On April 12, 1935 a national student strike against war was called by all left-wing student organizations for what was, at that time, the largest coordinated student political activism in U.S. history. Here, a reports from the magazine of the Student League for Industrial Democracy of actions of 50,000 high school students who participated in dozens of locations throughout the country.

‘50,000 Strike Against War in the High Schools’ from Student Outlook (S.L.I.D.). Vol. 3 No. 5. May, 1935.

The total number of students in the high schools who went on strike or participated, in the form of an assembly or peace meeting, in the April 12th demonstrations, totals some 50,000. The most successful demonstrations were held in Cleveland. In Collingwood High School the administration sanctioned peace assemblies and held four such assemblies on April 12th so that all 4,600 students were given a chance to participate. At West Tech High School, 200 students walked out of classrooms and stood in groups around the halls, not knowing what to do next. “What are you doing?” asked the Principal. “We’re on strike against war,” said some of the participants. “Well,” said the principal, “you can’t hang around the halls.” So the students returned to the classrooms. At John Adams, a strike meeting was held of some 500 students, under the leadership of the Young Peoples Socialist League.

In Boston, the distribution of 10,000 leaflets at eight high schools led to the arrest of eight students from Harvard and other colleges. Boston city officials met the situation by launching, “a Red scare.” Special assemblies were held to impress loyalty upon the students and threats of expulsion were made against anyone who attempted to leave the schools on April 12th. On the latter date, all high schools reported that the doors were barricaded by the police making it impossible to carry out the strike.

In Los Angeles a campaign of intimidation was carried on right from the beginning against all students who wanted to organize the strike. The Hearst paper in Los Angeles tried in every way to incite one part of the student body against that which was organizing the strike. Two students were suspended, Bernice Gallaher of John Marshall High School and Harold Breger of Fairfax High School. On the day of the strike a general school assembly was held at Belmont High School from 11 a.m. to 12. No classes were held at all during the day. Despite the guards around the building about 400 students came out on strike. Lacking leaders, who had been locked up in the building, these students milled around for a while and then dispersed. At Fairfax, only one student could get out of the building. At Belvedere Junior High School, 40 students carried anti-war signs on them all day. It is estimated that on April 12th approximately 1000 high school students unsuccessfully milled around the halls wistfully wanting to strike yet unable to hold their meetings. Crowds of policemen were mobilized around the school buildings—200 at Belmont alone. After the strike, pressure from Epic, church, Utopian and cultural groups in Los Angeles compelled the Board of Education to reinstate the students who had been suspended for anti-war strike activity.

Similarly in Chicago arrests for leaflet distribution, special examinations, the drizzling rain, fascist (we use the word advisedly) intimidation, failed to break the spirit of the strikers. At Tuley High School, 200 students struck at 11 a.m. and held a meeting at the Tuley flagpole. They gave a tremendous ovation to the five students who had been arrested in the morning for leaflet distribution. At Crane Technical High School a group of students, who tried to organize the strike, were terrorized by the administration. One of their number, Lester Schlossberg, was turned over by the school authorities to a group of students who took him down to the cellar and in the dark beat him, pulled his hair, put a rope around his neck as if to lynch him, in order to get the names of the other students organizing the strike. Schlossberg was compelled to go to the hospital because of the treatment he received.

In Syracuse 100 students took part in an auditorium meeting. In Duluth, Minnesota 800 joined an afterschool meeting. In a few places such as Swarthmore, the local high school cooperated with the college strike group. The ideal situation occurred in West Allis, Wisconsin where led by Mayor Marvin Baxter, a Socialist, 800 high school students took part in an 11 o’clock anti-war rally and then headed by Mayor Baxter paraded through the business district.

In Philadelphia a resolution by the Board of Education permitted the auditoriums of Philadelphia high schools to be used for meetings of pupils who wished to take part in the 11 o’clock strike. The resolution instructed Dr. Edwin C. Broome, Superintendent of Schools, to “ask the principals of high schools to do the best they can to satisfy student opinion on that occasion by allowing assemblies with as much freedom as possible for student expression. Different principals had varying ideas as to what this “freedom” meant. At Overbrook High School the student speaker had his talk severely censored, while the faculty speaker declared, “war is like a contagious disease, it can’t be prevented.” An L.I.D.er who got up to present resolutions was told to sit down and the principal adjourned the assembly before she could make herself heard. 1000 students led by the L.I.D. then tried to get out of the building but found the doors guarded by police. At South Philadelphia High School for Boys there was a spontaneous walkout of 1000, but no meeting since no preparation had been made. At Gratz High School, a flying squadron from Temple University brought 200 students out into the streets following an innocuous administration-sponsored assembly. Teachers prevented other students from joining these 200. Norman Thomas, who had just spoken at Temple, leaped to the running board of a parked car and addressed the 200 on strike, as well as the hundreds who lined the windows of the building. Walkouts were prevented in other schools by the utilization of athletic teams, plainclothesmen and teachers. Assemblies were held in almost all of them.

Two influential groups threw their support behind the strike in the New York high schools, the United Parents Association and the Teachers Union. The U.P.A. declared, “To us it seems fitting that one hour be granted to the living youth in which they may express their desire to avoid future wars, inasmuch as days are set aside in memory of those who gave their lives in the wars of the past.” However, the Delegate Assembly of the U.P.A. reversed this action. Why this was done can be understood from a letter the National Student Strike Committee received from Mr. Henry S. Pascal, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the U.P.A. The following are Mrs. Pascal’s personal comments:

“It is my earnest belief that the final verdict would have been quite different if parents had considered the question without pressure from school authorities. A letter from two of the Associate Superintendents was read to the Delegate Assembly that listed as some of the reasons why the school authorities deemed a demonstration unwise such points as: the safety of pupils in the streets; the possibility that they may be misled by speakers or agitators; the possibility of injury through quarrels or conditions of traffic; the possibility of damage to property. Also that a bad precedent would be established which would open the way for other demonstrations on a number of controversial issues.

“I cannot for the life of me see why traffic would be more dangerous to boys and girls of high school age at this particular hour on April 12th than it is at any other hour of any day. In answer to the question that young people may be misled by agitators, I feel that as the parent of an adolescent child, she should be exposed to all shades of opinion in order to arrive at any worthwhile social philosophy. It would seem that schools and parents would welcome this procedure as an educational experience for the child. As far as injuries are concerned, a few bruises in this particular demonstration seem as nothing to the havoc in life and property brought about by war.

Following the retreat of the United Parents Association, the Board of Superintendents sent a statement around to all the schools barring the student strike as an unwise gesture. Principals were ingenious in devising methods for preventing and discrediting the strike:

1. Students were encouraged to disrupt strike meetings by hooliganism.

2. Strike leaders were locked up in the principals’ offices.

3. Corridors were patrolled by policemen who also massed outside school buildings.

4. Teachers barred entrances on day of strike.

5. At Seward Park High School, Principal Brodie pulled strike tags off students and told them “to sue for assault and battery.”

6. Suspensions.

7. Notations on record cards.

8. Removal from Arista and other extra curricular activities, such as school papers, prom committees, etc.

9. Students were threatened with non-recommendation to college.

10. Mid-term examinations were scheduled.

On the day following the strike, Superintendent Campbell smugly boasted that not even 800 students had participated in the high school strike. The figure is nearer 8000, but every student in the New York high schools was influenced in some way by the student strike against war. The bad faith, the brutality, the hypocrisy of school authorities in trying to break the strike was an object lesson to the high school students of the obstacles they would have to meet in the fight against war. Before the strike the only encounter a few students had had with police was being chased from park grounds for ball playing or for shooting dice. Now the great majority have learned that school authorities do not hesitate to turn to the police in order to prevent free expression in the anti-war struggle.

Going through a series of names in the 1930s starting with Revolt, then Student Outlook, then New Frontiers, and finally Industrial Democracy these were the publications of the Socialist Party-allied National Student League for Industrial Democracy. The journal’s changes in part reflected the shifting organizations of the larger student movement.

PDF of full issue: https://archive.org/download/industrial-democracy_1935-05_3_5/industrial-democracy_1935-05_3_5.pdf