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New Deal as refracted through Maryland state and Baltimore city structures. In
general, this thesis is indisputable, and it is particularly applicable to the late 1933-
1935 period. Indeed, this period might well be designate the National Recovery
Act, or NRA period of the Baltimore labor movement; both literally and
figuratively, the workplace-oriented struggle during this period was bracketed
between two large popular events concerning the NRA.4*^

The first event — a parade, actually - occurred in late August 1933 and
marked the official kick-off of the NRA in Baltimore. The goal of the parade was
to launch movement to get every business to sign a Blue Eagle pledge and to abide
by NRA codes. While initiated and led by government and establishment forces,
the planning for the parade and the ensuing NRA campaign enlisted many from the
leadership levels of the popular organizations and institutions of the city: Henry
Broening, president of the BFL, was a member of the Baltimore City NRA Steering
Committee. And symbolizing the widespread hopes that the emerging New Deal
would end the economic catastrophe, the parade itself had enormous working-class
and popular participation. Twenty bands and 7,000 marchers wound their way from
Mount Royal Avenue in north central Baltimore down past City Hall, as an
estimated 250,000 Baltimoreans watched and cheered.

The second NRA event was of a totally different type. Coming in mid-1935,
in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court's ruling that the NRA was
unconstitutional, this event indicated a shift in mood among Baltimore's workers.
In response to this ruling, organized labor called a protest demonstration. On May
29, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers called on their members to walk out and
join the demonstration, a reported 10,000 workers marched through the streets, and
4,000 trade unionists and unemployed gathered at the Lyric Theater where they
cheered denunciations of the ruling from BFL head Joseph McCurdy and others,
and sang both the "Star Spangled Banner" and the "Internationale." For many in
the working class, hope had turned to disillusionment and anger.45