Violence in American Labor Disputes
| Author | Philip Taft |
| Published date | 01 March 1966 |
| Date | 01 March 1966 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000271626636400113 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
127
Violence
in
American
Labor
Disputes
By
PHILIP
TAFT
Philip
Taft,
Ph.D.,
Providence,
Rhode
Island,
is
Professor
of
Economics
at
Brown
University,
, where
he has
served
for
twenty-eight
years.
He
has
written
on
labor
topics
for
a
number
o
f learned
journals,
is
coazithor
o f
History
of
Labor
in
the
United
States,
1896-1932
(with
Professor
Selig
Perlman,
1935),
and
the
author
of
six
books,
the
most
recent
of
which
is
Organized
Labor
in
American
History
(1964).
ABSTRACT:
Although
most
strikes
in
the
United
States
have
been
peaceful,
differences
over
the
terms
of
employment
have
on
occasion
generated
violent
clashes.
In
cases
where
the
union
is
recognized,
strikes
seldom
lead
to
violent
encounters.
However,
in
unorganized
strikes
or
in
those
which have
arisen
in
an
effort
to
gain
recognition,
the
use
of
violence
is
more
common.
In
the
past,
the
presence
of
strike
guards
and
private
detectives
were
frequently
causes
of
violent
encounters.
It
ap-
pears
that
many
industries
were
sometimes
affected,
and
no
region
escaped
from
occasional
violent
incidents
arising
during
a
labor
dispute.
Nor
were
participants
members
of
particular
ethnic
groups.
Native
Americans
as
well
as
foreigners
and
Negroes
as
well
as
whites
were
involved
in
bitter
clashes
that
erupted
in
American
industry.
Violence
has
not
been
fully
eliminated
from
American
labor
disputes,
but
considering
the
number
of
strikes
and
the
number
of
employers
directed
to
deal
with
unions
by
government
boards
dealing
with
labor
relations,
one
has
to
conclude
that
it
has
been
diminished.
Laws
re-
quiring
employers
to
recognize
unions
representing
their
em-
ployees
in
a
proper
bargaining
unit
have
perhaps
been
the
primary
cause
for
a
lessening
of
violence
in
labor
disputes.
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