1934 Textile General Strike

In 1933, Congress passed and President Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), which enabled union organizing and created mechanisms to set standard wage rates, maximum hours of labor, and working conditions. Unfortunately, the NIRA was politically unpopular and eventually overturned by the infamously conservative Hughes Supreme Court. However, the failure of the NIRA paved the way for the more successful National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which demonstrated that the federal government was more willing to take the side of Labor than it had ever been in United States history.

Much of Roosevelt’s New Deal program has the appearance of legislation handed down from above. In actuality however, much of the New Deal was created in response to grassroots pressure from below, as the demands and concerns of working people became louder as the Great Depression worsened. Americans began to lose patience with the inaction of the Hoover administration, and they agitated for a more active state response, which manifested itself in increased support for the populist Huey Long and the progressive Franklin Roosevelt.

Although the drastically reduced job market and subsequently deflated wages during the Depression negatively impacted organized labor, union activity remained a constant force during even its worst years. In 1934 for example, over 1.5 million workers participated in approximately two thousand strikes nationwide. One such strike was the 1934 Textile General Strike, an incredible feat of organization that demonstrated the unity of workers across the country despite the precarity of the era.

During the 2020 Presidential campaign, Joe Biden frequently highlighted his commitment to unions and his desire to pass labor-friendly legislation. While President Biden has used his administrative authority to help the labor movement, most notably through actions taken by the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Congressional gridlock limits the scope of what any President can accomplish by decree. Although the infrastructure package will create thousands of union jobs, reforming federal labor law, the legislative centerpiece of his pro-union agenda known as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, remains stalled in the Senate. Electing more labor-friendly members of Congress will certainly increase the likelihood of this legislation passing, but episodes like the 1934 Textile General Strike demonstrate that progress can be made outside the halls of power.

Further Reading:

• National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933: https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/new-deal/national-industrial-recovery-act-of-1933/

• Labor Unions During the Great Depression and New Deal: https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/labor-unions-during-great-depression-and-new-deal/

• Americans React to the Great Depression: https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/americans-react-to-great-depression/

• The Great Depression in Washington State, Strikes & Unions: https://depts.washington.edu/depress/strikes_unions.shtml

• Congress thwarted Biden on unions. Or did it?: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/21/how-biden-shifted-labor-law-00040317