 Beginning in 1946, in an effort to organize the largely unorganized south, CIO officials began what is called Operation Dixie.This was done for multiple reasons, the first being it sought to organize the Southern textile industry in order to close the wage gap that existed between the North and South stopping the potential flight risk from the North due to the cheap, organized labor that was available in the South.Second, this effort was also an assault on the Bourbons who until then had been the ruling southern power.