The Congress Of Industrial Organizations Movement Into The South With Special Reference To Texas 1936-1948

Unionism Is a comparatively new phenomena in the Southern scene. The coming of unions to the South has a revolutionary effect upon the economic and social pattern of the region. Tolerated at best when in the older traditional pattern of horizontal craftism, the south has come to hate the newer form of vertical industrialism as typified by the C. I. 0., because they see in its program of militant democracy the seeds of social revolution. As the Industry of the nation continues to move south, and as in the case of the southwest, as new industrial empires arise on the rich southern natural resource base, the problem of unionism becomes a permanent factor in the dynamics of southern development. The new southern unionism operates at a disadvantage because it has to work in a relatively recent industrial economy. The agrarian pattern traditional to the south has delayed the maturing of many of the conditions under which unionism operates best. Freed from the capricious elements of an agricultural economy, the laborer himself finds it difficult to make the adjustment to the new union techniques. A complaint legislature, too often dominated by those who wish the development of the resources of the state at any price, have given capital a blank check in the form of tax rebates and a labor code with teeth. Under these circumstances the 0. I. 0. came to Texas, and its development has reflected all of the problems and vicissitudes of national unionism in general and southern unionism in particular