CIO founder, John L. Lewis was certainly no champion of rank
and file democracy.  He held many if not most of the UMWA districts
in provisional status for years with members even denied the right to vote for their leaders. (I think autonomy was restored to Illinois District 12 in the 1970's)

No doubt the UMWA's treasury played a very important role
in the formation of the CIO, but some scholars have argued
that some new labor formation would have emerged with or
without Lewis' muscle, and that his leadership along the Wagner
Act ultimately undermined rank and file democracy in the long
run.

Greg Boozell
gboozell@juno.com



-- Carrol Cox <cbcox@ilstu.edu> wrote:
>The CIO did not come out of nowhere; it emerged from elements within the
>AFL.