Homer Martin (September 16, 1901 in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

– January 22, 1968) was an American trade unionist, a leader of the

United Auto Workers The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) ...

(UAW). and socialist. After high school he attended Hewing College and received his AB from

William Jewell College William Jewell College is a private liberal arts college in Liberty, Missouri. It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and endowed with $10,000 by William Jewell. It was associated with the Missouri Baptist Conventi ...

. Martin then attended the Kansas City Baptist Theological Seminary for two years. After serving in Baptist churches in Goreville, Illinois and Kansas City, Missouri, Martin went to work in the auto plants of Kansas City. He soon became active in the union movement and was appointed a Vice-President of the UAW- AFL in 1935. In 1936 he was elected President of what came to be the UAW-CIO. After he accused four union vice-presidents of "conspiracy with

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

to wreck union", he was ousted and replaced by R. J. Thomas in 1938 who had been leader of the Chrysler sit-down srike in March the previous year. In 1938, after Fred Beal, returned from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

was deserted by the Communist-controlled International Labour Defense because of the witness he bore to the Holodomor, Martin joined a non-partisan committee for his defense against recommittal in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

where in 1929 the union organiser had been convicted in a conspiracy trial. With him on the committee were Thomas Ryun Amlie, Jerry Voorhis,

Emily Greene Balch Emily Greene Balch (January 8, 1867 – January 9, 1961) was an American economist, sociologist and pacifist. Balch combined an academic career at Wellesley College with a long-standing interest in social issues such as poverty, child labor ...

, Dorothy Kenyon and Sara Bard Field. The Committee reported hostile pressure from members of the ILD and anonymous threats. In what was seen as "a body blow to company-dominated unionism in the auto" industry, in May 1940 Martin was removed by two main groups in the union who subsequently split apart: the

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and their allies headed by UAW co-founder

George Addes George F. Addes (August 26, 1911 – June 19, 1990) was a founder of the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW) union and its secretary-treasurer from 1936 until 1947. Along with R. J. Thomas and Richard Frankensteen, he was a leader of the ...

, and the Socialists and their allies, headed by

Walter Reuther Walter Philip Reuther (; September 1, 1907 – May 9, 1970) was an American leader of organized labor and civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history. He ...

. In June 1941 he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that Fascists, assisted by the Italian consul, were interfering in local politics in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. He testified again before the HUAC on the presence and activities of Communists in both national labor federations, the AFL and CIO. Martin died in 1968.

Footnotes

Succession

1901 births Trade unionists from Kansas 1968 deaths Presidents of the United Auto Workers {{Trade-unionist-bio-stub

Footnotes

Further reading

Succession