Texas Left: The Radical Roots of Lone Star Liberalism

Looking for Lefty: Liberal/ Left Activism and Texas Labor, 1920s–1960s

LOOKING FOR LEFTY Liberal/Left Activism and Texas Labor, 1920s–1960s George Norris Green with Michael R. Botson Jr. In the spring of 1985, at Houston’s University of St. Thomas, the late Texas historian Joe B. Frantz presented a paper entitled “The Mind of Texas.” Professor Frantz’s wit and wisdom enthralled the audience, especially his cogent observations on Texas ideology. He remarked that Texans tend to be more conservative than other Americans and what passes as liberal in Texas would at best be considered moderate in the rest of the country.1 Similarly the Texas State Federation of Labor appeared to display less liberal or left-wing influence after 1919 than most other state federations. Nevertheless, despite the historically conservative nature of Texas, including some of its working class, beginning in the 1920s and continuing through the 1960s there were strains of liberal activism in the Texas labor movement that periodically flared up. These outbursts occurred in times of economic stress or social upheaval , such as the Great Depression and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, manifesting themselves into full-blown popular movements that challenged Texas’s conservative economic, political, and social establishment as well as the race-relations status quo. The conservative establishment as well as conservative unionists responded with ferocious opposition to these episodes of labor activism, and ultimately crushed them. Nonetheless, liberal/left labor activism between the 1920s and 1960s made its mark on the overall Texas labor movement . It popularized labor unions to a level previously unseen and contributed to the steady membership growth and stability of orga- Left Activism and Texas Labor, 1920s–1960s 113 nized labor. Perhaps most importantly, liberalism and left-wing activism helped secure organized labor a place in conservative Texas. In the two decades preceding 1920 the Texas labor movement enjoyed considerable success in advancing the cause of working people through the efforts of the Texas State Federation of Labor (tsfl), founded in Cleburne in 1900. By 1920 tsfl membership stood at fifty thousand. During this period the Joint Labor Legislative Board— a political alliance of the tsfl, the railroad brotherhoods and Farmers ’ Union—successfully lobbied to enact labor-friendly legislation. As mentioned in chapter 6, most major labor bills were adopted during the gubernatorial administrations of Thomas Campbell, 1907– 1911 (with twenty-four labor measures passed), and Oscar Colquitt, 1911–1915. By 1920 Texas boasted an array of labor laws to the left of center of the ideological spectrum. They included laws that established a minimum wage and eight-hour workdays for some workers, outlawed blacklisting, and provided for mine-safety codes, the regulation of child labor, railroad safety laws, workers’ accident compensation , and the establishment of the state Bureau of Labor Statistics to enforce labor legislation. By 1920 Texas workers were protected by laws that rivaled or surpassed those in more industrialized states. But this turned out to be labor’s high-water mark. Beginning in 1919, labor ’s opponents, conservative/reactionary politicians and businessmen , launched a full-scale assault against labor’s gains, seeking to roll them back. They regarded unions as dangerous threats to the freeenterprise system and private property rights, and mobilized under the banner of the newly formed Texas Open Shop Association (tosa) to destroy them.2 “Open shop,” a euphemism for a union-free work environment, became a powerful national movement of employers bent on destroying organized labor. Various employer trade associations such as the National Association of Manufacturers, Citizen’s Industrial Association , National Metal Trades Council, and others recruited, organized, and mobilized businessmen and industrialists in a reactionary juggernaut that crippled the labor movement in Texas and nationally.3 The first tosa chapter appeared in San Antonio in 1919. Its leader George Armstrong bluntly summarized the organization’s goal: “We are for the Open Shop and are against the basic eight-hour day, the minimum wage and the right to picket, to strike, and to boycott.” In fact tosa was against the right of unions to exist. tosa intended to break the power of organized labor by intimidating employers willing to recognize and negotiate with unions, engaging in race-baiting, and manipulating public opinion.4 114 Green and Botson tosa intimidated employers that were willing to recognize unions, by threatening economic boycotts against them. Since any business relies on a network of other businesses to survive, an employer targeted by a tosa boycott faced potential economic ruin...