Episode 9: Lessons

Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO

This final episode of Organize the Unorganized is devoted to key lessons of the CIO moment. All of the guests on this program were asked about this basic question, and we try to represent all of their answers on this episode. The negative lessons, points where guests were keen to note the differences between the 30s and the present moment, focused on the changed economic situation and the issue of labor law. The more positive lessons pertained to union democracy, overcoming divisions in the working class, mass organizing, raising expectations, and seizing the moment. Guests in order of appearance: Dorothy Sue Cobble, Professor Emerita of History and Labor Studies at Rutgers University; David Brody, Professor Emeritus of History at UC-Davis; Ruth Milkman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center; Ahmed White, Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado-Boulder; Lizabeth Cohen, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University; Robert Cherny, Professor Emeritus of History at San Francisco State University; Jeremy Brecher, Labor Historian; Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at UC-Santa Barbara; Bryan Palmer, Professor Emeritus of History at Trent University; William P. Jones, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota; Rick Halpern, Professor of American Studies at the University of Toronto; Peter Cole, Professor of History at Western Illinois University; Erik Loomis, Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island; Steve Fraser, Labor Historian Clips in order of appearance: “David Dubinsky speaks at the 25th anniversary celebration of his ILGWU presidency, Madison Square Garden, New York, 1957, Part 2,” David Dubinsky Audio-visual Recordings, Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library, https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/KCL05780-002av.html (37:32); “Walter Reuther and the UAW,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4n76yNizs8 (38:03); “A Conversation with Harry Bridges,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EFZOj7_1qI (39:31); John L. Lewis, “Industrial Democracy Speech, WEAF,” The John L. Lewis Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society (493A/39) (39:46) Songs in order of appearance: The Union Boys, “Hold the Fort,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj4tNpjr9c4 (12:33); “On the Line,” “Tom Glazer Sings Favorite American Union Songs circa 1948,” United Packinghouse, Food, and Allied Workers Records, 1937-1968, Wisconsin Historical Society (Audio 375A/78), https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;id=navbarbrowselink;cginame=findaid-idx;cc=wiarchives;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=uw-whs-mss00118;focusrgn=C02;byte=412854728 (19:07); “We Shall Not Be Moved,” The Original Talking Union and Other Unions Songs with the Almanac Singers with Pete Seeger and Chorus, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3cJ7GVoOdA (27:56); Tracy Newman, “It Could Be a Wonderful World,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-yIs5GICs8 (42:33) Theme music by Drake Tyler.