Explore the powerful impact of sit-down strikes in the labor movement, the global spread of the strike tactic, and the fight against spies. Hear about the street battles in Flint, Cleveland, Kansas City, and Atlanta. Discover the architectonics of capital and the union insurgency that shaped the labor movement.
Sit-down strikes were pivotal in American labor history, highlighting worker demands for fair treatment.
Strategic organizing by figures like Wyndham Mortimer and Bob Travis led to successful protests for labor rights.
Workers at Fisher Body One in Flint organized a self-regulated system during the 44-day sit-down strike.
Sit-down strikes had a global impact, inspiring labor movements worldwide to address grievances and demand fair working conditions.
Deep dives
Unrest in Auto Plants
Michigan National Guardsmen are called in to reinforce troops amid unrest in Flint's General Motors area. Soldiers disperse picket lines, seize sound trucks, and arrest agitators. Sit-down strikes, a method of labor protest, gain importance in American labor history.
Sit-Down Strikes Origins
Sit-down strikes began in the rubber industry in 1934 before spreading to auto plants like GM. Teams like UAW organized strikes in key plants to push for worker rights and fair treatment amid oppressive working conditions.
Tactics and Significance
Workers faced speedups and unfair treatment in auto plants, leading to resentment and a desire for change. These struggles culminated in sit-down strikes that disrupted production and highlighted workers' demands for fair working conditions.
Key Figures and Strategic Planning
Figures like Wyndham Mortimer and Bob Travis played crucial roles in organizing and leading sit-down strikes in auto plants. Strategic organizing and leveraging worker grievances led to successful protests for fair treatment and labor rights.
Organizing the Strike
Workers at Fisher Body One in Flint planned a strike to coincide with the delayed swearing-in of a pro-labor governor, Frank Murphy. Management's preemptive moves to maintain control of the plant by relocating machinery sparked the strike. Union organizers, led by Bob Travis, rallied workers after perceiving management's intentions to undermine their workforce. The sit-down strike at Fisher Body One lasted 44 days, with workers taking over the plant.
Organizing the Plant Occupation
During the sit-down strike, workers at Fisher Body One organized a self-regulated system within the plant. Captains and stewards oversaw groups of men, who lived and worked together in various departments. The workers' social unit was governed by the committee of 17, promoting democratic decision-making through membership meetings. The occupation involved structured routines like strike duty, picketing, health inspections, kitchen duties, and maintaining cleanliness.
Strategic Tactics and Solidarity
Planning strategic tactics, the union targeted critical plants like Chevy Plant Number Four while engaging in misinformation campaigns to outmaneuver management's defenses. By leveraging a determined minority to initiate action, multiple industries, including auto workers worldwide, echoed the sit-down strike tactic. The strike wave's global resonance underscored the symbiosis between a strategic minority and broad democratic majorities.
Global Impact and Labor Resilience
Beyond Flint, sit-down strikes reverberated worldwide, with workers in various industries and countries adapting the tactic to address labor grievances. The strike wave transcended borders, inspiring movements from Dutch oil workers to Vietnamese dredgers. The strikes symbolized an interconnected global working-class movement, showcasing diverse cultural and strategic adaptations in response to local labor conditions.
Episode seven of Fragile Juggernaut dramatizes the Sit Down strikes that built the UAW: why they proved to be powerful, what effect they had on the labor movement, and the truly global spread of the strike tactic. The fight in Flint and Cleveland, Kansas City and Atlanta, provides an occasion to talk both about the global organization of production and highly contingent efforts to root out spies, covering both the architectonics of capital and street battles barely won against advancing cops. These stories are where structural analysis meets the heist movie.
We want to flag two small factual mistakes on this episode: at one point Gabe refers to the federal CIO locals where he means federal AFL locals; elsewhere, Ben says Fisher Body a few times when he means the Chevy plant.
Fragile Juggernaut is a Haymarket Originals podcast exploring the history, politics, and strategic lessons of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the rank and file insurgency that produced it. Support Fragile Juggernaut on Patreon and receive our exclusive bimonthly newsletter, full of additional insights, reading recommendations, and archival materials we’ve amassed along the way.
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