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Labor's Untold Story: The Adventure Story of the Battles, Betrayals and Victories of American Working Men and Women

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The plans of John D. Rockefeller had more to do with the course of American Labor history than those of Samuel Gompers. This is the main premise of Labor's Untold Story, an economic history of America from Labor's viewpoint. Covering the years from 1860 to 1955, when it was published by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union, it presents a fast-paced narrative, skillfully weaving stories in a highly readable and entertaining format. United Electrical was and is a progressive union, in the lead for workers rights. This union has suffered for its advocacy of the worker. It still exists and has a membership of about 35,000 workers in occupations ranging from highway toll-takers to graduate student assistants.

Labor's actions have been determined, in the long view of history, not so much by the actions of Labor leaders but Labor's adversaries. Boyer and Morais maintain that Labor has reacted to employers rather than the opposite. Division and destruction of Labor occurred primarily through actions of employers and the government. Multitudes of people have sacrificed their livelihoods, families, and even their lives to further the cause of Labor, with mixed and halting progress. Labor's Untold Story tells us that Business' exploitation of employees causes depression and other economic upheaval, and makes a convincing case.

As a beginning example the "Molly McGuires" of the Pennsylvania coal mining region will do nicely. For starters, historians agree that no group called the Molly McGuires existed in that area in 1873. This was fabricated for publicity purposes by the mine owner, Franklin B. Gowen. He originally recognized the union in the belief that a strike would help to create a coal shortage and push up the price. He used the Molly McGuire myth, along with $100,000, to persuade Pinkertons to come in and help infiltrate this alleged secret organization that was plotting such harm to mineowners. When Gowen cut the miners' wages below the contract level, they struck. The miners and their families were starved, hunted, ambushed and some killed by a vigilante group sponsored by the president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. After six months of hunger and bloodshed they went back to work, defeated. The union was destroyed, and those who had led the strike were blacklisted (not allowed to work in the coal mining industry). Six Irishmen and the men they led in the Ancient Order of the Hibernians were determined to rebuild the union and restore miners' wages. Gowen decided that no action was unjustified in getting rid of these troublemakers. He paid two informants who swore that the Irishmen had freely confessed to many murders in their presence. The first trial featured Gowen, the mine owner, as the special prosecutor. The man who actually committed the crime with which these Irishmen were charged testified against them and won his freedom. Nineteen men were convicted and hanged. The last two men were hanged in a rush so the governor's pardon would not reach them in time to save their lives.

Ethnic conflict, a primary tool of Big Business to set workers against one another, is surpassed in its effectiveness by the Red Scare tactic. "Calling red" has worked for over 100 years. Union organizers and sympathizers, oppressed workers, regardless of the desperate conditions they tried to alleviate, became ineffective once identified as Socialists or Communists. The opposition's definition of Socialism or Communism was often wildly inaccurate. It made no difference whether the charge was true; it still worked to cripple Labor action.

Chapter 10, titled Victory, outlines the rise and fall of the Committee for Industrial Organization, the CIO. The first action of the CIO occurred against the Firestone Tire Plant #1 in Akron, Ohio, on January 29, 1936, where the workers had been subjected to speedup. They stayed in the plant for three days, and won their battle. The speed-up decreased, and the base rate of pay increased. Workers everywhere, exhilarated by the success of Firestone workers began to sit down, and joined the CIO. Within six months, the CIO had 2,000,000 members. "Top AFL Leaders warned workers that the CIO was a Communistic plot but they continued flocking in, unimpressed. Although the formal charge made by the AFL against the CIO was dual unionism and refusal to abide by majority rule, its leaders never tired in associating the new organization with Moscow." In August 1938, President of AFL Metal Trades Department John Frey told the Dies un-American Activities Committee that the CIO was Communist dominated. "This testimony marked the beginning of the a government sponsored blacklist, inaugurating in recent times the Business use of government to destroy Labor via the red scare".

The strength of the CIO was its left-and-center (political) coalition. Philip Murray, the leader of the CIO after Lewis' departure in 1940, was subjected to extreme pressure from Big Business for several years that finally broke him and the CIO. He declared that all member unions had to support the policies and vote for the candidates that the Executive Council approved. Allegedly, patriotism demanded the expulsion of the left unions. This split member unions away from the CIO, undermining its successful policy of unity in the face of external pressures and politics. The United Electrical Workers, Fur and Leather Workers, Mine Mill and Smelter Workers who had been the pace-setters in raising wage scales and winning conditions were expelled from the CIO on October 31, 1949. Labor's Untold Story, ending in 1955, does not look at possible solutions to the way business is financed in western society. If the stockholders are the tail wagging the dog, should be we looking for some other means of capitalizing business?

Labor's Untold Story is remarkable in its ability to recast economic history from the working person's viewpoint. The traditional press does not encourage us to think about what happens in our daily work lives that lessens our dignity as workers and decreases our ability to support our families. Many stories in this book are shocking and heartrending. The authors worked from primary sources and what they judge as credible secondary sources. The book has the ring of veracity. It would be of interest to check other interpretations of the incidents cited in this book to see how others have analyzed them.

This is a gripping, eye-opening, well-documented account of the American labor movement from its beginnings through to the mid-1950s. It brings alive the great figures and achievements of working class struggle that have been distorted by or excised from mainstream histories. Highly recommended for anyone who has read "A People's History of the United States" and wants to know more.

Sadly, the book pussyfoots around the important role of communists in the labor movement, and almost totally erases the contributions of anarchists-- mentioning Sacco and Vanzetti's political convictions only in passing, and completely eliding the fact that Albert Parsons and other Haymarket martyrs were anarchists. Also, it ends on a rather pat and rosy note of hope that the then (1955) newly-formed AFL-CIO would rally American labor to even greater achievements. Thus it offers few lessons for the routed, coopted labor movement of today. Important conclusions about internal democracy and autonomy that could have been drawn from labor's defeat are left to readers to draw for themselves.

One more thing--
Notice that those reviewers who paint this book as 'biased' don't actually attempt to refute any of the factual matter Boyer and Morais bring to light. Having a point of view is no crime, in fact it clarifies debate to state your allegiances and conviction in the open, as the authors do. Attempting to conceal bias behind a facade of objectivity, as mainstream textbooks and news sources do, is what ought to be called into question.

The right-wing reviewers who gave this book a one star, did not read this book. This is REAL history about working Americans and our struggles for economic justice. Just like today, (Enron, Worldcom should ring a bell) there were ruthless,greedy corporations who treated their employees like slaves. "Labor's Untold Story" is a must for union activists, anti-globalization protestors and other independent thinkers who want to get the true stories of labor's past battles.

This book tells more about the people and the struggles of labor than most labor histories. The authors shed light on the subtle and not so subtle differences between te different unions. This book is well documented and footnoted. It describes business and government attempts to destroy labor with thoroughly documented sources. The book also shows how some labor leaders sold out the movement. This is a must read book for anyone who wants to know more about labor history

Authentic people's history to the core, Boyer and Morais' Labor's Untold Story covers all the gritty drama and history that shaped the world for working people throughout the United States. The exciting and neglected story of working people and their struggles for humane conditions and a living wage is vividly documented in this outstanding work. Any book that starts out with this gem of a Lincoln quote: "Outside the family, the strongest bond of human sympathy should be one uniting all working people of all nations, tongues and kindreds" is certain to be great.

It does a fantastic job of documenting myriad instances of police violence towards striking and locked-out workers. Beginning with the historic Haymarket affair in Chicago where cops instigated a riot during a worker's demonstration and wound up jailing early heroes of the American labor movement who were eventually executed on trumped up charges; Labor's Untold Story goes on to explain the role of the International Workers of the World and Big Bill Haywood, all women and men worthy of emulation. Their struggle for simple free speech rights is told and the Wobblies and Eugene Debs are chronicled in vivid detail. Boyer and Morais put together a sensational description of the Great Depression explaining the causes such as over production combined with poor wages for the masses, and the everyday conditions for the working populace.

Probably the finest chapter deals with the Flint Sit-Down strike of the 1930s. The impetus for the debilitating yet exhilarating strike being the speed-ups dictated by management which literally led to death for many workers as they slumped over the production lines in exhaustion. Another interesting fact pointed out in Labor's Untold Story is the National Association of Manufacturers admiration for Hitler. NAM, that reactionary group of rightwing business boyz, certainly did have some fascistic tendencies in common with Nazism according to Boyer and Morais. Lastly the rise of the more radical and worker friendly CIO is documented with a keen eye for detail and the Taft-Hartley Act, which essentially destroyed labor rights in the United States, is explained including the fact that it was virtually written by the business men who had been screaming like spoiled toddlers for its implementation since the Wagner Act.

Labor's Untold Story is a welcome history book, one stocked full of fascinating stories that every American worker should have some familiarity with. It's the definitive account of what got American workers the modicum of working benefits many of them now take for granted. Much of this book should have been turned into a wonderful film years ago, but of course corporate owned studios generally stay as far away as possible from true labor history. That's not to discount the few independent studios that have put together fine films about some of these topics on shoestring budget.

It should be noted that this book recently came out in a new edition, the cover art portrays an intriguing historical photo documenting a gang of cops beating one worker.

With a smooth, fluid style the writers reveal the roots and fruit of labor struggle over a period of 100 years. Some may try to criticize this book as being written from a left wing perspective. However, that argument quickly loses any meaning when you consider that concepts like participatory democracy and human/labor rights are inherently liberal/left wing concepts. All of that aside this is a fascinating book that not only is brave enough to look at controversial figures, but balanced enough to also provide criticisms where they are due. Overall the most important aspect of this book is in returning proper perspective to understand the labor struggle in its rightful place as a radical, progressive, people's movement.

The authors were clearly on the side of labor, however, I felt that their opinions were well backed with facts and references. The writing style was such that the book was exciting and involving. Much more than a history book, it makes you a part of the action. A must-read for anyone interested in the labor side of the labor movement in the United States.

This is the other side of U.S. history not covered in mainstream textbooks: a people's history. Very readable, it will probably make you angry that you were never taught this history in school. It will probably make you angry that so few people know or remember this history that it is never discussed. Or it will make you angry, if your politics are right-wing, that this book makes labor history available to anyone who likes to read fascinating, real, and previously hidden accounts of civil conflict in our nation throughout the age of industry.

This is a must-read for anyone who wants to know where the modern labor laws and labor unions come from. It depicts in stark detail the criminal acts against American working people that do not show up in many textbooks.

This book is a corrective to conventional histories of America that often fail to give due attention to the long struggle that led to improvement in the condition of working people in America. When I first read it I was drawn in by the opening chapter, in which the authors describe how Southern pro-slavery writers linked abolition to miscegenation, free love and communism, and how the South hoped to introduce slavery into the north and the territories. The authors point out that slave labor was one of the obstacles to the progress of free laborers. One of the most important themes of this book is that the issues of race and of commumism have been used to divide workers and prevent them from organizing. The book was co-written by an historian and an attorney for the United Electrical Workers (UEW), which was broken up by the federal government because of alleged communist influence. The writers are not afraid of the issue of socialism and communism and accuse the government of thought control, referring to laws that were passed in the 1950's against communist influence in labor unions (and in every area of political life). I have seen criticisms of this work which claim that it is biased and inaccurate, siding in many matters of historical controversy, such as the Sacco-Vanzetti case, the Molly Maguires, and the Haymarket bombings, with the labor point of view and ignoring contrary evidence. In fact it is lively and stimulating reading, and does illuminate parts of our history that aren't much written of. I think its historical accuracy holds up pretty well. Our political life has been in a sense neutered, since the 1950's, by the insistence of the government on driving the very mention of socialism from the realms of political respectability. We are the poorer for this. I recommend this book and I. F. Stone's The Haunted Fifties and a Glance at the Startling Sixties to those who really want a good account of a dissenting view, one that has nearly vanished from public discourse.