government
• Government no longer accepted the idea of rugged individualism – the State had a role in the lives of its ci2zenry.
• New Deal -‐ the government ins2tuted a series of experimental projects and programs, known collec2vely as the New Deal that aimed to restore some measure of dignity and prosperity to many Americans.
• Greater social programs: • Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933) • Civil Works (1933) • Civilian ConservaBon Corps (1933) • Federal Emergency Relief Act
(1933) • Glass-‐Steagall Act (1933) • NaBonal Industrial Recovery Act
(1933) • NaBonal Youth AdministraBon
(1935) • Public Works AdministraBon (1933) • Rural ElectrificaBon AdministraBon
(1935) • SecuriBes and Exchange
Commission (1934) • Social Security Act (1935) • Tennessee Valley Authority (1933) • Wagner Act -‐ NaBonal Labor
RelaBons Act (1935) • Works Progress AdministraBon
(1935)
New Deal and Labor • For the first 2me in American history – an na2onal administra2on was to make the welfare of industrial workers a direct concern of government.
• Unions have to have the ability to deal on equal terms with organized capital.
• Norris-‐LaGuardia Act-‐1932-‐ Congress admi`ed that in past gov't cooperated with employers to thwart workers’ organizing. Now gov't policy is neutrality. • Yellow Dog contracts unenforceable by federal courts. • Removed from federal courts some of the power to issue injuncBons in labor disputes. No injunc2on for publicizing labor dispute, or urging others to picket and stop work. No more ex parte, need full hearing. Jury trial for contempt.
New Deal and Labor • In 1933 FDR passed the Na2onal Industrial Recovery Act allowed the president to regulate industry and authorize monopolies, establish a public works program and also gave workers the right to organize.
• Workers took advantage of their rights. • In 1933 over 900,000 workers went on strike • In the spring and summer of 1934 – half a million workers went on strike causing congress to look for ways to stabilize labor in the country.
• One major flaw in NIRA was that there was no en2ty to resolve disputes. It was eventually deemed illegal by the Supreme Court in 1935.
New Deal and Labor • U.S. needed some way to re-‐distribute wealth and get money in the hands of more consumers to start the flow of goods or we would have a revolu2on. Industrial strife diminished interstate commerce and stalled economic growth and living standards.
• • Unions stabilize worker\employer rela2onship (surplus labor creates uneven bargaining power -‐ individual bargaining) instead of gov't involvement to redistribute wealth directly.
• • NaBonal Labor RelaBons Act – aka Wagner Act (1935) – gave workers the right to organize – to engage in concerted ac2vity – made it an unfair labor prac2ce to discriminate against someone for union membership or ac2vity. Made company unions illegal. NLRA established the NaBonal Labor RelaBons Board -‐ which monitored and policed the NLRA.
• Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) – introduced the 40-‐hour work week, na2onal minimum wage, over2me and ended child labor.
• New Deal labor reforms promoted an upsurge in union growth. • Once again dispute over trade unionism (craD unionism) vs. industrial unionism began to emerge. This 2me within the AFL.
• Mass produc2on workers – was labor going to seize the opportunity. • AFL did allow “federal” labor unions – acted like industrial unions – but were soon parted out to various craD unions.
• Dispute: William Green (Pres. Of AFL) vs. John L. Lewis (UMWA) • While the AFL was unable to win strikes during this period – a series of victorious industrial union strikes in 1934 validated the argument for industrial unionism. • 1934 West Coast waterfront strike -‐ May 9th, 1934 -‐ July 17 1934 • Auto-‐Lite Strike (Ba`le of Toledo) – April 12, 1934 – June 3, 1934 • Minneapolis Teamsters Strike – May 16th 1934 – August 21, 1934
• Feud came to a head at the 1935 AFL Conven2on -‐ “small potatoes” incident -‐ when Lewis and William Hutchinson (Carpenters Union) had words and Lewis punched Hutchinson, knocking him to the ground.
• ADerwards – United Mine Workers Union, Interna2onal Typographical Union, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Interna2onal Ladies Garment Workers Union, United Tex2le Union, Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union, Oil Workers Union, Ha`ers, Cap and Millinery Workers got together to form the CommiWee of Industrial OrganizaBons (CIO). Announced on November 9, 1935.
• Other unions joined the CIO: Flat Glass Workers, Iron Steel and Tin Workers, United Auto Workers, Rubber Workers
• AFL leadership took the posi2on the CIO was a “dual organiza2on” that had set itself up as a “dual authority” to challenge the AFL leadership and was “fermen2ng insurrec2on” within the Federa2on.
• In September 5, 1936 – ten of the CIO unions were expelled from the AFL. • Interna2onal Typographical Union and Ha`ers Union were not included.
• Despite several a`empts to resolve the conflict and merge the unions under one house – in May 1938 – officially formed the Congress of Industrial Organiza2on.
• CIO had con2nued to organize throughout the tensions • End of 1937 – CIO claimed 3,700,000, AFL claimed 3,400,000. In total labor double in size to those numbers reported in 1932-‐1933.
CIO • Steel Workers Organizing Commi`ee (SWOC) • March 1937 – took on U.S. Steel – Won • “Li`le Steel” – Republic Steel, Bethlehem Steel, Youngstown Sheet and Tube, Na2onal Steel Inland Steel and American Rolling Mills – 1937-‐1941 – bi`er fight. Li`le Steel willing to use violence, espionage, strike breakers to crush the union. – Won. • Memorial Day Massacre – May 30 1937 – March from SWOC
headquarters to Republican Steel mill in Chicago – Police fired into the crowd – killing ten people and injured 30. Nine people were permanently disabled and 28 people had serious head injuries from police clubbing.
• UAW Sit Down Strike • December 30th 1936 – Flint, Michigan – Workers in Cleveland, OH went on strike – sparked by termina2on of two brothers. Flint workers were set to go on strike as well – word came that GM was going to send dies out of the plant in Flint – workers occupied the plant – sit down began. A`empts made by police to enter the factories were successfully fought back. Strike spread to other plants as the employer and the State a`empts to squash the strike. On February 11, 1937 UAW prevailed with a one-‐page contract giving the union recogni2ons. Began an era of a new tac2c – sit down strike.
Dust Bowl and Labor • The Dust Bowl Era – a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s
• In 1931, a severe drought hit the Southern and Midwestern plains. Three addi2onal waves: 1934, 1936, 1939-‐40.
• Poor farming prac2ces (overplan2ng of crops, overgrazing, destruc2ng of natural grasslands)
• Combina2on led to top-‐soil erosion. Unanchored soil turned to dust, which formed into large dust storms (aka black blizzards)
• In 1932, 14 dust storms were recorded on the Great Plains. There were 38 storms in 1933.
• AP reporter witnessed the “Black Sunday” blizzard on April14, 1935 – coined the term Dust Bowl.
Dust Bowl and Labor • By 1934, 75% of the United States was severely affected by this terrible drought.
• The one-‐two punch of economic depression and bad weather put many farmers out of business.
• • In the early 1930s, thousands of Dust Bowl refugees — mainly from Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico — packed up their families and migrated west, hoping to find work.
• Numbers are elusive but it is safe to say that 300-‐400,000 Oklahomans, Texans, Arkansans, and Missourians moved to California and se`led there during the 1930s.
• Commonly referred to as “Okies” because of the large popula2on that came from Oklahoma.
• One of the more interes2ng aspects about the history of the Dust Bowl was the emergence of "hobos."
• Farmers who leD the Dust Bowl states had no money to buy bus or train 2ckets and few had vehicles that could make the trip. Therefore, many men took to illegally hopping on trains to travel to ci2es hundreds or thousands of miles away where they hoped to find jobs.
• An es2mated 2 million people became hobos during the Dust Bowl.
• To discourage indigents from crossing state lines, many states maintained tough vagrancy laws and required many years of residence of those applying for public assistance. • California had been especially hos2le to poor newcomers. In 1936, the Los Angeles police department established a border patrol, dubbed the "Bum Blockade," at major road and rail crossings for the purpose of turning back would-‐be visitors who lacked obvious means of support.
• Okie families flooded into field and labor camps. • Farm laborers as a result suffered forms of exploita2on and at 2mes degrees of poverty that exceeded urban experience.
• Farm employers had long enjoyed exemp2on from many of the customs, laws, and labor unions that protected most urban workers.
• Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath gave light to the horrible condi2ons inside the labor camps.
• The a`en2on did facilitate some policy development. • The federal government created some modest services for farm workers during the 1930s: a camp program in California and Arizona run by the Farm Security Administra2on, a health service, and an emergency relief program.
• Discrimina2on endured by the Okie’s proved flee2ng • By beginning of World War II, most had begun working in factories in Defense industries
• Whiteness allowed greater entre into these industries and agricultural work con2nued to be ‘foreign immigrant work’
