The New Orleans General Strike of 1892
Streetcars pass through Saint Charles St. in New Orleans, 1900. |
The New Orleans General Strike lasted five days and completely shut down
what was then American's 12th largest city. The strike involved 25,000 workers
and is considered the first general strike to include skilled, unskilled, black,
and white workers. It's this final distinction - the first biracial general
strike - that makes the strike stand out as worthy of discussion so lessons can be
learned for today's struggles.
A grand narrative
The 19th century is full of many important
events that must be understood as part of a larger narrative - the cementing of
capitalism as the dominant economic system in the world and the attempts of one
class to maintain control over - and extract profits from - another class. But
this is a much larger topic for another time. Our scope of focus must be
narrowed to the United States and finally to the city of New Orleans in
1892.
But no event can be understood in isolation. Therefore some important points about what was going through the
minds of capitalists and workers at the time the strike are needed. The last half of the 19th century was a period of particularly intense
class conflict, as capitalists looked to control markets at home and abroad
using the armed wing of the state, and workers began to unionize and fight
back.
Imperialism and war
The signing of the Monroe Doctrine ushered in U.S. imperialism - new
markets would be opened and necessary resources extracted using military force.
(This was done over
55 times between the Mexican-American war in 1847 and the Spanish-American
War in 1898). The end of the Civil War marked the fall of the Southern slave
economy and the cementing into place of the Northern industrial capitalist economy.
A series of economic crisis - at least 13 between 1830s and 90s - intensified
the crisis of capitalism. In 1890 the military killed 150 Lakota Sioux at
Wounded Knee and declared American frontier officially closed.
Strikes and crisis
Working class consciousness as seen through strike activity was quite
high: From 1881-1884, the number of strikes and lockouts averaged less than 500
and involved on average 150,000 workers a year. In 1885, there were 700 strikes
involving 250,000 total workers. One year later, there were 1,400 strikes
involving 600,000 workers.
Notable strike and movements towards the end of the century included: the
Great Railroad Strikes of 1877, lasting 45 days and conjuring fears in the
minds of bosses of a Paris Commune (1871) situation in North America; the Great
Railroad Strikes of 1886, which involved 200,000 workers across multiple
states; the fight for an 8-hour workday and the first May Day, in which 500,000
workers - about 1 out of every 120 people in the U.S. - went on strike; the
first International May Day in 1890 saw workers unite across Europe, Chile,
Cuba, and Peru, and prompted Engels to write, "The spectacle we are now
witnessing will make the capitalists and landowners of all lands realize that
today the proletarians of all lands are, in very truth, united. If only Marx
were with me to see it with his own eyes!"
Racism
In class societies, any tactic will be used to divide masses and turn them against one another. "The logic of 'race as a social construct,'" wrote historian Theodore W. Allen, "must be tightened and the focus sharpen...the 'white race' must be understood, not simply as a social construct, bust as a ruling class social control formation." As Allen's research confirms, is impossible to understand the history of capitalism in the U.S. without understanding the history of racism, not only to justify slavery and create divisions between class solidarity, but also its role in the "opening" of the frontier to capitalists, and waging wars of economic important in Mexico, Cuba, and across the globe.
The Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) were the
two largest unions in the country by 1892, and both were a mixed bag when it
came to organizing and actively including black workers. The Knights of Labor,
for example, had integrated assemblies in the north and segregated assemblies
in the south. Up to and during the general strike, the New Orleans elite tried
repeatedly to divide white and black workers using racist appeals.
The General Strike
All
the history presented above was present - consciously and unconsciously - in
the hearts and minds of workers and bosses during and leading up to the events
of November 9. In May of 1892, NO streetcar operators won a closed shop and a
shorter workday (12 instead of 16 hours). This victory set off a chain reaction
ending in the formation of the Triple Alliance - a multiracial organization
of the Teamsters, the Scalesmen, and the Packers - and a new strike for a
10-hour workday and overtime pay. The Triple Alliance was backed by the
Workingmen's Amalgamated Council and its 30,000 members. In response, bosses
used carrot and stick tactics to break the strike. The stick include a threat
to send in the national guard. The carrot included a deal to sign a contract
with only the two mostly white members of the Triple Alliance - the Scalesmen
and Packers. In so doing, the bosses hoped white workers would accept the
"poison
bait" of white skin privilege. The newspapers also ran stories of
"mobs of brutal Negro Strikers...beating up all who attempt to interfere
with them," and seeking to "take over the city" so as to attack
white women and children.
But
the strikers would not be divided along racial lines. The contract was turned
down, and the Scalesmen and Packers voted to stay on strike until the Teamsters
were offered a contract on the same terms. Now, unions within the Amalgamated
Council - including the Cotton
Screwmen (those who stowed and packed cotton bales into the holds of
ships), the Cotton Yardmen, the Printers, the Boiler Makers, and the Car
Driver's Union - began calling for a general strike to demand shorter hours,
increased pay, a union shop, and recognition of the union.
The
General Strike began on November 8 and involved 48 unions and 25,000 union
members, or half the city's workforce. The streetcars stopped running. The
natural gas supply ran empty and the electrical grid stopped working, sending
the city into darkness. The flow of food and beverages stopped. Construction,
printing, street cleaning, and firefighting services halted. The 12th largest
city in the country was paralyzed.
The mayor declared martial law and the governor sent in the state militia. But the troops left after a day because the descriptions of chaos and anarchy put forward by the media and bosses were fictitious. In fact the striker may have had the rest of the city on their side, as a call by the mayor for law enforcement personal drew only 59 volunteers.
Aftermath
On November 12, the bosses,
represented by the Board of Trade, agreed to deals with black and white union
leaders, including a 10-hour day and overtime pay, but not the union shop or
recognition of the Triple Alliance.
Views
are mixed as to what extent the General Strike can be called a "success."
Chris Mahin writes, "The failure of the strikers to secure the closed
shop ultimately undermined their other gains. Within a year, the Panic of 1893
would mark the beginning of the 19th century’s worst economic crisis, producing
high unemployment and deep wage cuts for African-Americans and whites alike. The solidarity across color lines displayed in 1892 was soon replaced by bitter
hostility as wages plunged and many white dockworkers in New Orleans fought to
deny African-American workers access to the few good jobs
available."
Howard
Zinn wrote this about the closing of the 19th century:
In the year 1877, the signals were given for the rest of the century: the blacks would be put back; the strikes of the white workers would not be tolerated; the industrial and political elites of North and South would take hold of the country and organize the greatest march of economic growth in human history. They would do it with the aid of, and at the expense of, black labor, white labor, Chinese labor, European immigrant labor, female labor, rewarding them differently by race, sex, national origin, and social class, in such a way as to create separate levels of oppression - a skillful terracing to stabilize the pyramid of wealth
Given this context, the ability of workers to organize themselves and stay united across racial lines in one of the most
racist areas of a deeply racist country, and despite attacks from the press and the
threat of violence from the state, is remarkable. Still, one's mind wanders; what could have happened if workers remained united despite the Panic of 1893? This is the importance of a revolutionary socialist perspective based on workers power, not individual betterment under capitalism. We cannot fight as individual for crumbs. In the end, the working class rise and falls as one.
The past is present
The history of class struggle is intentionally hidden from the public. Likewise for instances of racial solidarity (Fred Hampton, for example, was murdered for doing just that with the Rainbow Coalition). Histories of both - of working class blacks and whites struggling together as in the New Orleans General Strike - is anathema to social control (see also the Brotherhood of Timber Workers). Today, as labor union leaders shake hands with the president while national right-to-work legislation is being drafted, workers must resist all divisions based on anything but class interests.
The past is present
The history of class struggle is intentionally hidden from the public. Likewise for instances of racial solidarity (Fred Hampton, for example, was murdered for doing just that with the Rainbow Coalition). Histories of both - of working class blacks and whites struggling together as in the New Orleans General Strike - is anathema to social control (see also the Brotherhood of Timber Workers). Today, as labor union leaders shake hands with the president while national right-to-work legislation is being drafted, workers must resist all divisions based on anything but class interests.
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