1912–1913 Little Falls textile strike
1912–1913 Little Falls textile strike | |||
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Little Falls, New York , United States | |||
Caused by |
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Resulted in | Mills agree to pay 60-hour wages for 54-hour workweek, institute changes in piece work pay | ||
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Lead figures | |||
The 1912–1913 Little Falls textile strike was a
Little Falls, a city situated along the Mohawk River, saw substantial growth in its textile industry during the early 1900s. The city's textile mills were primarily operated by immigrant workers from Europe who faced poor and living conditions in the city. In 1912, as part of efforts to improve workplace safety, the state government passed a law that lowered the maximum number of weekly working hours for women and children from 60 to 54. However, the law did not address pay, resulting in many workers throughout the state seeing a decrease in wages relative to their reduced working hours. In many cases, brief labor disputes led to the companies altering pay, but in Little Falls, the Phoenix and Gilbert Knitting Mills resisted, leading to many mill workers receiving less pay than before. As a result, on October 9, 80 workers at the Phoenix Mill performed a walkout, and they were joined on October 18 by 76 workers from the Gilbert Mill. Over the next few days, the number of strikers continued to increase until over 600 workers were on strike.
Shortly after the walkout,
The terms of the contract resulted in wage increases of between 6 and 15 percent for the workers, depending on their
Background
Industry in Little Falls, New York
Organized labor
During this period of growth in Little Falls, business interests worked to prevent worker
Changes to hours and wages
In 1911,
While the bill had addressed the number of hours that could be worked, the legislation did not address the impact that the change would have on wages.[6] As a result, when the law came into effect, many companies reduced pay in proportion to the decrease in hours worked.[6] This led to numerous and sporadic walkouts throughout the state, with workers objecting to receiving less money.[6] A similar situation had occurred previously in Massachusetts when that state's government had passed a similar law that decreased working hours that similarly led to strikes,[6] including the 1912 Lawrence textile strike.[29] The Lawrence strike, led by the IWW and involving many immigrant workers,[30] such as Poles,[19] had occurred just a few months before the labor disputes in New York.[31] In many cases, the companies were able to quickly resolve these disputes by adjusting wages.[6] In Little Falls, the Phoenix Knitting Mill and the Gilbert Knitting Mill also lowered wages according to the reduced hours, leading to a labor strike at these two mills.[6][19]
Course of the strike
Early strike actions
On October 9,
Socialist activists arrive in Little Falls
Soon after the strike began, organized labor advocates and socialists from the surrounding area began to come to Little Falls to help the strikers.
Organizers from Schenectady continued to push for the ability to hold rallies and employed strategies such as overcrowding the local
"Your attention is invited to the fact that the Constitution of the State of New York guarantees the right of free speech and the right of people peacefully to assemble and discuss public questions. The people of the State of New York wish to see that these rights are not unnecessarily curtailed, but are respected in spirit as well as in letter, within your jurisdiction."
Facing this pressure, on October 21, Socialist candidates in the 1912 New York state election helped organize a pro-strike rally at Clinton Park that ran without interference from law enforcement.[48] During the speech, Mayor Lunn told the strikers, "Let your enemies use violence if they will—which I hope will never be the case—but do not ever use violence yourselves. You have right on your side. You can unite as one mighty army of workers and thus secure the wages to enable you to live peaceably".[49]
The IWW becomes involved
Following the free speech protests, IWW officials began to take the lead in organizing the strike activities.[49] Wobblies had been involved since the early days of the strike, with organizers Fillippo Bochino of Rochester and Fred Hirsh of Schenectady arriving in Little Falls shortly after the initial walkouts.[35] Other prominent IWW organizers who came to Little Falls included Benjamin Legere and George Lehney.[49] Following the advice of the IWW, the strikers formed a strike committee that included representatives from both plants and from each nationality of the strikers.[50] The strike committee organized subcommittees to handle other aspects of the strike, such as finances, and organized daily parades and picketing.[51] Legere, who had spent the past few months working for the defense of Joseph James Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti in a court case related to their actions in the Lawrence strike, was the primary organizer, teaching the strikers different picketing techniques and helping to assemble the subcommittees.[35] Additionally, the committee formulated some demands that they submitted to the mill owners on October 23:[33]
- "Same weekly wages for 54 hours' work as had been received for 60 hours.
- Additional increase of 10 per cent for all workers on day shift.
- Additional increase of 15 per cent for all workers on night shift.
- No discrimination against workers for activity in strike."
On October 24, the strikers held a meeting where they voted to officially unionize with the IWW, with IWW General Secretary Vincent Saint John giving them a charter as Local No. 801 — the National Industrial Union of Textile Workers of Little Falls.[51][52] On October 27, the strikers held a parade through Little Falls that involved over 1,000 people.[52]
Confrontation between police and strikers
On October 30, a violent confrontation occurred between picketers and law enforcement officials.[19][51][34] That morning, Chief Long had several men stationed near the entrance of the Phoenix Mill, where strikers were picketing.[53] Tensions rose as the picketers refused to clear away to allow workers to enter the mill.[19][51][34] As a result, a physical confrontation unfolded between the strikers and the officers.[19][51][34][note 3] Mounted police officers began to attack strikers with their clubs, with several beaten unconscious.[19][51][34] The strikers by comparison were almost all unarmed.[51] During the resulting riot, one officer was shot, while a private police officer from the Humphrey Detective Agency of Albany was stabbed.[51] Shortly after this, the strike committee met with strikers at the Slovak Hall, a building located across the Mohawk River from the mills in the immigrant part of town that was used as the headquarters for the strike.[53] Police chased picketers across the river and to the hall, where they beat the doors down and assaulted the building and its occupants.[19][51][34] Cases of liquor and beer were confiscated by the police, who also destroyed musical instruments and the framed IWW charter that the union had displayed in the hall.[19][34] Many people who resisted were beaten, and the police arrested the entire strike committee, as well as several other strikers and sympathizers,[34][19] including Schloss.[55] Legere had managed to escape arrest and went to Utica, where he sent off several letters before he returned to Little Falls the following day and was promptly arrested.[56] The night after the raid, strikers gathered at the hall and cleaned it before singing "La Marseillaise" and "The Internationale".[57]
Following the attack, the IWW sent more organizers to help with the strike effort, including
Mediation and the United Textile Workers
Almost as soon as the strike began, the New York State Department of Labor's Bureau of Mediation and Arbitration arrive in Little Falls to attempt to broker an agreement between the strikers and the mills.[36] Before the strike had spread to the Gilbert Mill, the bureau interviewed the owner of the Phoenix Mill, who said he would not negotiate any change in pay with the strikers until they returned to work.[36] Meanwhile, after the strike had spread to the Gilbert Mill, representatives of that enterprise agreed to meet with strikers, but refused to have an IWW interpreter present, causing the negotiations to falter.[36] For several weeks thereafter, neither mill would agree to negotiate in any way with IWW representatives.[36] Around this time, the United Textile Workers of America (UTW), an AFL-affiliated union, began to organize some of the strikers into their union and negotiated with the mills on their behalf.[36] The UTW presence in Little Falls, led by AFL organizer Charles A. Miles of Auburn,[34][38] had arrived after the IWW had established its role in the strike and began to directly compete with the IWW to control the strike.[38][19] According to reporting from the International Socialist Review, which was sympathetic to the IWW over the UTW, some members of the private police that had been involved in the October 30 confrontation had been members of the UTW.[57] Miles partnered with business interests, clergy members, and law enforcement to portray the IWW as a violent anarchist group that was not able to effectively negotiate on the behalf of their members.[68] Miles and the UTW succeeded in recruiting some strikers to the organization, claiming an initial membership of 52 mill workers, and while the mill owners refused to negotiate with the IWW, Miles managed to negotiate a settlement for his group with the millworkers, announcing an end to the strike on December 2.[69][36] The settlement included an increase in day wages and piece work pay to make up for the loss of hours.[70] However, the IWW local at this time claimed a membership of 400 workers who remained on strike.[36] Concerning the competition between the two unions during the strike, historian James S. Pula has said, "In the end, the IWW proved more influential, possibly because of the egregious actions of local officials that called forth a stronger response from the workers".[19]
Later strike action
On December 17, in a move similar to what the IWW had done in Lawrence, the strikers began to send their children to temporarily live in the homes of strike sympathizers in cities such as
- "There will be no discrimination against individual strikers.
- The companies to reinstate all former employees as soon as possible.
- All men and women working 54 hours to receive pay formerly received for 60 hours.
- Piece work rates to be adjusted to compensate for reduction of time caused by fifty-four hour law.
- Night lunch to be adjusted by the workers directly involved.
- Winding schedules: Cop yarn in most sizes is raised 5 cents per 100 pounds. Mule spun yarn is increased from 9 per cent on the largest size to 16 per cent on the smallest size. 10 per cent additional is paid on latch needle knitting. Other piece work prices affected by the fifty-four hour law to be adjusted on the same plan."
On January 2, Rabinowitz called a mass meeting of the strikers where the terms of the proposal were read with the help of interpreters, including Carlo Tresca.[74] The state mediator was also present to answer questions or provide clarifications for the strikers.[74] Also during the meeting, attorney Fred Moore spoke to the crowd, calling on them to continue to fight for better conditions if they approved of the proposal.[74] Ultimately, the strikers unanimously agreed to accept the terms of the contract, with the meeting ending with a playing of "La Marseillaise".[74] The strikers agreed to return to work that Monday, January 6, thus ending the strike.[74][73][note 5] The IWW viewed the settlement as a success.[75]
Aftermath
Concerning the strike, Pula stated in a 1995 book that the "dispute [was] characterized by physical and emotional bitterness that more than matched the inclement weather of a brutal winter".
Following the strike, the IWW focused on the legal issues concerning 14 strikers who remained arrested.
Following the IWW's decline, the more conservative AFL remained and recruited workers in the area,
The city of Little Falls held events to commemorate the centennial of the strike in 2012.[89][90] Events were also held elsewhere in the Mohawk Valley: in Ilion, home to Remington Rand, a dramatic play based on the strike was performed,[91] and in Utica the Unitarian Universalist church had a Wobbly give a speech about the strike on Labor Day.[32]
Notes
- carding machine.[13]
- New York History, historian Robert E. Snyder stated, "664 workers braved inclement weather and entrenched local interests to strike against the Phoenix and Gilbert Knitting Mills, and another 659 workers were indirectly affected by work stoppages".[1] Snyder goes on to state that the number of workers who went on strike was roughly equal to the number who did not.[6] However, in a 1995 book, later partially republished in a 2009 entry for The Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History, historian James S. Pula said of the strike, "more than 1,300 workers" went on strike.[34][19] Additionally, in a December 1912 issue of the International Socialist Review, Phillips Russell stated that, on October 10, "more than 1,500 workers" from both mills performed a walkout.[35] Meanwhile, a 2012 article in the Industrial Worker stated that 1,000 workers from each mill (2,000 total) went on strike.[32] However, a 1913 report by the New York State Department of Labor contradicts some of these larger estimates. The report states that, at the time of the strike, the Phoenix Mill employed 1,100 workers and the Gilbert Mill, 495.[33] While the report does not state the total number of strikers, it does state that about 800 workers were idled as a result of the strike and that the IWW local union, established during the strike, had a membership of about 400.[36]
- ^ Sources vary on the exact cause of the confrontation. In a report given by Chief Long to investigators from the New York State Department of Labor in December 1912, he stated that the strikers had initiated the violence after charging his officers.[54] However, according to a contemporary report in the International Socialist Review, the instigating action that led to violence was when "Chief Long prodded a young girl in the breasts with his club".[53] Historian Philip S. Foner, in a 1979 book, stated that the confrontation was instigated by a policeman who beat a female striker.[52]
- ^ Sources vary on the exact amount she donated, with ranges of between $87[64] and $87.50.[65]
- ^ January 6 is the date given by the New York State Department of Labor as the end of the strike.[73] Other sources give conflicting dates of January 3[32] and January 4.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Snyder 1979, p. 29.
- ^ a b c Pearson 2005, p. 850.
- ^ a b Abrams 1989, p. 17.
- ^ a b Snyder 1979, p. 32.
- ^ a b Foner 1979, p. 440.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Snyder 1979, p. 34.
- ^ Orth 1919, p. 206.
- ^ a b c Snyder 1979, p. 35.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 33, 43.
- ^ a b Snyder 1979, p. 53.
- ^ Foner 1979, p. 445.
- ^ Snyder 1979, p. 44.
- ^ Foner 1979, p. 441.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 35–36.
- ^ a b c d e Snyder 1979, p. 36.
- ^ a b c Pula 2009, p. 144.
- ^ a b Fones-Wolf & Fones-Wolf 1983, pp. 172–173.
- ^ a b c Perkins 2005, p. 712.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Pula 2009, p. 146.
- ^ a b Cashman 2005, p. 773.
- ^ Pula 1995, p. 53.
- ^ Pula 2009, pp. 144–145.
- ^ a b c Snyder 1979, p. 31.
- ^ a b c Snyder 1979, p. 30.
- ^ Snyder 1979, p. 33.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 31–33.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 33–34.
- ^ Golin 1988, p. 67.
- ^ a b Goldberg 2009, pp. 331–332.
- ^ Eliassen 2021, p. 153.
- ^ a b c d Dunn 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Rogers, Downey & McManus 1913, p. 27.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Pula 1995, p. 52.
- ^ a b c d Russell 1912, p. 456.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Rogers, Downey & McManus 1913, p. 28.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 29, 34.
- ^ a b c d Snyder 1979, p. 51.
- ^ Snyder 1979, p. 47.
- ^ a b Snyder 1979, pp. 36–37.
- ^ Snyder 1979, p. 37.
- ^ a b Snyder 1979, p. 38.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Foner 1979, p. 442.
- ^ Russell 1912, p. 460.
- ^ a b c d Snyder 1979, p. 39.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 38–39.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 39–40.
- ^ a b c Snyder 1979, p. 40.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 40–41.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Snyder 1979, p. 41.
- ^ a b c Foner 1979, p. 443.
- ^ a b c Russell 1912, p. 457.
- ^ Rogers, Downey & McManus 1913, p. 30.
- ^ a b Snyder 1979, p. 48.
- ^ Russell 1912, p. 458.
- ^ a b Russell 1912, p. 459.
- ^ Russell 1912, pp. 459–460.
- ^ Haywood 1913, pp. 522–523.
- ^ Foner 1979, p. 444.
- ^ Haywood 1913, p. 522.
- ^ a b Snyder 1979, p. 42.
- ^ Haywood 1913, p. 519.
- ^ Snyder 1979, p. 50.
- ^ Eliassen 2021, pp. 153–154.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 49–50.
- ^ Kerr 1913a, pp. 599–600.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 51–52.
- ^ a b c d e Snyder 1979, p. 52.
- ^ Rogers, Downey & McManus 1913, pp. 30–31.
- ^ a b Foner 1979, p. 447.
- ^ a b c Rogers, Downey & McManus 1913, p. 29.
- ^ a b c d Rogers, Downey & McManus 1913, p. 31.
- ^ a b c d e Snyder 1979, p. 54.
- ^ a b c d e Snyder 1979, p. 56.
- ^ Golin 1988, pp. 222–223.
- ^ Nelson 1996, p. 133.
- ^ Shippee 1924, p. 296.
- ^ Biscay 1913b, p. 822.
- ^ Kerr 1913c, p. 41.
- ^ Russell 1913, p. 598.
- ^ Biscay 1913a, p. 751.
- ^ a b c d e Foner 1979, p. 448.
- ^ Snyder 1979, pp. 56–57.
- ^ Foner 1979, p. 452.
- ^ Snyder 1979, p. 57.
- ^ Pula 2009, pp. 145–146.
- ^ Pula 2009, p. 147.
- ^ The Evening Times 2012a.
- ^ The Evening Times 2012b.
- ^ DiCocco 2012.
Sources
- Abrams, Irving S. (1989). Roediger, Dave; Boanes, Phyllis (eds.). Haymarket Heritage: The Memoirs of Irving S. Abrams. Illinois Labor History Society; With an introduction from Joseph M. Jacobs. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company.
- Biscay, J. S. (April 1913a). Charles H. Kerr & Co.: 750–754 – via Marxists Internet Archive.
- Biscay, J. S. (May 1913b). Charles H. Kerr & Co.: 822 – via Marxists Internet Archive.
- Cashman, John (2005). "Industrial Workers of the World". In Eisenstadt, Peter; Moss, Laura-Eve (eds.). The Encyclopedia of New York State. Foreword by Carole F. Huxley. Syracuse, New York: ISBN 978-0-8156-0808-0.
- DiCocco, Beth (November 3, 2012). "Review: 'Strike Story' both entertains and educates audience". Observer-Dispatch. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
- Dunn, Brendan Maslauskas (November 2012). "In November We Remember: The Centennial of the 1912 Little Falls Textile Strike". Industrial Worker. 109 (9). Industrial Workers of the World. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2023 – via libcom.org.
- Eliassen, Meredith (2021). Helen Keller: A Life in American History. Women Making History. Santa Barbara, California: ISBN 978-1-4408-7464-2.
- "City preparing to commemorate 100th anniversary of textile strike". The Evening Times. Little Falls, New York. June 26, 2012a.
- "1912 Textile Strike Commemoration Continues". The Evening Times. Little Falls, New York. September 27, 2012b.
- ISBN 978-0-02-910370-8.
- Fones-Wolf, Elizabeth; Fones-Wolf, Kenneth (1983). "Trade-Union Evangelism: Religion and the AFL in the Labor Forward Movement, 1912–16". In Frisch, Michael H.; ISBN 978-0-252-00954-9.
- Goldberg, David J. (2009). "Twentieth-Century Textile Strikes". In Brenner, Aaron; Day, Benjamin; ISBN 978-0-7656-1330-1.
- Golin, Steve (1988). The Fragile Bridge: Paterson Silk Strike, 1913. Philadelphia: ISBN 978-1-56639-005-7.
- Charles H. Kerr & Co.: 519–523 – via Marxists Internet Archive.
- Charles H. Kerr & Co.: 599–600 – via Marxists Internet Archive.
- Charles H. Kerr & Co.: 670 – via Marxists Internet Archive.
- Charles H. Kerr & Co.: 41 – via Marxists Internet Archive.
- Nelson, Daniel (1996). Managers and Workers: Origins of the Twentieth-Century Factory System in the United States, 1880–1920 (2nd ed.). Madison, Wisconsin: ISBN 978-0-299-14883-6.
- Orth, Samuel P. (1919). Johnson, Allen (ed.). The Armies of Labor: A Chronicle of the Organized Wage-Earners. The Chronicles of America (Textbook ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
- Pearson, Chad (2005). "Labor". In Eisenstadt, Peter; Moss, Laura-Eve (eds.). The Encyclopedia of New York State. Foreword by Carole F. Huxley. Syracuse, New York: ISBN 978-0-8156-0808-0.
- Perkins, Susan R. (2005). "Herkimer County". In Eisenstadt, Peter; Moss, Laura-Eve (eds.). The Encyclopedia of New York State. Foreword by Carole F. Huxley. Syracuse, New York: ISBN 978-0-8156-0808-0.
- ISBN 978-0-8057-8427-5.
- ISBN 978-0-7656-1330-1.
- Rogers, William C.; Downey, P. J.; McManus, James (March 1913). "The Little Falls Textile Workers' Dispute". State of New York Department of Labor Bulletin. XV (54): 27–31.
- Russell, Phillips (December 1912). Charles H. Kerr & Co.: 455–460 – via Marxists Internet Archive.
- Russell, Phillips (February 1913). Charles H. Kerr & Co.: 598–599 – via Marxists Internet Archive.
- Shippee, Lester Burrell (1924). Recent American History. New York City: OCLC 315984.
- Snyder, Robert E. (January 1979). "Women, Wobblies, and Workers' Rights: The 1912 Textile Strike in Little Falls, New York". JSTOR 23169970.
Further reading
- "Riot Leaders are Held.; Legere, Who Led Little Falls Strikers, Sent to Herkimer Jail". from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- "Arbitrators to Air Little Falls Evils; State Board Arrives in Disturbed City to Investigate the Strike Troubles". from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- "Call Mill Wages High.; Employer's Blame Agitators for the Little Falls Strike". from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- "End Little Falls Strike.; Terms Proposed by State Mediators Are Practically Accepted". from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- Kennaday, Paul (January 2, 1913). "Commissioner of Labor Williams Can Force Them Out.; Facts of the Strike". from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- "Demurrer Filed for Lunn.; In Answer to Little Falls Strike Indictment -- Hearing Monday". from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- "I.W.W. Leader Guilty.; B.J. Legere Convicted of Rioting in Little Falls Strike". from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.