Governing Labor in Modernizing Texas

Amberg, Stephen

doi:10.1215/01455532-28-1-145

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…What is more, the TSIUC undertook a major poll-tax drive in the home county of notoriously anti-labor Congressman Martin Dies, ultimately forcing Dies into an early retirement. 54 The combination of these events threatened the existing political and social order and spurred reorganization efforts both among employers and within the state Democratic party. These events also posed opportunities for a nascent Texas union movement.…”

Section: Wartime Labor Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limiting Labor: Business Political Mobilization and Union Setback in the States

Dixon

2007

J. Policy Hist.

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The 1940s were heady times for the American labor movement. The tight wartime labor market and the backing of the federal government in defense industries facilitated impressive membership gains for both AFL and CIO unions. By 1945, labor unions represented almost 35 percent of the workforce—a more than fivefold increase from the early 1930s. What is more, union membership gains penetrated previously unorganized and resistant regions like the South. Unions indeed appeared on the verge of recruiting millions of new members and establishing a truly national social movement. Critics and supporters alike viewed unions as the most powerful institutions of the day. Following the war,Fortune Magazineforesaw little resistance to unionism and to the postwar southern labor organizing drives, while sympathetic scholars like C. Wright Mills viewed labor leaders as the “new men of power.”

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Section: Wartime Labor Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%