Evening star., 1939-01-08
AMERICAN LABOR. BY Herbert
Y1o,.rje vo1o IIpiyorcitv Drocc

AMERICAN LABOR. BY Herbert
Harris. Yale University Press.
."If today you put the question,
What is unionism?' the answer
you get is usually blended of pas
sion, prejudice and platitude in more
or less equal parts"
Herbert Harris thus introduces
what his publishers have labeled q
complete and authoritative single
volume history of American labor
from Colonial times to the present
moment" Failing short Of COM
pleteness in its treatment of vitality
important contemporary develop
ments, the volume Is sufficiently
authoritative to make it worthwhile
reading for those who seek some
answer other than passion, preju-
dice and platitude" to this vexing
question of what lies behind the
convulsions of the American labor
movement.
This does not mean, however,
that passion and prejudice are miss
ing from Mr.. Harris work, for as
he and all students. of the labor
problem know these are elements
deeply and unfortunately embedded
in the problem itself. In other
words, they are part of his story,
but not descriptive of 1t.
Displaying in the early chapters
the best of his ability to assemble
and weigh the influences which are
rooted in the state of strife between
labor and management, Mr.. Harris
finds in the appearance of the mer-
chant capitalist, forerunner of to-
days middleman, and his operation
of buying cheaply and selling dearly
the human force largely responsible
for initiating the continuing effort
to keep labor at bargain prices.
And out of this original "oppres-
sion" came Americas first union,
the Federal Society of Journeymen
Cordwainers (shoemakers), the first
strike. the first victory for labor,
and then the first instance of the
long, long line of anti-labor court
decisions, all of this at about the
turn of the 18th century. 80
From then on manifestations of
labor unity were frequent. Signifi-
cantly enough, perhaps, it is made
clear by Mr.. Harris that much of
this early unionism was mixed with
social and political causes just as
is part at least of our labor move
ment today. And in this early in
termingling of causes labor did not
always benefit.
In 1869 came the real forerunner
of a national labor movement in
the formation of the knights of
Labor, developed largely on the
same theory of industrial organiza-
tion as now inspires the c. I. o.
The eventual dissolution of the
knights, after some really notable
attainments, Mr.. Harris blames
upon the ineptitude of its leader
ship. In so doing he shows an ap-
parent sympathy for vertical union
ization which he carries over to his
discussion Of today's conflict be-
tween the c. I. o. and the A. F.
of L.
In moving through these forma-
tive years of labor's growth the
author takes occasion to unfold
again some of the reprehensible tao
tics found on all sides-the Short
sighted labor antagonism of the
daily press. the brutality of Gov
eminent agencies such as municipal
and State police, the recourse to
espionage and strike-breaking by
armies of private detectives, many
of whom were criminals in their own
right; abuses in the courts, the
appearance in 1902 of the first of the
inspired citizens committees" and
labor's complement to all of this by
Its own heavy-handed methods of
grating and double e-crossing among
some of its leadership and its own
recourse to violence through such a
group as the Molly Maguires, who
planned murder with a prayer
Mr.. Harris reaches the contelnpo-
fary story of labor by way of the
United Mine Workers, to whose pres
ent leadership he largely ascribes
two major developments in labor
viewpoint, namely, consciousness
Of the Importance of an industry's
economy in considering its poten-
tialities from labor's standpoint and
a further consciousness that Gov
ernment could be valued and pow
erful ally of labor.
The author takes no precise posi-
tion in support of the c. I. o. as
against the A. F. of L., but he does
refer on several occasions to the
Federations failure, either through
lethargy or jurisdictional jealousies,
to make any material progress to-
ward organizing the millions of
mass-production workers, the failure
which led directly to creation of the
c. I. o.
Rejecting the latter day develop
ments by discussing only few
selected industries and unions, he is
further critical of the A. F.. of L.
creed of craft unionism IN his
chapter on the United Brotherhood
OF Carpenters and Joiners and their
longtime "monopolistic" dominance
OF the building trades.
AS others have done, Mr.. Harris
commends the constructive unionism
OF those two giants of the needle
trades, the International Ladies
Garment Workers and the Anal
gamated Clothing Workers, his dis
cussion of the latter being tied into
an understanding analysis of the
troubled textile labor picture.
A particularly good chapter on
the railroad unions is included and
others deal with the Newspaper
Guild and the United Automobile
Workers.
Strangely enough there is no chap
ter o. even adequate reference to
labor's history in steel. Under the
circumstances that this was one of
the most dramatic and far-reaching
victories for the labor movement