“I'd rather pass a law than organize a union”: Frances perkins and the reformist approach to organized labor

Labor History

Volumn 34, Issue 1, 1993, Pages 5-32

  Wandersee, Winifred D ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84862715089     PISSN: 0023656X     EISSN: 14699702     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00236569300890011     Document Type: Article

References (91)

1. Perkins' Reminiscences, 1951-1955, Book IV, 298, in the Columbia Univ. Oral History Project, NYC. For more positive responses to Perkins' appointment, see “Madam Secretary Perkins,” (editorial, The Survey, 69 (Mar. 1933), 110; “Profiles: Madame Secretary,” New Yorker, Sept., 9, 1933; “The Department of Labor: A Challenge,” The Nation, 136 (Feb. 22, 1933), 192.
2. Mary Dewson Papers, Box 3, Frances Perkins File, at the Franklin D. Roosevelt
3. Library (FDRL), Hyde Park, for correspondence from supporters urging the appointment of Perkins.
4. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book IV, 298.
5. George Martin, Madam Secretary: Frances Perkins (Boston, 1976), 360-362.
6. The Dept. of Labor has an Oral History Collection in which the participants evaluate the various
7. Secretaries of Labor as administrators and policymakers. Perkins receives a high rating from Clam Beyer-Bureau of Labor Standards, Gerard Reilly-Labor Dept. Solicitor, James
8. E. Dodson-U.S. Employment Service and Social Security Board, Aryness Joyce Wickens
9. Bureau of Labor Standards, and Frances Jurkowitz (“Miss J.”), Perkins' secretary. sSee Jonathan Grossman, The Department of Labor (NY, 1973), 39-40, 58-59;
10. Judith Sealander, As Minority Becomes Majority: Federal Reaction to the Phenomenon of Women in the Work
11. Force, 1920-1963 (Westport, CT, 1983), 134-137; and Murray Edelman, “New Deal Sensitivity to Labor Interests,” in Milton Derber and Edwin Young, eds., Labor and the New
12. Deal (Madison, 1957), 161-163. Derber, The American Idea of Industrial Democracy, 1865-1965 (Chicago, 1970), 313-318, takes a position similar to Edelman.
13. Martin's biography is the most sympathetic to Perkins' accomplishments. But labor historians are mostly dismissive. Irving Bernstein, in The Turbulent Years: A History of the American
14. Worker, 1933-1941 (Boston, 1970), has written a good personal profile (11-14) but places her in the background of labor disputes. J. Joseph Hutchmacher, Senator Robert F. Wagner and the Rise of Urban Liberalism (NY, 1968), mentions Perkins frequently, but is not particularly interested in her activities, perhaps because he sees her as an obstruction to the passage of the Wagner Act. Sidney Fine, Sit-Down: The General Motors Strike of 1936-1937 (Ann Arbor, 1969), 255-259, carries a good description of Perkins' negotiating efforts in the GM sit-down strike. The recent work on the labor history of the 1930s, too numerous to list here, tends to ignore Perkins, or mentions her in passing. For instance, Bruce Nelson, Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s (Chicago, 1988), barely mentions her important role in the San Francisco strike of 1934 (148-149).
15. Philip Levy, National Labor Relations Board Oral History Project (NLRB-OH), New York School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), Cornell Univ. Interview: Mar. 15, 1969. Martin, 211.
16. Nancy F. Cott, in a recent article, “What's in a Name? The Limits of ‘Social Feminism'; or, Expanding the Vocabulary of Women's History,” Journal of American History, 76 (1989), 809-829, argues that the term “social feminist” has lost its usefulness, in part because it blots out the rise of feminism as a discrete, self-named movement in the 1910s. Much of what has been labeled social feminism by William O'Neill, J. Stanley Lemons, and others, might be considered an alternative, or even in opposition to feminism. Although I agree with Cott that the term is often misused, especially when referring to the post-Suffrage era, during the pre-Suffrage years Perkins certainly met the criteria of a social reformer who was also a feminist and who saw herself as both. Her social concerns are self-evident. For her understanding of herself as a feminist, see Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism (New Haven, 1987), 13. In the decades of the 1920s and 30s, Perkins definitely dropped the label of “feminist” as did many other social reformers who did not want to be identified with the pro-ERA National Women's Party.
17. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book I, 6-12.
18. Action,” in Ruth Milkman, ed., Women, Work and Protest: A Century of U. S. Women's
19. Labor History (Boston, 1985), 98-99;
20. Alice Kessler-Harris, Ou t to Work (NY, 1981), 160-161, and “Organizing the Unorganizable: Three Jewish Women and Their Union,” Labor History, (1976), 14-28. lPerkins' Reminiscences, Book I, 42-47; Waldinger, 96-97. Waldinger points out that the large manufacturers wanted to stabilize the industry through the establishment of standardized rates that would force their smaller competitors to comply to industry-wide standards, thereby eliminating the advantages of low-overhead that small producers enjoyed. a'Perkins' Reminiscences, Book I, 3-4, and Martin, 52-53. For the WTUL, see Colette Hyman
21. “Labor Organizing and Female Institution-building: The Chicago Women's Trade Union
22. League, 1904-24,” in Milkman, 24. See also Nancy Schrom Dye, As Equals and as Sisters: Feminism, the Labor Movement, and the Women's Trade Union League of New York (Columbia, 1980);
23. Gary Endelman, Solidarity Forever: Rose Schneiderman and the Women's
24. Trade Union League (NY, 1982); and Elizabeth Anne Payne, Reform, Labor, and Feminism: Margaret Dreier Robins and the Women's Trade Union League (Chicago, 1988). lsSee Louise C. Wade, “Florence Kelley,” in Edward T. James and Janet Wilson James, eds., Notable
25. American Women, Vol. II, pp. 316-319. For a discussion of Kelley's intellectual evolution, see Jill Kerr Conway, “The First Generation of American Women Graduates” (unpublished PhD diss., Univ. of Wisconsin, 1969), 177-181. Conway, 189.
26. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book I, 120-131. lsPerkins' Reminiscences, Book I, 58. Ubid., 57-58.
27. “The Department of Labor: A Challenge” (editorial), The Nation, 136 (Feb. 22, 1933), 192.
28. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book IV, 302-303.
29. See Steve Fraser, “From the ‘New Unionism' to the New Deal,” Labor History, 25 (1984), 405-430;
30. “Sidney Hillman: Labor's Machiavelli,” in Melvyn Dubofsky and Warren Van Tine, eds., Labor Leaders in America (Chicago, 1987), 207-233.
31. See Fraser, “From the ‘New Unionism' to the New Deal,” 406-408; and Howell Harris, “The snares of liberalism? Politicians, bureaucrats, and the shaping of federal labour relations policy in the United States, ca. 1915-1947,” in Steven Tolliday and Jonathan Zeitlin, eds., Shop Floor Bargaining and the State: Historical and Comparative Perspectives (NY, 1985), 148-192.
32. Fraser takes issue with those revisionist scholars who systematically interpret the labor movement, and the activities of Hillman, from the standpoint of “corporate liberalism.”
33. See Ronald Radosh, “The Corporate Ideology of American Labor Leaders from
34. Gompers to Hillman,” in James Weinstein and David W. Eakins, eds., For a New America (NY, 1970), 125-152; and Barton Bernstein, “The New Deal: The Conservative Achievement of Liberal Reform,” in Barton Bernstein, ed., Towards a New Past.” Dissenting Essays in American History (NY, 1970).
35. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book IV, 304-305.
36. Deal (Cambridge, MA, 1981), 53-54. Ware points out that Perkins was largely responsible for Beyer's appointment to the new Labor Standards Division in the Dept. of Labor in 1934.
37. Craig Phelan, “William Green and the Ideal of Christian Cooperation,” in Dubofsky and Van
38. Tine, 143-146. As an example of that disillusionment, Phelan notes the militancy of southern mill operatives, who expected financial aid and a commitment to militancy on the part of the AFL, but became quickly disillusioned when Green refused to support strike action.
39. See Phelan, 147.
40. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book IV, 306-309, 323-324.
41. Ibia, 307-310.
42. James Russell Anderson, “The New Deal Career of Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, 1933-1945”(unpublished PhD diss, 1968, Case Western Reserve Univ.), 140-141.
43. “Address of Secretary Frances Perkins,” NYC, Jan. 26, 1943, in Alexander Sachs Papers, Box, Perkins File, FDRL, Hyde Park. See also Frances Perkins, People at Work (NY, 1934), for a further statement of her philosophy.
44. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book V, 186-187.
45. Labor Leader (Boston, 1988), 64-66. For the definitive biographical treatment of Lewis, see
46. Melyvn Dubofsky and Warren Van Tine, John L. Lewis: A Biography (Chicago, 1977), and the essay by the same authors, “John L. Lewis and the Triumph of Mass-Production Unionism,” in Dubofksy and Van Tine, Labor Leaders in America, 185-206.
47. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book V, 231-232.
48. Unions (Princeton, 1977), 87-88, for the role of the leaders of industrial unionism, as well as the role of radicals in the labor movement in 1933-1934.
49. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book V, 228.
50. Letter from Senator Robert F. Wagner to the Honorable Marion Smith, Oct. 22, 1933, National
51. Archives, Record Group 25, quoted in James A. Gross, TheMaking of the National Labor
52. Relations Board” A Study in Economics, Politics, and the Law, Vol. I (1933-1937), (Albany, 1974), 16.
53. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book V, 238-240. See a/so Leon Keyserling, OH-NLRB, ILR, Cornell
54. Univ. Interview: March 19, 1969, 9-11. See Hutchmacher, Chapt. 10, for Wagner's experience with the NRA and his work on the National Labor Relations Act from Wagner's perspective.
55. The standard early work on the topic is Irving Bernstein's The New Deal Collective
56. Bargaining Policy (Berkeley, 1950).
57. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book V, 240-241.
58. ILR, Cornell Univ. Interview: Mar. 19, 1970. Emerson was General Counsel and advisor to General Johnson in the NRA, and moved over to the NLRB in 1937.
59. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book VII, 148. sChristopher L. Tomlins, The State and the Unions: Labor Relations, Law, and the Organized
60. Labor Movement in America, 1880-1960 (NY, 1985), 147. See also Harris, “The Snares of Liberalism,” 168-179, for a similar interpretation.
61. The following interviews in the OH-NLRB, ILR, Cornell Univ., discuss Perkins' desire to have the NLRB placed in the Labor Dept.: Emerson, 25, 49; Levy, 19-22, 64-65; Keyserling, 19-22, 30;
62. David J. Saposs, 37-38, 42;
63. Edwin S. Smith, 15-17;
64. J. Warren Madden, 69-70. All of the participants were staff on the NLRB, and none of them agreed with Perkins' position.
65. See also Gross, 104-108, 143-145.
66. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book VII, 146.
67. The standard treatment of the subject is Earl Latham, The Communist Controversy in Washington, From the New Deal to McCarthy (Cambridge, MA, 1966). For a recent treatment, see Joseph
68. P. Lash, Dealers and Dreamer” A New Look at the New Deal (NY, 1988), chapt, xxx. The role of Communists and other Leftists in the NLRB is covered by James A. Gross, The Reshaping of the National Labor Relations Board” National Labor Policy in Transition, Vol. II (1937-1947), (Albany, 1981), Chapt. 7. The literature on the general topic of Communism during the 1930s is vast.
69. S.S. Martin, 407-409. sPerkins' Reminiscences, Book VII, 186-187.
70. George Martin has described as her “pragmatism” which tended to conceal the importance of her role in the Roosevelt Administration. See Martin, 37-38.
71. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book V, 509-525; and Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew (NY, 1946), 239-240, Martin, 382-383. Wagner's biographer, Huthmacher, describes a growing tension between Wagner, who was firmly committed to the right of workers to organize and to strike, and Johnson and Richberg, who viewed strikes as impediments to business revival, and who were much more tolerant of company unions than were the members of the NLB. Huthmacher, 162.
72. Gross, Vol. I, 66.
73. Gross, 61. the automobile settlement upon the wave of strikes that engulfed the nation in the spring and summer of 1934. The major work on the New Deal's early policy toward the automobile industry is Sidney Fine's The Automobile Under the Blue Eagle: Labor, Management, and the Automobile Manufacturing Code (Ann Arbor, 1963).
74. Charles R. Hook, The American Roiling Mill Company, to Marvin H. McIntyre, Secretary to President, June 1, 1934, in the National Labor Board Records, Box 1, File 6. ILR Library, Cornell Univ.
75. Memo for Col. McIntyre from Secretary Perkins, June 16, 1934, in NLB Records, Box 1, File. ILR Library, Cornell Univ.
76. Gross, Vol. I, 69-70.
77. Keyserling, OH-NLRB, 11.
78. Gross, Vol. I, 104-105.
79. SLloyd K. Garrison, OH-NLRB, ILR, Cornell Univ. Interview: Dec. 22, 1969, 38.
80. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book VII, 144-145.
81. Keyserling, 23.
82. See interviews listed in Note 49. Keyserling uses the phrase “passive opposition,” 20.
83. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book VII, 146-148.
84. Perkins' Reminiscences, Book VII, 169-175, describes some of the early controversy surrounding the NLRB. For AFL opposition to the NLRA, see Tomlins, 160-184. See also Gross, Vol. I, 245-254, Bernstein, Collective Bargaining, 125-126.
85. Gross, Vol. II, 89-91.
86. See Perkins, Book VII, 198, Gross, Vol. II, 112-115. See also OH-NLRB interviews with Nathan
87. Witt, Feb. 2, 1969, 75-79, Edwin S. Smith, Dec. 26, 1968, 53-55.
88. Gross, Vol. II, 153.
89. See Gross, Vol. II, chapts. 8-11, for a complete description of the Smith Committee investigation of the NLRB. Gross calls the Smith Committee investigations “a watershed in the history of the NLRB and American labor policy.” (108). See also Zieger, 164-165; Tomlins, The State and the Unions, chapts. 7 and 8; Harris, 178-179, for the long-range impact.
90. See Ware, Beyond Suffrage, chapts. I, 2;
91. Sara M. Evans, Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America (NY, 1989), 204-210.