From World War I to Great Depression
Wilson, Gompers, Labor Sec. William Wilson
American Labor on Eve of U.S. Entry into WWI
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Employers’ Use of Anti-Union Tactics
• Labor Injunctions
• Use of Private Armies & Labor Spies:
Ludlow Massacre of 1914 (68 dead)
AFL’s Increasing Ties to Democratic Party:
Woodrow Wilson’s Pro-Labor Response
• Creation of Department of Labor (1913)
• Passage of Clayton Act (1914)
• Passage of Adamson Act (1916)
• Gompers’ Appointment to Council of
National Defense (1916)
Contradictory Impact of WWI: Benefits to Unions

Legitimization of AFL & Growth of Union
Membership (2x 1914-1920)
• Language of Industrial Democracy
• National War Labor Bd. & Right to Organize
• Broadening of Union Movement
 Development of Shop Committees
 Industrial Organization
 Women
Contradictory Impact of WWI: Anti-Labor Impact
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Suppression of Socialist Party
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Suppression of IWW
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AFL’s Persisting Commitment to Craft
Unionism
Ambiguous Legacy of
Shop Committees
Postwar Transition: Labor Crisis of 1919
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Wilson’s Decision to Eliminate Wartime
Agencies: Withdrawal of Support for Unions
Wave of Strikes: Key Failure of Steel Strike &
Collapse of Industrial Unionism
Beginning of Red Scare
Continuing Legacy of 1919:
Factors in Union Decline
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Decline in Union Density
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Government Retreat from Pro-Union Policies
• Republican Control of
White House: Harding,
Coolidge, Hoover
• Railway Strike of 1922:
Wilkerson Injunction
Employer Initiatives: New Approaches to
Firm-Based Labor Relations
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Development of Welfare Capitalism
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Development of Company Unionism
Initial Impact of Depression in US, 1929-33
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Continuing Decline of Unions
[ACW 1920: 180,000 1933: 7,000]
[UMW 1920: 500,000 1933: 80,000]
Beginning of Progressive Stirrings
• Unemployed Marches (1932)
• Norris LaGuardia Anti-Injunction Act & Ban
on Yellow Dog Contracts (1932)
New Deal & Labor, 1933-35
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Significance of Franklin Roosevelt’s Election
Origins of National Recovery Admin.:
Influence of Business Planners
Significance of NRA Section 7a
• Business Expectations v. Union Hopes
• Immediate Boost to Union Organizing
• Employer Response: Expansion of Company
Unions
New Deal & Labor, 1933-35
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Increasing Pressure for Labor Law Reform:
General Frustration with NRA & Section 7a
• Labor Upheaval of 1934: San Francisco
and Minneapolis General Strikes, Textile
Strike
• Schechter Decision (1935)
Wagner (National Labor Relations) Act (1935):
Distinctive US State Intervention
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Establishing Right to Collective Bargaining
Banning Employer Unfair Labor Practices:
End to Company Unions
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NLRB & Enforcement of Majority Rule
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NLRB Determination of Bargaining Unit
Decline in Union Density during 1920s
45
40
35
30
25
20
USA
Britain
15
10
5
0
1914
1920
1929
Wilson & William Howard Taft
John L. Lewis & Sidney Hillman
Bonus Army Protest
National Recovery Administration
1934 Textile Strike