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TechnoratiLabor Day can seem like a holiday that belongs to another era. That is not because the trade union movement is no longer relevant, nor does the impulse to honor work and workers ever lose its importance. But the word "labor" once defined an entire culture, with its "names, battle slogans, and costumes," in Karl Marx's phrase. Where did it go? The labor movement had its symbols, from politically charged clothing to badges to the holidays in May and September; its structures, from picket lines to unions to worker-owned insurance companies; its rhetoric, from the manifestos of agitators to the leaflets of organizers to the songs of Woody Guthrie; its ethic, defined as solidarity.
Millions continue to hold membership in unions, which continue to protect the rights of workers, but the triumph of the labor movement consisted in its becoming a feature of a social landscape that is taken for granted. It was nifty when workers' apparel - blue jeans - and equipment - pick-up trucks - became items of upper class fashion, but the shallow victory implied a substantial defeat. Labor stopped being a force for political change, much less for social justice. What happened?
The 19th-century dream of a workers' vanguard leading to a better world was both betrayed and realized, and in each case, labor was undercut. The betrayal occurred when tyrants, in advancing the cause of "the people," actually advanced themselves. The "dictatorship of the proletariat" turned out to be mere dictatorship. Yet the discrediting of the vision of Karl Marx by the 20th-century communisms that claimed him does not vitiate the original vision. Echoing what Mahatma Gandhi once said of Christianity, Marxism has yet to be really tried.
The realization of the workers' dream occurred, across the same decades of the 20th century, when regulated capitalism made its adjustments, and a vast population of working people was able to lay solid claim to the middle class. But affluence had an inherently co-opting effect, as was powerfully displayed during the American civil rights movement, when the labor virtue of solidarity was trumped by racism, and union members mostly found themselves on the wrong side of history. The curious phenomenon of "Reagan Democrats" saw workers recruited into a reactionary political movement that undercuts their own interests.
Meanwhile, the human significance of work was undergoing a massive cultural mutation, as traditional industry gave way to high technology, skill to mechanization, manufacturing to information, and economic nationalism to globalization. Marx worried about the control of the means of production, but what is control when the factory is replaced by the keyboard as the center of invention? For 200 years, "capital" was decisive, but then along came "intellectual capital." Goodbye borders. Goodbye regulation. Welcome to the free market, a free-for-all that destroys freedom. The very conditions of transcendent inequality that gave rise to the labor movement in the first place are now being rapidly re-created on a global scale, with unions reduced to the role of sputtering kibitzers.
In the United States, the most revealing failure of the labor movement to live up to its foundational ideal involves labor's role as a pillar of the military-industrial complex. The engine of the American economy is defense spending. For two generations, but especially since the end of the Cold War, the nation has cannibalized itself by investing its best minds and most of its treasure in a profoundly counterproductive military establishment.
Usually this is blamed on the so-called "iron triangle" of corporations, Congress, and the Pentagon, which keep trillions of dollars circulating through the unbroken loop. But the labor movement has long been an essential part of this corrupt system, with union lobbyists playing their crucial role in keeping the lucrative defense contracts coming.
What would have happened at the end of the Cold War, when the expected "peace dividend" might have rescued education or rebuilt the nation's infrastructure, if union leaders, backed by the grass-roots labor movement, had demanded an end to the Pentagon boondoggle? The conversion of a military-based economy, serving no real purpose beyond its own enrichment, to an economy of authentic productivity would have transformed foreign policy in the nick of time (no war in Iraq), and provided resources for homefront infrastructure (no failed dikes in New Orleans, or collapsed bridges in Minneapolis).
It did not happen, for a lot of reasons - one of which is the hollowed out commitment of a movement that should have known better. What this nation needs is a revitalized reason to celebrate Labor Day.
James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.
© 2007 The Boston Globe
30 Comments so far
Show AllThe next labor movement can be global if it wants. But it will have to be national to protect itself from poison toothpaste & dog food, unsafe toys & low wage imports
Foreign management doesn't push China & Japan around. They restrict or ban imports that don't meet certain standards.
Congress can do the same thing, it has the responsibility to regulate interstate & international trade.
If congress won't do it right, the state governments can "inspect" people, produce or products that cross state borders.I guess that means that state governments can do it by law or initiative petition. It would be a lot less confusing if congress did it with uniform laws.
James Carroll makes a common, and damaging, mistake when he writes: "...the 20th century, when regulated capitalism made its adjustments, and a vast population of working people was able to lay solid claim to the middle class."
"Middle income" is different from "middle class". Class refers to power and control; it's not defined by income.
Our media and educational systems have done good corporatist work in muddying the concept of class and, in so doing, helping to stifle the development of class consciousness. Carroll's argument would have been improved if he had pointed out how this sense of being in the middle class was encouraged, and how it worked for upper class (ruling class) interests.
Most of us are working class, regardless of the 'middleness' of the incomes of many of us. In addition to the repeal of Taft-Hartley, the effect of which wasn't mentioned by Carroll, we need a resurgence of class consciousness.
[See Michael Zweig's "Six Point on Class" in the Monthly Review: http://www.monthlyreview.org/0706zweig.htm -- and his book "The Working Class Majority: America's Best Kept Secret" (Cornell, 2000) in which he estimated that about 5/8 of us are working class.]
It is the measurement of profits that needs to be changed. The corporations and businesses blame the "high cost of labor" for the reason they are not making money." Businesses still have to pay their executives and administrative staff and they cost a lot more in labor than do the other workers. Just because someone may be able to create a fancy spreadsheet how does that generate into more dollars coming into the business. It does not.
When companies and corporations state they must keep the cost of labor down to avoid inflation why is that not working now? Jobs are going begging because no one will work for the amount of money they want to pay,people there have to work harder and recieve no extra money and less customers will be taken care of timely and appropiately.
We do have inflation-the repucks do not care to admit this. Labor has been cut to the bone. So would they please explain?
The next labor movement must be global, or management can play one country or region off against another.
I also spent part of Labor Day reading up on the Wagner and Taft-Hartley Acts, and I agree that the Taft-Hartley Act must, or at least should, be repealed. It was passed over President Truman's veto; good for him for trying to stop it.
I hope these two things aren't pipe dreams.
But whatever the faults of labor and the public, I'm still simple-minded enough to blame the market-above-all mood that swept in with Ronald Reagan. For one thing, before the Patco strike, hiring replacement workers was permitted but nowhere near as prevalent as it has been since then.
But shame on James Carroll for misattributing a quote. "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried" G.K. Chesterton said that in "What's Wrong with the World." Gandhi said that Western civilization would be a good idea.
Yup. It's all the fault of those rotten workers. They failed to deliver political nirvana to those who failed to deliver it to themselves. It's enough to make you go out and hug a bunny.
'The Triumph of the labor movement" Huh? There has been no triumph. 'The workers dream' is someone's imagination in overdrive. At no time have workers ever wanted a fucking dream. Not a workers dream. Not an American dream. Not a wet dream. People want a better reality.
It wasn't nifty or even a small victory when blue jeans became fashion items in yuppiedom. People in work clothes who aren't workers look as ridiculous as george w in a flight suit.
The "dictatorship of the Proletariat" is the language of old Europe. Affluence was not a co-opting factor. Our racism has put us squarely in the middle of history with the other classes, considering that the fat lady has yet to sing. I don't mean to disagree with Kennan or Mao about revolutionary fervor among the bureaucratic class, including union bureaucrats. But don't sweat it James Carroll. You won't have to chop cotton or hoe beans.
'Intellectual capital" (and intellectual property) is an imposter term like free trade. Your keyboard hasn't replaced the factory so much as the means of making keyboards has been exported.
People who blame unions without also blaming the Taft-Hartley Act, are just blowing smoke or scapegoating. Thank a Republican Congress for Taft-Hartley. Thank the Democratic Party for not repealing it when they had the juice to do so.
Both the left & right have dreams of globalization. Both have failed & will continue to fail because of a boatload of internal contradictions.
If you want out of the two party straight jacket, vote outside the two party system for president. No, you can't vote for Beavis & Butt-Head. They're in office now, and term limited.
I always thought I was Born on Labor Day 42, but I guess my Mom meant that since I was a 10 pounder, it was a labor day for her. Labor Day was Monday Sept 7 actually.
You can find your Calendar at http://paulding.net/calendar.html
Anyway, I was invited to sing the big AFL CIO Labor Day Celebration at the Florida State Fair and it was great and I sang lots of the old Woody, Seeger, and Solidarity Forever songs that I grew up with in Cleveland.
I re-joined the Musicians Union for the gig after dropping out in the 70's for the reason that they didn't really help us traveling troubadours very much and it seemed to be Mob controlled back then like Show biz in general.
I discussed all these issues with Richard Sparrow of the AFM and learned a lot about Right to Work States like here in Florida and Closed Shop States and learned that they are divided about 50/50.
A few days before John McCutchen called and told me about the new Local 1000 which was formed to help the special needs of traveling folk singers,
They are more relaxed in the rules because we all know that most folk singers are not Union and we want the freedom to share the stage with any other musician, singer, story teller etc.
I was about to join Local 1000 and learned from their rules that most gigs should be out of state or far from the normal local so that ruled me out cause I am semi retired now and most of my gigs are benefits and peace rallies in Florida anyway.
So we agreed that I would join the Tampa Local but would not sign the Membership Obligation so that as a re joined member, I would try and get the rules relaxed so that Singers here in Florida can play and share the stage with non-members.
Of the dozens of performing musicians in Florida I am familiar with after playing here for 20 years, I now am about the only AFM folk Singer...There are 3 in Forida who belong to new Local 1000.
The way the old local rules are now, any Folk Singer would be obligated to blackball most of their friends once they joined up so that is why I will try to get that changed.
All the national rules are the same for Closed Shop and Right to Work States as far as I can tell.
It is very complicated but maybe we can work it out.
Peace and Solidarity,
Jim
Hi, Namvet, thanks for your post.
Agree with your points. Just wanted to let you know about one thing, pursuant to this _
"American workers, except for Doctors and Lawyers, now compete against foreign labor"
Sad to say, it seems like these days even docs may be getting it in the shorts. I live in Thailand, and literally every day I see Americans wandering around my neighborhood, near a hospital where they've gone to get the treatment they can't afford in States. Facilities out here are beautiful, too, top-of-the-line equipment, Ivy League-educated personnel, higher nurse-to-patient ratio. In some cases, they've flown out here, had surgery and then a week on the beach _ for literally 1/6 of what the doctor's fee alone would've cost in US. A dire mix of our problems of health care and outsourcing.
Take care, Brother.
Labor hasn't failed. Labor has been outsourced. Labor used to be effective because it had political power. Politicians needed the votes of laborers to get elected. Labor leaders could use this to get favorable legislation. Today, Labor has no political power. Labor endorsement is all the politicians want now. The votes aren't important, it's the image.
American labor is now international even though most Americans don't know it. American workers, except for Doctors and Lawyers, now compete against foreign labor. Politicians not only don't need Labor's vote, they don't need the laborer either.
Hoa binh
As an elected member to our AFT local college faculty union council and long-time activist (including labor) I am learning that part of the reason for labor's utter failure is not only outside forces but as folks noted above we have become myopically focused on our job related self interest, undemocratic and have tied our interests too closely to our own employers. I have just learned that all of our local's officers are paid by the college district as part of our contract. They all fight like dogs and cats over who gets the booty, lock out all the "farmworkers of academia" (aka, part-time adjuncts) while talking militant tough guy talk to the membership. The local's deep in the red and our contract has expired with no end in sight to NLRB rigged collective bargaining. The local has no plan for victory (and refuses to discuss making one) and an expensive lawyer who negotiates deals with the district to get himself paid. As you can imagine, I have been totally marginalized in only 3 months in this position.
shankari25, that was a very well written article. Thanks for sharing it.
Labor Day is just government and corporations "shamelessly mocking" workers. Couldn't have stated it better myself.
The whole American economy is based far too much upon war. We have bases all over the world, huge weapon making manufacturers while the CIA, and Pentagon's black budgets have deep pockets as well. The whole mindset of all Americans needs to be changed to bring the war machine down.
The next separate issue is that corporations want cheap labor, and have done everything they can do to undermine worker's pay. This old song and dance that Americans won't do anything is baloney. I've seen Americans do all sorts of work. The problem is that they want the worker to do very hard labor at a very low pay.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18302.htm
Excellent article and needs to be repeated often. In my judgement the American labor movement, unlike that in Europe, failed to see itself as a social force. At one time I brought this up with a shop steward who was running for a California Assembly seat. In response to my question as too why the labor movement did not press for social reform and hence enlist a larger inconsistency, he replied "We have enough problems on the shop floor.
Labor's failure: corruption + co-option.
For Labor to really take off again, it'll require:
* A worldwide union
* Automatic membership
* Monthly dues of exactly $0.
Thank you James Carroll for this article written with much insight about 'Labor's Failure' and some of the reasons why we have regressed. It is difficult to list all the reasons, maybe impossible, but at least you covered the significant ones.
Dover: WOW! A+ on this post. You summed 'almost' all of it up in a few well-written paragraphs. In addition to the above, it was and still is the personal responsibility of every working member of society to stay informed on the issues and laws which effect the things you mentioned. The best weapon the corporations have (and it doesn't cost them a penny) is public ignorance and apathy. When sporting events and entertainment are more important to the working class than union meetings, labor activities, and learning programs designed by professionals to illustrate what the corporatists are up to, and how to fight them, well...we all lose.
marxymark: Amen to that. I remember MLK's involvement with the sanitation workers strike. And he was very pro labor.
fedupwithpolitics: Around 1981-82 I attended a meeting hosted by various trade union groups and the guest speakers were also union members from Scotland. The Scots told us how they helped transformed one company from manufacturing military weapons or supplies (I don't remember which items) to manufacturing non-military products for consumer use. They were part of a 'peace movement' to 'turn swords into plowshares', and gave us 'Yanks' a good deal of information about 'industrial retooling' without incurring layoffs.
Jack37: Interesting website. I'm so sad for the loss of your sweetheart, Jack. Honestly. We are just as cruel and barbaric today as we ever were. The only thing which changed is technology. The human ego, with exceptions, has not developed.
Nathaniel Heidenheimer: I know what you mean, brother. May be changing from 'peaceman' to 'frustratedman' if things continue downward. When the time is ready, TAKE TO THE STREETS, WITHHOLD YOUR LABOR (peacefully). HRC is no friend of Labor...Kucinich is a friend of Labor and has a voting record to prove it. Unbelievable.
frank1569: What you said applies to other countries as well. In the 60's when the West German economy was booming, they brought in thousands of workers from Turkey, Sicily, Yugoslavia, Greece, and elsewhere for jobs that the Germans didn't want to do. England, France, Italy, and other countries played followed the leader and also brought in foreign workers for the menial jobs. Agreeing with what you said, I'll add a bit. In this selfish, 'me' oriented country of ours, blue-collar work is looked down upon in very subtle ways. In the movies, tv sitcoms, advertising, and journalism. Be greedy and get all you can! That's our new slogan for Labor Day, 2007.
frank1569, again: I wrote a comment yesterday and must have pressed the wrong buttons or something??? because it didn't take, and I only type with one finger (never learned to type) so I let it go. I complimented you for addressing "poet" on you know what. Thanks again.
Last thing. If you haven't read it, scroll down to Robert Reich's article titled; 'What Happened To Labor Day', and read the comments.
CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS AT IMPASSE FOR ANAHEIM TEACHERS!
August 27, 2007, Anaheim, CA: Anaheim Elementary Education Association (AEEA)/Anaheim City School District (ACSD) contract negotiations CONTINUE at impasse.
A rally was held at the ACSD School Board Meeting on Monday evening, August 27, 2007. Over 400 enthusiastic educators, family members, and Anaheim community members crowded the ACSD Board room to rally in support of ACSD teachers. Impassioned speakers from ACSD delivered speeches to the Board. Executive Director of Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD), Eric Altman, spoke in support of ACSD teachers and for a speedy contract settlement.
We are asking the public at large to show support of AEEA teahcers by contacting the Anaheim City School District's Board of Education members and urging them to settle our contract NOW. sboard@acsd.k12.ca.us
This YouTube video features highlights of the ACSD Board Meeting, speeches, and rally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q662NHZftUM
Labor's failure is not organizing by incorporating the public. A public for profit corporation would give every citizen an equal non-transferable share of trillions in public assets instead of allowing other corporations to loot our public treasury.
The explanation for the kind of capitulatory business unionism which Mr. Carroll discusses here is provided in Robert Fitch's Solidarity for Sale. This book should be widely read and discussed in progressive circles. I, for one, found it extremely enlightening.
It's not labor's failure -- and can we stop using that word so ubiquitously. It's as much a sign of depression as it is depressing.
Labor like any other group operates within a changing political-economic system.
By the 1970s two developments reduced labor's power. 1) Capital had become much more mobile and flexible. 2) Many core elements of unionized labor relations and the civil rights agenda had become institutionalized in the legal system. Unions were harder to organize, and there was less reason to organize them.
Further, the US political system doesn't lend itself to a strong role for labor. Just as third parties can't get a foothold in the winner takes all two party system, labor can not exert influence beyond electoral politics and bits of pork.
Smaller geographies, parliamentary systems, the devastation of WWII and stronger traditions of collectivism are what made some of Europe's political economies different.
Blaming labor misses the mark. The problems are structural, and this helps explain why unions are relatively more successful in the public sector.
So, I'd say if you want to make progress that leads to structural change and stronger unions, one way to do it is to support more public sector-based implementation ... rather than undercut it as the middle class so often does.
judi
you are right. the next labor movement will be global. the mexicans will be the movers in the united states.
Full disclosure upfront: I work for the AFL-CIO.
James Carroll may be right about the labor movement's loss of long-term vision.
However, there are many strategic victories that we must win over the next decade for which the current labor movement will be a critical component.
Much of the Democratic Party is a hollow organizational shell. At election time, it is the labor unions who provide the bulk of the foot troops to identify and bring out to the polls Democratic voters. No other groups within the Democratic Party have the numbers or the resources.
Without the on-the-ground work of labor unions, we would still have a Republican Congress doing great harm and providing no check whatsoever on the Bush Administration. In the Senate alone, we would still have George Allen instead of Jim Webb; Mike DeWine instead of Sherrod Brown; Conrad Burns instead of Jim Tester.
The labor movement will prove critical in the election of a Democrat in 2008. But then the challenge will be for labor - and others in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party - to keep organizing, hold the Congress and President accountable, and build the political strength needed to enact such measures as universal healthcare, a fair tax system, decent social spending, and a dismantling of the military-industrial complex in favor of an industrial policy that funds the transition to a sustainable, clean energy economy.
When I occasionally read discussions on CommonDreams, I wonder what the contributors are doing to actively build for the political visions that they espouse. I wonder if, once again on the left, for many unattainable perfection is the enemy of the realizable good.
One of the greatest tragedies in American History - and perhaps THE greatest victory of the plutocrats, beginning long before Reagan - was convincing working people that THEY were the "middle class", whereupon the once-vital labor movement became instantly gentrified and were automatically set against the "underclasses": the poor, the less-than-pure-white, the immigrant.
AND YET, if there is any way to fight and overcome the stranglehold of the plutocracy on this once promising society, I beleve it must be by the rebirth and revitalization of the labor movement. Who else is going to do it?
Unfortunately, I would not be willing to bet the beer money, much less the rent, on that possibility.
Actually I fear the virtual death of the labor movement spelled the end of hope that this could actually become the great country we like to fool ourselves into thinking we are.
Alas, though, Labor Day is no joke - it's a tragedy.
And how many pension funds has Labor kept from folding? I still feel we need labor unions Globally! What's going to happen to so many jobs once the Mexican truckers start rolling in? I dont hear any potential candidate even beginning to address this problem of our loss of jobs and how labor unions should become as large as any NAFTA or a part of NAFTA and CAFTA. Global Unions are one answer, but no politian would dare suggest such an idea.
Class consciousness needs a renaissance in this era of so-called free trade. It needs to start with education. We never learn as children that MLK's last project was foremost a labor-rights campaign for workers in trash collection. Neither do we learn of his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War. The anti-war movement of today needs to see the root of the Iraq War as imperialism. Capital is globalized, and an anti-imperialist workers' movement must be globalized. A revitalized workers' movement will not survive unless it is informed by a feminist, anti-racist, anti-homophobic and anti-imperialist world view. Divide-and-rule has had its victories; we need to move beyond it.
Devotion of an economy to war has destroyed every empire in history, starting with Homer's Greeks, who displaced, destroyed and tried to bury Minoan Crete---and Crete was and still is the longest continuous period of peaceful human progress on record, about which most people are told NOTHING. (Not utopia: just 4000 years of successful harmonizing of nature and culture.) Ever since then, "Western history": war for profit, glorious manhood, and wasteland after wasteland. The West is a junkie---for power, energy, wealth etc.---and God help anybody in its way for the next fix. So the question is, how much suffering would you like to experience before you change? The Bible-based cultures all around us are going to answer, "We'd rather die than change." And they are going to get their wish.
Right on! Labor's post cold war failure also had roots in American labor's traditional tunnel vision--look only to your immediate workplace or industry and focus only on your narrow economic interests. Labor could have broadened its vision and been an inclusive, progressive social force, changing all of society, not just the workplace. But it lowered the bar, opted for the minimum, and got just what it deserved. Until the guys who work in the bomb factories and the scientists who draw up the plans all realize that the goods they produce endanger the entire world, US labor will continue to be divisive and irrelevant.
One of your best Jim.
Just rename "Labor Day" to "Corporatocracy Day", because the United States is not about labor, it's about the rule of corporations.
This holiday means nothing to me because US American labor is a hollow shell of what it used to be, before the corporations set out to destroy and control workers, destroy health-care, destroy pensions, destroy everything we used to hold dear.
Corporations and their own union, the republican party, destroyed unions by peddling overwhelmingly negative propaganda about them. Ronald Reagan was the darling of union-busters; THAT was his f*****g legacy.
Corporations used economic incentives for non-union workers, keeping them temporarily fat and happy, while working behind the scenes to cut workers' throats (i.e., exporting jobs, exporting manufacturing ability, importing modern-day slaves, lowering wages, eliminating jobs, letting older workers go, etc.).
Labor Day is a joke, and the joke's on us.
An exception to the compromisers is the IWW, of which I am a proud member. An industrial, internationalist union with a long history of victories, it is exactly the revitalizing force other commentors are missing. I pay minimal dues (on a sliding scale) and half stay in our local chapter for our own organizing. It is fiercly democratic and egalitarian and a great vehicle for educating workers on the structural changes necessary for our society at large.
What really happened was that laborers kids' saw the toll it took on their folks and the little money earned and said no fu*king way am I ever working in a mine, on an assembly line, on a construction site, in a cotton field, etc. "The more you lift, the less you make," and said succeeding generations were raised to not only earn more than their parents, but to do whatever it takes to get rich so that they can buy more worthless crap, and, hopefully, do it without having to step far from the computer screen. In many parts of the country today, "laborer" means "Mexican." And American kids do not want to do the work those damn illegal alien welfare sucking lepers do...
I think the essential text on this topic is Strike by Jeremy Brecher.
http://www.amazon.com/Strike-South-End-Press-Classics/dp/0896085694
I am a member of the hierarchical and corrupt UFT in NYC. Polish trade unions in 1960 had more vitality and freedom than our leadership whose concept of electoral democracy is mitosis. They silently back Hillary Rodham Bush and the Bendovercrats as we invade Iran. With unions like this, who needs Pinkertons?