Passaic Textile Strike (1926)

Mon Jan 25, 1926

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Image: Children of strikers in the 1926 Passaic Textile Strike used to picket outside the White House, Washington, D.C. [Wikipedia]

The Passaic Textile Strike was a walkout by 15,000 mill workers that began on this day in 1926 in New Jersey. It began as the one of the first communist-led strikes in the U.S., however the AFL took over on condition that radicals step aside.

Conducted in its initial phase by a “United Front Committee” organized by the Trade Union Educational League of the Workers Party (TUEL), the strike lasted more than a year, ending on March 1st, 1927, when the final mill being picketed signed a contract with the striking workers.

The Passaic Textile Strike was one of the first communist-led work stoppages in the United States, and notable left figures such as Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Norman Thomas, and Robert W. Dunn helped organize it. Although political radicals led the strike for the first several months, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) took over negotiations in the fall of 1926 on condition of communist activists stepping aside.

The strike was memorialized by a seven reel silent movie titled “The Passaic Textile Strike”, intended to generate sympathy and funds for the striking workers. Six of the seven reels survive today.