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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: a HISTORY of THE ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: A HISTORY OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION Matthew C. Bates, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Dissertation directed by: Professor Linda Steiner Philip Merrill College of Journalism Keywords: labor, unions, press, media, journalism, International Labor Press Association, ILCA, ILPA, AFL-CIO, social movements This dissertation examines post-World War II debates within U.S. unions over the role and character of the labor press. I use archival sources and interviews to construct a history of the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA). The AFL-CIO created the ILCA (originally, the International Labor Press Association) in 1956 to strengthen communications with union members and the public. Representing hundreds of publications, the ILCA remains the only national organization of journalists working on behalf of U.S. unions. The debates over the role and character of union media are put in the context of social movement and organization theory. Like most modern social movements, organized labor exists as both a set of bureaucratic institutions and as diffuse agglomerations of individuals struggling against dominant social actors. Policies and practices that prioritize the needs of union organizations and leaders (i.e. tendencies towards “business unionism”) frequently conflict with the needs and impulses of rank-and-file workers (“social movement unionism”). The debates I examine—a campaign in the 1960s to win AFL-CIO support for community-based labor newspapers; divisions among union editors and leaders in the 1980s and 1990s over the use of electronic technologies for national public relations instead of local campaigns; a dispute in the late 1990s over editorial freedom for union journalists—express the underlying tensions between business and social-movement unionism. Movements use internal media to create member identities, define opponents, frame issues, and set goals. Debates over the content of movement media and who those media should mobilize are debates over the nature of the movement itself. U.S. unions are shrinking in size and influence. I conclude that union media will be indispensable in any successful effort to spark a new workers' movement. Given the constraints imposed by union leaders on the labor press, however, I conclude that the chances of igniting a new movement will be greatly enhanced if union journalists collaborate outside the current union structures. Digital media and networks of progressive media activists offer unprecedented opportunities for union journalists to communicate with vast numbers of wage earners rapidly, and at relatively low cost. A HISTORY OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION by Matthew C. Bates Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Advisory Committee: Professor Linda Steiner, Chair Professor Maurine H. Beasley Professor Kalyani Chadha Professor Julie Greene Professor Don Heider ©Copyright by Matthew C. Bates 2012 ii DEDICATION To Pamela, whose love and encouragement made this study possible. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures and Tables....................................................................................................v List of Abbreviations for Archival Sources ....................................................................... vi Chapter 1: Social Movement Theory and the Labor Press .............................................1 Introduction and Disclosure ..................................................................................1 Terminology ..........................................................................................................4 The ILCA and a Profile of Union Journalists .......................................................7 Communications, Social Movements, and the Labor Press ................................12 Thesis and Research Questions...........................................................................14 Preview of Chapters ............................................................................................15 Labor as a Social Movement ..............................................................................17 The Evolution of Social Movement Theory .......................................................19 Social Movements as Meaning-Making Processes .............................................22 The ILCA as an Organizational Field .................................................................24 Alternative Media and the Labor Press ...............................................................27 Discursive Spaces; Arenas of Struggle ...............................................................32 Chapter 2: “Business” and “Social Movement” Unionism...........................................35 My Scope of Study...............................................................................................35 Environment, Agency, and the Rise of Business Unionism ................................36 Emphasizing Agency ...........................................................................................45 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................51 Chapter 3: “Social-Movement” Journalism and An Explanation of Research Methods ..............................................................53 The Labor Press Becomes a Union Press ............................................................60 Defining “Institutional” and “Social Movement” Union Journalism ..................72 Historical Research Methods ...............................................................................74 Interviews .............................................................................................................76 Archival Research, and Constructing a Narrative ................................................77 Chapter 4: “Communities of Interest”: The Campaign for Community Labor Newspapers ................................................................................................79 The Revolution of ’65 ..........................................................................................82 Using the ILPA to Limit Labor Discourse ...........................................................85 Davidson’s First Step ...........................................................................................91 A Strategic Choice: Go Broad, or Go High? .......................................................95 iv Chapter 4 (Continued): A Proposal to Meany ...........................................................................................99 The AFL-CIO Responds ....................................................................................104 The ILPA Looks to COPE .................................................................................109 Retreat Under Darkening Skies .........................................................................114 Conclusion .........................................................................................................116 Chapter 5: Shaping the Post-War Labor Press: ILPA’S First Thirty Years ...............118 Introduction ........................................................................................................118 Origins of the ILPA; The Killing of the Federated Press ..................................120 AFL and CIO Editors First Join Hands..............................................................126 The Birth of the International Labor Press Association.....................................129 Meany Creates a Dependent Labor Press ..........................................................133 A Growing Mismatch Between Resources and Mission ...................................139 Why the Campaign for Community Labor Newspapers Failed.........................148 The Wider Environment ....................................................................................155 A State-Imposed Concept of Community ..........................................................158 Chapter 6: In Whose Voice? The Debates Over House Organs and Public Relations.............................160 Labor Turns Away From the Labor Press..........................................................161 Labor Turns to Electronic Public Relations .......................................................165 LIPA and a New Name for the ILPA.................................................................168 The “Benign Neglect” of the AFL-CIO .............................................................172 “New Voices” Take Over the Federation ..........................................................178 The Rise of Local Unions in the ILCA ..............................................................185 A Widening Rift .................................................................................................193 Chapter 7: Analysis and Conclusions .........................................................................203 Examining the Key Debates...............................................................................207 Labor Public Relations and Journalism for the Rank and File ..........................212 Can the Labor Press Transform the Labor Movement? .....................................217 Towards a Transformative Labor Press .............................................................220 An Independent Space for Union Journalists
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