Yes, there is also a book by Roger Keeran, _The Communist Party and the Auto Unions_ (I can't remember the exact title). Thomas , whom I think was the first UAW president, was a comrade.
Actually, I have talked to quite a few of the of the old timers here in Detroit. I used to be in a club with some, so the conversations were real comradely. Do you know Jack White Dave Moore or Carl Winter ? Did you ever hear of Phil Raymond ? Ford Hunger March ? There is no doubt that Communists were prominent and important in founding the UAW and leading it until the Reuther purged. I got my information on Reuther and the UAW leadership, Sitdown strike and following from old timers, every bit as ancient and verbal as your sources. They confirm what the southern teacher said. Also, Maurice Sugar, a Marxist, was the first general counsel of the UAW. Reuther purged us from the UAW after we were very much a part of the founding of the union. (You probably know that Gus Hall was a leader in founding the USWA). Another example Local 600 Ford Rouge Plant was communist led and Reuther purged it. Dave Moore was one of the leaders purged. Can't get it anymore staight from the horse's mouth than that.
In general, since the UAW led the CIO, this also led to a purge of the left led other unions. A good book on this is _The Cold War Against Labor_ by Ann Fagan Ginger.
Union % of workforce has dropped from 33% to current disaster approximately from the time that Reuther led purge of communists and lefts and replaced class struggle approach with class collaboration.
The union movement will never recover until it renounces Reutherism, i.e. opportunism.
In solidarity,
Charles
>>> Tom Lehman <uswa12 at lorainccc.edu> 08/03 1:20 PM >>>
Dear Charles,
A year or so ago an educator at a southern school wrote a big book about
Walter Reuther. In the book he went on and on about how Reuther's main
rival for leadership of the UAW was a "communist". Well, I did a little
research including making inquiries of some of my ancient and highly
reliable resources. A couple of the responses I got were,"that's news
to us" and "we didn't know that." So don't believe everything you read
in books.
Personally, I am sympathetic to Reuther, although his critiscism of others was in most cases somthing like " the pot calling the kettle black", and this probably did more damage and turned more people off than anything else to participation in the labor movement and the old CIO.
I would encourage you to talk to some of the old timers in a gentle and non-threatening way and you will come to the conclusion that the era should be called the era of the "BLOWHARD". Sincerely, Tom
Charles Brown wrote:
> Tom,
>
> Thanks for the reference. However,
> didn't the percentage of unionized work
> force begin to decline way before 1979 ,
> like about in 1950 or '55 when McCarthyism
> and Reutherism came to prevail ?
>
> Repeal Taft-Hartley !
>
> Charles Brown
>
> >>> Tom Lehman <uswa12 at lorainccc.edu> 08/03 11:28 AM >>>
> Dear Doug and the Left Business Observers,
>
> Here is the story in a nutshell, and, how it relates to some of the
> questions we have been talking about.
>
> Thanks, to the USWA Rapid Response team!
> Sincerely and Fraternally,
> Tom
>
> http://www.uswa.org/rapid/lawreformus.html