American Labor and the Catholic Church, 1919-1950

Abstract

Thirty years ago political scientist Marc Karson proposed that the features which most obviously distinguish the American labor movement from its Euro pean counterparts?the weakness of socialist ideas and the refusal of trade unions to support a labor party?can in considerable part be explained by the influence of the Catholic Church on trade unionists. Karson was concerned with the years 1900 to 1918, when advocates of a party dedicated to the pursuit of socialism conquered the British labor movement. During that period, Karson showed, American church leaders not only denounced socialism, but organized a committee of Catholic trade unionists to combat the doctrine. Churchmen openly threatened to pull their pa rishioners out of the American Federation of Labor if ever succumbed to the so cialist temptation?an awesome threat if could be realized, since roughly half the membership of A.F. of L. unions consisted of Catholics. Clerical pressure, Karson maintained, strengthened the hand of conservative A.F. of L. leaders like Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell, Frank Morrison, and Matthew Woll, all of whom enjoyed good relations with Peter Dietz of Ohio, the priest who led the fed eration's Catholic bloc. As Florence Thorne, Gomper's long-time assistant, told Karson in 1948, the reason American labor never divided into Catholic and social ist or communist wings, like continental European labor movements, was that an tisocialist agitation made the American Federation of Labor safe for Catholicism.1 Karson had his finger on something, but his argument and evidence were deeply flawed. Although Karson's thesis was intended to prove a comparative point, he did not reply to the obvious objection about the progress of socialism and communism in Catholic lands like France and Italy, other than to remark that it may be . . . that those countries would today be completely Socialist or Com munist had the Catholic Church not worked resolutely against that develop ment.2 Karson similarly overlooked the positive side of the church's labor activ ity: its urban missions, its charities, its support for minimum-wage legislation (like