The 1934 strikes— Labor's Turning point

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This year marks the 50th aniversary of three strikes-the Toledo Auto-Lite strike, the Minneapolis Teamsters strike, and the San Francisco general strikethat opened the way for the great labor upsurge of the 1930s. These three strikes of 1934 stand as a historic example of the power of workers organized in militant mass struggle for defense of their interests. Together they marked a turning point for labor— signalling the onset of a mass social movement of industrial workers that gave birth to the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

The stock market crash of 1929 had plunged the nation into an unparalleled economic crisis. Industrial production fell by 48.7 percent in four years. Unemployment reached a high of nearly 18 million in 1933. Millions wandered the roads in search of jobs and shelter. Communities of makeshift shacks, "Hoovervilles," symbolized the vast misery of the Depression.

The labor movement was in dire straits. Thrown off balance by the initial shock of the Depression, the workers only slowly began to regain equilibrium and organize for their rights. But under the leadership of the American Federation of Labor, representing at its peak only 5 percent of the workers, strike after strike went down in defeat. By 1933 A. F. of L. membership had plummeted to little more than 2 million workers. The major industries-steel, auto, rubber, transportation—remained unorganized.

In 1934 things began to change as a new layer of militant workers, labor radicals, and revolutionary socialists asserted leadership in a series of hard fought class battles of historic proportions.

In Toledo, the workers at the Electric Auto-Lite Company, as Art Preis observed in Labor's Giant Step, "blazed forth to illuminate the whole horizon of the American class struggle." The AutoLite workers went out on strike on Feb. 23, 1934, and engaged in a miltant mass struggle that confronted and defeated the armed troops and judicial power of the capitalist government.

The same month in Minneapolis, General Drivers Local 574 organized a successful strike among coal yard workers. After this initial victory, the union set out to recruit to its ranks every truck driver and warehouse worker in Minneapolis.

Led by Trotskyists like Carl Skoglund, Farrell Dobbs, Harry DeBoer, and the Dunne brothers, Local 574 led a strike that halted all truck transportation after the employers refused to bargain. The ingenious strike tactics of the union sparked a mass organizing drive that overthrew the rule of the open shop and established an industrywide union of truck drivers and warehouse workers in the transportation industry.

This month we are inaugurating Forum, a new feature section which will present discussion and debate on a wide range of topics of interest to the labor and socialist movements.

While events were unfolding in Minneapolis, an "unauthorized" strike by 10,000 to 15,000 longshoremen on the West Coast pitted the waterfront workers against vigilantes, scabs, police, media hysteria, and opposition from the bureaucrats running the union. In July the police attacked the strike center on the San Francisco waterfront, killing two and wounding 109 in the infamous "Battle of Rincon Hill." The National Guard was called in. The workers of San Francisco answered with a general strike that shut down the city. The A.F. of L. leaders called off the strike but the longshoremen emerged strong and were soon able to win the union hiring hall along the West Coast.

Socialist Action held a forum in San Francisco on Feb. 18, 1984, to commemorate the anniversary of these three strikes. Ted Selander, a leader of the 1934 Toledo strike, addressed the audience of over 120 people. Max Geldman, a leader apolis and one of 18 members of the Socialist Workers Party sent to prison during World War II for violation of the Smith Act, was introduced to the meeting and presented brief remarks.

Asher Harer, a retired longshoremen from San Francisco, introduced the film Labor's Turning Point, a documentary on the Minneapolis strikes shown at the forum, and has prepared a contribution for Socialist Action on the San Francisco general strike. Karen Shieve, a union activist, addressed the theme of the lessons of the 1934 strikes for today's labor movement. The article by Karen Shieve and Don Harmon included here is based on remarks delivered by Shieve at the forum. The forum was moderated by Dianne Feeley, a leader of Socialist Action and an activist in the Mon Valley Unemployed League in Pittsburgh.

Harry DeBoer, a leader of the Teamsters strike and also one of the Minneapolis 18 with Geldman, was unable to attend the forum but was interviewed by Socialist Action and offered his comments for this special Forum section.

This section also includes major portions of a talk given by Carl Skoglund in May 1952. They are published here for the first time ever. Skoglund was a central figure in the Minneapolis strikes and later president of Local 544. This year marks the 100th aniversary of his birth. His life spanned several decades of revo-