Boston Police Strike of 1919
The issue of whether civil servants have the right to representation by a union was at the core of the Boston Police Strike of 1919, when the American Federation of Labor, led by Samuel Gompers, attempted to unionize the Boston Police. Police Commissioner Edwin Curtis denied that the police had the right to join a union, and refused to recognize it. Union members of the force went on strike, demanding recognition of the union and increased wages. The criminal element of the city took advantage of the absence of police patrols, and the state militia was called in to protect citizenry and property. This lost the Boston Police the sympathy and support of the general public at the very outset of the strike.
The militia, known as the State Guard in Massachusetts, was dispatched by order of the Governor, Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge became a nationally known figure as a result of the strike, during which he referred to the strikers as supporters of Lenin and traitors to their city and country. The presence of State Guardsmen and striking policemen in close proximity led to several clashes, at least nine people were killed in exchanges of gunfire between the two. National newspaper coverage was almost unanimous in condemnation of the Boston Police for abrogating their responsibility as public servants.
When Samuel Gompers urged the strikers to return to work and attempt to redress their grievances through negotiation with the city, Commissioner Curtis responded by firing more than one thousand officers. He then hired more than 1,500 replacements, readily available from the large number of recently returned World War One veterans seeking employment. Governor Coolidge supported the commissioner’s stance, denying that the police had any right to strike anywhere, at any time, for any reason, if it endangered the public safety.
Nationally, the strike was seen in the context of resembling “bolshevism” which was then emerging in the post-revolution Soviet Union. The terms “Leninism and Sovietization” were frequently used in describing the position of the Boston Police, including in the Senate of the United States. Sitting President Woodrow Wilson likewise condemned the strike and the strikers, pointing out that they were public servants rather than private employees.
The public backlash and the support of the firing of most of the striking officers was a setback to the unionization of public service jobs for decades following the failed Boston Police strike. Not until 1974 would a police force in the United States take action resembling a strike; in that case less than half of the Baltimore Police temporarily refused to work in support of other striking union workers.