| In the textile mills which dominated the economic life of southern Appalachia, the year 1929 witnessed a dress rehearsal of the militant labor uprising which would occur across the United State in the 1930s. Sixty-hour work weeks, subsistence wages, and oppressive working conditions had long been the predicament of Southern textile operatives. When mill owners further intensified the pace of work, the operatives resisted with a vengeance. Beginning in 1929, a series of spontaneous strikes wracked the mill towns of Tennessee and North and South Carolina. Battle lines hardened throughout Appalachia as contestants on both sides prepared for an aggressive struggle.1 |
| For the first time since William Green had assumed the American Federation of Labor presidency in 1924, the Federation had an opportunity to organize large numbers of hitherto nonunion workers. Unlike the auto workers whom the AFL was also attempting to organize in 1929, the textile operatives could not be accused of indifference to unionism. Nor were craft unionists apathetic to their plight. Delegates to the 1929 AFL convention exhibited, in the words of one observer, "a pitch of enthusiasm not seen in labor gatherings since the spring tide of the Knights of Labor."2 Indeed, they agreed to launch a massive campaign, involving all international affiliates, to organize Southern workers.3 |
| On January 6, 1930, the AFL opened its drive with a conference at Charlotte, North Carolina. Although delegates from the South urged militancy, Green, in a two-hour speech, explained that while he sincerely desired to unionize Southern workers, he would not countenance force or violence. In fact, he devoted much of his speech to contrasting the methods of the Communists (who were also organizing mill workers) with the peaceful, constructive, and Christian mission of the AFL. The AFL would |
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