Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement
Encyclopedia
The Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) was an organization of African-American workers formed in May 1968 in the Chrysler Corporation's Hamtramck Assembly plant
, formerly Dodge Main, Detroit, Michigan
.
Detroit labor activist Martin Glaberman
estimated at the time that the Hamtramck plant was 70 per cent black while the union local (UAW Local 3), the plant management and lower supervision, and the Hamtramck city administration was dominated by older Polish-American workers.
DRUM sought to organize black workers to obtain concessions not only from the Chrysler management, but also from the United Auto Workers
. Walter Reuther
and the senior leadership had been early supporters of the American Civil Rights Movement; yet in spite of their growing presence in the auto-industry African-Americans rarely rose to positions of leadership within the union. On July 8, 1968 DRUM led a wildcat strike against conditions in the Hamtramck plant. The strike was observed by some 4,000 workers, lasted 2.5 days and prevented the production of 3,000 cars. In the subsequent Local 3 election, DRUM ran as an alternative slate. Although it did not win, the new organization drew notice for its militancy and willingness to challenge the UAW hierarchy
The "Revolutionary Union Movement" form of organization spread to other Detroit plants: including FRUM (Ford Revolutionary Union Movement) at the Ford River Rouge Plant, and ELRUM (Eldon Avenue Revolutionary Union Movement) at the Chrysler Eldon Avenue plant. These organizations were brought together in the League of Revolutionary Black Workers
which formed in June 1969.
As it grew, DRUM faced a crisis of expectations. Auto workers had created an independent organization, but opinions differed about DRUM's future mission. Debates concerned whether DRUM should continue as a reform movement within the UAW or a dual-union which would seek to replace the UAW. The League of Revolutionary Black Workers eventually split between those who wanted to remain focused on the auto industry and those who wished to expand the League into a national political organization. The nationally oriented movement, led by General Baker, retained the organizational name the League and DRUM and was associated with the New Communist Movement
. By 1975, however, the plant-level organization was largely defunct. Many members had been fired, and those who stayed often joined other currents in the union reform movement, such as the United National Caucus.
Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly
Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly is a General Motors automobile factory straddling the border between Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan. It is located about three miles from corporate headquarters and has been used for production of Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac products.-History:The site...
, formerly Dodge Main, Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
.
Detroit labor activist Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman was an influential American Marxist, teacher, and autoworker.-Biography:Glaberman was associated with the Johnson-Forest Tendency, a radical left group that split from the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, which understood the Soviet Union as a state capitalist society rather...
estimated at the time that the Hamtramck plant was 70 per cent black while the union local (UAW Local 3), the plant management and lower supervision, and the Hamtramck city administration was dominated by older Polish-American workers.
DRUM sought to organize black workers to obtain concessions not only from the Chrysler management, but also from the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
. Walter Reuther
Walter Reuther
Walter Philip Reuther was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party in the mid 20th century...
and the senior leadership had been early supporters of the American Civil Rights Movement; yet in spite of their growing presence in the auto-industry African-Americans rarely rose to positions of leadership within the union. On July 8, 1968 DRUM led a wildcat strike against conditions in the Hamtramck plant. The strike was observed by some 4,000 workers, lasted 2.5 days and prevented the production of 3,000 cars. In the subsequent Local 3 election, DRUM ran as an alternative slate. Although it did not win, the new organization drew notice for its militancy and willingness to challenge the UAW hierarchy
The "Revolutionary Union Movement" form of organization spread to other Detroit plants: including FRUM (Ford Revolutionary Union Movement) at the Ford River Rouge Plant, and ELRUM (Eldon Avenue Revolutionary Union Movement) at the Chrysler Eldon Avenue plant. These organizations were brought together in the League of Revolutionary Black Workers
League of Revolutionary Black Workers
The League of Revolutionary Black Workers formed in 1969 in Detroit, Michigan. The League united a number of different Revolutionary Union Movements that were growing rapidly across the auto industry and other industrial sectors—industries in which Black workers were concentrated in Detroit in...
which formed in June 1969.
As it grew, DRUM faced a crisis of expectations. Auto workers had created an independent organization, but opinions differed about DRUM's future mission. Debates concerned whether DRUM should continue as a reform movement within the UAW or a dual-union which would seek to replace the UAW. The League of Revolutionary Black Workers eventually split between those who wanted to remain focused on the auto industry and those who wished to expand the League into a national political organization. The nationally oriented movement, led by General Baker, retained the organizational name the League and DRUM and was associated with the New Communist Movement
New Communist Movement
The New Communist Movement ' was a Marxist-Leninist political movement of the 1970s and 1980s in the United States. The term refers to a specific trend in the U.S. New Left which sought inspiration in the experience of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Chinese Revolution, and the Cuban...
. By 1975, however, the plant-level organization was largely defunct. Many members had been fired, and those who stayed often joined other currents in the union reform movement, such as the United National Caucus.
External links
- Detroit Revolutionary Movements Collection at the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State UniversityWayne State UniversityWayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
. - "The League of Revolutionary Black Workers: A Historical Study" by A. Muhammad Ahmad.
- General Baker biography and writings. League of Revolutionaries for a New AmericaLeague of Revolutionaries for a New AmericaThe League of Revolutionaries for a New America is an organization of revolutionaries in the United States formed with the stated goal of "educating revolutionaries and winning them over to a cooperative communist resolution to the problems faced in the economy and society." The League was...
speakers bureau. - Martin Glaberman Internet Archive
- Glaberman, Martin. Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement. International Socialism (1st series), No.36, April/May 1969. Transcribed & marked up by Einde O'Callaghan for the Marxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet Archive is a volunteer based non-profit organization that maintains a multi-lingual Internet archive of Marxist writers and other similar authors...
. Retrieved August 13, 2005. - Glaberman, Martin. "Workers have to deal with their own reality and that transforms them". Courtesy Endpage.com. Marked up by Einde O'Callaghan for the Marxists' Internet Archive. Retrieved August 13, 2005.
- The League of Revolutionary Black Workers, Arab Americans, and Palestine Solidarity by Lauren Ray
Further reading
- Elbaum, Max. Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals turn to Lenin, Mao and Che. 320 pages Publisher: Verso (June, 2002) ISBN 1-85984-617-3.
- Georgakas Dan and Marvin Surkin. Detroit, I Do Mind Dying: A Study in Urban Revolution. 254 pages Publisher: South End PressSouth End PressSouth End Press is a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics. It was founded in 1977 by Michael Albert, Lydia Sargent, John Schall, Pat Walker, Juliet Schor, Mary Lea, Joe Bowring, and Dave Millikan, among others, in Boston's South End...
; Revised edition (August 1, 1998) ISBN 0-89608-571-6. - Patel, John. The Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement. Audio CD
- Rawick, George. Working Class Self Activity, Radical America, Vol.3, no.2 (Mar.-Apr. 1969), reprinted in Workers' Struggles, Past and Present: A Radical America Reader, ed. James Green. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1983. Hardcover ISSN 0877223157. Cloth ISSN 0877222932.
- Geschwender, James A. Class, Race, and Worker Insurgency: The League of Revolutionary Black Workers. 250 pages Publisher: Cambridge University Press (1977) ISBN 0521215846.