Mohawk Valley formula
Encyclopedia
The Mohawk Valley
formula is a document purportedly written by the president of the Remington Rand
company James Rand, Jr.
, describing a plan for strikebreaking during the Remington Rand strike
at Ilion, New York
. The plan includes discrediting union leaders, frightening the public with the threat of violence, using local police and vigilantes to intimidate strikers, forming puppet associations of "loyal employees" to influence public debate, fortifying workplaces, employing large numbers of replacement workers, and threatening to close the plant if work is not resumed.
The document's authenticity has never been established. Although it was allegedly published in the National Association of Manufacturers
Labor Relations Bulletin, no original copy has been found, nor does NAM list it among its pamphlets from that era. Parts of the plan use language sympathetic to the views of labor organizers, casting further doubt on its authenticity. Regardless, a National Labor Relations Board
found that the company carried out a ruthless campaign to suppress the strikes, and the document continues to be cited as a guide to the methods that were used.
Noam Chomsky
has described the formula as the result of business owners' trend away from violent strikebreaking to a "scientific" approach based on propaganda
. An essential feature of this approach is the identification of the management's interests with "Americanism," while labor activism is portrayed as the work of un-American outsiders. Workers are thus persuaded to turn against the activists and toward management to demonstrate their patriotism
.
A similar (although more nuanced and longer) version was published in The Nation
in 1937.
Mohawk Valley
The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains....
formula is a document purportedly written by the president of the Remington Rand
Remington Rand
Remington Rand was an early American business machines manufacturer, best known originally as a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation as the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers but with antecedents in Remington Arms in the early nineteenth century. For a time, the...
company James Rand, Jr.
James Rand, Jr.
James Henry Rand, Jr. was an American industrialist who revolutionized the business record industry. He founded American Kardex, an office equipment and office supplies firm which later merged with his father's company, the Rand Ledger Corporation...
, describing a plan for strikebreaking during the Remington Rand strike
Remington Rand strike of 1936–1937
The Remington Rand strike of 1936–37 was a strike by a federal union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor against the Remington Rand company...
at Ilion, New York
Ilion, New York
Ilion is a village in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 8,610 at the 2000 census. Ilion is a name for the ancient city of Troy.The Village of Ilion is at the north town line of the Town of German Flatts...
. The plan includes discrediting union leaders, frightening the public with the threat of violence, using local police and vigilantes to intimidate strikers, forming puppet associations of "loyal employees" to influence public debate, fortifying workplaces, employing large numbers of replacement workers, and threatening to close the plant if work is not resumed.
The document's authenticity has never been established. Although it was allegedly published in the National Association of Manufacturers
National Association of Manufacturers
The National Association of Manufacturers is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C. with 10 additional offices across the country...
Labor Relations Bulletin, no original copy has been found, nor does NAM list it among its pamphlets from that era. Parts of the plan use language sympathetic to the views of labor organizers, casting further doubt on its authenticity. Regardless, a National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
found that the company carried out a ruthless campaign to suppress the strikes, and the document continues to be cited as a guide to the methods that were used.
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
has described the formula as the result of business owners' trend away from violent strikebreaking to a "scientific" approach based on propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. An essential feature of this approach is the identification of the management's interests with "Americanism," while labor activism is portrayed as the work of un-American outsiders. Workers are thus persuaded to turn against the activists and toward management to demonstrate their patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
.
Elements of the formula
The following is the text of the Mohawk Valley formula as quoted in the labor press:- When a strike is threatened, label the union leaders as "agitators" to discredit them with the public and their own followers. Conduct balloting under the foremen to ascertain the strength of the union and to make possible misrepresentation of the strikers as a small minority. Exert economic pressure through threats to move the plant, align bankers, real estate owners and businessmen into a "Citizens' Committee".
- Raise high the banner of "law and order", thereby causing the community to mass legal and police weapons against imagined violence and to forget that employees have equal rights with others in the community.
- Call a "mass meeting" to coordinate public sentiment against the strike and strengthen the Citizens' Committee. Use the terms Harmony and UnAmerican vociferously.
- Form a large police force to intimidate the strikers and exert a psychological effect. Utilize local police, state police, vigilantes and special deputies chosen, if possible, from other neighborhoods.
- Convince the strikers their cause is hopeless with a "back-to-work" movement by a puppet association of so-called "loyal employees" secretly organized by the employer.
- When enough applications are on hand, set a date for opening the plant by having such opening requested by the puppet "back-to-work" association.
- Stage the "opening" theatrically by throwing open the gates and having the employees march in a mass protected by squads of armed police so as to dramatize and exaggerate the opening and heighten the demoralizing effect.
- Demoralize the strikers with a continuing show of force. If necessary turn the locality into a warlike camp and barricade it from the outside world.
- Close the publicity barrage on the theme that the plant is in full operation and the strikers are merely a minority attempting to interfere with the right to work. With this, the campaign is over—-the employer has broken the strike.
A similar (although more nuanced and longer) version was published in The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
in 1937.
See also
- House Committee on Un-American Activities
- Mohawk ValleyMohawk ValleyThe Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains....
- Remington Rand strike of 1936–1937Remington Rand strike of 1936–1937The Remington Rand strike of 1936–37 was a strike by a federal union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor against the Remington Rand company...