What Can We Expect From The Unions?

Historically, it has been a basic premise for socialists that because the trade union constituency is composed of workers, unions must play a progressive role in society. This assumption was rarely challenged, especially since unions for many years did exercise their power in ways that benefited masses of people who had no other spokesmen. American radicals have always dreamed of the role unions might perform in our society. Even today, men with a deep commitment to basic social change believe that the civil rights movement, for example, must depend on an alliance with the trade unions in order to succeed. But with rare exceptions, the vision of the union role has always remained only that. Throughout their history, American unions have ...