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1^00 An American Dilemma
author [September, 1942]; this memorandum is to be incorporated in a forthcoming
article.)
®The C.I.O. has, however, demanded that the A.F. of L. take positive steps to
eliminate racial discrimination before any alliance between the two organizations can
be reached.
® Richard A. Lester, of, cU., p. 309.
See the reports by the La Follette Committee: Violations of Tree Sfetch and
Assembly and Interference with Rights of Labor. Hearings before a Subcommittee of
the Committee on Education and Labor. United States Senate, Second Session on
S. Res. 266, Washington, 1936, fassint; Offressive Labor Practices Act, Hearings
before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, United States Senate,
Seventy-sixth Congress, first session on S. 1970, Washington, 1939, fassim.
Concerning the widespread use of violence as a weapon in labor strikes in the
South, Virginius Dabney writes:
“It is interesting to note, on the basis of material gathered by Dr. Arthur Raper of
Atlanta, that far more strikers and labor organizers were killed in the South in the period
immediately preceding the birth of the C.I.O. than subsequently. In 1929 and 1930,
when Gastonia and Marion were in the headlines and the first great textile strike was
on, seven strikers and one police chief were slain. In 1934 and 1935, no fewer than
forty-two Southern laborers and organizers were killed in strikes. In 1936 and 1937,
with the coming of the C.I.O., only five workers and organizers were killed in Southern
labor disorders j the total for 1938 and 1^39 was 14, while the figure for 1940 and
1941 is six. But while slayings have become less numerous, J^catings have increased, and
organizers are all too frequently set upon by company deputies, sometimes accom-
panied by irate citizens, or by non-union workers who have been persuaded, whether
rightly or wrongly, that unionization will bankrupt their employers,” (Dabney, of. cit.^
p- 131-)
“How Democratic are Labor Unions?” Harfer’s Magazine (May, 1942), pp.
655-662.
Ibid., p. 662.
1^ Herbert R. Northrup, “Negro Labor and Union Policy,” unpublished Ph.D.
thesis. Harvard University (1942), pp. 408-409.
Norgren describes two of the state laws against race discrimination:
“The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act of 1937 contains a clause stipulating that
unions which exclude workers from membership because of their color shall be denied
the protection of the State Labor Relations Board. (Correspondence with Reginald A.
Johnson of the Urban League of Pittsburgh, July, 1940.) In January, 1940, the New
York state legislature passed a law expressly forbidding unions to ‘deny a person or
persons membership ... by reason of race, color or creed.’ A union which violates this
statute is subject to court action, and the aggrieved person may recover up to $500 for
the injury. In addition, union officers or members found guilty of violating the law are
subject to fine or imprisonment. . , , According to the above-mentioned correspondent,
the Pennsylvania anti-discrimination clause has up to now been almost completely
ineffective, owing largely to the difficulty of finding ‘a dispute under a clear cut
circumstance where the racial clause of the Act can be put into effect.’ The New York
Act is still too new to permit of appraising its effectiveness or otherwise.” (Norgren and
Associates, of. ci/., p. 307.)
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