The A.F. of L. will only support the struggling founders once FDR is elected. Prior to that they are sympathetic but not quite more--the "present climate" is not conducive, says William Green. Striking is "too risky" an alternative also, a "last resort" to avoid.
Meanwhile, support for the nascent union grows to half the sleeping car porters in the country. The Pullmans interject the contradiction between presence at meetings and work schedules that belie it, concluding with the charge that for the ERP proxy is not allowed. When Web responds violently, the meeting quickly adjourns.
Then support expands to 53 percent, more than half. The Pullman execs spend more on sabotage than on the workers' wages (not really a surprise--it summons up the OWS movement, one of whose major complaints is the sacrifice of the peace economy to obscene war expenses more than twice that of the nearest competitor).
As Randolph anticipates preparation for "the real thing," his number two man, the soft-spoken Ashley, also former darling of the Pullman execs, exits from the back door into an assault that permanently maims him but also greatly strengthens his white-suited, stiffened presence when he rejoins the group toward the end of the film to insist that Randolph not cave to a deal to step down as the Pullmans promise to recognize the union without him.
The Depression becomes at least as much of an antagonist as the Pullman execs at this point as workers become unable to pay their dues. Randolph's hundred percent commitment is then clarified; the couple could never have children and so parented sweeping social changes instead.
He tells the discontented workers that their children's future is in the balance, that they must not abandon things now, even though the union can't afford the support it was founded to provide.
Back then, as I mentioned above, workers were irreplaceable, though the execs do consider Philippine and Mexican scabs they consider Westernizing in six weeks.
Another dispensable tableau is Randolph's despair: "This is work for someone else--the next generation. "You've come too far," says the beautiful Lucille. "This time I win or die," responds Randolph shortly thereafter.
Hollywood lines like that always harbinger victory. But suspense is not lost. The execs try to bribe Randolph with a check for $10,000. Randolph is superhuman, never close to unfaithfulness or bribery.
When FDR is sworn in, things change quickly; lobbying in DC is active. The percentage past fifty percent earns the Brotherhood the right to the A.F. of L. umbrella.
Says Barton Davis, a Clark Gable clone and chief antagonist, "Randolph will unite all the Negroes." Some white guys proceed to offer Randolph a blank check worth any six figures he writes in. We know what happens.
The Railway Labor Act passes, with ten thousand signatures sent from the union to DC.
Ten years in the making, the union takes off and Randolph persists, still young enough to assemble the March for Jobs and Freedom in 1964, quite a leap but quite a climax.
This flawed film packs a wallop. The production is dwarfed by the content.
I don't mean to be snide nor to dismiss emotion as schmaltz. I ended up in tears as the DVD ended happily.
Now we're making another film live, the OWS. Let's hope for more victorious schmaltz. Don't knock it, Marta.
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