Prometheus Research Library Collection on Left Labor Caucuses
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Abstract
This collection principally consists of printed ephemera from left rank and file caucuses within labor unions in the United States and other Anglophone countries from the late 1960s through the early 1990s. Labor unions most prominently represented are the United Automobile Workers (aka the International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America), the United Steel Workers of America, the International Longshoremen's and Warhousemen's Union, the Communications Workers of America, the National Maritime Union, and the American Federation of Teachers.
Historical/Biographical Note
The 1970s and 1980s saw widespread deindustrialization and a worsening political and legal climate for organized labor in the United States. In response to these conditions, and to the perceived inadequacy of union leaders' responses to these challenges, rank and file caucuses arose in many unions and localities. A large role was played by former student activists of the New Left, many of whom had found their way into numerous small and often short-lived communist, socialist, Trotskyist and Maoist organizations.
The Prometheus Research Library assembled and donated this collection. The Prometheus Research Library is a research facility for Marxist studies and the central reference archive of the Spartacist League of the U.S. The Spartacist League of the U.S. is a Trotskyist organization and section of the International Communist League (Fourth International). The Prometheus Research Library's collection is centered upon the work and interests of the American Communist and Trotskyist movements.
Arrangement
Organized into two series: I, Processed Materials (arranged alphabetically); II, Unprocessed Materials.
Scope and Contents
This collection principally consists of printed ephemera from left rank and file caucuses within labor unions in the United States and other Anglophone countries from the late 1960s through the early 1990s. Labor unions most prominently represented are the United Automobile Workers (aka the International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America), the United Steelworkers of America, the International Longshoremen's and Warhousemen's Union, the Communications Workers of America, the National Maritime Union, and the American Federation of Teachers. Strongly represented locals include UAW Local 600 (Dearborn, Michigan), UAW Local 1364 (Fremont, California), and ILWU Local 6 (Bay Area). There are also materials from some radical political parties that play a leading role in this activity, and from labor organizations they founded, as well as subject files.
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Organizations
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Because of the assembled nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items in the collection; these items are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Prometheus Research Library collection on Left Labor Caucuses; TAM 192; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Diana B. Kartsen on behalf of Prometheus Research Library (New York) in 1997. The accession number associated with this gift is 1997.061.
Separated Materials
One half linear foot of official labor union, U.S. Department of Labor, and outside left publications have been separated to the library's serial and pamphlet holdings.
About this Guide
Processing Information
No original order was apparent in the collection upon receipt. In Series II: Unprocessed Materials, materials were grouped into folders and original folder titles were maintained when possible.
