Union Organization during the Middle of the 20th Century
This paper will examine the organization of trade and labor unions during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. The discussion will concentrate on the rise in union organization and activity during the 1930s and the union activity during the 1940s.
In 1919, after the First World War, union activity in the United States reached a new peak, with 3600 strikes involving some 4 million workers, including some 300,000 steelworkers. This represented 22% of the entire workforce and included a wide range of workers, from miners to policemen. Much of the worker unrest in the United States reflected the general unrest in the rest of the world at that time. Union leadership was buoyed by the Russian Revolution, which had occurred at the same time, and by the activities of the radical socialists and anarchists. Within the ranks of the union leaders were large numbers of "syndicalists," who sought to transform American society through the actions of the workers and bring about worker control of society. Many of these syndicalists gravitated towards the newly formed Communist Party in the United States.
The response of American industry to this new wave of activity and radicalism on the part of organized workers was violent. Employers hired private police and security, armed with clubs, firearms, and tear gas, to break up strikes and union meetings. The involvement of the leftist radicals only served to precipitate a "red scare" throughout the country, as conservatives argued that the whole union movement was an attempt on the part of the anarchists and communists, under the direction of the Leninists in the Soviet Union, to overthrow the American government and society.
All of this activity quieted down as a postwar depression increased unemployment in 1921 and industry developed new scientific methods of controlling factory environment, including company "unions." The conservative leadersh...