Organized Labor and the City Boss

Abstract

The expression "Keep politics out of the union and the union out of politics" indicates the minor concern with the political process that has long been considered a distinguish ing feature of the American labor movement. Political action on the part of labor picked up during the Depression years of the 1930's and the advent of the New Deal. The nonpartisan approach first employed by the American Federation of Labor has been the dominant pattern of American labor in politics. The powers exercised by political machines and political bosses had dwindled by the time organized labor got around to political action at the local level. Labor's preoccupation with strictly economic goals and its increasing concern for a better civic posture produced sufficient internal conflicts to generate in many cities an antipathy between union leaders and municipal re formers. Yet labor was frequently skeptical of alignments with existing political machines or their fragments and so failed to support these waning institutions. Labor views depended on American Federation of Labor or Congress of Industrial Organi zations affiliation in many instances, with the former more apt to line up with the political boss or his henchmen. The craft nature of the American Federation of Labor unions tied them more closely to local affairs.