Conclusion

The conclusion looks at the implications of the failure to organize southern workers for the United States today and asks how successful southern organizing might have led to different outcomes. Foremost is the possibility that the civil rights movement of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s would have been much more powerful if more white working-class support had been enlisted. This possibility, which the book asserts was real, had the potential to make the contemporary social and political landscape of the United States vastly different.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Chapter 8 examines the role of the Communist Party, by far the largest Left group, during the 1930s and 1940s. It looks at the Party’s complex behavior, its many pluses and minuses, and its ties to the Soviet Union. In particular, it examines the role of CP activists as trade union militants and as the unabashed and unrelenting champions of civil rights, a role that distinguished them from the members of all other interracial organizations during this period. Yet it also looks at the Party’s role in demoralizing and destroying the left-wing movement in the 1930s and 1940s, even undermining many of the organizations and movements it had helped create, including those dedicated to civil rights.

Paul Bunyan and the “Frozen Logger”

Chapter 5 highlights the wood industry, one of the largest industries in the country. Most of the woodworkers were located in the South, and half of those workers were African-American. Woodworkers successfully organized in the Northwest and Canada, the other two centers of the industry. Despite a perceived willingness of southern woodworkers to unionize, this did not happen. The chapter attributes most of the problems to an incompetent, right-wing, racially backward leadership, which was installed by the CIO national office before World War II. The chapter also argues that the successful organization of southern woodworkers had the potential to radically transform the civil rights movement.

The Vanguard

Chapter 2 examines coal miners during the 1930s through the 1950s, when coal was a central industry both for the U.S. economy and for the growth of industrial unionism. It highlights the vanguard role they played in the labor movement in general and in society at large, especially in the South. It also examines their solidarity and their ability and willingness to help workers in virtually every other industry. They were one of the few groups in the old AFL that had a public commitment to racial equality and a good record on that score. The chapter exposes the myth—accepted by the vast majority of analysts—that coal miner union organizing was facilitated by governmental legislation, especially Section 7(a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act.

The Failure of Operation Dixie

Chapter 7 focuses on the failed attempt by unions after World War II to unionize the South, referred to informally as Operation Dixie. Contrary to much extant scholarship, the chapter regards Operation Dixie as an underfunded, misguided attempt at organizing; it was racially backward, had no understanding of what was necessary, and served largely as a primer on how not to organize. Rather than being a major turning point, Operation Dixie is shown to have been at best a coda to earlier failures in southern labor organizing and the end of major union growth in the United States, at least in the private sector.

Textile—Where the Fabric Meets the Road

Chapter 6 looks at the textile industry, the largest industry in the United States during the 1930s to 1950s, which failed to be organized in the South. The chapter takes aim at the highly popular cultural analysis that argues for the impact of southern culture as the reason for this failure. It emphasizes the economics of the industry, the historic militancy of southern textile workers, like that of their counterparts the world over, and the similarities of their struggles to those of other textile workers throughout the world with decidedly different cultures. For many analysts of U.S. labor, the question of why unions have been less successful in the South than in other regions revolves almost completely around the textile industry.

Social Movement Upsurge

Chapter 3 looks at the social movements of the 1930s and 1940s, their historical uniqueness, and how they gave support to and magnified the strength of labor movements, especially in the South—a distinguishing feature of this era. First and foremost were the struggles of the unemployed, led mostly by leftists, often Communists. The chapter also looks at the role of farmers, sharecroppers, and tenants, as well as the special role of civil rights organizations, north and south.

Rigor in Historical Analysis

Chapter 1 presents a framework for examining the large-scale historical questions posed by The Southern Key, discussing both issues of philosophy of social science and the main theoretical constructs that underpin the work. It argues for the centrality of the economy, in contrast to the currently popular cultural analysis. It also examines what allows workers to have power in capitalist societies, and why some groups of workers have more leverage than others. And it highlights the central role of leadership in determining the successes and failures of labor struggles.

Class Struggle in Steel

Chapter 4 focuses on the successful organization of the steel industry by the CIO, showing how John L. Lewis and Philip Murray utilized the talents and connections of Communists, who were well rooted in steel mills and communities, as well as in civil rights, ethnic, and immigrant organizations. The chapter argues for the special militancy of steelworkers, contrary to what is described in much of the extant literature, looking at the special difficulties that steelworkers faced in the “takeoff” of their struggles. The chapter shows how a movement with much democratic and racial egalitarian promise ended up as a racially backward, undemocratic organization.

Introduction

The introduction sets the framework for exploring why the South has been so central to the history of the United States, and why it continues to be critical to understanding virtually everything about the country today, from its culture to its politics. It also suggests, in light of some paradigmatic facts about Alabama during the 1930s and 1940s, that possibilities for transforming the South and the rest of the country existed to a strong degree during that period.