Labor's Fight for Civil Rights

[Nathan Newman]

I'm nearing the end of Caro's new book on Johnson, MASTER OF THE SENATE,
which I of course lover since Johnson is the epitome of lesser-evil
pragmatism and the contradictions of democratic struggle. Much of the book
focuses on civil rights with the climax the battle over the Civil Rights Act
of 1957, which focused on new enforcement powers to protect the right of
blacks in the South to vote.  It's an odd story, for as Caro writes it, the
strongest liberal Senators were essentially on the side of no bill since
they lacked the votes to overcome a filibuster of the version they wanted
and they therefore sided with a largely united GOP which cared little about
getting an actual bill, but wanted the political gain of having Democratic
southerners filibuster it and drive blacks into their camp.  The Southerners
of course wanted no bill, but in the mddle was Johnson seeking a bill to
pass-- mostly to build his credability as more than a southern politician
but also because he wanted civil rights to move forward.

The key was an amendment to allow jury trials of judicial contempt
proceedings, which the South wanted since it would be nearly impossible to
enforce the law with all-white southern juries.

Lots of interesting things in the whole story, but an important one is how
solidly labor supported the strongest civil rights position, even opposing
the jury trial amendment when it was modified to apply the same jury trial
requirement to unions accused of contempt, an important improvement of the
situation after Taft-Hartley.

James Carey, president of the IUE, would write, rejecting an amendment to
require a jury trial on civil rights contempt hearings (and now union
hearings): "Labor will not barter away effective protection of the right of
the Negro to register and vote" for its own gain. The AFL-CIO would echo
that view, saying it would not endorse a "crippling amendment" just because
it offers "advantages to organized labor."

    A few unions, like the traditionally racist railroad brotherhoods and
the United Mine Workers, which had suffered most from court contempt
proceedings, were willing to support the jury trial amendment.

    Pro-labor liberal Democrats stayed solidly against the jury trial
amendment and it was mostly midwestern GOPers, never very favorable towards
civil rights to begin with, who were moved to abandon the bill and seal the
amendment's narrow victory.

    A few liberals were moved into support of the amendment when Frank
Church of Idaho added a provision to the amendment that required even
unregistered blacks the right to serve on federal juries, thereby creating a
new legal right for blacks and guaranteeing some racial diversity on the
trials to enforce the 1957 law.

But it's a good reminder that labor unions were one of the backbones of the
lobbying and struggle for civil rights in this country and even when bait
was offered to trade off civil rights for their own self-interest, the
AFL-CIO unions sided squarely with the strongest positions on civil rights
legislation throughout the postwar period.

Nathan Newman
nathan at newman.org