History Essay on Events That Led to Textile Mill Workers in Southern States to Form Workers Unions

In 1934, workers in Southern States textile industry went on strike to show their displeasure for unanswered grievances. It was the largest strike ever experienced in the region with a participation of over 170,000 workers. However, textile workers who worked in rural settings did not take part in the strike because of paternalistic influences and communication barriers between them and their colleagues in urban settings. To be specific, workers in Cooleemee mill did not take part in the 1934 strike. The paternalistic influences had been developed by owners of Erwin Mills who provided their workers with social amenities and goods on credit to appear benevolent to the workers and win over their loyalty and allegiance. Mill workers at Cooleemee village, a village that was inhabited by Erwin Millss workers, were allowed to rear livestock, farm, hunt and fish; this made them more loyal and committed to owners of the mills.

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Middle-class individuals who lived in nearby urban centers where Erwin Mills were located treated mill workers with contempt. As a result, mill workers isolated themselves from the rest of the world. With time, the mill workers developed a sense of pride in their occupation to ensure that their self-esteem was not pricked by the middle-class workers who felt superior and unique when compared to the mill workers. Mill workers in Cooleemee village became united with time; this was reinforced by intermarriages, engaging together in church activities and other social activities. Churches provided an institutional means to define socially acceptable behavior.

Textile work in the Southern States was exclusively for white laborers. African Americans who showed interest in working for the textile mills faced a lot of opposition and discrimination. Status in villages occupied by mill workers was determined by race, class, gender and conduct. In Cooleemee village, workers and managers attended same churches, and their children went to same schools. A social contract was developed between Erwin Mills and their workers courtesy of the interaction between the managers and the workers. The interaction also developed and reinforced respectability of mill work contrary to the derogatory cultural stereotype that previously existed. Owners of the mills wanted the workers to be proud of their work to improve their work performance. Smooth labor relations were enhanced by ensuring that overseers at the factories were sons, fathers, and sons of those that they dealt with.

Textile factories workers in North Carolina came up with a tactful strategy of airing their grievances by unionization. A sudden shift in workers passivity to activism was attributed to workers struggle with an unequal balance of power. The workers wanted to hold management of the mills accountable within a social contract. It reached a point where mill workers developed the courage to stand firm and voice their displeasure about inhumane treatment by the mills managers. As a result, Cooleemee Mills management was compelled to treat the workers with fairness and humanity. However, things changed with anticipation of regulated wages and hours for purposes of increasing profit. Consequentially, contracts of custom and paternalism were breached resulting to a need for the workers to form workers unions that would fight for their rights and interests as well as enforce company accountability. However, community communism had its share of limitations that eventually saw mill workers lose their jobs after the closure of Erwin Mills.

Britains postwar welfare state exacted a lot of pressure on the laboring class. Britain sacrificed a lot in its war against Adolf Hitlers Germany. Consequentially, the country did a lot in trying to rebuild its pride and unity after damages of the war. Nationalism as an idea that would ensure Britain became more unified than ever was fronted by the postwar British government. Britain was of the view that the way America had handled its Depression-era social crisis was worthy being imitate in its dealing with its postwar social crisis.

During the depression era, America resorted to expanding its social provisions with an intention of reviving its sense of nationalism. American social provision program was done in a manner that did not challenge the nations sense of pride. America saw a need to reaffirm its sense of pride despite challenges the country was going through during the depression era. Nationalism is an approach that aims to create bonds among citizens of a given nation who are not necessarily bound by kinship and blood.

In the Depression era, Americans created policies that would ensure the nation remained united in line with the Jefferson ideal of independence and self-sufficiency, regardless of different social and economic interests of the time. The depression welfare state was met with support from Americans. However, in America, any form of government intervention is often met with little support based on deeply rooted ideas of self-sufficiency that inform what it meant to be American. Redistribution of national income during the Depression era played a major role in fighting poverty and economic insecurity. Most Americans during the depression period did not want to be viewed as beggars or people who liked freebies, they wanted to preserve their pride despite the economic challenges that plagued them. It was a widely held belief among Americans during the depression era that social programs such as insurance programs that were deeply rooted in male dignity would work. Many social programs were meant to promote a manly sense of independence and sufficiency among the workers.

Gender was used in the depression era to reinforce traditional American notions of liberty, individualism, and self-sufficiency. Efforts to unite America during the depression era were subverted by gendered limits. White males were seen as responsible for economic liberty, economic competition, and American freedom. Policies that were created by the American government rewarded individual effort based on gender rather than encouraging communal effort in the achievement of economic goals. Notions of male independence, autonomy, and individualism together with affirming status of women as dependent beings limited social citizenship in the depression era.

The essay is successful because it vividly reveals events that led to textile mill workers in Southern States to form workers unions. The essay also aptly addresses gendered limits that deterred social citizenship from taking part during the depression era.

Bibliography

Harris, Alice Kessler. 1999. In the Nations Image: The Gendered Limits of Social Citizenship in the Depression Era. The Journal of American History. 86 (3)

Wingerd, Mary Lether. 1996. "Rethinking Paternalism: Power and Parochialism in a Southern Mill Village." The Journal of American History. 83 (3): 872.