Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU/AFL–CIO); at Cannon Mills, 57
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA–CIO), 92; women in, xiv. See also Workers, women
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 156–157
American Federation of Labor (AFL), 33; backdoor pacts, 157–158; as craft unionism, 4; membership, 177n.3; offering itself as non-Communist alternative to CIO, 157–158; political and economic structure, 6; postwar Southern drive, 24; and race, 4–5, 67–68; red-baiting of CIO, 20, 24–25, 145; and tradition of autonomy for AFL unions, 4–5. See also Red-baiting
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), 146, 157, 158
Anti-democratic dynamics, within organized labor, 173
Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, 146
Atomic Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC–CIO), 26
Baldanzi, George, 23, 165; and CIO’s left wing, 152; decision to staff Operation Dixie with Southerners, 24; emphasis on textiles, 27–28; explanation of 1946 staff reductions, 43–44; insulated from red-baiting, 24; on Southern workers, 166. See also Textiles, Southern
Bankers, 90
Beirne, Joe, 62
Bellwether plants, 183n.10; as part of Operation Dixie strategy, 25–26. See also Operation Dixie, strategy
Bilbo, Senator Theodore, 64–65
Bittner, Van A., 22–23, 32–33; caution on race issue, 75–76; on CIO–PAC, 181–182n.1; control over jurisdiction, 27; defense against red-baiting, 64; emphasis on textiles, 27–28; explanation of 1946 staff reductions, 43; instructions to Operation Dixie staff, 30; insulated from red-baiting, 24; portrait of, 182n.2. See also Textiles, Southern
Black churches: employers’ ties to, 80–81; and interracial organizing, 80–81
Black organizers, 70–71, 72, 73, 197–198n.29; perception of, by white CIO organizers, 72–73
Blame for failure of Operation Dixie, 189n.50; Baldanzi, 38–39; Bittner, 38–39; communist issue, 38–39; Communists, 38; incompetent organizers, 38–39; Northerners, with inadequate understanding of the South, 38; organizers, for talking over the heads of workers, 188n.48; race issue, 39; Southern workers, 38–39
Bridges, Harry, 142
Business unionism, 158, 161; ideological implications of, 158–159
Cannon Mills, 25–26, 44, 46–61, 171; early reports from, 30–31; organizing at, 32; as part of Operation Dixie strategy, 25–26; request for additional organizers for, 55–56. See also Bellwether plants; Operation Dixie, strategy; Textiles, Southern
Carey, James, 145
Cash, W. J., on Southern workers, 166
Catholic trade unionists, red-baiting by, 160
Christian-American Association, 113–114, 115
Churches, Southern: financial dependence on local business owners, 107–108; fundamentalist, 116–117; reasons for workers’ attendance, 107; as social institution, 106; in textile areas, 116–117; traveling tent-show revivalists, 116
CIO Committee to Abolish Racial Discrimination, 65
CIO internationals, 24, 139; financial contributions to Operation Dixie, 193n.38; participation in Operation Dixie, 27, 36; records on race, 86–87
CIO National Convention, 1946: Bittner at, 41–42; Murray’s compromise resolution against intrusion by political parties into CIO, 146–147; politics of, 146–147
CIO National Convention, 1948, Murray’s denunciation of Communists at, 160
CIO–PAC, 144
Civil rights, movement for, 73
Coalition: CIO’s center-left, in 1946, 140; CIO’s conservative-Communist, in 1944, 142–143
Cold War, 140, 143, 145, 156, 147–148
Communications Workers of America (CWA–CIO), 62, 63, 195n.1
Communism, CIO’s defense against charges of, 147–148
Communists: campaigns against, in CIO unions, 144–145, 149–150; in CIO, 140–141, 146–147; issue of, within CIO, 144; as sources of labor unrest, 15; tradition of, in CIO, 141
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO): and the AFL, xvi; awareness of South’s conscious regionalism, 77–78; cultural credibility of, 101; goals in the South, 150; internal politics of, xvi, 14, 15, 27; membership gains during World War II, 20–21; racism within, 66–67; resources for politics, 89–90. See also specific names of CIO organizations
Culver, Dean, 32, 44, 48–49, 54–55, 56–57
Curran, Joseph, 142
Dalrymple, Sherman, 64
Daniel, Franz, 23, 150–151; at first TWUA National Convention, 1939, 21; and race, 75; and religious opposition to CIO, 111
DeCaux, Len, 143
Depression, 10
Douglas, Helen Gahagan, 144
Dues check-off, 13
Duke, James Buchanan, and black churches, 81
Educational campaign, for workers, 171
Elections, Congressional, 1946, 145–146; Truman’s response to, 146
Emspak, Frank, 144
Emspak, Julius, 142
Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC), 75–76
Federal Bureau of Investigation, 98
Federated Council of the Churches of Christ in America, 118
Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, 118; concerns over Communists in, 150–151; and Local 22 (FTA), 150–151
Firings, of workers active in CIO, 100–101
Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers Union (FTA–CIO), 42, 141; and center-left coalition, 148–149; leaflets, 74–75; Local 22, 150–152; question of participation in Operation Dixie, 27; and race, 65, 73, 74–75, 81–82, 83; and United Transport Service Employees’ Association, 148–149; women organizers, black, xiv, 81–82. See also Women
Ford, Henry, and black churches, 81
Foreign policy: CIO ties to Soviet, 159–160; CIO ties to U.S., 140, 158–159
Googe, George, 20; red-baiting of CIO by, 24
Gorman, Frank, 165
Gossett, Lloyd, 74
Green, William, red-baiting of CIO by, 24
Gutman, Herbert, on ethnic composition of working class, 4
Henderson, Donald, 148
Hitler, Adolph, 64
House UnAmerican Activities Committee, calling FTA officers to testify, 152
Industrial Unionism: demands for, within AFL, 6–7; and ideology, 5, 139
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), 5
Inflation, post-World War II, 14–15
Initiation Fees, 22, 28–30, 54–55, 183–184n.14
In-plant committees, 29, 40, 99, 171
International Fur and Leather Workers Union (IFLWU–CIO), 152; and race, 66, 73, 78–79, 82, 83
International Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Workers Union (IRWDSW–CIO), and race, 70
International Woodworkers of America (IWA–CIO), 42
Interracial organizing, in the South: and the black church, 80–81; and CIO’s rank-and-file, 78–80, 83–86, 87; CIO leadership’s caution on, 74–76; difficulties of, 72, 74–75; explosiveness of, 79–80; by FTA, in tobacco, 74–75; by left-wing CIO unions, 74–76, 83–86; physical hazards of, 69; political implication of 64–66, 68–69; records of CIO unions on, 86–87; risks of, 72, 74–75
Jurisdiction, control over, 22, 27; disputes over 22; political implications of, 148–149; as “raiding” of left-wing unions by administrative action, 149
Justice Department, U.S., in the South, 70
Kannapolis, N.C. See Cannon Mills
Kennedy, Stetson, 113
Ku Klux Klan, 36, 64, 65, 73–74; anti-Klan laws used against organizers, 94; as CIO members, 62; membership among CIO white rank-and-file, local police, and politicians, 74
Labor’s position, at end of World War II, 12–13
Landrum-Griffin Bill, Article 14, 158
Layoffs, as anti-union tactic, 103
Leaflets, 51; throw-down rate of, 31
Left-wing unions, within CIO: isolation of, 149–150, 151–152; seen as liability to labor’s cause, 152
Legal system, mobilized against CIO, 94–96, 97–98
Leighton, Joel, 57
Lichtenstein, Nelson, 141
Local 22 (FTA-CIO), and Communist issue, 153. See also Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers Union (FTA–CIO)
Marshall Plan, 143; support for, as test of patriotism, 149
Mason, Lucy Randolph, 94, 110–111, 119, 121, 184–185n.18, 204–205n.5
Meany, George, red-baiting of CIO, 25
Militant Truth, 108–109, 112, 113; circulation of, 108–109; impact on workers, 115; mysterious appearance of, 108–109; occasional rejection of, by business owners, 115–116; persistence of, 115; in textile regions, 114
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union (MMSWU–CIO), 99–100, 154
Morale, 30–32, 38–39, 56–57, 99–100, 104, 112, 182–183n.8, 186n.28; throughout ideological conflicts, 154–156
Morton, Nelle, 118, 121, 150–151
Murray, Philip, 22–23, 142–143, 147; evolution of his opposition to Communists, 146–147, 150; and politics, 27, 140, 143–144; and race, 65
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 65, 74, 146
National Committee for Justice, 65
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), elections, 22, 32, 33–35, 36, 40–41, 94–95, 101–102; interracial hearings, difficulty of conducting, in the South, 69–70; petitions to, for elections, 30
National Maritime Union (NMU): and Communists, 147; and race, 65
National Negro Congress, and CIO, 66
National Religion and Labor Foundation, 118, 121
National Urban League, and CIO, 65–66
National War Labor Board (NWLB), 142–143
Nixon, Richard M., 144
No-strike pledge, lifting of, 14
Oil Workers International Union (OWIU–CIO), 26
Operation Dixie, xiii, 3, 181n.1; bellwether plants in, 25–26; budget cuts, December 1946, 161; costs of, 41–42; impact of loss of left-wing unions on, 161–162; increases in membership, 162; as “invasion” of South, 166–167; political implications of, 36; priorities of, 25–26, 33; results of, in textiles, tobacco, wood and wood products, 42; staffing, 22–24, 27, 43–44; strategy, 22, 25–26, 162, 182–183n.8
Oral tradition: among organizers, 99–100; among workers, 59–60
Organization, in Southern branches of highly organized Northern industries, 33
Organizations, conventional wisdom in, 168–169
Organizers: black, 70–71, 72; foreign-sounding names of, 101; harassment of, 36–38, 184n.16; morale of, 30–32; Northern vs. Southern, 167–168; as outsiders, 101
Paternalism, 49, 105; at Cannon Mills, 60–61; Southern tradition of, 88–89
Patriarchy, Southern tradition of, 88–89
Political climate: within CIO, 160; national, 139–140, 144–146, 149, 151–152, 156–157, 160, 161
Political spectrum, within CIO, 140
Pope, Liston, 118
Pugh, Ernest, 23
Purge, of CIO’s left-wing unions, 139, 173–174
Race: and communist issue, 153–154; policies on, AFL and CIO, 67–68, 197n.19
Race-baiting, 40, 190; Bittner’s defense against, 64; by AFL, 75; by employers, 82; of CIO by ministers, 112–114, 121; connections with red-baiting, 76–77
Racially motivated violence, CIO’s response to, 64–65
Racism, in the South, 77
Raiding, as weapon for defeating CIO’s left-wing unions, 140, 152–154, 155–156
Ramsay, John, 110, 111, 112, 119
Reconstruction, 94
Recruitment of workers vs. mobilization of, 169–170, 172
Red-baiting: by AFL, 20, 24–25, 145; by Catholic trade unionists, 160; by employers, 34; linked with race-baiting, 63; by ministers, 108, 109, 112–114, 121; by textile mill owners, 41
Religion, 107–108, 109–110, 114–115, 207n.36; CIO’s attempts to use in organizing, 119–120; and CIO response to opposition, 110–113; impact on CIO, 204–205n.5; and left-wing unions, 206n.25; and race-baiting of CIO, 109, 112–114, 121; and red-baiting of CIO, 108, 109, 112–115, 121; and support for CIO, 117–119; and textile organizers, 119–120; and United Packinghouse Workers of America, 119–120
Religion and Labor Fellowship, 111
Republican National Committee, 144
“Runaway” plants, from North to South, xiii, 15–16, 190n.1; decimation of New England textile industry, 18–19, 180–181n.11; impact on organized labor, 15–16, 18–19; implications for CIO’s Northern base, 46; in furniture, 15–16; in textiles, 15–16; in textiles during World War II, 20. See also Textiles
Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 94
Smith, Moranda, 81
Smith, William, 23, 34–35, 43; on Cannon Mills, 168; on race, 74–75
Socialists, 37–38; in CIO, 140–141
South: characteristics of, xiii, xiv; history of labor’s attempts to unionize, xiii, 17–21; impact of cultural and economic heritage in defeat of Operation Dixie, 163–164; social relations in, 16
Southern Conference for Human Welfare, and race, 65
Southern Exposure, 113
Southern Organizing Committee (SOC–CIO), 32; accusations of elitism, 166; accusations of Northern bias, 166–167; control over Operation Dixie, 22, 27–28
Strikes: defensive, 1945–1946, 15; Local 22 (FTA), 150–154; in textiles, 18; in textiles, 1929, 52, 59–60; in textiles, 1934, 7, 17, 19, 49, 59–60, 165, 181n.12; sit-down, 3, 8–10, 25, 169
Surveillance, of organizers, 97
Taft-Hartley Act, 158; implications of, 149; and NLRB elections, 149; non-Communist affidavit, 149, 152
Textile mill owners: intransigence of, 39–41; threats against workers, 40–41
Textile mill villages: children in, 92–93; harassment of organizers in, 94–97; housing in, 91–92; managerial prerogatives in, 90–91; ministers in, 88, 91; police in, 91; power of company store in, 16–17; social control of mill owners in, 88, 91–92, 93–94
Textile organizers, and religion, 110–120
Textile organizing: heritage of, 175; before and during World War II, 13–14
Textiles, xiii, 13, 19–20, 180–181n.11, 181n.15
Textiles, Southern: Bittner–Baldanzi emphasis on, 27–28; chains of plants, 46–47; by close of Operation Dixie, 1953, 161; conditions in, 40–41, 185n.21; elections in, 33–35, 36, 39, 186–187n.31; growth during World War II, 20; as priority in Operation Dixie, 25–26, 27–28, 46, 187–188n.39; race issue used to defeat CIO, 75; size of plants, 46–47; strategic choices imposed on CIO by, 47–48; workers in, 16–17
Textile Workers Organizing Committee (TWOC–CIO), 13, 18–20, 165
Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA–CIO): attempts to build a Southern strategy, 165–166; elections, 57; first Southern efforts, 165–166; growth during World War II, 13–14; increase in membership during Operation Dixie, 162; as institutional core of Operation Dixie, 164; investment in Operation Dixie, 36; leadership of, 174–175; National Convention, 1939, 21; pre-World War II drive, 19–20; and strike votes during World War II, 142; women in, xiv
Threats: against workers, 91–92, 98–99; against organizers, 98–99, 105–104; of plant closings, 102–103
Throw-down rates, 61
Tobacco, 48; elections in, 39. See also Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers Union (FTA–CIO)
Tobacco Workers International Union (TWIU–AFL), and Communist issue, 153–154
Truman, Harry: CIO–PAC’s contributions to, 160; Cold War policies of, 143; loyalty oath, 157; position toward labor at end of World War II, 14–15
Truman Doctrine, support for, as test for patriotism, 149
The Trumpet, 112
United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE–CIO), 14, 145, 154
United Furniture Workers of America (UFWA–CIO), 26
United Mine Workers (UMW), 6
United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA–CIO), 62–63; and Communist issue, 155; and race, 65, 73, 83–86; and religion, 119–120
United Paper Workers (UPW–CIO), 42
United Rubber Workers (URW–CIO), 14
United Steelworkers of America (USA–CIO), 14
United Textile Workers (UTW–AFL), 19, 165
United Transport Service Employees Association (UTSEA–CIO), and raiding of FTA, 148–149, 153
Violence: against organizers, 99–100, 104; against workers, 104
White, Walter, 66
Women, organizers in Operation Dixie, xiv–xv
Wood and wood products, 48
Workers, black: AFL’s attitude toward, 67–68; as a casualty of Cold War, 152–154; CIO’s intent to organize, in tobacco, wood and wood products, and packinghouses, 63–64; CIO’s record of organizing, 68; level of politicization, 72; women, in Local 22 (FTA), 150; women, xiv–xv, 81–82
Workers, Southern: characterizations of, 165–166; in tobacco, 148–149
Workers, women, 52–54; in textiles and in TWUA, xiv; in tobacco, xiv