Schools of Democracy: A Political History of the American Labor Movement by Clayton Sinyai (review)

Book Reviews 189 Clayton Sinyai. Schools ofDemocracy: A Political History of the American Labor Movement. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2006. Pp. 292. Bibliography. Index. Notes. Cloth, $55.00; paper, $22.50. When Alexis de Tocqueville lauded America's repubhcan traditions in the 1830s, he applauded the young nation's flourishing voluntary associations that promoted civic education. Clayton Sinyai's political history of American labor unions emphasizes how workers made their organizations into "schools of democracy" (p. 3) that hkewise fostered civic education. Schools ofDemocracy draws upon a wide knowledge of secondary literature to iUuminate the union movement's contributions to American political culture. The American Federation of Labor (AFL), which many labor historians have castigated as hidebound and unimaginative, emerges as courageous and visionary, while the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), typically seen as innovative and open-minded, is portrayed as having initially benefited in terms of growth from its rehance on government support, but as having ultimately been hobbled by its dependence on that support. Sinyai's point of departure is the nineteenth-century skilled craftsman's desire for independence and protection of craft skills. The most successful craftsmen created autonomous labor organizations that "achieved remarkable levels of control over their jurisdiction" (p. 30), such as the International Typographers Union. Samuel Gompers and the AFL stressed the importance of voluntarism, meaning that trade unions' independence from both business and government was essential. Sinyai explains that Gompers realized that rejection of government support during the Progressive Era "virtually doomed the great masses of industrial workers to disorganization, dependence, and poverty" (p. 102). In fact, Gompers imphcidy argued that the majority of industrial workers were not capable of exercising the type of democratic self-rule necessary for a successful independent union movement. Yet the AFL's continued neglect of industrial workers, those who were either unskilled or semiskilled machine tenders, irritated many labor leaders after World War I. By the 1930s, several AFL affiliates moved in the direction of industrial unionism and recruited new members based on place of employment rather than possession of craft skills. Crucially, the CIO's separation from the AFL and its explosive growth in the 1930s and 1940s depended on its alliance with progressive Democrats. In this sense, the CIO unions were "creatures of the government" (p. 163). Phihp Murray and Walter Reuther's efforts steered the CIO toward a new type of civic education that stressed that employers treat workers fairly and impartially; 190 Michigan Historical Review unions offered security above all else. As the progressive arm of the Democrats from World War II through the late 1960s, the labor movement, centered especially in theMidwest and led by unions such as the United Auto Workers, continued its educational mission yet did so inways thatmoved farther away from Gompers's voluntarism. Sinyai's analysis of the changing meaning of civic education in the American labor movement rests primarily on the views of union leaders. Although references are made in places to the political behavior of specific unions, Sinyai's arguments would have benefited from greater attention to developments at the local union level. How did local unions' "schools of democracy" reflect the views of union leaders? How did the rank and file's political behaviors impact union leaders' views? Still, Sinyai's book offers an important perspective on the vital contributions of labor unions to American political culture. Wilson J.Warren, Department of History Western Michigan University Edmund F. Wehrle. Between a River and aMountain: TheAFL-CIO and the Vietnam War. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005. Pp. 320. Bibliography. Drawing. Index. Notes. Photographs. Paper, $25.95. In Between a River and aMountain, Edmund F. Wehrle demonstrates that the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and later the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) were deeply and integrally involved in the Vietnam War. The relationship between the American labor federations and Vietnam began shortly after the Second World War. The AFL saw its postwar mission in the world as advancing free trade unionism. Ideally, independent unions were advocates for worker and human rights. They were also proponents of full-employment pohcies and vigorously anticommunist. In other words, the AFL and...