American labour unions

The first edition of AMERICAN LABOR UNIONS was written in 1944 a year before the close of World War II. Much has happened during the intervening seven years, within this country and abroad, which has vitally affected the internal and external relations of the American labor movement. The changes in union structure and activ ities which have taken place have necessitated major revisions and additions in most of the chapters in order to bring the discussions up to-date. As in the earlier edition, the author has sought to present a maximum of factual information in a terse, readable form. The ap proach to the many controversial issues has been to let the facts speak for themselves, with a minimum of theorizing.

There is an important addition to the present volume. Part 5, "For eign Relations of American Unions," is an entirely new section which has been included in response to the current interest in international affairs and concern over mass movements everywhere. The section in cludes a brief historical review of the series of world-wide (or at least European-wide) labor movements beginning with the First Interna tional in the mid-nineteenth century, up to the Communist and anti Communist organizations established after World War II. Although labor organizations in various other countries are necessarily discussed, chief emphasis is given to the attitude and relation of American labor organizations toward these international movements.

The wide-spread circulation of the first edition of this book has given ample evidence of the need for this kind of factual presentation of the history, structure and operation of American labor organizations.