Remember Somewhere Our Union's Sewing

In the interest of observing Women's History Month, today's Graphical History Tour returns to 1924 and the Chicago Garment Workers Strike.

Today's cartoons are all by Fred Ellis, cartoonist for the Daily Worker and the monthly Labor Herald, both published in Chicago by the communist Trade Union Educational League (TUEL). The Daily Worker accused the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Daily News, and Hearst newspapers (the American and the Herald Examiner) of ignoring the issues of the garment workers strike; I can only confirm that neither Carey Orr or John McCutcheon addressed the strike in their cartoons.

"The Strike Is On" by Fred Ellis in Daily Worker, Chicago, Feb. 29, 1924

The Chicago chapter of the International Ladies Garment Workers union went on strike on February 27, unable to negotiate a satisfactory agreement with management over a 10% increase in pay; a 40-hour, five-day work week; and establishment of an unemployment fund for workers.

Under the headline "Riots, Slugging Mark Strike of Dress Workers," the Tribune did report the next day on page 3 that

South Market street, between Van Buren and Adams streets, the center of Chicago's dressmaking industry, became a riot zone yesterday. Sluggings, a stabbing, and window smashing followed immediately after the calling of a strike of union garment workers and their attempts to force nonunion workers to join in the walkout.

The reported stabbing victim was the owner of Bloom and Templar, who told police that strikers had attacked him and a colleague in his office with knives and clubs.

"Jailed" by Ellis in Daily Worker, Chicago, March 10, 1924

The legal crackdown by state authorities came swiftly. Cook County States Attorney Robert E. Crowe (better remembered for prosecuting the Leopold and Loeb murder case) filed for an injunction against the strikers picketing or molesting nonunion workers, which was granted by Judge Denis E. Sullivan on March 4. Women on the picket line were arrested and hauled off to Cook County Jail, often after having been roughed up by the employers' goon squad and/or the police themselves.

"Know-Nothing Dever" by Fred Ellis in Daily Worker, Chicago, March 11, 1924

Chicago Mayor William E. Dever was a reformist Democrat who served a single term bracketed by those of the flashier "Big Bill" Thompson, Republican. He doesn't seem to have played a major role in the CGLU strike. He has been called "Chicago's forgotten mayor," and, by Studs Terkel, "Chicago's Calvin Coolidge."

"So far as I know, there has been nothing wrong with the handling of the strike by the city police," Dever told the Daily Worker over the phone from his home. "I have no information to the contrary. I have asked for a report."

"Remember Sophie Altschuler" by Fred Ellis in Daily Worker, Chicago, March 18, 1924

"Sophie Altschuler, one of the left-wingers and and active militant, was beaten up by policeman #3181 so badly as to be confined in bed for some time. Dozens of other girls have felt the policeman's fists and clubs and bear their marks. Nine of them have been convicted of violating the Sullivan injunction, and one of them, Florence Corn, has already been sentenced to thirty days in the county jail." — I.L. Davidson in Labor Herald, Chicago, April 1924

"The Girls Want to Know" by Fred Ellis in Daily Worker, Chicago, March 20, 1924

The strike came at a time when leaders in the labor movement, particularly American Federation of Labor President Samuel Gompers, were actively purging member unions of the communists in their midst. That purge had included several TUEL members of the Chicago Ladies Garment Workers the previous August and would continue at the IGLW's national convention in May. Both factions were nevertheless active in the Chicago Garment Workers strike, yet the AFL and TUEL both thought the other was damaging to the cause.

Ellis's cartoon suggests that other unions were reluctant to support the CLGU strikers. They were, however, joined on the picket lines by carpenters, printers, and members of the Amalgamated Clothing Union ... but not by Oscar Nelson, vice president of the Chicago Federation of Labor and an alderman on the Chicago City Council. He was also a member of the CFL's "Committee of 15" and the ILGU's lawyer. He offered the Daily Worker his excuse that he needed to avoid giving offense to the court.

"Crowe—State's Attorney" by Fred Ellis in Daily Worker, Chicago, March 21

With the dress manufacturers backed by all the power of law enforcement and refusing arbitration offered from Washington D.C., the strikers were at a distinct disadvantage.

"Students Show 'Committee of 15'" by Fred Ellis in Daily Worker, Chicago, March 24, 1924

The strikers did receive some support from a group of University of Chicago students who defied Judge Sullivan's injunction to join the picketers. University Liberal Club President Ida Terbush organized the student picket squad. The Daily Worker didn't report how many students showed up, but did report that two, Eugene and David Siskind, were arrested.

"The So-Called Majesty of the Law" by Fred Ellis in Daily Worker, Chicago, April 1, 1924

The strike lasted through April and at least into May. I haven't yet come across any reporting on a settlement; what press coverage there was after that focused on the trials of strikers for violating Judge Sullivan's injunction. One such account in the May 9, 1924 Daily Worker quoted one of the manufacturers' lawyers, Charles Hyde, telling Judge Charles Foell, "Unless this picketing is stopped, the injunction might better never have been issued."

So, until I find the outcome of this strike, I'll leave you with this exchange between Prosecutor Coleman and defendant Mrs. Caroline Heim, as reported in Daily Worker of May 10, 1924, and let a woman have the last word:

Coleman: "You admit your were walking up and down May 2. Why did you walk back and forth?"
Heim: "Because the police told us to keep moving."