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University Microfilms International 300 N.Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 8426452 Phelan, Craig Lawrence WILLIAM GREEN AND THE LIMITS OF CHRISTIAN IDEALISM: THE AFL YEARS, 1924-1952 The Ohio State University PH.D. 1984 University Microfilms I nterncttlOricll 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 WILLIAM GREEN AND THE LIMITS OF CHRISTIAN IDEALISM: THE AFL YEARS, 1924-1952 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Craig Phelan, B.A., M.A. ****** The Ohio State University 1984 Reading Committee: Approved By Warren Van Tine Bradley Chapin " "'risei Allan Millett Department of History Copyright by Craig Phelan 1984 VITA August 13, 1958 .... Born - Detroit, Michigan 1978 B.A., Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 1980 M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1980-1984 Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS "William Green and the Ideal of Christian Cooperation," in Melvyn Dubofsky and Warren Van Tine, editors, Labor Leaders in Industrial America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, forthcoming, 1985. "Stephen S. Foster," and "Lucretia Mott," in Harold Josephson, editor, Biographical Dictionary of Modern Peace Leaders. Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, forthcoming, 1984. "A Fraternity of Skill: The 1880s," and "Pursuing the American Dream: The 1950s," in Warren Van Tine, et al, editors, Building Ohio, 1881-1981: A Centennial History of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America in Ohio. Columbus: Labor Education and Research Service, 1981. ii FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: American History U.S. Labor History. Professor Warren Van Tine Colonial American History. Professor Bradley Chapin Nineteenth Century U. S. History. Professor Merton L. Dillion Tudor-Stuart English History. Professor Clayton Roberts iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page VITA FOREWORD v CHAPTER 1. CHRISTIAN IDEALS AND UNION POLITICS: THE RISE TO THE AFL PRESIDENCY . 2. MARKETING UNIONISM TO BUSINESS: THE 1920S 26 3. WEATHERING THE DEPRESSION: 1929-1935 69 4. ORGANIZING THE UNORGANIZED UNDER SECTION 7a: 1933-1935 127 5. A CONFLICT OF STYLES AND PRINCIPLES: 1932-1935 196 6. ANTI-INSURGENT CRUSADER: 1935-1941 . 242 7. WAR, POLITICS, AND DEATH: 1941-1952 . 312 AFTERWORD 360 BIBLIOGRAPHY 364 iv FOREWORD In the textile mills which dominated the economic life of southern Appalachia, the year 1929 witnessed a dress rehearsal of the militant labor uprising which would occur across the United States in the 1930s. Sixty-hour work weeks, subsistence wages, and oppressive working conditions had long been the predicament of Southern textile operatives. When mill owners further intensified the pace of work, the operatives resisted with a vengeance. Beginning in 1929, a series of spontaneous strikes wracked the mill towns of Tennessee and North and South Carolina. Battle lines hardened throughout Appalachia as contestants on both sides prepared for an aggressive struggle. For the first time since William Green had assumed the American Federation of Labor presidency in 1924, the Federation had an opportunity to organize large numbers of hitherto nonunion workers. Unlike the auto workers whom the AFL was also attempting to organize in 1929, the textile operatives could not be accused of indifference to unionism. Nor were the craft unionists apathetic to their plight. Delegates to the 1929 AFL convention exhibited, in the words of one observer, "a pitch of enthusiasm not seen in v labor gatherings since the spring tide of the Knights of 2 Labor." Indeed, they unanimously agreed to launch a massive campaign, involving all international affiliates, to organize Southern workers. On January 6, 1930, the AFL opened its drive with a conference at Charlotte, North Carolina. Although delegates from the South urged militancy, Green, in a two-hour speech, explained that while he sincerely desired to unionize Southern workers, he would not countenance force or violence. In fact, he devoted much of his speech to contrasting the methods of the Communists (who were also organizing mill workers) with the peaceful, constructive, and Christian mission of the AFL. The AFL would achieve better results, Green suggested, if it set out not to antagonize, but to convince employers and the public of the social and economic benefits of trade unionism. "There is no sword in our scabbard," he declared. "There is no weapon in our hand. We come not with the mailed fist but with the open hand to the employers of the South appealing to them to give us the opportunity, to try us out and see whether we can help this industrial situation in the South." Green formulated a tripartite strategy for the drive: organizers would try to interest workers in the AFL; vi an industrial engineer, Geoffrey Brown, would attempt to persuade employers of the merits of trade unionism; and Green himself would sell the idea of unionism to the Southern public. Green made two extensive speaking tours through the South in the early months of 1930. He mustered all the charm and eloquence at his command as he appealed to college gatherings, chambers of commerce, Rotary and Kiwanis 5 clubs, three state legislatures, and four governors. Green assured the South that the AFL was not composed of godless radicals and troublemakers. Rather, members fully believed that, in resolving differences between employers and employees, "the law of rightousness, religion and morality must control if settlements arrived at are to be just and fair to all." Above all, he declared that the AFL was not a violent, destructive force. Its ultimate purpose was to create "a healthy environment, a favorable psychological condition in the homes and communities where workers dwell so that the seeds of Gospel Truth may not fall upon stony ground ..." Although the Southern public responded favorably to Green and his message, the AFL organizers and Geoffrey Brown met only resistance. Green had instructed organizers to counsel against spontaneous strikes in the hope that vii employers would recognize the AFL's peaceful mission. But such advice alienated the operatives who sought tangible support in their struggles. Only three employers, all of them located in Columbus, Georgia, agreed to allow the AFL to organize their workers. The combined workforce at the three firms — a syrup factory, a food packing plant, and a Q hosiery mill — was at most eighty-two workers. Not a single textile employer expressed interest in working with the Federation. The climax of the Southern campaign occurred at Danville, Virginia, home of the Dan River and Riverside cotton mills, the largest in the South. Confronted with a ten per cent wage cut imposed in early 1930, employees asked the United Textile Workers to help them form a union. UTW Vice-President Francis Gorman took personal charge of organizing activities, while Geogffrey Brown and Green tried to sell the AFL to the mill's management. In response, Dan River began to fire all operatives suspected of union affiliation. By September, two thousand workers had been dismissed. Thus the AFL had little choice but to override Green's protests and support the workers in a strike that lasted four months. The management of the mills resorted to injunctions, evictions, and the state militia. In the end, viii the strike failed, and with it died the hope of a peaceful 9 campaign to introduce unionism to the South. Several factors accounted for the defeat of the Southern organizing campaign: cotton manufactures proved determined and resourceful foes of unionism; Southern political leaders inevitably brought state power to the aid of corporations; AFL affiliates proved unwilling and sometimes unable to provide the necessary financial support for a large scale campaign; and the South had a large pool of unskilled workers willing to break strikes, a pool made larger by the onset of the Great Depression. Added to these factors was Green's adamant refusal to sanction militant rank-and-file action to secure union recognition and collective bargaining rights.