Foreword
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624624800101 |
| Date | 01 November 1946 |
| Published date | 01 November 1946 |
| Author | Herman Feldman |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
vii
FOREWORD
THE
American
labor
movement
within
the
past
fifteen
years
has
telescoped,
if
not
surpassed,
an
evolution
which
had
been
expected
to
take
a
half-century
or
more.
In 1932
the
La
Guardia
Anti-
Injunction
Act
reversed
the
position
of
unionism
at
court
from
that
of
a
victim
of
judicial
processes
to
one
of
increas-
ing
immunity
from
them.
In
1935
the
National
Labor
Relations
Act
outlawed
the
age-old
forms
of
opposition
to
la-
bor
organization
practiced
by
employ-
ers,
and
placed
upon
them
the
further
obligation
of
dealing
affirmatively
with
any
union
representing
the
choice
of
the
majority.
Other
Federal
statutes
and
parallel
measures
in
some
of
the
states
extended
the
arm
of
the,
law
to
areas
and
employments
not
otherwise
covered.
Especially
important
was
the
unques-
tionably
friendly
attitude
shown
by
the
agencies
of
enforcement
and
interpreta-
tion.
For
example,
during
the
last
two
years
of
its
existence
the
National
War
Labor
Board
granted
a
modified
form
of
the
closed
shop
in
practically
all
of
its
decisions.
The
Supreme
Court,
hith-
erto
a
bugaboo
of
labor
legislation
and
once
anathema
among
unions,
over-
turned
hoary
precedents
and
doctrines
by
surprisingly
broad
interpretations
of
the
new
laws.
Thus
rejuvenated,
or-
ganized
labor
surged
forward.
While
in
1932
it
had
numbered
less
than
three
million
members-many
of
these
hold-
ing
cards
but
not
working
under
labor
agreements-by
1946
it
had
acquired
over
fifteen
million
members,
had
estab-
lished
collective
bargaining
as
the
pre-
vailing
pattern
of
American
industry,
and
had
shown
notable
evidences
of
permanence
and
strength.
Unfortunately,
this
advance
has
been
accompanied
by
disturbances
in
labor
relations
which
at
times
have
assumed
an
alarming
character.
Strikes
under-
taken
on
a
coast-wide,
industry-wide,
or
nation-wide
scale
on
several
recent
oc-
casions
have
well-nigh
paralyzed
our
economic
life.
Such
developments
have
shocked,
perplexed,
and
bewildered
the
average
citizen.
For
public
support
of
collective
bargaining
has
been
founded
not
on
mere
partiality
for
unions
but
on
the
belief
that
unionism
is
good
for
so-
ciety
as
a
whole;
that
the
special
place
given
to
organized
labor
in
the
law
would
release
for
constructive
activity
energies
previously
forced
into
belliger-
ent
channels;
that
it
would
result
in
a
more
stable,
productive,
and
prosperous
economy;
and
that
it
would
promote
a
more
democratic
and
satisfying
way
of
life
for
all.
Citizens
all
over
the
land
know
that
it
takes
two
to
make
a
quarrel,
and
they
are
therefore
haunted
by
troubling
ques-
tions
such
as
these:
Is
the
employer
or
labor
principally
at
fault?
Are
present
ills
merely
the
temporary
difficulties
of
postwar
readjustment?
Will
the
con-
tinuance
of
demands
for
higher
wages
and
shorter
hours,
and
an
increasing
resort
to
strikes,
merely
bring
about
inflation
and
then
another
depression?
Are
all
these
manifestations
mere
grow-
ing
pains
which
will
disappear
as
em-
ployers
and
unions
attain
maturity
in
their
relationships?
Should
the
situa-
tion
be
left
to
its
own
natural
outcome,
or,
should
it
be
dealt
with
by
new
legis-
lation
and
new
administrative
controls?
Informed
and
thoughtful
views
on
such
questions
are
offered
by
the
distin-
guished
contributors
to
this
symposium.
Though
differing
in
many
particulars,
they
have
in
common
a
deep
interest
in
maintaining
for
labor
an
important
and
protected
status
consistent
with
demo-
cratic
government.
Some
of
these
con-
tributors
believe
that
further
govern-
ment
intervention
and
control
would
be
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