Not to do so would reduce labor to an insignificant player in the great struggles that are reshaping the political and economic direction of our country. Aware of this, the labor movement is changing to meet the new challenges as the century comes to a close. More and more, our nation's working people are confronting problems that are altogether new to them with militancy, courage and creative tactics. Of course, there are some hitches and unevenness in labor's revitalization process. Cold War residue lingers in the thinking of some trade unionists.
Class collaboration has a hold on fewer, but still too many labor leaders.
Anti-Communism surfaces once in a great while. And even some good leaders, accustomed to the old way of doing things, find it difficult to fight in a new way. But the main and dominant trend is that millions of trade unionists are ready to fight, to unite, to put their jobs on the line, to stay out one day longer than the boss, to dump the ultraright. In fact, not since the early period of the CIO have we seen such bitter and militant clashes between the working class and its class enemies. It is not just one battle, but a whole series of battles.