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Wharf Rats, Communists and Industrial Unionism Labor Wharf Rats, Communists and Industrial Unionism Labor Radicalism on the Waterfront Rutger Ceballos University of Washington Department of Political Science June 2013 Rutger Ceballos Wharf Rats, Communists and Industrial Unionism Table of Contents Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................3 Literature Review and Historical Background ...........................................................................6 The ILWU in Theory ....................................................................................................................................... 7 The Origins of the ILWU and Radical Labor .........................................................................................11 External Constraints on ILWU ....................................................................................................... 16 The New Deal and the Great Maritime Strike of 1934......................................................................18 Craft or Industrial Unionism? ...................................................................................................................21 World War II and the Question of Loyalty ............................................................................................26 The State versus Labor................................................................................................................................30 The ILWU Survives Despite External Conflict......................................................................................32 Internal Factors that Preserved ILWU Radicalism................................................................. 33 Union Democracy within the ILWU.........................................................................................................34 Race and Civil Rights....................................................................................................................................37 Maritime and Longshore Culture.............................................................................................................41 Conclusions – Internal Union Dynamics Account for the ILWU’s Robust Radicalism............44 Final Reflections on the Value of Radicalism ........................................................................... 44 Bibliography........................................................................................................................................ 46 This paper was made possible by the help and support of Prof. George Lovell and Alexander Morrow of the University of Washington, Department of Political Science and Department of History, respectively. Their dedication and passion in fighting for worker’s rights and social justice is an inspiration for all those involved in the labor movement. 2 Rutger Ceballos Wharf Rats, Communists and Industrial Unionism Introduction While reflecting on the West Coast Waterfront Strike of 1934, lifetime union radical and President of the ILWU Harry Bridges remarked: Everybody was pulling together in 1934. We had across-the-board unity of all kinds of guys that later on turned vicious and red baiting and so forth, but not then. We had a beautiful united front.1 The sentiments expressed by Mr. Bridges should be seen as more than simple nostalgia. The 1930s have come to be recognized by labor historians as the defining decade of the modern United States labor movement.2 These so-called ‘turbulent years’ were characterized by widespread labor militancy, ideological radicalism, effective political mobilization and the most significant union gains in United States history. From 1933 to 1945, the number of unionized workers increased by a factor of five – by the end of the Second World War more the 30 percent of American workers were in a union.3 In an ironic twist of fate, the worst economic catastrophe in history had forced workers to empower themselves, radicalizing the average laborer by necessity. For the first time since the end of the First Red Scare, laborers were once again rallying behind the banner of solidarity, union militancy, and industrial democracy. Ultimately, however, the radical4 unionism of the 1930s was to be short-lived. The next twenty years would see a series of ideological shifts within the labor movement and American society itself. After the tremendous economic growth in the wake of the Second 1 Schwartz, Solidarity Stories pg. 31 2 Lichtenstein, The State and the Union pg. 20 3 Lichtenstein, “From Corporatism to Collective Bargaining: organized Labor and the Eclipse of Social Democracy in the Postwar Era” pg. 123 4 Note: I will be using the term ‘radical’ in this paper to describe militant, highly democratic, and class- conscious union activity. In many ways, ‘radical’ may be synonymous with left-wing unionism but I will make a clear distinction in this paper when I am referring to political ideologies vs. ‘radical’ unionism. In other words, ‘radical’ unions are unions that repeatedly carry out agonistic contract negotiations and seek to fundamentally alter power dynamics between the workers and the employers. 3 Rutger Ceballos Wharf Rats, Communists and Industrial Unionism World War, labor leaders, threatened by the growing conservatism and anti-communism of the new Cold War era, purged their membership of left wing and radical unions, effectively ending any calls for radical economic and political reform.5 By the 1950s, labor unions across the country began to renounce militant organizing and abandon their calls for broad economic reform in favor of contractual negotiations and higher wages and benefits. By 1955, the merger of the left-wing Congress of Industrial Unionism (CIO) with the more conservative American Federation of Labor (AFL) signaled a decisive shift in labor movement from radical unionism to a more capital-friendly, business unionism of today. These dramatic years, from 1934 to 1955, should therefore be at the center of any discussion of the modern American labor movement. Until recently, most histories and studies of this period have focused on ‘why’ questions – Why did unionism begin to decline? Why was the labor movement unable to form the basis of a worker’s party? Why did labor radicalism, especially among the political left, decline after World War II? These questions, while both important and useful in understanding the history of the American working class, focus on a simplified narrative. However, as with any historical trend, the decline of unions and working class power had its outliers. This paper is the story of one such outlier – the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union (ILWU). Originally formed in 1937 with the hope of creating “one big union” 6, the ILWU quickly became known as one of the most left-wing unions in the country and were highly successful in securing victories for their own workers (higher wages, hiring halls, benefits, etc.) through large-scale strikes. Furthermore, unlike many other unions, the ILWU, and in particular its left-wing leadership was able to weather many of the political purges and 5 Kimeldorf, Reds or Rackets? The Making of Radical and Conservative Unions on the Waterfront pg. 4-5 6 Nelson, Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s pg. 268 4 Rutger Ceballos Wharf Rats, Communists and Industrial Unionism firestorms of the McCarthy era and was able to preserve its radical character. The history of the ILWU therefore makes it an interesting and unique case for a study on the changing roles of labor radicalism during the 1930s to 1950s. In this paper, I seek to analyze the factors that allowed the ILWU to maintain its position as one of the most radical and left wing unions in the country, despite repeated and concentrated pressures on both its leadership and rank-and-file members. I argue that the primary factors that make the ILWU’s case unique are 1) its commitment to robust forms of union democracy, 2) the unique culture of maritime work, 3) the ILWU’s commitment to civil rights and racial equality and 4) the strength of the Communist Party and other leftist traditions among both the rank-and-file and the ILWU leadership. This is therefore an attempt to contribute to a social history of the ILWU and the role of radicalism within a union, by focusing on how internal and external factors affected the experiences of the individual workers and union leaders. This study is divided into three major sections. The first section consists of a brief literature review along with some historical background that will serve to establish the historical and theoretical framework for this study. This section will draw heavily from previous studies on maritime workers and the ILWU. In particular, I will use the work of Bruce Nelson, David Wellman and Howard Kimeldorf - leading scholars of radical waterfront unionism in the 1930s - to place my study firmly within the framework of the existing literature. The second section delves into the external factors influencing the labor movement during the 1930s – 1950s. This section explores the structural and systemic constraints affecting union radicalism and leftist working class politics during that time. These factors include the conflict between craft unionism and industrial unionism, legal 5 Rutger Ceballos Wharf Rats, Communists and Industrial Unionism constraints (both state and federal), political persecution of socialist and communist union organizers, the effects
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