What if Labor Were Not White and Male? Recentering Working-Class History and Reconstructing Debate on the Unions and Race

Abstract

During World War Two Alexander Saxton, the great historian of race and class, was a young activist working in the railroad industry. In a lengthy article for theDaily Workerhe caught the complexity of racial discrimination among railway unions. The brotherhoods which organized railroad labor inculded several unions which had historically established the worst records of attempting to enforce what one commentator called the “Nordic closed shop” in their crafts. By the time Saxton wrote, however, the railwayunions had joined in campaigns against the poll tax and against lynching. What they avoided was agitation against “alleged” racism in their own workplaces. When the Fair Employment Practices Committee canceled hearings inquiring into discrimination in railroad employment, the unions rejoiced. Their newspaper observed that in any case such hearings would be illegitimate if African Americans joined in the deliberations. “Thereshould be on the Committee,” according to Labor, “no representative of any race or special interest.” Saxton added, “Apparently white men belongto no race.”