As Furious as the Last Horseman of a Legion of the Bitter-End

United Mine Workers ◽

Interracial Unionism ◽

United Mine

This chapter centers on Daniels's interviews with Birmingham industrialist Charles F. DeBardeleben and labor organizer William Mitch of the United Mine Workers (UMW) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). DeBardeleben's biography begins with his grandfather, Daniel Pratt, and his father, Henry Fairchild DeBardeleben. Both were industrialists whose investments in coal, iron, and steel contributed to the development of Birmingham. Charles F. DeBardeleben followed in his father's footsteps as a staunch antiunionist. He claimed to be a paternalist yet used fences and armed guards to isolate his workers, resulting in a deadly shooting at the Acmar mine of his Alabama Fuel and Iron Company in 1935. Meanwhile, the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) in 1933 facilitated the growth of the CIO, and William Mitch's efforts to cultivate interracial unionism in Birmingham in the 1930s were largely successful. The chapter concludes by noting that DeBardeleben's alleged fascist ties are difficult to document and seem less significant than his anticommunist rhetoric and switch to the Republican Party, both of which provide an early glimpse of tactics recalcitrant white southerners would employ to prevent social and racial change in the post-World War II years.

Lewis, John Llewellyn, (12 Feb. 1880–11 June 1969), American labour executive; President of United Mine Workers of America, 1920–60, resigned; President Emeritus since 1960; former President of Congress of Industrial Organizations

10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u57515 ◽

2007 ◽

Keyword(s):

United Mine Workers ◽

United Mine ◽

Mine Workers

Silver Lining

Two Faces of Exclusion ◽

10.5149/northcarolina/9781469629438.003.0007 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Lon Kurashige

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Labor Union ◽

The Philippines ◽

Transitional Period ◽

Asian Immigration ◽

Institute Of Pacific Relations ◽

Silver Lining ◽

The U.S

This chapter focuses on the debate over Asian immigration exclusion between the enactment of Japanese exclusion and World War II. During this time, prominent opponents of Japanese exclusion shifted tactics to clear up racial and international misunderstanding through scholarly research, educational initiatives, and campaigns to repeal Japanese exclusion. They did this mainly through the establishment of two institutions: Survey of Race Relations at Stanford University and the Institute of Pacific Relations, initially based in Hawaii. At the same time, proponents of Japanese exclusion moved on to push for the exclusion of Filipino immigrants and the repatriation of those already in the U.S. This was achieved, but only by Congress granting independence to the U.S. colony of the Philippines. Egalitarian views of Filipinos, Japanese, and other Asian immigrant groups gained support within a new and powerful national labor union, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Despite the continuation of Asian exclusion, the 1930s was a transitional period in which new opportunities and institutions emerged to combat it.

Reconversion and the Origin of Bargained Plans

Dismantling Solidarity ◽

10.7591/cornell/9780801454226.003.0003 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Michael A. McCarthy

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Pension Plans ◽

Occupational Pension ◽

Labor Management ◽

Private Pensions ◽

Policy Interventions ◽

The Social ◽

Pension Benefits

This chapter offers a explanation of the proliferation of occupational pension plans after World War II. Principally, it shows that private pension development was neither the result of policy interventions before the end of the war nor the simple result of union strength in postwar collective bargaining disputes. Instead, the turn to occupational pensions was caused by policymakers intervening in labor-management disputes—not principally to compel businesses to adopt occupational pension plans, but rather to establish labor peace in order to capture capitalist growth opportunities abroad. The chapter begins by considering why the Congress of Industrial Organizations was unable to expand the pension benefits offered by the Social Security program after the New Deal, roughly between 1939 and 1968, before turning to the expansion of private pensions.

Liberalism Transformed

Racial Realignment ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691153872.003.0004 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Eric Schickler

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

World War Ii ◽

Civil Rights ◽

Political Agenda ◽

The Political ◽

Political Work ◽

Fair Employment ◽

The Military

This chapter explores the deepening and consolidation of ideological changes as support for civil rights became a defining commitment of a more robust liberal coalition in the 1940s. African American movement activists capitalized on the World War II crisis to force new civil rights issues onto the political agenda—such as fair employment practices and discrimination in the military—and to forge a much broader civil rights coalition. After the war, continued movement activism laid the groundwork for the dramatic fight over the Democratic platform at the convention in 1948. Ultimately, the political work by African American groups, in cooperation with the Congress of Industrial Organizations and other urban liberals, fostered a new understanding of “liberalism” in which support for civil rights was a key marker of one's identity as a liberal.

“Like a Scab over an Infected Sore”

10.5406/illinois/9780252037320.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Lisa Phillips

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

New York City ◽

World War Ii ◽

York City ◽

World War ◽

Labor Legislation ◽

National Congress

This chapter explores the challenges Local 65 faced during World War II and in the immediate postwar months. The union lost thousands of members as well as its catch-all focus during the war. Jack Paley, Esther Letz, and the “65ers” who led the union in their absence gained valuable experience working with the National War Labor Board (NWLB) and campaigning for pro-labor legislation, but freely admitted that they failed to continue to organize as effectively. Furthermore, because of the “pro-Soviet” positions it had taken during the war, the union had begun to lose credibility with other New York City locals and the national Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

The Failure of Labor Unionism in the US South

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.777 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Cody R. Melcher ◽

Michael Goldfield

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Civil Rights ◽

Civil Rights Movement ◽

White Supremacy ◽

The South ◽

Us South ◽

The American South ◽

White Workers

The failure of labor unions to succeed in the American South, largely because national unions proved unable or unwilling to confront white supremacy head on, offers an important key to understanding post–World War II American politics, especially the rise of the civil rights movement. Looking at the 1930s and 1940s, it is clear that the failure was not the result of a cultural aversion to collective action on the part of white workers in the South, as several histories have suggested, but rather stemmed from the refusal of the conservative leadership in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) to organize an otherwise militant southern workforce composed of both whites and Blacks. These lost opportunities, especially among southern woodworkers and textile workers, contrasts sharply with successful interracial union drives among southern coal miners and steelworkers, especially in Alabama. Counterfactual examples of potentially durable civil rights unionism illustrate how the labor movement could have affected the civil rights movement and transformed politics had the South been unionized.

The Roosevelt Era: From the New Deal to D-Day

The Postwar Moment ◽

10.12987/yale/9780300124354.003.0003 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 86-136

Author(s):

Isser Woloch

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Trade Unions ◽

Recovery Strategies ◽

New Social Movement ◽

Work Relief ◽

The New Deal ◽

Rules Of The Game ◽

The U.S

This chapter looks at the progressive forces in the U.S. In the U.S., Franklin Roosevelt's presidency became the prime force for progressive gains. In the New Deal's ascendant phase from 1932 to 1936, the agricultural and industrial recovery strategies of the “Hundred Days” came first and foundered. Later, Roosevelt's administration enacted social security, inventive new programs for work relief, and the Wagner labor relations act that changed the rules of the game for trade unions. Once the European war began in 1939, the U.S. gradually became “the arsenal of democracy.” However, only on a fraught and twisting path did Roosevelt finally lead America into the crucible of World War II. Meanwhile, a new social movement reinforced the progressive thrust of Roosevelt's presidency—the rise of new trade unions in the mass production industries impelled by the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations), a new labor federation.