An interview with the author of ‘Blue-Collar Empire,’ a forthcoming book that uncovers the AFL-CIO’s Cold War-era involvement in undermining left-wing and anti-imperialist labor movements abroad.
Labor journalist <https://inthesetimes.com/authors/jeff-schuhrke> and historian Jeff Schuhrke’s first book, *Blue-Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor’s Global Anticommunist Crusade, *dives into American labor unions’ role in Cold War-era interventions across Asia, Latin America, and Africa, and their lasting impacts today. Out September 24 from Verso Books, *Blue-Collar Empire *examines this history, and draws lessons for the present day. One of the main operations Schuhrke explores is the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), a partnership between the AFL-CIO and the CIA, intended to promote free trade unionism abroad. Under the guise of education, officials with AIFLD worked with the State Department and other Washington officials to surveil and squash <https://workdaymagazine.org/3-decades-ago-there-was-a-deadly-attack-on-mexican-autoworkers-heres-what-it-can-teach-the-u-s-labor-movement-today/> radical worker movements abroad that they suspected to be communist—at times resulting in violence, repression of workers’ rights, and strengthening of right-wing dictatorships. Nevertheless, in an interview with *Workday Magazine*, Schuhrke surmises that labor is seeing a sort of “rejuvenation, or renaissance.” He says, “There’s a lot more energy, more pro-union sentiment, and a more class-conscious generation of workers who are getting involved in the labor movement. And I thought it was important that they know about this history.” The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. *https://workdaymagazine.org/labors-reckoning-what-we-can-learn-from-the-cold-war-history-of-the-afl-cio/ <https://workdaymagazine.org/labors-reckoning-what-we-can-learn-from-the-cold-war-history-of-the-afl-cio/> * -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#31892): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/31892 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/108182268/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
