Unions mature

AMERICANS often react emotionally toward labor unions. Instead of passing judgment, this book examines the direc tions in which organized labor has been moving in this country and weighs the implications of union evolution.

As a pioneer attempt in an emotionally-charged area, this little volume is bound to provoke disagreement and contro versy. At the outset it should be made clear that I am ex plaining, not what I should like to see happen but what appear to me to have been the main developments and what they seem to signify. When such words as "evolution" and "maturity" are used, it should be emphasized that they carry no necessary implication of progress, virtue, or social advantage.

Certainly the writer of such a book as this cannot expect agreement with every assumption and conclusion. My efforts will be sufficiently rewarded if this analysis provokes other interpretations or even union actions that raise doubts con cerning some of my main propositions.

Since this book has had a long period of gestation, many persons have, in one way or another, contributed to its de velopment. One important influence has been the discussions in the Trade Union Seminars at Princeton. I recall particu larly the sessions led by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. in 1953 and by Daniel Bell in 1954, in which the union participants presented sharply dissenting positions. Valuable criticism was received when some of the ideas in this book were pre sented before the Graduate Economics Seminar at Massa chusetts Institute of Technology in April 1957.