An Historical correction to

LATTER DAY INDENTURED SERVITUDE:
Workfare, prison labor, illegal immigration and the H1B-H2A guestworker programs
 

A Short But Important Historical Correction

by Sylvie Kashdan


 


Although the article titled "LATTER DAY INDENTURED SERVITUDE:  workfare, prison labor, illegal immigration and the H1B/H2A guestworker programs," by Gregory A.  Butler of Gangbox:  Construction Workers News Service contains some well-deserved criticisms of the brutal prison-industrial complex and the workfare system, it also contains some very obnoxious nationalist bigotry against immigrants and refugees, which is inimical to the fine internationalist traditions of the revolutionaries of the past two centuries, and especially relevant to this list, the opposite of the revolutionary stance of the IWW against all borders and all nationalisms.

The article also contains some historical inaccuracies that should be noted by all people who are working for an anti-authoritarian, egalitarian and socially just world.  It gives the impression that "Communist" ideas and the Communist Party were the primary inspiration for the social insurgency in the U.S. during the 1930s.  But, this is giving them far more credit than they deserve.  And it leaves out the negative role that Communists played.  This is not just a question of arguing about the past.  Our understanding of the past is crucially related to what we can imagine, strive for and accomplish in the present and future.

And the truth is that workers in the U.S., both employed and unemployed, were involved in quite militant and radically-minded social insurgency long before the 1930s or the existence of the Communists.  Moreover, the Industrial Workers of the World was a major part of the social insurgency at the beginning of the twentieth century, as well as being itself a creation of radical and revolutionary workers in 1905.  The IWW has always been made up of anarchists, socialists and non-affiliated radical and revolutionary rank-and-file workers.  Some Communists participated at times, but they were never a dominant influence.  From its birth, through the First World War and after, the IWW both informed and inspired many workers throughout the country.  The IWW was a major influence in the anti-war activity during World War One, and in the massive strikes that broke out after the war, particularly in 1919.  That is why the U.S. government and private capitalists attacked the IWW activists so brutally during the first decades of the organization's existence.

For histories of the IWW's extremely important role, see:  Industrial Workers of the World, IWW Historical Reclamation Project Online:

http://iww.org/history.html

and

I.W.W.  pamphlets, Industrial Workers of the World Pamphlets, Selections from the colorful and stirring I.W.W.  chapbooks:

http://digital.library.arizona.edu/bisbee/main/iww.php

and

THE SEATTLE GENERAL STRIKE:  An Account of What Happened in Seattle and Especially in the Seattle Labor Movement During the General Strike, February 6 To 11, 1919, Originally issued by the History Committee of The General Strike Committee, March, 1919, WITH BACKGROUND NOTES ADDED (1999) at:

http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/hist_texts/seattle1919.html

All through the last decades of the nineteenth and first decades of the twentieth century, anarchist and socialist ideas were discussed in local cafes, at lectures and discussion groups, in self-organized workers' colleges and in hundreds of anarchist and socialist newspapers in many languages throughout the United States.

In the mean time, in Europe governments were developing centralized welfare state programs in combination with repression against those demanding social justice.  The German government led the way in the 1870s.  But, the U.S. capitalists lagged behind, reluctant to share even small crumbs.

Then came the First World War, and U.S. major business interests and the federal government developed more sophisticated techniques for intensifying and centralizing repression of dissent and insurgency, while more "efficiently" managing production and providing some social safety net for those who cooperated--including the bureaucrats of the AFofL.  Franklin Roosevelt was Secretary of the Navy during that war, and was very impressed with the war-based industrial-military complex that was developed.  He and his associates were sad to see it dismantled after the war.

Then directly after World War One, and through the 1920s, socialists and anarchists were hit with even more political repression, while all working people had to deal with industrial restructuring that meant loss of many skilled jobs.  Many rank-and-file workers responded with militant actions, including wildcat strikes.

Unfortunately, from its beginnings after World War One, the American Communist party was more interested in gaining members and "leading" the working-class movement than in contributing positively to the struggle.  Then the IWW and the American Socialist Party both decided not to join the Communist-led Red Trade Union International, because of the authoritarianism of the Communists (even before Stalin).  So, Communists inside and outside the IWW began a campaign against these organizations, which included going to local IWW branches to attack people and break up meetings--placing IWW members in the position of having to defend themselves against these authoritarians while also having to defend themselves against the U.S. government repression.  Both contributed to the severe weakening of the organization by the end of the 1920s, although it was never completely destroyed.

Despite government and business repression, rank-and-file worker insurgency, including wildcat strikes, continued throughout the 1920s.  And, at the beginning of the 1930s, many ordinary unemployed people, including many anarchists, non-communist socialists and non-affiliated people, formed Unemployed Councils.  These militant direct action groups were not the exclusive creation of Communists alone, and the movement was not "led" by Communists, although Communists did participate.

Franklin Roosevelt entered the Presidency at the beginning of 1933, during the Great Depression, and he and his advisors were quite concerned about the working-class militancy.  They definitely saw it as a threat to capitalist rule and as an extension of Russian Soviet Communist influence, because of their belief that everyone would naturally be satisfied and even thrilled with the U.S. if they weren't led astray by outside agitators.  And the FBI encouraged and embroidered this view.  The U.S. rulers, therefore considered that they were in a situation similar to war.  After some hesitancy, and with inspiration from a number of the European nation-states (including Italy under the Fascists), U.S. major business interests and the federal government once again became enthused about centralizing and standardizing techniques for social control, while more "efficiently" managing production and providing some social safety net for those who cooperated--this time including the bureaucrats of the CIO, whose job it was to channel the energies of the militant rank-and-file workers outside the control of the A.F.  of L.

So, under Franklin Roosevelt's presidency the Social Security system and other New Deal social welfare programs were developed, along with an ever-increasingly war-based industrial-military complex, that was never to be dismantled again to this day.

For more Information on the topic of the militant activities of non-affiliated working-class people, folks can start by reading:  Howard Zinn, A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, and Jeremy Brecher, STRIKE!
 

This article was sent as a letter to:  "IWW NEWS List" <iww-news@iww.org> on March 26, 2001 

anti-CopyRite 2003

Charlatan Stew articles are freely provided by the Stan Iverson Archives
For non-commercial, informational purposes

 anarchist, labor, radical books

See also: Anarchist Encyclopedia
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/gallery/galleryindex.htm
Stan Iverson Memorial Library
http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/
Anarchist Time Line / Chronology
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/indexTimeline.htm