The Workers' Defense League (WDL) is an American

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

organization devoted to promoting

labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, the ...

. The group was founded on August 29, 1936 with the endorsement of

Norman Thomas Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian religious minister, minister, political activist, and perennial candidate for president. He achieved fame as a socialism, socialist and pacifism, pacifis ...

, six-time presidential candidate of the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...

. The WDL described itself as a "militant, politically nonpartisan organization which would devote itself exclusively to the protection of workers' rights". Its officers included Thomas, David Clendenin, George S. Counts,

Pauli Murray Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985) was an American civil rights activist, advocate, legal scholar and theorist, author and – later in life – an Episcopal priest. Murray's work influenced the civil r ...

, and Joe Felmet. Philosopher

Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher, historian of ideas, and public intellectual. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, Rorty's academic career included appointments as the Stu ...

's parents were active with the WDL when he was a child, and he acted as an errand boy for the group. Harry Fleischman acted as the group's chairman for twenty-five years. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the WDL supported war resisters, fought for

desegregation Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws ...

of the armed forces, and opposed

Japanese American internment During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese descent in ten concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), mostly in the western interior of the country. Abou ...

. The group also took on the case of Odell Waller, a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

sentenced to death in 1940 for killing his white landlord. Arguing that the landlord had cheated Waller and that he had in any case acted in self-defense, the WDL raised money for Waller's defense, lobbied for the commutation of his sentence, and mounted a nationwide publicity campaign on his behalf. The effort was unsuccessful, and Waller was executed on July 2, 1942. In the 1960s, the organization worked to integrate minorities and women into traditionally white male labor unions, though with little success.

Archival collections

Th
Workers' Defense League Records
are housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library. The collection spans from 1936-1965 and consists of correspondence, news clippings, speeches, trial briefs and transcripts, press releases, and pamphlets and leaflets. The collection documents the Worker's Defense League's efforts to secure justice for labor organizers, victims of racial and economic discrimination, conscientious objectors, and government critics through established, legal processes.

References

Bibliography

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.workersdefenseleague.org Organizations established in 1936 Socialism in the United States 1936 establishments in the United States