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Revising labor history for the cold war: The ilgwu and the film, with these hands

2008; Routledge; Volume: 28; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439680802230860

1465-3451

Nathan Godfried,

European history and politics

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgments Thanks to Elizabeth McKillen and Gail Malmgreen for commenting on an earlier version of this article. Notes Notes 1 Movie Promotional Material, Folder 6, Box 55, Frederick F. Umhey, Executive Secretary's Correspondence, International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union Records, UNITE HERE Archives, Kheel Center for Labor–management Documentation & Archives, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. 2 Prominent examples were the two United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union films produced by Union Films, Deadline for Action in 1946 and The Great Swindle in 1947, and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America documentary, The Inheritance in 1964. 3 Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Waves of Opposition: labor and the struggle for democratic radio (Urbana, IL, University of Illinois Press, 2006), 244. 4 Steven J. Ross, American workers, American movies: historiography and methodology, International Labor and Working-Class History, (59) (Spring 2001), 98 (quote); Frank R. Walsh, The films we never saw: American movies view organized labor, 1934–1954, Labor History, 27(4) (Fall 1986), 564–580. 5 For background on the ILGWU see, Gus Tyler, Look for the Union Label: a history of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (Armonk, NY, M.E. Sharpe, 1995); Daniel L. Katz, A Union of Many Cultures: Yiddish socialism and interracial organizing in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, 1913–1941, Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ (January 2003). 6 Hadassa Kosak, Culture of Opposition: Jewish immigrant workers, New York City, 1881–1905 (Albany, NY, State University of New York Press, 2000), 124. 7 Katz, A Union of Many Cultures, 59 (quotes); Robert D. Parmet, The Master of Seventh Avenue: David Dubinsky and the American labor movement (New York, New York University Press, 2005), 15. 8 Parmet, The Master of Seventh Avenue, 16; Katz, A Union of Many Cultures, 62–64; David Roediger and Philip Foner, Our Own Time: a history of American labor and the working day (New York, Verso, 1989), 184 (quote); Arthur Liebman, Jews and the Left (New York, Wiley, 1979), 228–231. For a positive analysis of the Protocols, see Tyler, Look for the Union Label, 72–77. David Dubinsky later characterized the Protocols as ‘the most civilized document for establishing harmonious labor–management relations ever produced in any industry.’ David Dubinsky and A. H. Ruskin, David Dubinsky: a life with labor (New York, Simon and Shuster, 1977), 58–59; also see, The American Federationist, 57 (June 1950), 11. 9 Tyler, Look for the Union Label, 86 (quote); Dubinsky and Raskin, David Dubinsky, 40–41. 10 Tyler, Look for the Union Label, 149–151; David Montgomery, The Fall of the House of Labor: the workplace, the state, and American labor activism, 1865–1925 (New York, Cambridge University Press, 1987), 438–457. 11 Stanley Nadel, Reds versus pinks: a civil war in the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, New York History 66 (January 1985), 49–72; Katz, A Union of Many Cultures, 113–131; Tyler, Look for the Union Label, 157–168; Annelise Orleck, Common Sense and A Little Fire: women and working-class politics in the United States, 1900–1965 (Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina Press, 1995), 183 (quote). 12 John Holmes, American Jewish Communism and garment unionism in the 1920s, American Communist History, 6(2) (December 2007), 188–192, 188 (first and second quotes), 189 (third and fourth quotes), 191 (fifth quote); Liebman, Jews and the Left, 236–240. 13 Katz, A Union of Many Cultures, 169–172; Dubinsky and Raskin, David Dubinsky, 106–113; Parmet, The Master of Seventh Avenue, 91–93. 14 Katz, A Union of Many Cultures, 172–173. 15 Parmet, The Master of Seventh Avenue, 118–119; Katz, A Union of Many Cultures, 174–176. 16 Katz, A Union of Many Cultures, 1 (quotes), 316. 17 Katz, A Union of Many Cultures, 15. 18 Colette A. Hyman, Staging Strikes: workers’ theatre and the American labor movement (Philadelphia, PA, Temple University Press, 1997), 84–88, 101–107, 117–118. 19 Katz, A Union of Many Cultures, 15 (quotes), 319, 322; Nathan Godfried, Spreading American corporatism: trade union education for Third World labour, Review of African Political Economy, 39 (September 1987), 52–53. 20 Liebman, Jews and the Left, 251. 21 Parmet, The Master of Seventh Avenue, 210–215; Ellen Schrecker, Many are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1998), 411 (quote); Liebman, Jews and the Left, 246–252. 22 See, for example, Godfried, Spreading American corporatism, 51–63; Frederico Romero, The United States and the European Trade Union Movement, 1944–1951 (Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina Press, 1992); Ronald L. Filippelli, American Labor and Postwar Italy, 1943–1954: a study of Cold War politics (Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, 1989). 23 Filippelli, American Labor and Postwar Italy, 52. 24 Samuel Lubell, Dictator in Sheep's Clothing, Saturday Evening Post, November 19, 1949, p. 19. 25 Justice, February 1934, p. 27; David Dubinsky testimony to Federal Communications Commission, November 9, 1934, attached to listing of ILGWU talks over WEVD, Folder 6, Box 171, David Dubinsky Correspondence, International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union Records, UNITE HERE Archives, Kheel Center for Labor–management Documentation & Archives, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York [hereafter cited as DD Correspondence, ILGWU]. For details on the ILGWU's radio programming during the 1930s, see Nathan Godfried, Struggling over politics and culture: organized labor and radio station WEVD during the 1930s, Labor History, 42(4) (November 2001), 347–369. 26 Godfried, Struggling over politics and culture, 358–360; Florence Lasser, The Story of the ILGWU: a radio play in six episodes (New York, ILGWU, 1935); Letter Morris Novik to David Dubinsky, July 3, 1935, Folder 8, Box 49, DD Correspondence (quote), ILGWU. 27 ‘Report ILGWU Radio Stations to the General Executive Board, August 21, 1950,’ Folder 3, Box 39, Frederick F. Umphey Correspondence [hereafter cited as FFU Corr.], ILGWU. For more on the ILGWU's venture into FM radio see, Fones-Wolf, Waves of Opposition, chap. 6. 28 The New Leader, June 18, 1949, p. 14. 29 Dubinsky and Raskin, David Dubinsky, 192. 30 Albert Hemsing, Labor and the film, in Cecile Starr, editor, Ideas on Film: A Handbook for the 16 mm. Film User (New York, Funk and Wagnalls, 1951), 37; J. James Jehrin, Audio-visual materials in industrial and labor relations, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 6(1) (October 1952), 84; Max D. Danish, The World of David Dubinsky (Cleveland, OH, World Publishing Company, 1957), 186–187; Dubinsky and Raskin, David Dubinsky, 192–193; Dana M. Reemes, Directed by Jack Arnold (Jefferson, NC, McFarland, 1988), 12. 31 Reemes, Directed by Jack Arnold, 10–15; John Brosnan, The Horror People (New York, St Martin's Press, 1976), 87–91; Jack is back, Cinefantastique, 4(2) (Summer 1975), 17–24. Among Arnold's most notable directorial achievements were It Came From Outer Space (1953), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Trarantula! (1955), The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), and, in a different genre, The Mouse That Roared (1959). Another Hollywood veteran whose career was aided by his work on With These Hands was cinematographer Gerald Hirschfield. He subsequently worked on such films as Fail Safe (1964), The Incident (1967), Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), and Young Frankenstein (1974). A Conversation with Gerald Hirschfield, American Society of Cinematographers, http://www.theasc.com/news/news_20061019_Pres_Hirschfield_QA.html#top (October 17, 2007). 32 Biographical Note to the Morton Wishengrad Papers, Jewish Theological Seminary, Ratner Center, http:///www.jtsa.edu/research/…/archives/conrec/pp_wishengradmorton.shtml (March 18, 2002); Howard Blue, Words at War: World War II era radio drama and the postwar broadcasting industry blacklist (Lanham, MD, Scarecrow Press, 2002), 44–45, 348–49; Dubinsky and Raskin, David Dubinsky, 192 (quote). 33 Although Levene, Wiseman, and Francis, all performed in Hollywood films, they made their reputations in the theater. The following analysis of the film is based on a copy of With These Hands from the ILGWU Records, Collection 5780 AV Box 32 #238, VHS (copyright ILGWU, 1950), UNITE HERE Archives, Kheel Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. 34 Lou Frankel, Excerpts from broadcast in the lobby of the Gotham Theatre, at the world premiere of WITH THESE HANDS heard over WFDR, Thursday, June 15, at 11:00 p.m., 9–10, Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 35 Mark Starr, We Use Films in Our Programs: International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union [A.F.L.], Film News, Nov.–Dec. 1950, reprint in Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 36 The New York Times, June 16, 1950, 28. 37 Blue, Words at War, 348. 38 Quotes from With These Hands, ILGWU. 39 David Dubinsky, A way of life, The American Federationist, 57 (June 1950), 10–12, 29, 11 (quote). 40 Starr, We Use Films, Film News, Nov.–Dec. 1950, Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 41 Zimmerman quoted in Nadel, Reds versus pinks, 50. Also see, Paul Buhle and David Wagner, Hide in Plain Sight: the Hollywood blacklistees in film and television, 1950–2002 (New York, Palgrave MacMillan, 2003), 74 and 281 note 13. 42 This section in the film later generated a controversy when the government of India refused to continue to show the film (1956) without deleting the offending language. This had much to do with recent Indian government efforts to maintain its neutrality in the Cold War and to develop normal relations with the Soviet Union. See, Dubinsky and Raskin, David Dubinsky, 193–194. 43 Holmes, American Jewish Communism and garment unionism in the 1920s, 186 (first quote), 190 (second quote). 44 Starr, We Use Films, Film News, Nov.–Dec. 1950, Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 45 David Dubinsky, Union education for leisure: a summary of educational and recreational facilities provided by ILGWU-AFL for its members, Education 71 (October 1950), 116. 46 Orleck, Common Sense and a Little Fire, 175 (first quote), 171 (second quote). 47 Katz, A Union of Many Cultures, 196. 48 For details on the developing clash see, Altagracia Ortiz, Puerto Ricans in the garment industry of New York City, 1920–1960, in Robert Asher and Charles Stephenson, editors, Labor Divided: race and ethnicity in United States labor struggles, 1835–1960 (Albany, NY, State University of New York Press, 1990), 105–125; Herbert Hill, Guardians of the sweatshops: the trade unions, racism, and the garment industry, in Adalberto Lopez and James Petras (eds) Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans: studies in history and society (New York, Schenkman Publishing, 1974), 384–416. 49 Memorandum, Harry Crone to David Dubinsky, no date, Folder 6, Box 55, FFU, ILGWU. 50 Letter, Group XII, City and County School, to Mark Starr, November 7, 1950, Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 51 Letter, Eleanor Finger, ECA, to Harry Crone, ILGWU, September 29, 1949, Folder 6, Box 55, FFU Corr., ILGWU. See Evan S. Noble, Marshall Plan Films and Americanization, unpublished M.A. Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia (April 2006). 52 See, Filippelli, American Labor and Postwar Italy, 21, 51–53, 217–218; Anthony Carew, Labour under the Marshall Plan: the politics of productivity and the marketing of management science (Detroit, MI, Wayne State University Press, 1987), 123 (quotes). For the Dubinsky–Lovestone connection, see Ted Morgan's quasi-hagiography, A Covert Life: Jay Lovestone, Communist, anti-Communist, and spymaster (New York, Random House, 1999). Ben Rathbun's The Point Man: Irving Brown and the deadly post-1945 struggle for Europe and Africa (London, Minerva Press, 1996) is a collection of anecdotes of Brown's exploits. 53 ‘ECA Films Now Available,’ attached to Letter, Harry Martin to David Dubinsky, July 12, 1950, Folder 9B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 54 Carl Marzani, The Education of a Reluctant Radical: From Pentagon to penitentiary, Book 4 (New York, 1995), 169–197, 231; Gary Crowdus and Lenny Rubenstein, Union Films: an interview with Carl Marzani, Cineaste, 7(2) (1976), 33, 35; Deadline for Action (Union Films, UE, 1946) and The Great Swindle (Union Films, UE, 1948) in World War II Films, Volume 5 (J. C. Kaelin, Jr., 2007, DVD). 55 Letters, David Dubinsky to Leon Dennen, May 17, 1950, Edward W. Barrett to Dubinsky, June 13, 1950, William C. Gausmann to Dubinsky, June 30, 1950, and Harry Martin to Dubinsky, July 12, 1950 (quote), Folder 9B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 56 Carew, Labour under the Marshall Plan, 125 (first quote), 126 (quote from Shishkin). 57 ECA, ‘Latest overseas report on WITH THESE HANDS,’ December 13, 1951, Folder 9B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 58 United States Information Service, Distribution of ‘With These Hands’ as of August 1956, attached to Letter, Mark Starr to David Dubinsky, August 2, 1956, Folder 9A, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 59 Letter, Harry Martin to David Dubinsky, January 15, 1951; Memo, Mark Starr to David Dubinsky, September 19, 1951 (first quote); Letter, W. W. Fraleight to David Dubinsky, July 9, 1951 (second quote), Folder 9B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 60 Report of the Effectiveness of CON QUESTE MANI in the Area of USIS Milan attached to Fraleigh letter to Dubinsky, July 9, 1951 (quote), Folder 9B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 61 Greetings from David Dubinsky, to be read at the premier, Vienna, September 16, 1951, attached to letter, Secretary to President to Herman Brotman, September 6, 1951, Folder 9B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 62 Description of Deverall quoted in Morgan, A Covert Life, 297; Press Release, October 31, 1952, attached to letter, Dick Deverall to David Dubinsky, October 31, 1952 (second quote) Folder 9A, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 63 Rome Embassy, June 4, 1951, attached to letter, Fraleigh to Dubinsky, July 9, 1951, Folder 9B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 64 Leftist Commentary on ‘WITH THESE HANDS,’ L’Ora del Popolo, April 19, 1951, translation, Folder 9B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 65 Digest of Despatch No. 1005, March 30, 1951, From Stockholm, attached to Letter, Herbert T. Edwards to David Dubinsky, May 16, 1951, Folder 9B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 66 Extract from a letter, Joseph T. Simon to Lazare Teper, January 1, 1951, Folder 9B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 67 Letter, John S. Martin to David Dubinsky, October 11, 1950, Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 68 Letter, Joe Glazer to Mark Starr, October 30, 1950, Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 69 Letter, A. J. Hayes to David Dubinsky, October 26, 1950, Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 70 Letter, Walter P. Reuther to David Dubinsky, September 12, 1950, Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 71 Rose Mary Coppola, Remarks heard at the Institute of the Connecticut State Federation of Labor, July 22, 1950, and letter, Joseph M. Rourke to David Dubinsky, July 31, 1950, Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 72 Comments from big business attached to Memorandum, Mark Starr to David Dubinsky, September 27, 1951, Folder 6, Box 55, Umhey Correspondence, ILGWU. 73 New York Times, June 16, 1950, 28. The ILGWU's newspaper, Justice, carried excerpts of the film reviews from a variety of newspapers. See Justice, July 1, 1950, 5. 74 Leonard questioned whether the main character could ‘go through forty years in the garment business without playing a single game of pinochle?’ This Is New York, Bill Leonard reporting WCBS, n.d., Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 75 The Daily Compass, June 16, 1950, 19. 76 Mary Anne Guitar, Facts on Film, The Nation, July 22, 1950, p. 93. 77 Robert Delson and Albert Hemsing, Movies: Public Service or Hollywood Monopoly? The New Leader, May 28, 1949, p. 9. 78 Letter, Albert Hemsing to David Dubinsky, April 14, 1950, Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU (emphasis in the original). 79 Letters, David Dubinsky to Albert Hemsing, July 24, 1950 and Hemsing to Dubinsky, August 11, 1950 (quotes), Folder 7B, Box 246, DD Correspondence, ILGWU. 80 Ross, American Workers, American Movies, 81–82. Writing about the ILGWU's musical production, ‘Pins and Needles,’ Colette Hyman has noted that the union leadership's conceptualization of cultural productions was always limited. Dubinsky's union, for example, willingly countenanced ‘racism directed at its own members’ and distanced itself from the ‘cast members’ political sympathies.’ Hyman, Staging Strikes, 104–105. 81 Although done in a somewhat different style—using archival photographs and film footage, labor music, and excerpts from the writings and speeches of workers and union leaders—the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America's 1964 film, The Inheritance, paralleled the story line and general sentiments of the ILGWU film. The Inheritance did differ from With These Hands in that it hinted that class struggle had been a constant in the history of American workers. 82 Emspak quoted in Marzani, The Education of a Reluctant Radical, 174. 83 Union Films, Cineaste, 33.