Labour's giant step

How auto workers defeated the world's largest corporation

Smithsonian/Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University

I have a long essay in the current issue of Smithsonian Magazine about one of the most important strikes in American history: the Flint Sit-down strike of 1937. Among the reasons I wanted to write about this episode in particular is that it a somewhat unusual case of political power taking the side of workers in a labour dispute. When thousands of exploited, underpaid autoworkers occupied GM factories in the early weeks of January, 1937, there was good reason to believe authorities would either force them out at gunpoint or pay others to do the same. But when Michigan’s Democratic Governor Frank Murphy left for Flint accompanied by the state’s police commissioner and the adjutant general of its National Guard, he did so with a very different purpose in mind: to create a buffer between the workers and anyone who attempted to dislodge them. The upshot was that a daring and incredibly risky labour action successfully strong-armed General Motors — at that time the world’s largest corporation — and won a generation-defining victory for workers everywhere.

Anyway, I spent over a month immersing myself in every detail I could find. This is a fascinating story and a powerful case study of electoral and extra-parliamentary politics working in tandem. It was also, without exaggeration, a very real instance of ordinary people getting their hands around the wheels of history and successfully shifting its course. If you happen to subscribe to Smithsonian or can find a newsstand nearby, you’ll find the essay in the magazine’s March issue. Otherwise, it’s freely available online here.