Workers' Defense League

Last updated

The Workers' Defense League (WDL) is an American socialist organization devoted to promoting labor rights. The group was founded on August 29, 1936 with the endorsement of Norman Thomas, six-time presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America. The WDL described itself as a "militant, politically nonpartisan organization which would devote itself exclusively to the protection of workers' rights". [1] Its officers included Thomas, David Clendenin, George S. Counts, Pauli Murray, and Joe Felmet. [2] [3] [4] Philosopher Richard Rorty's parents were active with the WDL when he was a child, and he acted as an errand boy for the group. [5] Harry Fleischman acted as the group's chairman for twenty-five years. [6]

Contents

During World War II, the WDL supported war resisters, fought for desegregation of the armed forces, and opposed Japanese American internment. [7] The group also took on the case of Odell Waller, a Virginia sharecropper sentenced to death in 1940 for killing his white landlord. Arguing that the landlord had cheated Waller and that he had in any case acted in self-defense, the WDL raised money for Waller's defense, lobbied for the commutation of his sentence, and mounted a nationwide publicity campaign on his behalf. The effort was unsuccessful, and Waller was executed on July 2, 1942. [8]

In the 1960s, the organization worked to integrate minorities and women into traditionally white male labor unions, though with little success. [7]

Archival collections

The Workers' Defense League Records are housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library. The collection spans from 1936-1965 and consists of correspondence, news clippings, speeches, trial briefs and transcripts, press releases, and pamphlets and leaflets. The collection documents the Worker's Defense League's efforts to secure justice for labor organizers, victims of racial and economic discrimination, conscientious objectors, and government critics through established, legal processes.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Labor Relations Act of 1935</span> 1935 U.S. federal labor law regulating the rights of workers and unions

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action such as strikes. Central to the act was a ban on company unions. The act was written by Senator Robert F. Wagner, passed by the 74th United States Congress, and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom</span> 1963 civil rights movement demonstration

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. At the march, final speaker Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in which he called for an end to racism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Reuther</span> Labor union leader and progressive activist (1907–1970)

Walter Philip Reuther was an American leader of organized labor and civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history. He saw labor movements not as narrow special interest groups but as instruments to advance social justice and human rights in democratic societies. He leveraged the UAW's resources and influence to advocate for workers' rights, civil rights, women's rights, universal health care, public education, affordable housing, environmental stewardship and nuclear nonproliferation around the world. He believed in Swedish-style social democracy and societal change through nonviolent civil disobedience. He cofounded the AFL-CIO in 1955 with George Meany. He survived two attempted assassinations, including one at home where he was struck by a 12-gauge shotgun blast fired through his kitchen window. He was the fourth and longest serving president of the UAW, serving from 1946 until his death in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Farm Workers</span> Labor union for farmworkers in the United States

The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) led by organizer Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta. They became allied and transformed from workers' rights organizations into a union as a result of a series of strikes in 1965, when the mostly Filipino farmworkers of the AWOC in Delano, California, initiated a grape strike, and the NFWA went on strike in support. As a result of the commonality in goals and methods, the NFWA and the AWOC formed the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee on August 22, 1966. This organization was accepted into the AFL–CIO in 1972 and changed its name to the United Farm Workers Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Auto Workers</span> American labor union

The United Auto Workers (UAW), fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States and southern Ontario, Canada. It was founded as part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s and grew rapidly from 1936 to the 1950s. The union played a major role in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party under the leadership of Walter Reuther. It was known for gaining high wages and pensions for automotive manufacturing workers, but it was unable to unionize auto plants built by foreign-based car makers in the South after the 1970s, and it went into a steady decline in membership; reasons for this included increased automation, decreased use of labor, mismanagement, movements of manufacturing, and increased globalization.

The Communist Party USA and its allies played an important role in the United States labor movement, particularly in the 1930s and 1940s, but wasn't successful either in bringing the labor movement around to its agenda of fighting for socialism and full workers' control over industry, or in converting their influence in any particular union into membership gains for the Party. The CP has had only negligible influence in labor since its supporters' defeat in internal union political battles in the aftermath of World War II and the CIO's expulsion of the unions in which they held the most influence in 1950. After the expulsion of the Communists, organized labor in the United States began a steady decline.

The Communist Party (CP) and its allies played a role in the United States labor movement, particularly in the 1930s and 1940s, but largely wasn't successful either in bringing the labor movement around to its agenda or in converting their influence in any particular union into membership gains for the Party. The CP has had only negligible influence in labor since its supporters' defeat in internal union political battles in the aftermath of World War II and the Congress of Industrial Organizations's (CIO) expulsion of unions in which the party held the most influence in 1950. The expelled parties were often raided by stronger unions, and most withered away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labor history of the United States</span> Aspect of history

The nature and power of organized labor in the United States is the outcome of historical tensions among counter-acting forces involving workplace rights, wages, working hours, political expression, labor laws, and other working conditions. Organized unions and their umbrella labor federations such as the AFL–CIO and citywide federations have competed, evolved, merged, and split against a backdrop of changing values and priorities, and periodic federal government intervention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Abern</span> Marxist politician (1898–1949)

Martin "Marty" Abern was a Marxist politician who was an important leader of the Communist youth movement of the 1920s as well as a founder of the American Trotskyist movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Service Employees International Union</span> North American trade union

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare, including hospital, home care and nursing home workers; public services ; and property services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Lovestone</span> American activist (1897–1990)

Jay Lovestone was an American activist. He was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) helper, and foreign policy advisor to the leadership of the AFL–CIO and various unions within it.

The Communist Party USA, ideologically committed to foster a socialist revolution in the United States, played a significant role in defending the civil rights of African Americans during its most influential years of the 1930s and 1940s. In that period, the African-American population was still concentrated in the South, where it was largely disenfranchised, excluded from the political system, and oppressed under Jim Crow laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pauli Murray</span> American writer and activist (1910–1985)

Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray was an American civil rights activist, advocate, legal scholar and theorist, author and – later in life – an Episcopal priest. Murray's work influenced the civil rights movement and expanded legal protection for gender equality.

WDL may stand for:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odell Waller</span> American sharecropper convicted of killing his landlord

Odell Waller was an African-American sharecropper from Gretna, Virginia, executed for the fatal shooting of his white landlord, Oscar Wheldon Davis, on July 15, 1940. Waller maintained at his trial that the killing had been in self-defense, but was convicted by a jury of white citizens who had paid the poll tax, a measure that effectively barred blacks and poor whites from jury service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congress of Industrial Organizations</span> North American federation of labor unions from 1935 to 1955

The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of Labor (AFL) by John L. Lewis, a leader of the United Mine Workers (UMW), and called the Committee for Industrial Organization. Its name was changed in 1938 when it broke away from the AFL. It focused on organizing unskilled workers, who had been ignored by most of the AFL unions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter P. Reuther Library</span> Library at Wayne State University

The Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, located on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, contains millions of primary source documents related to the labor history of the United States, urban affairs, and the Wayne State University Archives. The building is named for UAW President and Congress of Industrial Organizations President Walter Reuther.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Reuther</span> American labor leader known for UAW organizing

Roy Louis Reuther was an American labor organizer. He was one of the leaders of the historic Flint sit-down strike that gave birth to the United Auto Workers (UAW). Along with his brothers Walter and Victor, he helped build the UAW into the most powerful industrial union in the United States. Later, as political director for the UAW, he spearheaded efforts to expand voter participation, and was deeply involved in the civil rights movement.

Nat Ganley, or Nat Kaplan, was a socialist and later communist journalist who became a union organizer in the 1930s, particularly for the United Auto Workers of America. He was tried and convicted in 1954 for violating the Smith Act, but his conviction was later overturned.

References

  1. Sherman 1992, p. 17.
  2. "The Workers' Defense League Collection". Walter P. Reuther Library. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  3. "Inside the News: Solicitor Decides to Depart". Fort Lauderdale News. 12 February 1947. p. 4.
  4. Sherman 1992, p. 38.
  5. Hilary Putnam (June 1, 2009). "Richard Rorty". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.[ dead link ]
  6. Rick Harrison (November 19, 2004). "Labor, Civil Rights Organizer Harry Fleischman, 90". Forward. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013 via HighBeam Research.
  7. 1 2 Paul Buhle (November 16, 2004). "Harry Fleischman". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  8. Sherman 1992, pp. 37–40, 99–100.

Bibliography