Vol. 76/No. 29      August 6, 2012

Below are excerpts from Teamster Politics by Farrell Dobbs, a leader of Teamsters Local 574 in Minneapolis and in the Teamsters Midwest over-the-road organizing campaign in the 1930s and the labor secretary of the Socialist Workers Party beginning in 1940. The book is part of a four volume series along with Teamster Rebellion, Teamster Power and Teamster Bureaucracy. In this excerpt, Dobbs describes how the militant Teamsters union in Minneapolis reached out to organize and collaborate with the unemployed movement. Copyright © 1975 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permission.

BY FARRELL DOBBS  
While preparing this segment of Teamster history I asked Max Geldman, an organizer of the unemployed in the 1930s, for his recollections about conditions and events during that period. One of my questions concerned the prevailing mood among workers who had lost their jobs because of economic depression.

“Let me illustrate,” he responded, “what I consider the general reaction of the unemployed to the indignities of being on relief. I’m not speaking here of anger at the authorities, or of militant struggles waged by the jobless. It’s the indignity of having to fill out forms and of being interrogated by relief interviewers: such as, how much money do you have, when were you last employed, why do you need relief, etc., etc.?” …

“The mass of unemployed hated the relief setup; resented the indignities they were subjected to; shed tears over their plight; and broke out in angry actions: such as protest demonstrations, sit-ins at state capitals, hunger marches, and raids on food warehouses in which food was expropriated and distributed to the needy.” …

Shortly before the WPA* came into being, a new formation appeared within the Minneapolis labor movement, one that was to have a significant effect on later mass struggles against Roosevelt’s stingy relief policies. In the spring of 1935, General Drivers Local 574 expanded its structure to include an auxiliary unit known as the Federal Workers Section. This unit was especially designed as a vehicle for organization of the unemployed under the local’s direct sponsorship. Its creation marked a pioneer step in trade-union activity, and for that reason the way had been carefully prepared during the course of preceding events.

When Local 574 launched its 1934 campaign for bargaining rights in the Minneapolis trucking industry, there was great potential for support from the city’s unemployed. The jobless were in a deeply rebellious mood. Generally speaking, they looked upon any struggle against the status quo as their struggle. Some among them were, of course, susceptible to being tricked into serving the bosses as strikebreakers; but that danger could be minimized if organized labor sought to promote united action by the employed and unemployed in defense of their collective interests.

Being conscious of those factors, Trotskyists in the General Drivers’ leadership initiated policy measures designed to forge the necessary working-class unity. In effect they were saying to the unemployed: “Help us now to win our battle against the trucking employers, and we will then back your cause with the full power of our union.”

Thousands of jobless workers responded to the appeal during the hard-fought trucking strikes that followed. Voluntarily accepting discipline in combat, they stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the strikers in defending picket lines against the cops. Many were arrested before the battle was finally won; scores suffered injury from police clubs and guns; and one of them, John Belor, gave his life for the cause.

A close affinity grew up between the truck drivers and the unemployed. The average Local 574 member thought it only fitting and proper to form the Federal Workers Section, so as to help those who had so loyally backed the union in its time of need. …

The jobless workers gained a lot from the overall arrangement. Affiliation with a strong trade union gave their movement unprecedented inner stability, a new measure of dynamism, and an enhanced growth rate. In addition, a member of Local 574’s executive board, usually Grant Dunne, helped the FWS in dealing with city relief agencies and WPA officials. Such action signified that workers on relief were backed by the full power of the entire local in their clashes with the authorities.

Although the Federal Workers Section functioned under the supervision of the union’s executive board, it had full democratic rights in forming an internal structure and in shaping its own policies. The section had its own executive committee and, due to the peculiar needs of the unemployed movement, the committee was viewed as an open-end body to which personnel could be added as circumstances required. There was a steward formation, which consisted mainly of representatives elected on WPA projects. A grievance board was also established and, like all official bodies, it was accountable to the monthly membership meetings of the section.

After a time a special women’s division was formed, primarily among workers on a large WPA sewing project. In this connection it should be noted that most of the FWS members were on WPA, mainly workers on labor projects. The section had only scattered influence among unemployed professionals.