- Page 388 →Women pickets jeered at company guards and closed down the textile mill in Greensboro, Georgia, in 1934. Protesting the deteriorating work conditions brought about by the NRA Cotton Textile Industry Committee, the militant rank and file of the United Textile Workers overrode the conservative union leadership and called for a nationwide general strike in the cotton and woolen industries on September 3, 1934. As the battle raged, women took an increasingly active part. In both North and South, violence was launched against the strikers, who were beaten, kidnapped, tear gassed, and jailed; 15 strikers were killed. Despite the terror, the strike remained solid until the union leadership acquiesced to Franklin Roosevelt’s request that strikers return to work in exchange for a study of working conditions. The promised examination or the industry was hollow. Many strikers were not rehired. Textile unionism was temporarily crushed. But the participation of women in the 1934 strike demonstrated their militancy and their support for collective bargaining, fair wages, and better working conditions.
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