206 ChaPter^4
porate opposition was strong, this time labor succeeded, and FDR signed the
new law, the National Labor Relations Act, better known as the Wagner Act, into
effect on July 5th, 1935. Though often seen as “radical,” the new law was
actually an alternative to more militant labor politics and it did not in any way
affect any private property rights of corporations nor redistribute wealth or
power from Capitalists to workers.
It was a major transformation, and was radical compared to many previous
labor policies in that it strengthened the rights of workers by putting the
power of the state behind unionism. The NLRB allowed workers to organize
and bargain collectively, outlawed yellow-dog contracts, oversaw elections, and
had the right to go directly to circuit courts of appeal to enforce its decisions.
The Wagner Act also was an economic policy, in that it recognized that the
crisis of the depression required greater federal attention, and regulation, to
create more income, and therefore increased consumption. None of the spon-
sors wanted Socialism or collectivism or cooperatives, but, like FDR, wanted
to fix Capitalism to make it work better for everyone, including working men
and women. The ruling class hated it because it put the federal government
squarely into an area—labor relations—that had been seen as private and vol-
untary [the “free labor” system] and under its control, and because it acknowl-
edged a difference, or conflict, in the interests of different classes. Industrial
employers now believed [incorrectly] that the federal government was strong-
ly pro-labor, but even so, continued, as they had always done, to resist the law
and ignore NLRB rulings. Auto, steel, rubber and electric companies—with
huge financial interests and employing hundreds of thousands of workers—
still fired union activists, formed their own company unions, did not allow free
elections, and counted on the Supreme Court to invalidate the Act in a short
time anyway.
There was reason for corporations to count on the courts, which had tra-
ditionally overturned labor law and began to muck up parts of the law
quickly, declaring some of it unconstitutional. The Act, however, was also a
political issue and with conservatives and corporations so vehemently opposed
to labor and the Democrats, FDR and New Dealers in general had to count
on union support in the upcoming 1936 elections more than ever. Even with
the Wagner Act now in effect there were still labor problems. The AFL was
still the largest labor organization in America, but it remained a collection of
craft unions. John L. Lewis and the UMW, however, were part of a much