Cold War anti-communism directly contributed to US labor’s decline in the latter half of the 20th century. That is a betrayal, at home and abroad, of the interests of the working class they were elected to represent.
A review of Blue Collar Empire:The Untold Story of US Labor’s Global Anti-Communist Crusade by Jeff Schurhke.
In Blue Collar Empire, Jeff Schuhrke documents how many AFL and CIO leaders participated in witch hunts against UE and other unions in the U.S., and actively conspired with the U.S. government to undermine militant unions around the world.
Georgia’s sweeping, political application of conspiracy law echoes tactics that shattered the left a hundred years ago, when the government targeted socialist parties and militant unions with laws against criminal syndicalism, espionage, and sedition
Focus on Europe
Signs that MAGA is enmeshed in post-Vietnam War culture begin with its namesake. Make America Great Again is an adoption of Ronald Reagan’s assertion that it was “Morning in America Again,” - the country was moving on from its Vietnam War nightmare.
Deadly hurricane in 1928. Slave-catchers stymied (1858). Feds' forgeries flop (1918). Deadly racist church bombing (1963). Settlers take over Cherokee Strip (1893). Thin-skinned cops get served (1994). Eugene Debs speaks truth to power (1918).
Historic auto workers contract. 1st Amendment protects mail. U.S. army crosses ocean for the first time. Ford Company thugs assault union organizers. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan released. Major union victory in Rochester. Court throws out FBI frame-up
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After World War II, the Indonesian Communist Party threw itself into democratic politics and outreach to broad segments of society. Western intelligence agencies were worried because they knew that the PKI was not coercing people into giving them power — they were simply growing in popularity.
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