Unions and Democracy: Replies to Steve Fraser

Steve Fraser has been a prime mover in rallying active public support for the labor movement among independent liberal intellectuals, that is, those who are not bound to unions by financial or organizational ties and are free to speak their minds. He took the lead in assembling the forty-one eminent authors, scholars, and educators who in 1995 called for “rebuilding the labor-intellectual alliance.” The declaration inspired more than a thousand enthusiasts to attend a “teach-in” on labor at Columbia University in 1996, which was followed by similar gatherings in other universities. The group Fraser gathered has now become a full-fledged organization: Scholars, Artists, and Writers for Social Justice (SAWSJ). For all this he deserves a full measure of credit; there’s been nothing like it for decades.

These events are of exceptional significance—symbolic and practical—to our labor movement. Union activists find it heartening when even so mild a turn effected by Jo...