A line of men slowly parade back and forth in front of
the main gate of a factory, bearing placards which state: "Ace Factory
Unfair to Organized Labor," "Ace Factory Refuses to Recognize Un-
ion." Another group of workers attempts to enter the plant through
the gate. There are taunts of "Scab," fists fly, and violence erupts. The
police enter the fray, and a battle royal ensues.

Such incidents have occurred time and time again in American
labor history. They exemplify what is in many respects a phenomenon
unique to the American labor scene. Other democratic countries have
labor unions; they have strikes; they have picket lines. But only in
America has the picket line become of such paramount importance as
an organizing device for unions.

The reasons are twofold. In the first place, the basic economic
environment in this country has been hostile to organized labor. As
we have already noted in Chapter 2, this antagonism is a reflection of
the strength of private property rights, the identification of the middle
class with the capitalistic system, the fluidity of class lines, and the
general orientation of our economic life in terms of free competition
and laissez faire. American employers have been more reluctant than
employers in other countries to accept collective bargaining as a per-
manent institution and over the years have fought labor organization
with an arsenal of weapons -- injunctions, yellow-dog contracts, spies,
black lists, open-shop drives, paternalism, lockouts, and a variety of
other stratagems, including violence. In the second place, American
labor has had to rely primarily on self-help to achieve its gains.
Whereas other countries have had widespread social legislation, na-
tionalization of industry, political parties representing labor's interest,
and other aspects of government intervention on behalf of labor, our
government has been much less partial to labor. Unions in this country
have had to struggle long and hard to obtain legislative recognition

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