The Brothers Reuther and The Story of The UAW: A Memoir by
Victor G. Reuther
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
Next to our pictures contrasting tin-and-tarpaper shacks with Grosse Pointe mansions, under a caption from Goldsmith "Where wealth accumulates and men decay" - we commented on the "homes that a dying social order is providing for its unemployed workers ..."
These unemployed workers had made dugouts along the railroad tracks in the Detroit city dump, using discarded dump truck bodies for shelter, lard cans for stoves, rags and newspapers for beds. We nut pictures of these "houses" next to pictures of the Dodge estate mate
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The other, less rosy side of the international labor story reflects a sad image of some of our countrymen during the decades between World War II and the seventies. The revelations of the Nixon scan-dal even now continue to cast light on some of the more melodra-matic domestic and foreign adventures. Among these are the extended CIA operations, some of which, under the guise of international trade union work, brought corruption and shame, weakness and betrayal to the cause of international labor solidarity.
Soon after I accepted the European directorship in behalf of National CIO (before the merger with AFL) I became aware of a suspicion, pervading European labor and political circles, that some of those acting in the name of U.S. labor were spending money far beyond what normal trade unions would have had available at that time. The activities of the AFL's Irving Brown were especially mis-trusted; it was thought that he was receiving incredibly large funds from some U.S. Government source in an effort to get European trade unions in his pocket and to dictate the foreign policy of both European and African countries. In plainer words, the hysterical fear of Communism that produced McCarthyism in America was being spread, by means of CIA money, first by the AFL and later by the AFL-CIO under Meany's autocratic rule.
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...List of books 1930
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Hoovervilles prostitutes
Our frontispiece included a small parody of the opening of the Gettysburg Address:
Fourscore and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new economic system, conceived of the policies of "laissez faire" and dedicated to the proposition that private profit is the sole incentive to progress. Now we are engaged in a great economic struggle, testing whether this nation or any nation so deceived and so dedicated to rugged individualism can long endure.
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This is one of the memoirs of this era that points out there was a Communist and non-Communist Left, generally at war with each other.
"Exposure, not repression, must be our goal. We must get the Communists out of the political back alleys and walk them up Main Street in the full light of informed opinion." It took five years to break their power in the Ford Local 600, mainly because Walter would not use the autocratic methods John L. Lewis had used in dealing with Communist infiltration of his mine workers. The democratic process required time-consuming efforts to educate the rank and file, but that is what Walter preferred.
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John F. Kennedy's election increased the growth of hate crusades and he became the object of systematic vilification, reminiscent of the attacks on Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the world of the right wing, Kennedy had against him his youthful charisma, his wealth, intelligence, New England and Harvard background, his religion, his wife, brothers, advisers, his support of the blacks, his refusal to drop the bomb. He sounded a rational note on the subject of hate-mongers in a speech in the fall of 1961:
In critical periods there have always been those on the fringes of our society who have sought to escape their own responsibility by finding a simple solution, an appealing slogan or a convenient scapegoat They look suspiciously at their neighbors and their leader. They call for a "man on horseback" because they do not trust the people. They find treason in our churches, in our highest court. .. They equate the Democratic Party with the welfare state, the welfare state with Socialism, Socialism with Communism Let our patriotism be reflected in the creation of confidence in one another, rather than in crusades of suspicion - above all, let us remember, however serious the outlook, how-ever harsh the task, the one great irreversible trend in the history of the world is on the side of liberty.
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International
https://www.nytimes.com/1961/06/10/ar...Experts' Mission Specified
By Damon Stetson Special To the New York Times.
June 10, 1961
"...fund-raising activities are continuing under the direction of Mrs. Roosevelt, Walter P. Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers (A. F. L.-C. I. O.)..."
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D. Memo to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy: Prepared by Victor G. Reuther, Walter P. Reuther, and Joseph L. Rauh, Jr.
THE RADICAL RIGHT IN AMERICA TODAY
President Kennedy's addresses in Seattle and Los Angeles on November 16 and 18 evidenced both a deep concern with, and a profound understanding of, the serious problems injected into American life by the growing strength of the radical right. A spate of articles in responsible newspapers and peri-odicals reflect this same concern and understanding. Perhaps therefore this memorandum will prove but a repetition and restatement of suggestions al-ready under consideration by the Administration. Since, however, the pub-lic discussion to date concerning the radical right has produced little in the line of suggested policies and programs for dealing with the serious prob-lems raised, this memorandum may have some value in focusing attention upon possible Administration policies and programs to combat the radical right.
Initially, it needs to be said that far more is required in the struggle against the radical right than simply calling attention to present and potential dangers. If the Administration truly recognizes this as a serious problem, as it certainly appears to do, it is most important that President Kennedy's addresses in Seattle and Los Angeles be implemented. Speeches without action may well only mobilize the radical right instead of mobilizing the democratic forces within our nation. It is with this consideration in view that there is set forth below an estimate of the extent of the problem and suggested Ad-ministration policies and programs for dealing with the problem.
EXTENT OF PROBLEM
The radical right or extreme right-wing, or however it may be designated, includes an unknown number of millions of Americans of viewpoints bounded on the left by Senator Goldwater and on the right by Robert Welch. The active component of these radical right millions would, of course, be only a small fraction of the total.
...stronger and are almost certainly better organized than at any time in recent history. ...
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