The Trade Union Unity League: American Communists and the Transition to Industrial Unionism: 1928-1934

Repression of the North American trade union movement dates to the late nineteenth century. Much of this repression has occurred in response to union militancy during strikes, some of which were directed against political radicals of various orientations. Peaks of repression against radical trade unionism occurred during World War I and in the immediate postwar years as well as in the early Cold War period, after World War II’s conclusion into the early 1950s. Through the analysis of three recently published volumes, I argue that the repression of North American left-wing unions was intentionally severe because of the strength of these labor organizations and the threat they were perceived to pose to employers and the government. Given that these left-wing unions were much more militant than the American Federation of Labor unions, this governmental repression (as well as that of other forces) can be viewed as a conscious set of tactics invoked that were meant to break, or at a minimum tame, these radical unions in the service of capital. Such behavior also acted as a warning to nonradical unions that repression could be directed against them as well.

Section: Conclusion: Radical Unionism's Defeat and Twenty-first Centu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The War on the North American Left-Wing Labor Movement From World War I Through the Post-World War II Period

Devinatz

2024

“…Long before the CIO organized unions on an industrial model in the mid-1930s, Communists did. Through the Trade Union Educational League (TUEL) and its successor, the Trade Union Unity League (TUUL), they laid the groundwork for industrial unions in several sectors (Johanningsmeier 2010; Ottanelli 1991; Stepan-Norris and Zeitlin 2003, 33-34). TUEL and TUUL never exceeded a tiny minority of workers, and radicals often lost the strikes they led in these “lean years” (Bernstein 1969), but their organizing pierced the myth of worker contentment that employers used to explain why workers had not unionized (Cochran 1977, 65).…”

Section: What Did the Militant Minority Do?mentioning

confidence: 99%

U.S. Union Revitalization and the Missing “Militant Minority”

Uetricht

Eidlin

2019

Debates on U.S. union decline and revival usually focus on policy, technical, or political fixes. Missing are discussions of bringing workers together to act collectively at work. This has historically been the job of a "militant minority," workplace activists (often leftists) who brought militancy and dynamism to unions, dedication and personal sacrifice in organizing, who linked workplace and community struggles, who were involved in unions' day-today activities, and who connected rank and filers to leadership. This layer is largely missing today, making labor revitalization difficult. In explaining who the "militant minority" was, how it worked, and why it disappeared, we can find clues for rebuilding it.

“… 8. Although no books have been written concerning the Trade Union Unity League’s (TUUL) history, various articles, and parts of books, however, discuss the TUUL and several TUUL affiliated unions. Articles which cover the TUUL as an organization include Devinatz (2007), Johanningsmeier (2001), and Devinatz (2005). Volumes which discuss the TUUL from differing theoretical perspectives are Klehr (1984, 38-48, 118-34), Cochran (1977, 43-81) and Ottanelli (1991, 17-48).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Left-Wing SPA-Led and CPUSA-Led Unions and Worker Organizations as the Vanguard of U.S. Social Democracy’s Left-Wing, Circa 1935 to 1950

Devinatz

2019

During the golden era of world trade unionism (circa 1945 to 1980) the trade union movement’s political arm, the workers’ parties (Labor, Social Democratic, and Communist) were at their peak strength attaining a significant amount of electoral support from the citizens in many European industrial democracies. This situation, however, did not occur in the United States where both the Socialist Party of America (SPA) and the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) never exerted similar political power as their European counterparts. Nevertheless, SPA and CPUSA members and their supporters attained significant influence in U.S. trade unions and related workers’ organizations, circa 1930 to 1950. Based on the publication of recent literature, I argue that left-wing SPA-led and CPUSA-led unions and worker organizations were the vanguard of the left wing of U.S. social democracy (the New Deal) from the mid-1930s to approximately 1950. Since the SPA and CPUSA had relatively small membership numbers, it was more effective for these political groups to work through trade unions and other mass worker organizations, such as the International Workers Order, for promoting their ideas and policies.