United States strike wave of 1945–1946

The US strike wave of 1945–1946 or great strike wave of 1946^[1] were a series of massive post-war labor strikes after World War II from 1945 to 1946 in the United States spanning numerous industries including the motion picture (Hollywood Black Friday) and public utilities. In the year after V-J Day, more than five million American workers were involved in strikes, which lasted on average four times longer than those during the war.^[2] They were the largest strikes in American labor history.^[3]^[4] Other strikes occurred across the world including in Europe and colonial Africa.^[5]^[6]

Background

Throughout the Second World War, the National War Labor Board gave trade unions the responsibility for maintaining labor discipline in exchange for closed membership. This led to acquiescence on the part of labor leaders to businesses and various wildcat strikes on the part of the workers. The strikes were largely a result of tumultuous postwar economic adjustments; with 10 million soldiers returning home, and the transfer of people from wartime sectors to traditional sectors, inflation was 8% in 1945, 14% in 1946, and 8% in 1947. Many of the protests from 1945 to 1946 were for better pay and working hours, but only one study done by Jerome F. Scott and George C. Homans of 118 strikes in Detroit from 1944 to 1945, found that only four were for wages, with the rest being for discipline and company policies or firings.^{[citation needed]}

The strikes

Large strikes in 1945 included:

10,500 film crew workers (March 1945)
43,000 oil workers (October 1945)
320,000 United Auto Workers (November 1945)

In 1946, strikes increased:

174,000 electric workers (January 1946)
93,000 meatpackers (January 1946)
750,000 steel workers (January 1946)
340,000 coal miners (April 1946)
250,000 railroad engineers and trainmen (May 22–25, 1946)^[7]^[8]^[9]
120,000 miners, rail and steel workers in the Pittsburgh region. (December 1946)^[10]

Others included strikes of railroad workers and general strikes in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Stamford, Connecticut; Rochester, New York; and Oakland, California. In total, 4.3 million workers participated in the strikes. According to Jeremy Brecher, they were "the closest thing to a national general strike of industry in the twentieth century."^[11]

Aftermath

In 1947, Congress responded to the strike wave by enacting, over President Truman's veto, the Taft–Hartley Act, restricting the powers and activities of labor unions. The act is still in force as of 2024.

The strike wave also caused a rally in support for the Labour Party, prior to the 1945 United Kingdom general election.^[12]^[13]

References

^ Richter, Irving; Montgomery, Montgomery (2003). Labor's Struggles, 1945–1950: A Participant's View. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511572371. ISBN 9780521414128. Archived from the original on 2014-12-22. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
^ Cochran, Bert (1979). Labor and Communism: The Conflict That Shaped American Unions. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691005898.
^ Brecher, Jeremy (1997). Strike!. South End Press. Archived from the original on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
^ "From Class War to Cold War Archived 2013-06-18 at the Wayback Machine", John Newsinger
^ Ross, Arthur M.; Irwin, Donald (April 5, 1951). "Strike Experience in Five Countries, 1927–1947: An Interpretation". ILR Review. 4 (3): 323–342. doi:10.1177/001979395100400301. S2CID 153992454.
^ Cooper, Frederick (January 5, 1990). "The Senegalese General Strike of 1946 and the Labor Question in Post-War French Africa". Canadian Journal of African Studies. 24 (2): 165–215. doi:10.1080/00083968.1990.10803857.
^ "Wages and Working Conditions: The Railroad Strike of 1946". The National WWII Museum. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
^ Universal Newsreels. "Rail Strike Paralyzes Entire U.S." archive.org. Internet Archive. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
^ Denson, John (May 25, 1946). "'Run Trains or Army Will – Today!' – Truman". Milwaukee Sentinel. No. Final. Retrieved 22 December 2014.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ digital.library.pitt.edu http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/chronology/chronology_driver.pl?searchtype=ybrowse;year=1946;start_line=45%7B%7Bdead+link%7Cdate=June+2021%7D%7D. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ Brecher, Jeremy (1997). Strike!. South End Press Classics (Rev. and updated ed.). Boston: South End Press. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-89608-569-5.
^ McCartin, J. A. (2009). "Unexpected Convergence: Values, Assumptions, and the Right to Strike in Public and Private Sectors, 1945–2005". Buff. L. Rev., 57, 727.
^ Sarkar, Sumit (1982). "Popular Movements and National Leadership, 1945–47". Economic and Political Weekly. 17 (14/16): 677–689. JSTOR 4370840.

External links

[Richter-1] Richter, Irving; Montgomery, Montgomery (2003). Labor's Struggles, 1945–1950: A Participant's View. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511572371. ISBN 9780521414128. Archived from the original on 2014-12-22. Retrieved 2013-02-15.

[laborcomm-2] Cochran, Bert (1979). Labor and Communism: The Conflict That Shaped American Unions. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691005898.

[Brecher-3] Brecher, Jeremy (1997). Strike!. South End Press. Archived from the original on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2013-02-15.

[ClassWar-4] "From Class War to Cold War Archived 2013-06-18 at the Wayback Machine", John Newsinger

[5] Ross, Arthur M.; Irwin, Donald (April 5, 1951). "Strike Experience in Five Countries, 1927–1947: An Interpretation". ILR Review. 4 (3): 323–342. doi:10.1177/001979395100400301. S2CID 153992454.

[6] Cooper, Frederick (January 5, 1990). "The Senegalese General Strike of 1946 and the Labor Question in Post-War French Africa". Canadian Journal of African Studies. 24 (2): 165–215. doi:10.1080/00083968.1990.10803857.

[7] "Wages and Working Conditions: The Railroad Strike of 1946". The National WWII Museum. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2022.

[8] Universal Newsreels. "Rail Strike Paralyzes Entire U.S." archive.org. Internet Archive. Retrieved 22 December 2014.

[9] Denson, John (May 25, 1946). "'Run Trains or Army Will – Today!' – Truman". Milwaukee Sentinel. No. Final. Retrieved 22 December 2014.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[10] digital.library.pitt.edu http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/chronology/chronology_driver.pl?searchtype=ybrowse;year=1946;start_line=45%7B%7Bdead+link%7Cdate=June+2021%7D%7D. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[11] Brecher, Jeremy (1997). Strike!. South End Press Classics (Rev. and updated ed.). Boston: South End Press. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-89608-569-5.

[12] McCartin, J. A. (2009). "Unexpected Convergence: Values, Assumptions, and the Right to Strike in Public and Private Sectors, 1945–2005". Buff. L. Rev., 57, 727.

[13] Sarkar, Sumit (1982). "Popular Movements and National Leadership, 1945–47". Economic and Political Weekly. 17 (14/16): 677–689. JSTOR 4370840.

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v t e Revolutionary waves
18th century	Age of Revolution Atlantic Revolutions
19th century	Spanish American wars of independence Revolutions of 1820 Revolutions of 1830 Revolutions of 1848 Great Eastern Crisis
20th century	Revolutions of 1917–1923 Strike wave of 1945–1946 Protests of 1968 Central American crisis Revolutions of 1989
21st century	Colour revolutions Arab Spring Concurrent incidents Anti-austerity movement Occupy movement 2018–2022 Arab protests Coup Belt