The “Sweetest Sounding” Words of Civil Rights: A Labor Origin Story of the “Right to Work”

This essay revisits the idea of “right to work” by offering historical context of Florida’s passage of its 1944 right to work constitutional amendment. A brief overview of the history of the term right to work and its contested nature indicates how the phrase likely led to confusion especially in the arena of political economy. A close evaluation of the amendment and its incongruent nature reveals the intent of its proponents was to deceive voters with the “sweetest sounding” words of civil rights while weakening their ability to organize labor unions. The history of safeguarding the free market entailed disciplining the working class. In the context of the New Deal developing labor regime and hopeful signs of worker empowerment, advocates of “free enterprise” sought to tame democracy through its own governing mechanisms.