Labor opposition to the Cold War: The electrical unions and the Cold War consensus, 1945-1973

During the three decades after World War II, organized labor in the United States had a reputation as an unwavering supporter of the government's Cold War foreign policy, and as an important participant in the Cold War consensus. This consensus was based on the assumption that the nation's most pressing problem was the "Communist challenge," which originated abroad rather than at home. Especially during the first post-war decade, the labor movement, and the Congress of Industrial Organizations in particular, came under intense pressure to demonstrate its patriotism and to declare itself: loyal to its country or to its class.;One industry in which the labor leaders did not agree to make the choice in these terms was that of electrical manufacturing. This industry was the scene of sustained conflict during the post-war decade: conflict within the labor movement and between labor and forces outside the movement. The argument centered around foreign policy and political issues, and at the end of the decade, electrical labor had been splintered. Whether electrical workers had been successfully brought into the Cold War consensus, however, was unclear.;This study argues that while the foreign policy debate was the most sensitive issue, it was only the visible tip of a more basic disagreement over what the aims of trade unionism were and who labor's primary adversaries were: the Soviet Union and the Communists, or the major corporations for whom many union members worked. The AFL-CIO merger in 1955 and developments in electrical unionism appeared to settle the question in favor of those in the labor movement who saw Communism as labor's main enemy, and who accepted a role in the Cold War consensus.;Through the example of the electrical unions, the UE and the IUE, this study examines whether the consensus in the labor movement itself was real, and to what extent industrial workers accepted their role in it. The evidence suggests that the left-center coalition that led the drive for industrial unionism in this industry in the 1930's and 1940's, and which later suffered enormous setbacks, continued to exist as an identifiable force in electrical trade unionism and that it re-emerged as a force for stability and direction in the industry by the mid 1960's. This study argues that the Cold War consensus in labor was not real because opposition to the Cold War existed in the union movement throughout this period.