Description: Three photographs demonstrate the weapons carried and potential for violence at the Republic Steel Corporation's Warren Plant during the 1937 ""Little Steel"" Strike. The first image shows a picket with a club walking along the Main Street at the coke plant on June 17th. In the second photograph, three pickets sit on the log barrier on South Main Street on June 20th. The final image is labeled ""Captain Baker's 'Hatchet Gang'"" and was taken July 14, 1937. These 4.5"" by 6.5"" (11.43 by 16.5 cm) photographs are part of a scrapbook maintained by the Republic Steel Corporation documenting events at its Warren Plant during the strike. The scrapbook is labeled Miscellaneous Communications, Posters and Pictures Relating to the C.I.O. Strike of the Warren Plant of the Republic Steel Corporation, Summer 1937, Vol. III. In June 1936 the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers and the Committee for Industrial Organization (C.I.O.) agreed to a joint effort to organize the steel industry. This led to the formation of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (S.W.O.C.). Soon after the first representatives from the S.W.O.C. arrived in the Mahoning Valley to begin their organizing efforts. On March 26, 1937 the organizing committee signed a contract with U.S. Steel, the nation's largest steel producer. Six weeks later the second largest steel company in the country, Jones & Laughlin, followed the example of U.S. Steel. Following these victories the S.W.O.C. increased its efforts at reaching agreements with the smaller companies known as the ""Little Steel"" companies: Republic Steel, Inland Steel, and Youngstown Sheet and Tube. Talks between the organizing committee and the steel companies broke down and on May 26, 1937 approximately 25,000 Mahoning Valley steelworkers walked off their jobs from Republic Steel and Youngstown Sheet and Tube. Most of the mills shut down with the start of the strike. However, Republic Steel kept their Warren and Niles plants open using non-striking steelworkers. This led to a number of violent confrontations outside the mills. With no end to the strike in sight, Youngstown Sheet and Tube and Republic Steel announced on June 21 that the mills will be re-opened for those workers wanted to return to work. Fearing the violence that would follow attempts to re-open the plants, Ohio Governor Martin Davey ordered National Guard troops to the Mahoning Valley and on June 22 nearly 2,000 National Guardsmen arrived in Youngstown and Warren. The arrival of the National Guard signaled the beginning of the end of the strike. On June 25 striking steelworkers began returning to work under the protection of the National Guard. The steel companies also began hiring new workers to replace those who remained on strike. Soon the mills were running at near full capacity and most of the striking steelworkers had returned to their jobs. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1619_2587114_064
Subjects: Business and Labor; Strikes; Steel industry; Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.); Labor unions; Arms & armament
Places: Niles (Ohio); Warren (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)