Labor's Struggles, 1945–1950
A Participant's View

This book skillfully combines autobiography and scholarly analysis to present original insights into this period of labour history.

Irving Richter (Author), David Montgomery (Foreword by)

9780521533263, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 February 2003

176 pages, 13 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.269 kg

"Richter's book points to issues that scholars have just begun to wrestle with: the relationship between labor and the state and the role of labor law in American society. From his privileged position as a UAW senior staffer he offers us a unique vantage point to the internal warfare within the UAW and CIO and a starting point for future research." Richard A. Greenwald, Labor History

Neither an autobiography nor a scholarly analysis, Labor's Struggles, 1945–1950: A Participant's View is a skilful blend of both genres. Informative and original in its insights and analyses, this book provides the reader with information available from no other source. These insights must be included in any subsequent efforts to interpret this period in labour history. Richter based this account largely on his own experience as legislative representative for the United Auto Workers - C.I.O. from 1943 to 1947, as well as on documents and conversations from that period, supplemented with historical research. This study of policy making in union headquarters and in Washington focuses on the 1945 splits within the C.I.O. as well as the sharp divisions between the 'social' C.I.O. and the 'opportunistic' A.F.L. In addition, it focuses on the Labour Management (Taft-Hartley) Act of 1947 which divided an already fragmented movement.

Introduction and acknowledgments
Labour's fragmentation and the industrial relations context in 1945
Searching for coexistence: the management labour charter and the labour management conference
The great strike wave of 1946 and its political consequences
The Taft-Hartley legislative scene
The aftermath of Taft-Hartley
Postlude
Appendix: The Labour Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act of 1947
Illustrations.

Subject Areas: Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3]