Organized labor and imperial policy

Abstract

For some time now, liberal and radical critics of the AFL-CIO have condemned labor's foreign policy. The federation's rigid anti-communism, its interference in labor affairs abroad, its support of conservative and authoritarian foreign governments (as in Brazil and Vietnam), the assistance which it received in the past from the CIA, the unsavory alliance which it is claimed to have formed with the United States government and American business firms (particularly in underdeveloped nations), its quarrel with the International Labor Organization (ILO), its withdrawal from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and its unyielding approval of America's intervention in Vietnam are specific actions which the critics say demonstrate the conservative and even reactionary character of the AFL-CIO foreign policy. The reaction of the Executive Council of the AFLCIO to President Nixon's China policy illustrates this continuing posture. The chief decision-making body of the 13.5 million-member labor federation in a vote of 24 to four advised the president to reexamine his position. The head of the AFL-CIO, George Meany, characteristically went further and suggested the dangers involved in Nixon's planned visit to China could result in another Munich. He reminded the president that during the 1930s the League of Nations "abandoned its principles and sacrificed Ethiopia and gave support to the fascist Mussolini and his friend Hitler." How did it come about that the strongest and largest labor organization in America has followed a consistently conservative foreign policy? Who makes that policy, how representative of the rank and file are the views and actions of the leadership, and how effective is labor in achieving its aims overseas? Finally, to what extent does the foreign policy which labor spokesmen articulate contradict the interests and needs of the American working class? The centrality of foreign policy to American society today is obvious. In virtually every significant respect domestic and foreign concerns are closely related--as the current economic crisis illustrates. American workers are very much affected by and involved in those concerns as they touch their personal lives. At the outset, it is important to establish a proper perspective. Unions, both affiliated and non-affiliated with the AFL-CIO, represent about a fourth of the total work force in this country. At no time have more than about a third of the workers outside agriculture been organized and for much of our history those enrolled in unions totaled less than 10 percent. The bulk of union membership consists of manual workers engaged in manufacturing, mining, construction and transportation. Large numbers of blacks, other racial minorities and women have, however, remained outside the ranks of organized labor. Even so, like most groups in America, it is not sheer numbers alone which determine power or influence. More important are the quality of organization, the location of the particular organizations within the structure of the society and the ability of such groups to maximize pressure at crucial times and in critical places. The building trades, the teamsters, the unions of the mass production and mining industries, railroad labor and those unions engaged in defense production have been the powerhouses of American labor. And service employees and government workers are gaining a strong voice. These organizations influence decision making in the United States. Since most of these unions are affiliated with the AFL-CIO, it has been that organization's leaders who have commanded