Fifty-one years ago, the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) helped lead the Mack Avenue sitdown strike at Chrysler, the first such strike since the Flint Michigan sitdown strike of 1936-37 that launched industrial unionism and the United Auto Workers Union (see PLP’s The Great Flint Sit Down Strike, available at http://www.plp.org/leaflets-pamphlets/pamphlets/).
Sitdown strikes in the 1930s included actions at the Akron Rubber Works and Woolworth’s Department store, but the tactic was abandoned by the reformist leadership of the labor movement as it sunk further into business unionism. The Mack Avenue sitdown strike exposed the union misleaders, strengthened the PLP’s work among industrial workers, and invigorated the PLP throughout the world.
Communists have historically led the working class in struggles against the bosses. From such struggles, new revolutionary cadres can come forward to advance the vision of a wage-less, classless society if communists struggle for these ideas in the midst of such battles against the ruling class.
What follows is an interview with a PLP member who was active in the sitdown action in Detroit.
The PLP has for many years argued that building a revolutionary base among industrial workers is a central task for communists. Why is this important?
Of all workers, those who work in manufacturing, mining, or other heavy industries are generally forced by the conditions of production to cooperate rather than compete. This is why the formation of labor unions occurred first among such workers. Moreover, the capitalist class depends on industrial workers to produce the wealth of the society and the profits they draw from this. Accordingly, industrial workers are both best positioned and most experienced in the cooperative venture to stop production and the flow of profits until the capitalists grant their demands for better pay and working conditions. As we’ve seen with the recent rail workers, UPS drivers, and UAW workers, even the threat of a broad industrial strike terrifies the bosses and they kick into high gear to try to stop them. If communists are immersed among these workers and explaining how capitalism must be overthrown, then the struggle of industrial workers can be a stepping stone to the overthrow of the capitalist system.
You were in charge of coordinating the sale and distribution of the PLP newspaper CHALLENGE-DESAFIO in Detroit in 1973. Could you describe how auto workers responded to the newspaper and other literature we shared with them?
Detroit was a manufacturing center in heavy industry, automobiles and trucks with numerous auto plants in the area. This setting created a great opportunity to meet workers going in or coming out at shift changes. A group of about five or six comrades would rotate from one plant to another and return to each on a weekly basis. We would, over time, befriend many of the workers and talk with them about capitalism and how it created bad conditions on their job forcing them to constantly strike or take some other job action in order to improve their working conditions and wages. One interesting story about this was when we argued that they should walk out until their demands were met if management refused to improve the ventilation or cooling in the summer months. When a strike would occur at a plant across town we would use it as an example of what they too could do. Often the response was, “I’d be willing, but these other guys would never do that.” One day we arrived at the Ford River Rouge compound and found the entire shift milling around in the parking lot. “What’s happening?” we asked. “We walked out over the heat,” came the answer-- from one of the guys who said that his companions would never take such an action! So to rub it in, we said, “We thought you said your friends would never do this.” “Well, I was wrong,” came the answer. Workers need to act together to know how the others think.
The Mack Avenue sit-down strike was an iconic event in both the PLP’s work and in auto workers’ history. Could you describe the events that led up to the strike, how the strike proceeded, and how it ended?
Sure! Two PLP members worked in the plant on the same assembly line. The Party leadership suggested that they organize a sitdown strike, occupy the machinery, and refuse to work or let other workers on other shifts take their place. This was to be the first sit-down strike in the auto industry in 36 years. The plan unfolded by the two comrades asking all the other workers on the line whether they would be willing to sit down in order to improve their conditions and wages. When most of them agreed, the other workers joined in as well, so the day of the sit down was set. When that day arrived, the team of Mack Avenue workers carried out their plan, sitting down on their machines and refusing to work. The PLP mobilized all of the PLP members in the city to come to surround the plant and distribute leaflets to passersby explaining what was happening. This was the main event in the center ring in Detroit for several days. The workers sat down on their machines, refused to leave, and closed down all production at that plant. The bosses were furious but couldn’t budge the workers.
After three days, the police and plant guards were finally able to oust the strikers who then set up solid picket lines around the plant. The PLP brought reinforcements from throughout the city to join the picket line, all the while passing out leaflets and selling CHALLENGE. A PLP leader came to Detroit from New York to help the struggle and write an article for the next issue of CHALLENGE.
Shawn Fain, today’s UAW president, has frequently referred glowingly to the 1936-37 Flint Michigan Sit Down Strike that propelled the auto workers' union forward. CHALLENGE-DESAFIO also noted in 1973 that the Mack Avenue Sit Down strike was the first sitdown strike in auto since then. How did the union leaders of that time react to the Mack Avenue sitdown strike? Why do you think they reacted in this way?
The UAW leadership opposed the Mack Avenue sitdown strike for its boldness, its open challenge to Chrysler’s control, and its defiance of the collective bargaining agreement that barred such actions. These reformist union misleaders were not prepared to engage themselves, not wanting to jeopardize union property or face jail themselves. In fact, they acted as if they were Pinkerton agents for Chrysler, building up a band of local union officers from UAW locals from throughout the Midwestern states —but not for solidarity! Just the opposite! This band of close to a thousand men (they were all men) marched on the picket line to break it up. They were armed with baseball bats; they were not kidding. The two comrades were warned that this mob would be looking for them and were spirited away by some workers to safety. But this assault by the supposed leaders of the workers ended the strike, and the workers were forced back to work.
Were there other repercussions from this action?
Definitely! Following the end of the strike, some of the workers who played a central role were fired, and the two comrades were arrested and charged with pipe attacks on the plant guards who first tried to oust the strikers. The trial was presided over by a “leftist” judge (many former radicals became stooges for the bosses, including Coleman Young, the mayor, who had at one time been a member of Communist Party!). The judge had been elected overwhelmingly to his position in this union town, but rather than being a friend to the accused comrades, he did everything he could to help the prosecution and stymie the defense. The defense lawyers were friends and former colleagues of the judge, and were shocked at his behavior. One of them, objecting in frustration to a ruling by the judge, said loudly, “But Chuck, I mean, your honor, how can you make such a ruling?” It was a fiasco. But the jury selection was not in the prosecution’s favor. The prosecution tried to weed out any Chrysler workers, members of their families, or other auto workers and their relatives, but in Detroit, that didn’t leave many people. So the jury was filled with working class people who refused to convict, even though there were numerous witnesses who confirmed that the comrades had indeed defended their position in the plant by striking the guards with pipes!
Please tell us about some of the individuals who were important figures in the strike, both PLP members, friends of the PLP, and other workers?
The two comrades were one white and one Black. Most of the workers on the assembly line were also Black, which was characteristic of the auto industry in Detroit. Friends of the PLP among the workers who helped lead the strike were fired, along with the two comrades. But the unity of the entire assembly line of around 50 workers was a stirring example of the militancy, anger at their condition, and willingness to fight even against the police and plant guards. This is a microcosm of what workers are capable of doing, once they are convinced that they can count on each other.
Looking back on the strike, what were the strengths and weaknesses of the action, both in terms of advancing the day-to-day conditions of workers and in terms of building the revolutionary movement for communism?
I think that it’s very difficult in the early days of building a movement for the abolition of capitalism to ask workers to risk their jobs and livelihoods. The building of confidence in each other, both within the Party and between the Party and the working class is a long process, and it takes close relationships among comrades and fellow workers to bring this about. We call this base building! This is true for both the day to day struggle and even more so for the longer-term fight for communism.
A Party has to grow to a size much greater than our present state before a communist vision can become a mass phenomenon, although we can be engaged in class struggle at all times with an eye towards bringing our fellow workers, students, and strugglers into agreement with a communist strategy and vision. This is especially true in this day of complete confusion about whom to trust among government officials, political organizations, and candidates, and how to tell the truth from falsehood.
What advice would you offer to today’s young workers as they seek to expand the PLP’s work in basic industries?
All of us must be willing and ready to question every aspect of our current thinking and strategy and, through study and practice, further develop our analysis of the world and the strategies needed to change it. Moving towards revolution requires that we build on each step we take, like the Mack Avenue sitdown strike action, to evaluate the extent to which we have succeeded (or failed!) in achieving both short-term improvements and long-term capacity for struggle.
I have confidence that with the process of learning, questioning, and changing, we can bring many more workers into our orbit, especially in today’s chaotic environment of escalating war, racism, and global warming.
