Loray Mill Strike
Encyclopedia
The Loray Mill Strike of 1929 in Gastonia
, North Carolina
was one of the most notable strikes
in the labor history of the United States
. Though largely unsuccessful in attaining its goals of better working conditions and wages, the strike was considered very successful in a lasting way; it caused an immense controversy which gave the labor movement momentum, propelling the movement in its national development.
of North Carolina, Gaston County
had the ideal resources for manufacturing
. Because of the large potential workforce of former sharecroppers
and failed farmers, many northern industrialists moved south in search of a reduced cost of labor. World War I
brought great prosperity to the southern cotton mills, "fueled largely by government defense orders for uniforms, tents, and war material. Thousands of new jobs opened in the mills, and wages soared to all time highs." This boom was to be short-lived, however, and the prosperity that the workers enjoyed soon disappeared. The luxury items they had purchased on credit were now stretching their budgets so much that they could hardly afford to put food on the table.
Managers introduced the "stretch-out" system in which spinners and weavers not only doubled their work, but also reduced their wages. “I used to tend forty-eight looms,” complained a South Carolina weaver in 1929, “while under the stretch-out I have to tend ninety looms and I couldn’t do it. Three years ago I was makin’ over $19 a week. Now I make $17.70.” “By the late 1920’s some mill workers’ wages sank as low as $5 a week.” The owners of the mills insisted on keeping prices down, which caused mill work to become extremely dangerous and dirty. Often the workdays were so long that the women, who made up a considerable percentage of the workers, were rarely home to raise their children. Upon hearing about the conditions in the Loray Mill, Fred Beal of the National Textile Workers Union (NTWU), a communist labor union, as well as a member of the Trade Union Unity League
, began focusing his attention on the small town of Gastonia
.
On April 1,1929 1,800 mill workers walked off their jobs to protest intolerable working conditions. The strikers demanded a forty-hour work week, a minimum $20 weekly wage, union reognition, and the abolition of the stretch-out system.
In response, management evicted families from mill-owned homes. In an effort to retain order, Mayor Rankin asked Governor O. Max Gardner
for assistance. He immediately sent 250 National Guard
troops who arrived on April 3. The strike escalated throughout the month. Nearly 100 masked men destroyed the NTWU's headquarters on April 18, As a result, the NTWU started a tent city
on the outskirts of town that was protected by armed strikers at all times.
The situation continued throughout the next few months as the workers continued to strike despite the return to production at the Loray Mill, making their situation appear hopeless. On June 7, 150 workers marched to the mill to call out the night shift. They were attacked and dispersed by sheriff's deputies. Later that night, four officers including Police Chief Aderholt arrived at the tent city and demanded that the guards hand over their weapons. An altercation ensued and Chief Aderholt was killed. Two of his officers and several strikers were wounded.
, was killed. Seven men were charged with her murder, six of whom were Loray Mill employees. All were found not guilty. Beal was released on bail, but fled to the Soviet Union
. Disillusioned, he subsequently returned to the United States and surrendered to the authorities in North Carolina. He was later pardoned.
due to inadequate medical care. Rather than renting a mill-owned house in the mill town, she chose to live in a wooden shack in an African American hamlet
where her children were cared for by a local woman. Seeing the union as the best hope for her children, Wiggins became a key leader of the strike, and was very successful in rallying the workers through her songs. Some of her better known works are “A Mill Mother’s Song,” “Chief Aderholt,” and “The Big Fat Boss and the Workers.” On September 14, 1929, a pregnant Ella Mae Wiggins was shot in the chest when a truckload of unarmed Bessemer City
strikers was ambushed en route to a union rally. The strike collapsed shortly after her murder.
Many writers have paid tribute to Wiggins by memorializing her in fiction. Several of the Gastonia Novels (see below) include female characters whose lives are based on Ella Mae Wiggins.
." Over time, this spontaneous uprising of textile workers in the South allowed for the formation of the United Textile Workers, the "first significant breach in southern anti-unionism."
"In each of the novels, Gastonia is given as the focus of the universal class struggle
, as a set of real events operating within the context of Marxist
ideology. . . . The novels take a singular, actual event and offer literary and ideological interpretations which can, in turn, be applied to the reader's own experiences and beliefs." Marxist critics responded favorably to the novels, seeing the strike novel as a way to “deal in one way or another with the literary and philosophical problem of the individual against the collective.” Sherwood Anderson received great acclaim for Beyond Desire and the characters’ exploitation and suffocation by capitalism. “Grace Lumpkin’s To Make My Bread . . . was so well thought of in Party circles that it was awarded the 1932 Gorky prize, while at the same time it received a favorable review in the New York Times. ” Most critics, however, agree that Olive Tilford Dargan’s Call Home the Heart is “by far the best of those [books] on Gastonia. . . . of all the Gastonia novels it most successfully transcends issues of ideology and class to deal with problems of a universal nature.”
The Gastonia Novels, while well received in their time, were not widely read. In more recent years several of them have gained a new popularity for their feminist subtexts and treatment of race and social class. “The strike novels emphasize that no lost strike is ever a complete defeat, just as no strike is ever a complete victory.”
Gastonia, North Carolina
Gastonia is the largest city and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. It is also the third largest suburb of the Charlotte Area, behind Concord and Rock Hill. The population was 71,226 as of Gastonia is the largest city and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina,...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
was one of the most notable strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
in the labor history of the United States
Labor history of the United States
The labor history of the United States describes the history of organized labor, as well as the more general history of working people, in the United States. Pressures dictating the nature and power of organized labor have included the evolution and power of the corporation, efforts by employers...
. Though largely unsuccessful in attaining its goals of better working conditions and wages, the strike was considered very successful in a lasting way; it caused an immense controversy which gave the labor movement momentum, propelling the movement in its national development.
Background
Located in the south-western piedmontFoothills
Foothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills to the adjacent topographically high mountains.-Examples:...
of North Carolina, Gaston County
Gaston County, North Carolina
Gaston County is a county located just west of Charlotte in the southern Piedmont in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third largest county, by population, in the Charlotte Metropolitan Area, officially designated the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of...
had the ideal resources for manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
. Because of the large potential workforce of former sharecroppers
Sharecropping
Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land . This should not be confused with a crop fixed rent contract, in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a fixed amount of...
and failed farmers, many northern industrialists moved south in search of a reduced cost of labor. World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
brought great prosperity to the southern cotton mills, "fueled largely by government defense orders for uniforms, tents, and war material. Thousands of new jobs opened in the mills, and wages soared to all time highs." This boom was to be short-lived, however, and the prosperity that the workers enjoyed soon disappeared. The luxury items they had purchased on credit were now stretching their budgets so much that they could hardly afford to put food on the table.
Managers introduced the "stretch-out" system in which spinners and weavers not only doubled their work, but also reduced their wages. “I used to tend forty-eight looms,” complained a South Carolina weaver in 1929, “while under the stretch-out I have to tend ninety looms and I couldn’t do it. Three years ago I was makin’ over $19 a week. Now I make $17.70.” “By the late 1920’s some mill workers’ wages sank as low as $5 a week.” The owners of the mills insisted on keeping prices down, which caused mill work to become extremely dangerous and dirty. Often the workdays were so long that the women, who made up a considerable percentage of the workers, were rarely home to raise their children. Upon hearing about the conditions in the Loray Mill, Fred Beal of the National Textile Workers Union (NTWU), a communist labor union, as well as a member of the Trade Union Unity League
Trade Union Unity League
The Trade Union Unity League was an industrial union umbrella organization of the Communist Party of the United States between 1929 and 1935...
, began focusing his attention on the small town of Gastonia
Gastonia
Gastonia may refer to:Places:*Gastonia, North Carolina, United StatesIn biology:*Gastonia , a genus in the ivy or ginseng family*Gastonia , a genus of ankylosaur...
.
Strike
On Saturday, March 30, 1929, the union held its first public meeting in Gastonia. Ellen Dawson, co-director of the strike and vice president of the NTWU, urged workers to stand resolute. The "seemingly frail" woman was in fact a "tough, experinced organizer and superb stump speaker." At 3 pm, Beal took a vote and the workers voted unanimously to strike.On April 1,1929 1,800 mill workers walked off their jobs to protest intolerable working conditions. The strikers demanded a forty-hour work week, a minimum $20 weekly wage, union reognition, and the abolition of the stretch-out system.
In response, management evicted families from mill-owned homes. In an effort to retain order, Mayor Rankin asked Governor O. Max Gardner
Oliver Max Gardner
Oliver Max Gardner was the 57th Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1929 to 1933.-Early years and education:...
for assistance. He immediately sent 250 National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
troops who arrived on April 3. The strike escalated throughout the month. Nearly 100 masked men destroyed the NTWU's headquarters on April 18, As a result, the NTWU started a tent city
Tent City
A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents. Informal tent cities may be set up without authorization by homeless people or protesters. As well, state governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house refugees, evacuees, or soldiers...
on the outskirts of town that was protected by armed strikers at all times.
The situation continued throughout the next few months as the workers continued to strike despite the return to production at the Loray Mill, making their situation appear hopeless. On June 7, 150 workers marched to the mill to call out the night shift. They were attacked and dispersed by sheriff's deputies. Later that night, four officers including Police Chief Aderholt arrived at the tent city and demanded that the guards hand over their weapons. An altercation ensued and Chief Aderholt was killed. Two of his officers and several strikers were wounded.
Trial and Aftermath
In the aftermath, 71 strikers were arrested. Eight strikers and another eight members of the NTWU, including Beal, were indicted for murder. During the trial, a juror went insane after seeing some disturbing evidence. As a result, the judge was forced to declare a mistrial. When news of the mistrial was released, a general wave of terror ran through the countryside. During the early part of September, mobs of men gathered up strikers and ran them out of the county. These actions came to a head when, on September 14, a truck containing 22 strikers was chased down and fired upon. One female striker, Ella Mae WigginsElla Mae Wiggins
Ella May Wiggins was a union organizer and balladeer who was killed during the Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia, N.C. Her maiden name is misspelled on the marker at her gravesite....
, was killed. Seven men were charged with her murder, six of whom were Loray Mill employees. All were found not guilty. Beal was released on bail, but fled to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Disillusioned, he subsequently returned to the United States and surrendered to the authorities in North Carolina. He was later pardoned.
Ella Mae Wiggins
Ella Mae Wiggins (also known as Ella May Wiggins) was a single mother of nine, four of whom died of whooping coughPertussis
Pertussis, also known as whooping cough , is a highly contagious bacterial disease caused by Bordetella pertussis. Symptoms are initially mild, and then develop into severe coughing fits, which produce the namesake high-pitched "whoop" sound in infected babies and children when they inhale air...
due to inadequate medical care. Rather than renting a mill-owned house in the mill town, she chose to live in a wooden shack in an African American hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
where her children were cared for by a local woman. Seeing the union as the best hope for her children, Wiggins became a key leader of the strike, and was very successful in rallying the workers through her songs. Some of her better known works are “A Mill Mother’s Song,” “Chief Aderholt,” and “The Big Fat Boss and the Workers.” On September 14, 1929, a pregnant Ella Mae Wiggins was shot in the chest when a truckload of unarmed Bessemer City
Bessemer City, North Carolina
Bessemer City is a small suburban city in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,592 at the 2010 census. The city is approximately 6 miles northwest of Gastonia and 25 miles west of Charlotte...
strikers was ambushed en route to a union rally. The strike collapsed shortly after her murder.
Many writers have paid tribute to Wiggins by memorializing her in fiction. Several of the Gastonia Novels (see below) include female characters whose lives are based on Ella Mae Wiggins.
Impact
Overall the strike was not a success, but during the same time period there was a series of other textile strikes throughout the South. The main objective of these strikes was the abolition of the stretch-out, and some met with a measure of success. The success was difficult to come by, though, as strikers were branded by the press as "radicals," and labor organizers as "foreign agitators." "Wherever a strike broke out, state troops were immediately sent and to this show of force were added police, deputy sheriffs, and . . . vigilantesVigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
." Over time, this spontaneous uprising of textile workers in the South allowed for the formation of the United Textile Workers, the "first significant breach in southern anti-unionism."
Gastonia Novels
Because of the violent and dramatic events surrounding the mill strikes in Gastonia, North Carolina, the labor struggle became a symbol of “the strength, courage, and tenacity” of workers in America. The recognizable incidents taken from actual strikes during the period led to the publishing of no less than six strike novels within four years. These are commonly referred to as the Gastonia novels:- Anderson, SherwoodSherwood AndersonSherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, J. D. Salinger, and Amos Oz.-Early life:Anderson was born in Clyde, Ohio,...
: Beyond Desire - Dargan, Olive TilfordOlive Tilford DarganOlive Tilford Dargan was born on a farm in Kentucky. She was educated at the University of Nashville and Radcliffe College. She taught in Arkansas, Missouri, Texas and Canada before moving to the southern United States for health reasons. In 1898 she married Pegram Dargan of South Carolina....
: Call Home the Heart - Lumpkin, GraceGrace LumpkinGrace Lumpkin was an American writer of proletarian literature, focusing most of her works on the Depression era and the rise and fall of favor surrounding communism in the United States...
: To Make My BreadTo Make My BreadTo Make My Bread is a novel written by Grace Lumpkin about the Loray Mill Strike. It was published in 1932. Lumpkin chronicles the McClures, a family of poor Appalachian tenant farmers, during the industrialization of the south... - Page, Myra: Gathering Storm
- Rollins Jr., William: The Shadow Before
- Vorse, Mary HeatonMary Heaton VorseMary Heaton Vorse or Mary Heaton Vorse O'Brien was an American journalist, labor activist, and novelist. Vorse was outspoken and active in peace and social justice causes, such as women's suffrage, civil rights, pacifism , socialism, child labor, infant mortality, labor disputes, and affordable...
: Strike!
"In each of the novels, Gastonia is given as the focus of the universal class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
, as a set of real events operating within the context of Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
ideology. . . . The novels take a singular, actual event and offer literary and ideological interpretations which can, in turn, be applied to the reader's own experiences and beliefs." Marxist critics responded favorably to the novels, seeing the strike novel as a way to “deal in one way or another with the literary and philosophical problem of the individual against the collective.” Sherwood Anderson received great acclaim for Beyond Desire and the characters’ exploitation and suffocation by capitalism. “Grace Lumpkin’s To Make My Bread . . . was so well thought of in Party circles that it was awarded the 1932 Gorky prize, while at the same time it received a favorable review in the New York Times. ” Most critics, however, agree that Olive Tilford Dargan’s Call Home the Heart is “by far the best of those [books] on Gastonia. . . . of all the Gastonia novels it most successfully transcends issues of ideology and class to deal with problems of a universal nature.”
The Gastonia Novels, while well received in their time, were not widely read. In more recent years several of them have gained a new popularity for their feminist subtexts and treatment of race and social class. “The strike novels emphasize that no lost strike is ever a complete defeat, just as no strike is ever a complete victory.”
External links
- Charlotte Observer newspaper images at UNC University Libraries