JOHN L. LEWIS DISCUSSES THE GENERAL MOTORS SIT-DOWN STRIKE: A DOCUMENT.

A revealing analysis by John L. Lewis of the great General Motors sit-down strike of 1936-1937 is included among the documents in the recently opened Heber Blankenhorn Papers in the Archives of Labor History and Urban Affairs of Wayne State University. Prepared by Blankenhorn on the basis of a conversation with Lewis on February 25, 1937, only two weeks after the conclusion of the strike, the document is the best available contemporaneous source for Lewis' views concerning the settlement of the strike and the factors that contributed to the victory of the United Automobile Workers. Although initiated by sit-downs at the Atlanta Fisher body plant on November 18, 1936, and the Kansas City Fisher Body plant on December 16, 1936, the GM strike did not take on major proportions until sit- down strikes closed the Fisher Body plant in Cleveland on December 28 and the two Fisher Body plants in Flint on December 30. Governor Frank Murphy of Michigan sent the National Guard into Flint on January 12 following the famous Battle of the Running Bulls, but he used the troops to maintain the status quo rather than to dislodge the sit-down strikers.