We Demand, 1934

Oil on canvas, 48 X 36" (121.92 x 91.44 cm.)

Signed, lower right

Gift of Sidney Freedman, 948-0-110

Considering the grim economic hardships encountered by industrial workers during the turbulent years of the Great Depression, it is understandable that labor's demand for social and economic change was one of the dominant issues facing the nation. During the early years of Roosevelt's New Deal Administration, many of the existing problems were alleviated through legislative action by the government. One of the most significant actions was the right granted labor under the NIRA in 1933 to organize and bargain. 1 This was a gigantic step forward and one that suggested that at least some of labor's long-term goals were finally being achieved. The mood of protest was certainly not new, but now such protest was legal, and as a result, strikes were regularly called across the country, especially in the coal mining, steel production and transportation industries. Nevertheless, fear, unfair practices in the industrial workplace, violence and strike-breaking persisted for many years. As early as 1930, the mood of social protest began to assume major thematic proportions in American art, the subject of strikes in particular appearing often as the 1930s progressed.
One of the most provocative artistic statements produced during these years, and one promptly recognized and appreciated when it was first publicly exhibited, is We Demand. Here at a glance the subject of protest is entirely understandable, however, the most powerful and convincing qualities of this composition are achieved through color organization and formal geometry. In particular, the sweeping curve of the elevated tracks bearing a train roaring from the distance onto the frontal plane of the composition is complemented by the reverse curve of the arcuated path of marching protesters beginning at a distant point in the background and proceeding to the left edge of the frontal plane. The massive clenched fist of the leader seen in the foreground expresses the anger and determination of the marchers, and fittingly echoes the unyielding strength of the tracks and the steel I-beams supporting them. Moreover, the fact that the group of protesters is racially integrated is of special note in view of the early date of this painting.
On a placard carried over the shoulder of the protest leader are the words "We Demand" in bold black letters beneath which, printed in red, is the partially visible designation of a congressional bill. The portion readily recognized reads "H.R. 75-" with the final two digits of the bill hidden by the protest leader's hat. A small portion of red pigment seen immediately above the hat suggests that the third number may be a "9," in which case the entire number might refer to the Lundeen Bill, "House Resolution 7598," introduced in 1934 by Minnesota Congressman Ernest Lundeen, proposing unemployment insurance. This painting might therefore document the widespread support of workers at all social levels, professional and non-professional, for enactment of Federal unemployment insurance and social security legislation.
Jones was born in St. Louis in 1909. Many of his early paintings are typical Midwestern Regionalist works, yet, while quite young he demonstrated strong protest leanings and became involved in Communist activities, for which he earned adverse criticism. As a result, he left St. Louis in 1935 and moved to New York City, where his social protest activities and the art which they inspired were readily accepted and indeed won him much fame. Jones was one of the leading artists of the social protest movement throughout the Great Depression and until the end of World War 11.

HOWARD E. WOODEN