The decade prior to the Great Depression of 1929 saw a battered and weakened labor movement. By 1933 the sleeping giant of US labor began to stir as workplace strikes rose exponentially to the previous year. The rise of the CIO was forced onto the American stage by labor struggles that showed that the US labor movement was far from passive. The role of socialists and communists was central to the three major strikes of 1934 in San Francisco, Toledo, and Minneapolis. What was this process like and what can be the lessons for today?

Suggested Further Reading"

• Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs