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From Labor Action, Vol. 14 No. 14, 3 April 1950, pp. 1 & 8.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
It would be hard indeed to convince almost five million workers and their dependents that America today is experiencing great prosperity, for the simple reason that they haven’t any prosperity at all – they haven’t any jobs.
In February, 1950, the unemployed numbered nearly 4,700,000, almost 1,500,000 above the number a year before. By June-July of this year the five million mark is expected to be reached and even exceeded. This does not include the several million additional workers on part time who want full-time jobs.
Not counting part-time workers, the unemployed now stand at 7 per cent of the total working force – that is, for the whole country. In many communities the percentage runs much higher. There are 40 areas where 12 per cent of the working force is jobless and in distress areas the percentage is from 20 to 27, the textile center of Lawrence, Mass., being in the last category.
The misery is very real and widespread. State unemployment insurance covers only about 2,500,000 of the jobless, averaging a mere pittance of $21.70 a week. But "these form the aristocracy of the unemployed. The rest are not covered at all by unemployment insurance. Of course, those under coverage face the grim time limit when they will be cut off from all benefits. In some localities a little relief work is handed out. Federal authorities distribute food surpluses here and there, but presumably, as in the case of the unemployed migrant farm laborers of California, “not in quantities to encourage reliance on them.” Certainly not in quantities to prevent the several Scores of deaths from starvation reported in the press.
Among the miserable must be listed the young people from schools and colleges entering the labor market at the end of the June, 1950, term. What a prospect for them! In 1949 there were some 700,000 fewer jobs than in 1947 and some 700,000 new workers added to the labor force, competing for the remaining jobs. This 1949 discrepancy of nearly 1,500,000 will be exceeded in 1950. College faculty advisers are warning students to “lower their sights” and grab any apportunity that comes along, be it for a clerk or a machine operator. What price education!
A number of circumstances combine to produce the alanning rise in unemployment.
The CIO’s Economic Outlook points out in its last issue that the consuming power of the masses is being curtailed. The per capita income for the last quarter of 1949 was below the same period of 1948, down $31. The relative shares of the lower and middle - income groups in the national income have declined, while those of the higher-bracket business groups rose. Farm income and farmer purchasing power dropped 15 per cent in 1949 and are expected to go down more in 1950. The demand for goods is limited by the limited purchasing power, and the demand for workers to produce goods is likewise limited.
Recovery of the European countries, and their projection of goods into the world market, has made American products less sought after – and has made “caution” the watchword of the enterprising American businessman. He is trimming his sails – and the jobs he has to offer.
Furthermore there is quite some technological unemployment due to the quantity of labor-saving machinery installed in recent years. For instance, 18 per cent more cars are turned out in the auto industry with 3 per cent fewer workers. Another instance: the Celanese Corporation obtains the same amount of production with 5,500 workers as formerly with 10,000.
Then, as happens cyclically, the, capitalists, while asking the workers to have unwavering confidence in their system, themselves show a lack of confidence by cutting their investment in plant and equipment. This is now evident.
Private investment, of which two-thirds is the part put into the purchase of plant, equipment and inventory for industry, fell 20 per cent from 1948 to 1949. In 1950 it is expected to drop another 13 to 16 per cent according to various estimates. A greater part of the tremendous profits the corporations are grabbing is left in “idle cash” instead of being put to use in industrial expansion. Thus the capitalist class sets in motion a chain reaction of unemployment.
In this context of cause and effect, effect and cause, many a small businessman folds up and with him the jobs he had offered to his workers.
While nearly everybody admits the existence of the above enumerated circumstances, all being; well supported by reliable statistics, nobody expects a real break in the economy. The peacetime war budget of the government is still the greatest prop to the economy. The CIO considers further that the even inadequate social and economic legislation, the farm support program, the credit policy of the Federal Reserve, all are elements of support to the economy. But still there is the alarming growth of that army of unemployed.
The U.S. News & World Report opines that “Unemployment above five million is accepted as a political problem. It is to be necessary by 1951 to do something politically about unemployment. Only idea now in the incubating stage is to expand public works. That costs money.”
The implication here is clear – it’s going to be quite a job to get the government to open its purse strings.
President Truman, even in his Florida retreat, has heard about the unemployment problem. It is rumored that he expects to send a message to Congress asking for an increase in unemployment insurance pay and a lengthening of the time of coverage – both urgently needed. This, be it realized, is a very controversial subject in Congress.
The AFL, “noting with alarm” the growing numbers of jobless, seems to have taken the unique position – unique for a labor organization – of not bothering the federal government at all. It has come out with the suggestion for local full-employment committees to canvass communities for all employment possibilities. Admittedly such activity may scare up a few jobs, but is this a substitute for an overall program?
The CIO presents a more comprehensive program. It wants lower prices; wage increases (“wherever possible” is the way the CIO puts it); a farm program beneficial to both farmers and consumers; improved social-security laws; a revised tax system to relieve lower income families; the funneling back of large profits into invest-ment, if not in plant and equipment. then in housing.
This is a fairly good program, and it is hoped that the CIO will press for its acceptance with vigor. In passing, it must be stated that such a program would have an infinitely better chance of fulfillment through an independent labor party than it can have through the Democratic and Republican “friends of labor.”
There are, however, a few more items that should be added to the CIO program. The demand for a guaranteed annual wage is firmly based on the incontrovertible fact that workers and their families must eat and pay rent all the year around. The demand, for a shorter work week grows from the conviction that labor-saving machinery must lessen labor and not the number of laborers. And, in accordance with the principle that human life is more important than private property, workers should have the right themselyes to operate plants that-their capitalist owners can’t or won’t operate.
Finally, it is timely to repeat the socialist teaching that the gnawing insecurity, of unemployment will be finally conquered only with the creation by the people of a system of production to serve their needs, in the place of capitalist production for profits – and what profits!
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Last updated: 12 January 2024