Attempts to “Radicalize” the Labor Movement

Abstract

Plans for infiltrating into labor unions and converting them to radical organizations are based on a belief that labor unions can serve as effective instruments for producting social change, or upon the assumption that they are political organizations. The fraternal and political activities of labor unions are offered as proof that they are more than economic institutions for improving the position of their members. Fraternal and political activities are, however, often designed to weld the members more closely together or to facilitate other activities of the union. Moreover, a union may find that it can perform economic and social services which do not impinge upon its relations with the employer. These may be educational, recreational, and even economic activities, such as operating a co-operative store or credit union. Yet the raison d'etre of the union is its protection of the wages and working conditions of its members. Failure to recognize this simple truth has frequently led to much mischief and has sometimes compelled the trade unions to resist the efforts of their friends to impose upon them functions and activities that are alien to their nature. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)