Episode 4: Taking Stock

Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO

https://jacobin.com/2024/04/cio-organize-podcast-left-unity How was it that the CIO was finally able to make good on the decades-old dream of industrial unionism? In this episode, we outline four factors that were the keys to the CIO’s success. First, there was a political opportunity that the CIO took advantage of. Second, there were militant and disruptive tactics employed that were effective given that political opportunity. Third, there was the great energy and commitment of the Left as channeled toward the stable end of collective bargaining. And finally, there was what podcast guest Lizabeth Cohen has called the “culture of unity” bred by the CIO. The first factor was covered in Episode 2, and the second in Episode 3, and so we won’t rehash that material here. This episode is thus focused on the latter two: the influence of the Left and the culture of unity. Guests in order of appearance: Dorothy Sue Cobble, Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Labor Studies at Rutgers University; Steve Fraser, Labor Historian; David Brody, Professor Emeritus of History at UC-Davis; Jeremy Brecher, Labor Historian; Ahmed White, Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado-Boulder; Lizabeth Cohen, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University; Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at UC-Santa Barbara; Erik Loomis, Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island; William P. Jones, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota; Lisa Phillips, Associate Professor of History at Indiana State University; Rick Halpern, Professor of American Studies at the University of Toronto Clips in order of appearance: “David Dubinsky speaks at the 25th anniversary celebration of his ILGWU presidency, Madison Square Garden, New York, 1957, Part 2,” David Dubinsky Audio-visual Recordings, Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library, https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/KCL05780-002av.html (48:15) Songs in order of appearance: Paul Robeson, “Ballad for Americans,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHCQGQdeL68 (0:00); Joe Glazer, “I Ain’t No Stranger Now,” Textile Voices, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AePjBRgEuBI (32:40) Theme music by Drake Tyler.