The occupation of Flint

The trade union organization in the United States began as early as in Europe and was successful for a long time, thanks to the populist democratic tradition. But it had a major obstacle to overcome – there were always poor immigrants who were willing to work for a fraction of the salary the native Americans demanded and who were happy to be used as strike breakers. At the end of the 19th century, that development took over.

Under these conditions, the American labor movement soon gave up all attempts to organize everyone. It contented itself with the trained craftsmen, who faced no competition from immigrants. The latter formed a sub-proletariat that was more organized through clientelist mafias, tied to previously arrived compatriots who helped them while using them for their own business purposes.

The development was not broken until the 1930s. By then, immigration had almost ceased due to the Depression. And then the industry had been automated and provided with assembly lines. In an assembly line industry, it is easy to organize a strike – it is enough to turn off the power. Those who mass-organized American workers were the children of immigrants, and they did so in the midst of the deepest recession.

Although it was not entirely the first, the strike at GM’s factory in Flint in December 1936- January 1937 is usually seen as decisive. GM operated this complex almost like a prison with armed guards who would make sure that the workers did not organize. But a relatively small group of determined workers managed to lure the guards away and occupy part of the factory, which the others immediately fell in. For a month, they occupied the site, fortified it against armed attacks GM tried and failed, organized solidarity actions in the city and in other factories, and managed to get GM to abandon its anti-union policies and sign agreements.

This was perhaps the most successful workers’ offensive in world history. Workers even managed to increase their wages more than productivity, which is unique. They also won, for a generation, union freedom and freedom from harassment. But the price of success was that they ignored organizing other businesses than big industry. The price of success was that the creativity of the movement ceased.

Reading
Martin Shefter: Trade unions and political machines: The organization and disorganization of the American working class, in Katznelson & Zolberg: Working class formation, Princeton University Press 1986
Walter Linder: The great Flint sit-down strike against GM 1936-37, The Radical Education Project, no year