Document oQkXnXVyLm9yqXeKRb0RpJ1r

FILE NAME: ZD^D/ DATE: DOC#: ^D/ DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION:ZWZZ Z^ r ,.. , -. _: . ' ~.:-:-- - '; ' .:: ....... __ _._ ..'' ) / A PRELnllNARY REVLEW OF THE ASBESTOS S'I!RTICE: A S'l.UDY IN TEE DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL CHANGE . ; 'J, t' '.' ,';'I I ... ' BI MARGARET E. SHAY , . . 14.S., Columbia University; 1 46 - - .: -""' ( .... ~ . . i I ! I~ ; ) i" II t I .- I I I ! ._. ';'. -. . .. ,J.1, _:\* ,-' _. f' _?' . \,.,_ -..,. .- ' -- ,- - :-. ' ' -'T"; I ' - t7- . ~:~ ': '\ ,-._; ' : '. - :. -.,.~- ' -... :~ DISSERTA TIO!l \ \: r SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR FULFILLMENT OF THE REQ,UIREMENTS OF PBILOS'OFH! IN TEE DEPARTMENT FOR OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND mE SOCIAL SCIENCES AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY L r-- _, ~:r: r ~"P~~ ,. I 312 '' ~ ~' : , r-sy.m.pathizers who had a knowledge ot the history ot labor J,I relations in the United States. To this group, Johns- Kanville was simply applying the "Mohawk Valley Formula" to I .; \'~ .~c-J_ . the Asbestos outbreak. To them, the company's actions ap- ' '~1 ..).... peared to tall in a sequence not dissi.milar to the bare out- :J' ~-- line- summarized by the National Labor Relations Board as the -. , .,. .j..'. . essen~e of this strategy: ). . " (1) When a strike is threatened label the union leaders as 'agitators' to dis- i : credit them with the public-and their ' own followers. (2) When the strike is called, raise high the banner ot 'law and order, therebr causing the comm.unity to mass~legal end police weapons. (3) Call a 'mass .meeting' of the citizens to coordinate public sentiment. Bring about the formation of a large ar.m.ed police force to intimidate the strikers and to exert a psychological ettect on the citizens. And perhaps most important, heighten the de.moralizing effect of the above .ateasc.res -all designed to convince the strikers that their course is hopeless -- by a 'back to work' movement, operated by a puppet association of so-called 'loyal employees' ii', secretly organized by the employer. !f f6) When a sUtticient number of applications are on hand, fix a date for an opening of th.e plant through the device of having the opening requested by the 'back to work' asso ciation. (7) Stage the 'opening' theatrically (8) Capitalize on the demoralization of the strikers by continuing the show of police torce and the pressure ot the Citizens' ,j. ... , Committee, both to insure that those employees who have returned will continue at work and to foroe the remaining strikers to capitulate. (9) Close the publicity barrage, ~hich day by day du.ring the entire period has increased the demoralization worked by .all these measures, on the theme that the plant is in tull operation and that the strikers were merely a .minority attempting to interfere with 'the right to work,' thus induciDg the pa.blic to pthlaecaeboavme omraelassutaremsp. 1or approval apon To the better-educated, ardent Syndicate member ' . and protagonist, this fOrJmlla served as a text from which '\~ "chapter and verse" could be quoted as evidence ot a step- by-step plan ot attrition to break tbe strike. Yet, in fairness to the Company, while police, "open 1ettersu to the citizenry, and a back-to-work movement did enter the picture, there were no grollnds tor equating the Management ot Johns- Manville with the coldl7-calca.lating, pugnacious managerial groups ot the 'thirties, when "Mohawk Valley" was popular. It is not the untruth ot this accusation wbich the Com.pan)" should deplore, but rather, its railure to perceive that its aotiTation could be interpreted ditferentl7 than was intend- ed,- and cthat an alert antagonist could .make capital out ot an accidental combination ot unfortunate elements. Because ot this inability to project itselt, the Company's publicity releases were not only frequently inettectual, but often harmtul, as well. Granted that the strike was called without l. Herbert Harris, Labors civil~, Knopf, 1940, pp. 183-187. New York, Alfred A. L J tJ~f, ~ I' t'?< ~ ~ '