The Shop Strike of 1922

by Jon Flanders

I just finished reading "Power at Odds, The 1922 National Railroad Shopmen's Strike", by Colin J. Davis(University of Illinois Press, 1997) The book is an account of the great national strike by 400,000 shop workers that was the high point of labor struggles in the immediate post WW1 period. The legacy of this showdown between labor and capital on the railroads still haunts us today, as rail workers run up against the legal and political obstacles created by the Railway Labor Act of 1926, which legally sanctifies government intervention in the management/labor relationship. This act was born as a direct outcome of the Shopmen's Strike.

Davis sets the stage for his narrative of the strike by describing the central role in the national economic picture the railroad shops played in the 1920's, and by tracing the big gains the shop craft unions made during WW1, after the government of Woodrow Wilson was forced to take control of the railroads. The private owners narrow interest in profit led to a complete breakdown of rail service as production ramped up during the war. This led to the government takeover.

Old Steamer on Selkirk hill track(photo byJon Flanders)

Shortages of labor and the government's desire for smooth functioning of the railroads during war time opened the doors for union organizers, and union membership soared.

After the war, as the private owners clamored to have their "property" returned, the shopcraft unions fought to retain government control, which was massively popular with the workforce. A referendum on the issue passed in favor of government ownership by 99.5 percent.

The owners were not to be denied, however, and as they resumed control, they made it very clear that they regarded the advances by the shop unions as temporary and unacceptable.

The strike broke out over wage cuts and contracting out, in the summer of 1922. Rail management, by sparing the operating brotherhoods the harshest measures, was able to persuade their leaders not to support the shop workers. This lack of support, and the government intervention that followed proved fatal for the shop unions. Nevertheless, the national walkout by the 400,000 member shop work force, became an epic war between labor and capital, convulsing communities from coast to coast, as the citizens of the railroad centers were forced to choose sides.

Davis documents many episodes from the struggle, as rail management mobilized thousands of guards, goons , scabs and their ultimate weapon, the federal government, to batter down the resistance of the rail workers. As the strike dragged on into the fall of 1922, bitterness grew on the workers side, and open warfare raged in many places.

The book's account of events in Harrison, Arkansas highlights the ferocity of the struggle.

"On one particular midwestern railroad, the Missouri and North Arkansas, a hostile citizenry defeated strikers. At the major strike point Harrison, Arkansas, local merchants, backed up by railroad officials, smashed the strike. According to J. T. Venables, a local secretary of the Order of Railway Conductors, citizens formed a "Committee of Twelve" made up of merchants, lawyers, farmers, doctors, and officials of the sherriff's department The "Committee of Twelve" established an extralegal court and "tried" strikers for a plethora of "Offenses." Armed Ku Klux Klan men provided the muscle behind the committee's actions. On January 15,1923, two trainloads of armed men moved into Harrison. Venables described one train thus: "it was a special KKK train. .(which had 336 Klansrnen,) they were from Harrison, Apena, Green Forest, Berryville and Eureka Springs" Strikers suffered "arrests" and interrogation. One striker, E. C Gregor resisted attempts to arrest him but was finally overpowered after a gun battle outside his home. After a short "trial," Gregor was sentenced to death and "hurried to a railway trestle, his hands tied behind his back and a rope around his neck, and pushed off into eternity" According to the Machinist Monthly Journal the lynching of Gregor and the intimidation of others forced "Hundreds of strikers, their wives, children and sympathizers" to flee Harrison.

Samuel Gompers entered the controversy when he asked for information from the local U.S marshal, A. J. Russell, who contacted Daugherty asking for advice as to how to proceed. Russell filed a report of the incident but in a telling comment to Daugherty, he explained, "Being a citizen all my life of the community served by the M. &N.A. road, I had very pronounced ideas of my own as to the conditions and as to the only way to meet them." Daugherty replied that Russell should just inform Gompers that "you did not find any evidence of any offence against the United States." Presumably the transportation of an organized mob by an interstate railroad mattered less than insults veiled by strikers. The absence of community support had laid bare the strikers' precarious position. Confronted by a coalition of businesspeople and the Klan, the strikers were forced to retreat."

I should say that in many railroad towns, members of the community were overwhelmingly in support of the workers. Harrison was not typical in that respect.

As the strike dragged on, the leaders of the shop unions looked for a way out. They found it in a group of more "friendly" railroads than lines like the fiercely anti-labor Pennsylvania Railroad. Much to the distress of many union members, a deal was struck with some roads, which left the workforce divided. Strikes continued into 1923 and even 1924 in some places. Workers salvaged what they could from the defeat. It would take years for rail labor to recover. The unity the shop unions had achieved during the war years was shattered, as the survivors retreated from the Debs vision of industrial organization into craft exclusiveness.

In today's turbulent era of mergers, downsizing and shortlining, we would do well to learn from the great battles of the past. Colin J. Davis's excellent book is a must read. It can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Organization: SBS-Dean's Office
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 15:21:51 CST-6CDT
Subject: Re: review of power at odds by rail machinist

Dear Jon Flanders,

Thanks so much for sending on your review. Its so heart-warming that an IAM official enjoyed the book. Its been amazing how the strike continues to effect people's perceptions. I've received letters from railroad workers from Ohio, Florida and elsewhere explaining how their parents or grandparents fought in the 1922 strike and in some cases were forced to leave town and even the state because of it.

It was pleasure to write. I had a big stake in the project, not least was my background as a tool and die maker, or as we say in England, toolmaker. I just hope that others from the machine trades will appreciate it as you have.

Colin

Dr. Colin J. Davis
Dept of History
401 Ullman Bldg University of Alabama
at Birmingham Birmingham,
AL 35294-3350
tel (205) 934-5634