Word: afl
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...amazement of many, however, the first formal conclave of the new united organization was marked by a serene meeting of minds between the former heads of the AFL and CIO. Both George Meany and Walter Reuther spoke of the internal amity and potential of the newly-built AFL-CIO. More significantly, both agreed fully on the important subject of labor's future in politics. They attacked the recent statement of Arizona's Senator Barry Goldwater, that the AFL-CIO had "no right to endorse a political nominee" and his suggestion that labor be "politically disfranchised." Reuther replied to Goldwater directly...
...Russians he has unnecessarily infuriated a nation whose friendship is crucial, thus making the Russian strategy doubly effective. It seems that Mr. Dulles has again cut off our national nose to spite our patriotic face. ual change in the policy of large labor groups. At the inception of the AFL, the organization steadfastly refused to take political action, relying mainly on building up the processes of collective bargaining. Founder Samuel Gompers warned the fledgling Federation that political action could prove disastrous to the labor movement as a whole and urged the AFL to maintain a steady pressure on employers...
...AFL's first overt entrance into national politics came in 1924 when its convention passed a resolution backing Wisconsin's Senator Robert LaFollette who was running on a third-party, Progressive ticket. That same year, the AFL drew up a program for national legislation which contained many planks not connected directly with the labor movement. LaFollette's defeat convinced many of the Federation's leaders that Gompers was right after all, and that their organization entered national campaigns at the risk of getting its ears pinned back...
...same time, however, the labor lobby in Washington began to achieve some real results, and the AFL found itself obligated to protect its gains. The passage of the Clayton Act, exempting unions from anti-trust prosecution, gave labor a stake in maintaining a friendly national administration. The passage of the Wagner Act in 1935 furthered labor's concern with national politics...
...intervention ideology and the examples of many ill-fated adventures in 19th-century America and in Europe deterred the Federation from beginning a separate political party, it soon became clear that the organization would be forced to take a more active role on the national scene. In 1947, the AFL established a political subsidiary--Labor's League for Political Education which promised, with AFL financing, to "support candidates on the basis of their record, and not on the basis of personal party favors and party prejudices." The CIO had fewer qualms about direct political activity, setting up the Political Action...