History of the Labor Movement: Labor During the Roaring 20s

Although America made the world safe for democracy by securing a victory in World War I, the war’s final casualty was the national economy. The transition to a peacetime economy following years of heavy government intervention triggered a sharp recession. Unemployment climbed to 11% as thousands of veterans reentered the labor force and factories retooled their production to consumer goods. Labor unions, meanwhile, launched a series of massive strikes intended to help them maintain their standing relative to powerful corporations.

The downturn, however, wouldn’t last for long. By 1922, the economy was back on track and growing at a frenzied pace. Within the next several years, industrial output—and profits—would skyrocket, stock prices would rise at an unprecedented rate, and unemployment would shrink to an average rate of five percent or less. The Roaring 20s were on.

The 1920s would be a dark time for unions despite the prosperity experienced by the rest of the country. Following the end of World War I in 1918, unions launched several strikes—such as the Steel Strike of 1919—to preserve the advances they had made in recent decades. Most of these actions failed in the face of resistance from businesses. Whenever businesses suppressed a strike, unions lost both members and negotiating strength.

Contributing to unions’ disarray was the absence of strong leadership. Samuel Gompers, the president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) who led the national union for 37 years, died in 1924; this left the dominant union of its day without a capable executive who could rally workers, stand up to businesses, and encourage the government to adopt a worker-friendly stance.

Unions’ efforts to organize workers were also complicated by a set of pro-business government policies. While the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson had staunchly supported labor interests, the presidents who served in the 1920s—Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, respectively—aligned themselves with businesses to help keep the economy booming, and this prompted them to take a harder line against unions. During the Great Railroad Strike of 1922, for example, Harding deployed U.S. Marshals to protect railroad company property and bring an end to the strike.

To make matters worse, public opinion turned against unions during the 20s as well. After the success of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Americans became incredibly wary of communist threats—either real or imagined. Labor unions, as advocates of workers’ rights and critics of business, were popularly regarded as communist agitators who had infiltrated the country with the goal of sowing discord. Companies exploited this tension during strikes or periods of unrest to help corral workers back into line.