Good-Bye to Homer Martin Daniel Benedict
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
The Role of the Trotskyists in the United Auto Workers, 1939- 1949
The Role of the Trotskyists in the United Auto Workers, 1939- 1949 Victor G. Devinatz Willie Thompson has acknowledged in his survey of the history of the world- wide left, The Left in History: Revolution and Reform in Twentieth-Century Politics, that the Trotskyists "occasionally achieved some marginal industrial influence" in the US trade unions.' However, outside of the Trotskyists' role in the Teamsters Union in Minneapolis and unlike the role of the Communist Party (CP) in the US labor movement that has been well-documented in numerous books and articles, little of a systematic nature has been written about Trotskyist activity in the US trade union movement.' This article's goal is to begin to bridge a gap in the historical record left by other historians of labor and radical movements, by examining the role of the two wings of US Trotskyism, repre- sented by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and the Workers Party (WP), in the United Auto Workers (UAW) from 1939 to 1949. In spite of these two groups' relatively small numbers within the auto workers' union and although neither the SWP nor the WP was particularly suc- cessful in recruiting auto workers to their organizations, the Trotskyists played an active role in the UAW as leading individuals and activists, and as an organ- ized left presence in opposition to the larger and more powerful CP. In addi- tion, these Trotskyists were able to exert an influence that was significant at times, beyond their small membership with respect to vital issues confronting the UAW. At various times throughout the 1940s, for example, these trade unionists were skillful in mobilizing auto unionists in opposition to both the no- strike pledge during World War 11, and the Taft-Hartley bill in the postwar peri- od. -
Thesis Remembering the 1936-37 Uaw-Gm Sit-Down
THESIS REMEMBERING THE 1936-37 UAW-GM SIT-DOWN STRIKE: STRATIFICATION OF A UAW MEMBER‘S IDENTITY IN SITDOWNERS MEMORIAL PARK Submitted by: Aaron Keel Department of Communication Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Fall 2011 Master‘s Committee: Advisor: Karrin Vasby Anderson Greg Dickinson Kenneth J. Kirkland i ABSTRACT REMEMBERING THE 1936-37 UAW-GM SIT-DOWN STRIKE: STRATIFICATION OF A UAW MEMBER‘S IDENTITY IN SITDOWNERS MEMORIAL PARK In 1937, the United Automobile Workers (UAW) won recognition from General Motors (GM) through the historic sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan. This strike marked the beginning of the labor movement and the battle for worker‘s rights that is continuing into the present day. Sitdowners Memorial Park (SMP), located in Flint, remembers and commemorates the striker‘s great achievements in 1937. It is also a place where citizens encounter compelling narratives of the past, pay tribute to those who have come before them, build community, negotiate identity, and receive instruction for the present and future. In this thesis, I explore SMP as an experiential landscape. In exploring the park, I answer two questions. First, how does SMP construct a UAW member‘s identity? Second, how does SMP represent female gender roles and, more specifically, what kind of agency is attributed to women as members of the UAW in this counterpublic space? I argue that SMP enlists memories of the sit-down strike and its impacts on society to reinvigorate a dying community and offer visitors rhetorical resources justifying pro-union perspectives. -
The Rise and Decline of the Cooperative Commonwealth
THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH FEDERATION IN ONTARIO AND QUEBEC DURING WORLD WAR II, 1939 – 1945 By Charles A. Deshaies B. A. State University of New York at Potsdam, 1987 M. A. State University of New York at Empire State, 2005 A THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in History) The Graduate School The University of Maine December 2019 Advisory Committee: Scott W. See, Professor Emeritus of History, Co-advisor Jacques Ferland, Associate Professor of History, Co-advisor Nathan Godfried, Professor of History Stephen Miller, Professor of History Howard Cody, Professor Emeritus of Political Science Copyright 2019 Charles A. Deshaies All Rights Reserved ii THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH FEDERATION IN ONTARIO AND QUEBEC DURING WORLD WAR II, 1939 – 1945 By Charles A. Deshaies Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Scott See and Dr. Jacques Ferland An Abstract of the Thesis Presented In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in History) December 2019 The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was one of the most influential political parties in Canadian history. Without doubt, from a social welfare perspective, the CCF helped build and develop an extensive social welfare system across Canada. It has been justly credited with being one of the major influences over Canadian social welfare policy during the critical years following the Great Depression. This was especially true of the period of the Second World War when the federal Liberal government of Mackenzie King adroitly borrowed CCF policy planks to remove the harsh edges of capitalism and put Canada on the path to a modern Welfare State. -
How to Use the Digital History Reader
Module 06: "Which Side Are You On?" The Flint Sit-Down Strike, 1936- 37 Evidence 7: The Settlement, February 11, 1937 Introduction On February 1, 1937, more than four weeks into the strike, the UAW attempted to break the stalemate by going on the offensive. Union leaders spread rumors that they planned to stage a sit-down strike at Chevrolet No. Nine, drawing company police to the plant. The move, in fact, was a diversion that allowed workers to occupy the real target: Chevrolet No. Four, the producer of Chevrolet engines and "the most important single unit" in the GM complex. Following the capture of Chevrolet No. Four, GM obtained a court injunction ordering the UAW to evacuate the two Fisher Body plants, but the sit-down strikers refused to budge. Although Governor Murphy had moved National Guard troops to Flint in mid-January, he was anxious to avoid bloodshed and refused to order the troops to enforce the injunction. Facing determined strikers, the takeover of Chevrolet No. Four, and the continued restraint of the governor, GM finally sat down at the bargaining table. Following a series of marathon negotiating sessions involving Knudsen, Lewis, and other company and union officials, GM agreed to bargain solely with the UAW for six months after production resumed (although they were allowed to refrain from stating such a concession in the formal agreement the two sides signed). Claiming victory, the strikers marched triumphantly out of the factory late on the afternoon of February 11, 1937. After six weeks, the historic Flint strike was finally over. -
Maurice Sugar Papers
THE MAURICE SUGAR COLLECTION Papers, 1907-1973 58 1/2 Linear Feet Accession Number 232 Maurice Sugar was one of the first American lawyers to become what is now known as a "Labor Lawyer." Before he was made Chief Legal Counsel of the United Automobile Workers, a post he held between 1937 and 1948, he had practiced as a labor lawyer and defender of the poor since 1914. Born in Brimley, Michigan in 1891, he was educated in the Detroit school system. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School where he was Editor of the Michigan Law Review. In 1914 he and Jane Mayer were married. She later became Supervisor of Elementary School Physical Education for the City of Detroit. Sugar's first client in 1914 was the Detroit Typographical Union (AFL), and before his work with the UAW he represented nearly all Detroit area unions including the Detroit and Wayne County Federations of Labor (AFL) and various AFL international unions. During the Tool and Die Makers Strike of 1913 he handled over two-hundred cases in the courts. During World War I Sugar was indicted and convicted in a conspiracy trial (1917-1918), as he was a pacifist, but he was subsequently readmitted to the bar and pardoned. Active during his youth in the Socialist Party he later became an important spokesman for what were then considered "left wing" causes, including civil rights and racial equality. He was one of the founders of the National Lawyers Guild and an early advocate of pensions, unemployment compensation, social security and other such measures. -
Chapter 4. Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics in Trail’S Immigrant Enclave
Divided Loyalties A Study of a Communist-Led Trade Union’s Struggle For Survival in Trail, British Columbia 1943-1955 by Ron Verzuh MA, Canadian Studies, Carleton University Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences © Ron Verzuh SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2017 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Approval Name: Ron Verzuh Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (History) Title: Divided Loyalties: A Study of a Communist- Led Trade Union’s Struggle For Survival in Trail, British Columbia, 1943-1955 Examining Committee: Chair: Jeremy Brown Associate Professor Joseph E. Taylor III Senior Supervisor Professor Allen Seager Supervisor Associate Professor Kendra Strauss Internal Examiner Associate Professor Labour Studies Program and The Morgan Centre for Labour Research John H. Thompson External Examiner Professor Emeritus Department of History Duke University Date Defended/Approved: July 19, 2017 ii Ethics Statement iii Abstract “Divided Loyalties” examines a Communist union’s struggle to survive in the post- Second World War environment of anti-Communism and anti-trade unionism that marked one of the most violent periods in the history of the Canadian labour movement. In 1943, Local 480 of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers in Trail, British Columbia, was nearing the end of a six-year battle for certification as the legal bargaining agent for about 4,000 smelter workers. After it achieved that goal the following year and for the next decade, it faced new battles with the employer, the powerful Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada (CM&S) with its paternalistic president S.G. -
CALIFORNIA RED a Life in the American Communist Party
alifornia e California Red CALIFORNIA RED A Life in the American Communist Party Dorothy Ray Healey and Maurice Isserman UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS Urbana and Chicago Illini Books edition, 1993 © 1990 by Oxford University Press, Inc., under the title Dorothy Healey Remembers: A Life in the American Communist Party Reprinted by arrangement with Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, New York Manufactured in the United States of America P54321 This book is printed on acidjree paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Healey, Dorothy. California Red : a life in the American Communist Party I Dorothy Ray Healey, Maurice Isserman. p. em. Originally published: Dorothy Healey remembers: a life in the American Communist Party: New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Includes index. ISBN 0-252-06278-7 (pbk.) 1. Healey, Dorothy. 2. Communists-United States-Biography. I. Isserman, Maurice. II. Title. HX84.H43A3 1993 324.273'75'092-dc20 [B] 92-38430 CIP For Dorothy's mother, Barbara Nestor and for her son, Richard Healey And for Maurice's uncle, Abraham Isserman ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work is based substantially on a series of interviews conducted by the UCLA Oral History Program from 1972 to 1974. These interviews appear in a three-volume work titled Tradition's Chains Have Bound Us(© 1982 The Regents of The University of California. All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission). Less formally, let me say that I am grateful to Joel Gardner, whom I never met but whose skillful interviewing of Dorothy for Tradition's Chains Have Bound Us inspired this work and saved me endless hours of duplicated effort a decade later, and to Dale E. -
Proquest Dissertations
"Fairness and Balance?": The Politics of Ontario's Labour Relations Regime, 1949-1963 Charles W. Smith A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Programme in Political Science York University Toronto, Ontario June 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54108-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54108-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. -
The Strike Files of the U.S
A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of RESEARCH COLLECTIONS IN LABOR STUDIES General Editor: Melvyn Dubofsky The Strike Files of the U.S. Department of Justice Part 1. 1894-1920 UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of RESEARCH COLLECTIONS IN LABOR STUDIES General Editor: Melvyn Dubofsky THE STRIKE FILES OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Part 1.1894-1920 Associate Editors: Randolph Boehm and Gregory Murphy Guide compiled by Martin Schipper A microfilm project of UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA An Imprint of CIS 4520 East-West Highway • Bethesda, MD 20814-3389 LCCN 92-39073. Copyright® 1990 by University Publications of America. All rights reserved. ISBN 1-55655-219-X. TABLE OF CONTENTS Scope and Content Note vii Source Note x Editorial Note x Abbreviation List xi Reel Index Reels 1-3 RG 60•Classified Subject File Casefilel6-1 1 Reel 4 RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-1 cont_ 6 Casefilel6-2 7 ReelS RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-4 8 Casefiles 16-7 and 16-7-0 8 Casefile 16-8 8 Casefile 16-9 8 Casefile 16-10 8 Casefile 16-16 9 Casefile 16-19 9 Casefile 16-19-0 9 Casefile 16-20 9 Casefile 16-22 9 Casefile 16-23 9 Casefile 16-24 10 Casefile 16-25 10 Casefile 16-26 10 Casefile 16-26S-0 10 Casefile 16-28 , 11 Casefile 16-29 11 Casefile 16-30 11 Casefile 16-31 11 Casefile 16-32 12 in Reel 6 RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. -
Walter Reuther's Affiliation with the Communist Party and Something of Its Meaning — a Document of Party Involvement, 1939 Victor G
Document generated on 09/27/2021 1:40 a.m. Labour/Le Travailleur Reassessing The Historical UAW: Walter Reuther's Affiliation with the Communist Party and Something of Its Meaning — A Document of Party Involvement, 1939 Victor G. Devinatz Volume 49, 2002 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/llt49not02 See table of contents Publisher(s) Canadian Committee on Labour History ISSN 0700-3862 (print) 1911-4842 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Devinatz, V. G. (2002). Reassessing The Historical UAW: Walter Reuther's Affiliation with the Communist Party and Something of Its Meaning — A Document of Party Involvement, 1939. Labour/Le Travailleur, 49, 221–244. All rights reserved © Canadian Committee on Labour History, 2002 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Reassessing The Historical UAW: Walter Reuther's Affiliation with the Communist Party and Something of Its Meaning — A Document of Party Involvement, 1939 Victor G. Devinatz Walter Reuther's close connection to the Communists, including a possible brief member ship, has a meaning and legacy that is of more man sectarian interest To most of his conservative opponents, Reuther's sojourn in the Soviet Union and subsequent alliance with the Communists sustained the accusation that he was simply a red. -
COLD WARRIOR: C.S. Jackson and the United Electrical Workers
by Doug Smith COLD WARRIOR: C.S. Jackson and the United Electrical Workers COLD WARRIOR: C.S. Jackson and the United Electrical Workers Doug Smith Canadian Committee on Labour History St. John's Copyright © 1997 Canadian Committee on Labour History All rights reserved Canadian Committee on Labour History History Department Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, NFA1C5S7 ISBN 0-9695835-7-5 Manuscript was prepared for the printer by the staff of the Canadian Committee on Labour History Cover designed by Doowah Design in Winnipeg, Manitoba Printed and bound in Canada Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Smith, Doug, 1954- Cold warrior Includes index. ISBN 0-9695835-7-5 1. Jackson, C.S. 2. United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of Canada — History. 3. Labor movement — Canada — History — 20th century. 4. Labor leaders — Canada — Biography. I. Canadian Committee on Labour History. II. Title. HD8073.J3S65 1997 331.88'1213'092 C96-950198-6 Contents Acknowledgements vi Introduction 1 1 Growing Up in the Lakehead, 1906-1929 6 2 The Montreal Years, 1929-1934 27 3 Toronto, 1934-1937 36 4 Finding the UE, 1937-1939 47 5 Founding the CCL, 1937-1941 64 6 Internment, 1941 74 7 Cold Warrior 96 8 Establishing the UE in Canada, 1942-1945 118 9 Union Politics, 1942-1945 139 10 1946 151 11 Expulsion, 1947-1949 176 12 Survival, 1950-1955 204 13 Ungentle Patriot 226 14 1955-1980 237 15 Jackpot, 1980 to 1993 250 Index 256 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Betty Dyck for her faith and support in recruiting me to this project; Wayne Roberts, Gerry Friesen, and Cy Gonick for encour• aging me to undertake it; Ed Reed, Jim Naylor, Jamie Swift, and Reg Whitaker for their encouragement to continue in it; and Greg Kealey and Andy Parnaby for their critical commentary and editorial support. -
Why Is There No Labor Party in the United States? Political Articulation and the Canadian Comparison, 1932 to 1948
ASRXXX10.1177/0003122416643758American Sociological ReviewEidlin 6437582016 American Sociological Review 2016, Vol. 81(3) 488 –516 Why Is There No Labor Party © American Sociological Association 2016 DOI: 10.1177/0003122416643758 in the United States? Political http://asr.sagepub.com Articulation and the Canadian Comparison, 1932 to 1948 Barry Eidlina Abstract Why is there no labor party in the United States? This question has had deep implications for U.S. politics and social policy. Existing explanations use “reflection” models of parties, whereby parties reflect preexisting cleavages or institutional arrangements. But a comparison with Canada, whose political terrain was supposedly more favorable to labor parties, challenges reflection models. Newly compiled electoral data show that underlying social structures and institutions did not affect labor party support as expected: support was similar in both countries prior to the 1930s, then diverged. To explain this, I propose a modified “articulation” model of parties, emphasizing parties’ role in assembling and naturalizing political coalitions within structural constraints. In both cases, ruling party responses to labor and agrarian unrest during the Great Depression determined which among a range of possible political alliances actually emerged. In the United States, FDR used the crisis to mobilize new constituencies. Rhetorical appeals to the “forgotten man” and policy reforms absorbed some farmer and labor groups into the New Deal coalition and divided and excluded others, undermining labor party support. In Canada, mainstream parties excluded farmer and labor constituencies, leaving room for the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) to organize them into a third-party coalition. Keywords class conflict, political parties, trade unions, organizations, social movements, labor, working class, agrarian protest Why is there no labor party in the United 1989; Rueschemeyer, Stephens, and Stephens States? The question anchors historic debates 1992).