BLACK AND WHITE LABOR RELATIONS, 1870–1878
The complex cross–currents of race relations within the American labor movement crystallized during the 1870s. Within the span of a few short years, the Republican Party retreated from Radical Reconstruction, the economy slumped with the Panic of 1873, and industrial production was severely disrupted by massive strikes, especially the nation’s first general strike in 1877. In this convulsive atmosphere of turmoil, it was natural that conflicting attitudes regarding the role of black workers in the labor movement would dramatically come to the forefront. The reform press in particular, such as the National Anti–Slavery Standard and the Workingman’s Advocate, official organ of the National Labor Union, steadfastly argued for the inclusion of blacks in working–class organizations. The Advocate reminded white workers that “enlightened self–interest” alone required that blacks be organized, for those workers who did not belong to the movement certainly would be used to break it (Doc. 1–6, 28).
The facts seldom conformed with the ideal, however. For example, the Bricklayers’ National Union met in convention in January 1871. On the subject of the admission of Negroes, local chapter representatives vowed that they “would never admit a nigger into their fellowship” (Doc. 7). Even though the Workingman’s Advocate opposed the Bricklayers’ stand on admission (Doc. 8), the paper exerted no influence in such matters. Actually, only the Marxist International Workingmen’s Association (First International) actively practiced racial equality in its admissions (Doc. 11, 14, 16). In Galveston, Texas, for example, the Workingmen met to consider a proposal requesting that blacks join the organization. Even though the local racist faction opposed the move and split with the union over the issue, the Workingmen leaders insisted on adherence to the principle of inclusion (Doc. 19–21, 34–39).
Although the Internationals, the Colored National Labor Union, and the reform press, all supported labor solidarity (Doc. 18), most unions continued to bar Negroes. Even worse, they threatened the continued existence of blacks in the skilled crafts by restricting black youths from the crucial apprenticeships required for learning most trades (Doc. 17). Less prestigious employment was barred to blacks as well, for as one observer noted, “the foundry, the factory, the workshops of every kind, are closed against us, whether they are public or private” (Doc. 24). The bedrock racial conservatism among America’s white workers seemed impervious to the egalitarian idealism of the more progressive labor reformers (Doc. 27).
As the labor reformers predicted, if black workers were excluded from the movement, they would be used to undermine its success. Thus, when white coal miners in the Hocking Valley of Southern Ohio struck for better wages in 1874, 300 or 400 strikebreakers were imported to work the mines. Since whites themselves restricted blacks from joining unions there seemed little reason for blacks to respect union picket lines when those same whites went out on strike (Doc. 29–32).