Making the World Safe for Workers
Subtitle: Labor, the Left, and Wilsonian Internationalism
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9780252037870
Subjects: United states, foreign relations, 1913-1921; Wilson, woodrow, 1856-1924; Labor movement, united states; Labor unions, political activity; Labor unions, united states; Labor, united states
Description: In this intellectually ambitious study, Elizabeth McKillen explores the significance of Wilsonian internationalism for workers and the influence of American labor in both shaping and undermining the foreign policies and war mobilization efforts of Woodrow Wilson's administration. During his presidency, Wilson contended with strong anti-imperialist and antiwar currents that coursed through the U.S. labor movement as well as revolutionary upheavals and labor unrest abroad that undermined his diplomatic initiatives. McKillen highlights the major fault lines that emerged within labor circles as Wilson pursued his agenda in the context of Mexican and European revolutions, World War I, and the Versailles Peace Conference. McKillen's spotlight falls particularly on the American Federation of Labor, whose leadership collaborated extensively with Wilson, assisting with propaganda, policy, and diplomacy.^

AFL founder Samuel Gompers eventually served as an advisor to the Wilson administration at Versailles and played a leading role in shaping the peace treaty's labor provisions and constructing the International Labor Organization. At the same time, McKillen asserts, other labor groups (and even sub-groups within the AFL) vehemently opposed Wilsonian internationalism. Abroad, the Wilsonian vision faced challenges from both European labor moderates and communists. Among U.S. groups, particularly effective opposition came from the U.S. Socialist Party, which framed the debate over democratic control of industry as an anti-war and anti-imperialist issue. Irish Americans and German Americans, spurred by European labor leaders and seeking support for revolution in their homelands, also joined sides against Wilson, as did the IWW and left-leaning African American and women workers.^

Even as the AFL leadership toiled on Wilson's behalf, a shifting coterie of these oppositional groups mounted sophisticated critiques. They deconstructed propaganda, staged strikes, and built surprising political alliances; ultimately, they undermined Wilson's agenda to the point that he was unable to realize some of his dearest international ambitions. As McKillen shows, the choice to collaborate with or resist U.S. foreign policy remained an important one for labor throughout the twentieth century. In fact, it continues to resonate today in debates over the global economy, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the impact of U.S. policies on workers at home and abroad --