U.S. Labor-A House Divided

...The decade of the 1930s, Galenson writes, "was characterized fully as much by the rise of the Teamsters as it was by the establishment of the CIO...

...When we think of the 1930s and the labor movement, we think of the great upsurge, the spontaneous growth from below of worker organization and we think of it in terms of the birth of the CIO...

...Machinists and the Railway Clerks—to mention only a few—reaped a profit and grew in membership...

...in 1935, 135,000...

...But, as Galenson so painstakingly shows, it was more than that: "The expansion of trade unionism from 1936 to 1941 had one overriding characteristic: it extended the power of labor into new and strategic sectors of the economy...

...Also frequently ignored in the accounts of unionism in the '30s is the remarkable growth of the Teamsters—of great import for our time...

...Teamster membership in 1932 was only 82,000...

...Then he examines our major industries, devoting a chapter to each...

...Akron...

...a generation which was not only reconciled to the new status of the industrial worker, but eagerly embraced him as a member, that the long-sought peace within the labor movement was finally achieved...

...It was not until a new generation had attained power within the AFL...

...With the ascendancy of Dave Beck, James R. Hoffa, and Frank Brewster," Galenson points out, "the restraining ties with the past were broken, and a type of pure business unionism, unadulterated by any shred of even the Tobin brand of idealism, emerged...

...When the reader finishes he knows, in detail and in depth, almost all there is to know about the nature of the CIO challenge to the AFL and he has also added much to his understanding of the labor movement...

...But peace is an illusion and the struggles and divisions within organized labor continue, albeit on another plane and in another time...

...Under its spur, unions grew and flourished...

...Just prior to this period of growth union membership in manufacturing represented only a fraction of total union membership...

...Pittsburgh and Detroit henceforth became union strongholds...

...But, as Galenson so clearly demonstrates, the CIO breakaway not only freed the industrial unions but also liberated the old-line AFL unions...

...It may be that the division in the house of labor lasted too long and sapped too much energy, but the question remains: What can we learn from the past...

...While the CIO benefited most from this, the AFL also benefited, a fact often overlooked in romanticizing the rise of the CIO...

...True, the AFL that entered the 1930s was crusty, fusty and craft-ridden, as well as just plain suspicious of the appeals from rubber, auto and steel centers for organization...

...John L. Lewis "had the genius to bridge the gap between the generations, and to put his experience as an AFL organizer and AFL international union president at the disposal of the forces which were thrusting the semi-skilled industrial worker to a place in the sun alongside the craftsmen...

...For alongside the young radical idealists who infused the CIO with their glow, another youthful leadership also came to power in the unions...

...The Carpenters...

...The split—though it turned on questions of jurisdiction and autonomy within the AFL—developed out of a conflict between generations...

...The sudden spurt in organizing, especially among mass production industries...

...Between 1935 and 1941, the Teamsters experienced a rate of growth more rapid than any other major union and attained a membership of 530,-000...

...The consequences of trade unionism sans doctrines for the American labor movement have become all too evident...

...Reviewed by Tom Brooks Associate Editor, "Current" THE 1930S MARKED a time of change in America and nowhere was the change more evident than in organized labor...

...The outburst of organizing energy in the 1930s carried the unions into the centers of heavy industry...

...the protective umbrella afforded unions by the Government: and the growth in union power and status both within the industrial community and in society at large—all these flowed out of that turbulent decade into the 1940s, shaping the destiny and character of the labor movement to this day...

...And while Galenson does not specifically consider the question, his book is a good place to start the painful search for an answer...

...One of the chief indications that times had changed in the mid-'30s was the break-up of the house of labor into two hostile camps, a rift ably chronicled by Walter Galenson in The CIO Challenge to the AFL...

...Galenson shrewdly analyzes the background of the struggle in an introductory chapter...

...Nonetheless, it was the rivalry between AFL and CIO that colored the history of American labor for two decades...

...The Sam Gompers and the Dan Tobins have always been identified with business unionism, but they also represented a mixture of idealism and practicality...