State of the Union: A Century of American Labor

Abstract

State of Union: A Century of American Labor. By Nelson Lichtenstein. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002. Pp. ix, 337. Preface, acknowledgments, introduction, notes, index. $29.95.) Nelson Lichtenstein's latest book is both a history of American labor movement over past seventy years and a plea for its revival. Lichtenstein, who teaches in history department at University of California at Santa Barbara, is probably leading New Left historian studying American labor since 1930s. State of Union is a work of synthesis that is most interesting for what it says about how New Left scholarship on American labor has evolved over past three decades. Lichtenstein makes clear in his book's introduction that, rather than a history of American workers in general, he has written a study of labor unions and their relationship to what reformers used to call the labor question. State of Union s first two chapters trace upsurge in American unions during Great Depression and World War II. Lichtenstein explains very clearly various rationales New Dealers developed to support expansion of trade unionism, such as need to increase consumer purchasing power, promote employment (and thus economic) security, and provide a measure of democracy in modern workplace. This was logic behind creation of National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act of 1935, which gave American unions strong legal protections for first time. Unlike other New Left scholars, such as Thomas Ferguson and Colin Gordon, Lichtenstein gives most of credit for Wagner Act's passage to New Deal liberals and more radical leftists, not enlightened employers and financiers. Lichtenstein is quick to point out that worker militancy, not laws, were most important reason why unions grew during mid-1930s. His account differs somewhat from older ones by emphasizing that split between American Federation of Labor (AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) grew out of differing attitudes toward new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, and not just question of craft versus industrial organization. The CIO's leaders and organizers were more open to recruiting members from recently arrived immigrant groups, Lichtenstein argues, than trade unionists of northern European ancestry who dominated AFL. Lichtenstein's account of labor's rise also differs from New Left orthodoxy by recognizing important contributions made by Democratic governors in major industrial states and Roosevelt administration. …