Child of the Sit-Downs_ The Revolutionary Life of Genora Dollinger - Carlton Jackson [31]
Down the hill came the procession preceded by the American flag. The women’s bright red caps showed dramatically in the dark crowd, as they were singing “Hold the Fort.” Their return to the picket line was a moving sight to that crowd which knew the women had been gassed only a short time before at Chevy 9 in defense of their men. The line of bright capped women spread itself out in front of the high barbed wire gate. Clasping hands, they struck up “We Shall Not Be Moved.”97
By now Michigan governor Frank Murphy had called out the National Guard. (In fact, he had activated the state’s military units shortly after the Battle of Bull’s Run.) Genora walked by one of the guardsmen, a young boy, whose “finger was actually trembling on that trigger.”98 He was, she averred, about as scared as she was. She wanted to get by him, to visit Kermit inside Plant Four. “I just want to go through and talk to my husband, and I will come right back out.” The young guardsman told her sternly, “I have orders to shoot,” and Genora backed off. “This is one battle I did not win. He was a very, very nervous young man.”99 She noted, too, the machine gun emplacements on top of the personnel building.
All over Flint in the early days of February, picket lines were in great abundance. Some of these lines—around Fisher One and Two—were motorized, with cars slowly driving around the buildings. The picket line continued at Plant Nine, and most of the EBs stayed on the scene at Plant Four, “while the police looked on sheepishly.” City police, sheriff’s deputies, and the National Guard threw a cordon around the plant, not allowing anyone in or out—not even for a cup of coffee, a toilet break, or food. Only after twenty-four hours, in the early morning of February 2, did the authorities in the plant permit any contact with the outside world.100
From inside the plant, Kermit Johnson wrote testily to Robert Travis, apparently believing that Travis and the local UAW were not giving him enough attention. “Is there some reason why you can’t write to me? I find time to write to you and I haven’t slept over three hours a nite [sic] since I’ve been here.”101 Some of his men were getting restless, probably because they weren’t certain of what was happening on the outside.
On February 4, Johnson again wrote to Travis: “There is considerable dissension among the men in regards to messages from the outside concerning families, etc. . . . This will have to be remedied.” He and his men wanted to be kept informed about their families and whether mail was being received for them in the personnel building. If so, “Why don’t we get it here?” Above all, Johnson wanted to confer with Travis about further strike strategies. “Bring some cigarettes,” he suggested, “as an excuse to come here immediately.” He added forlornly, “Actually we need them anyway.”102
Meanwhile, GM called for a “special payday” on February 4. All a worker had to do was come to the personnel building and collect his regular pay. If a worker did not present himself, he was assumed a “sit-in” with nothing in his pay packet. The company was accused of forwarding letters to the women back at home saying that if they could see who was keeping company with their husbands, they would know why many did not want to come home. There were prostitutes among them, it was said, and the sit-downers were indeed happy.103 Nothing of this sort was ever proved, but the charges had a powerful influence. Reports were bandied about to the men inside Plant Nine and others that their wives were “ill,” some seriously. Many men left the sit-downs to see to their womenfolk.
In the midst of the sit-downs, on February 3, 1937, a “Woman’s Day” was proclaimed by the UAW to recognize the work and meritorious services of the women of Flint who had come to stand by their men. It wasn’t just the Flint women: when word got around that this recognition was being planned, women’s brigades