“The ideal picket.”

Labor activism during the 1930s had an impact on U.S. popular culture, especially film—both on screen and behind the camera. The Screen Actors Guild was formed in 1933 and In 1941 trade union organizing reached the workplace where some of the nation’s favorite fantasies were produced. After Walt Disney fired union organizers on his art staff, his studio cartoonists went on strike. This cartoon from a newspaper report indicates how Disney strikers brought new skills to labor organizing. “There are mighty few labor disputes,” the caption states, “in which just about every striker can make his own picket signs. Consequently, the signs are bright and lively . . . attracting the passerby and winning friends for the Screen Cartoon Guild.”

Source: PM, June 6, 1941—American Social History Project.