American Communist Labor Strategy during the Third Period (1929-34) with Victor Devinatz

Annie and Cliff join Victor Devinatz, a management theorist and labor  historian, to discuss the formation of the Trade Union Unity League  (TUUL), its successes and failures, and the role it played in the  development of the labor movement. We focus on its emergence from the end of the Trade Union Education League (TUEL), its relationship between bottom-up initiative and Comintern direction in the shift toward dual unionism;  CPUSA’s three-pronged strategy of constructing the TUUL, building an opposition within the American Federation of Labor, and working with  independent unions; the united front from below policy; and the transition toward the Popular Front and the formation of the Congress of Industrial Unions (CIO) after the mass strikes of 1934.

Check out Victor’s A reevaluation of the Trade Union Unity League 1929-1934.

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