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. ocials and Industrialists, Wave of
strikes in 1919.
Signicance
Target of radicals was also against labor
Many radical ac2vists were involved in the labor movement

Gave employers the opportunity to wage oensive 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 (Logans
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 ina2onary 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 eciency through labor-management coopera2on.
This was done through Taylorism and Company Unions and
Employee Par2cipa2on/Involvement Programs. Prot-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 unions were no
longer necessary good paying, steady job.
Against the success of American capitalism in the 20s, labor had few
eec2ve defenses or responses.
Inuence 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 dea2on (wholesale price index decline by 33%)
Food Riots
Signicant 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 ElectricaBon 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 rst 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 aw 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 ow 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 conict and merge the
unions under one house in May 1938 ocially 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 ght. 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 red 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 aected 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 nd
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 nd 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 ooded into eld and labor camps.

Farm laborers as a result suered 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.

Steinbecks 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 Okies proved ee2ng
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