Organizing the Unemployed: The Early 1930s
by: Gordon Black
http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/cpproject/black.htm
-clip- Of course, Communists were not encumbered by a faith in any part of the existing economic system. After years of trying to organize inside AFL unions ("boring from within"), the Comintern in 1928 had developed a new policy of building party-controlled unions. The Trade Union Unity League would be the Communist alternative to the AFL. When the Depression hit, the Party also developed an organizing strategy aimed at the unemployed. As part of a 13-point list of demands-which included unemployment insurance equal to full wages, a seven-hour day and recognition of the Soviet Union-the Communist Party called for the formation of Unemployed Councils. Every local and district office of the Trade Union Unity League was told to set up a council and instructions on how:
Into these Councils shall be drawn representatives of the revolutionary unions, shop committees and reformist unions, as well as unorganized workers. The councils shall be definitely affiliated to the respective TUUL.[ii] <http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/cpproject/black.htm#_edn2>
In cities like New York, Chicago, and Detroit, the Unemployed Councils made an immediate impact, staging large attention- getting demonstrations in the winter and spring of 1930 and in subsequent years building neighborhood based Councils that fought for public assistance and rallied neighbors to conduct rent strikes and resist evictions. But in the Northwest the Unemployed Councils were much less effective. Police repression was one of the problems. The Seattle Police Department maintained a policy of permanent harassment all through the early years of the 1930s, arresting Communists whenever they tried to hold a street meeting or a demonstration, and routinely breaking up even in-door Party meetings. Dozens of Party activists spent time in jail for the simple act of trying to speak or attend a meeting. The usual charge was vagrancy, but prosecutors also went after leaders with Criminal Syndicalism charges, while those of foreign birth were threatened with deportation. The American Civil Liberties Union and the International Labor Defense (the CP legal team) managed to block most of the deportation orders affecting Washington state Communists, but in Oregon the still more zealous persecution of Reds resulted in some long prison terms and numerous deportations. The Finnish community of Astoria was particularly hard hit. The editors and staff of Toveri, a Communist linked Finnish language newspaper, were arrested and deported.[iii] <http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/cpproject/black.htm#_edn3>