10. Left, Right, and Center

Episode 10 of Fragile Juggernaut surveys the wide range of workers who united–and sometimes fought each other–under the banner of the CIO. We begin in the slaughterhouse, with special guest Rick Halpern explaining how the United Packinghouse Workers of America (PWOC/UPWA) brought together black and white workers despite segregation inside and outside the workplace. Then, the hosts discuss two of the largest CIO unions: the United Steel Workers (USWA/SWOC) and the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE). These two unions are often thought of, respectively, as emblematic of the “right” and “left” wings of the CIO. But what does that mean? And why did these two unions develop the way they did?   

Featured music: “The Cloakmaker’s Union” (Joe Glazer); “Killing Floor” (Howlin’ Wolf); “Hard Times Killing Floor” (Skip James); “Odpocivam v Americkej pode/I Lie in the American Land” (written by Andrew Kovaly, performed by Vivien Richman); “Spirit of Phil Murray” (Sterling Jubilee Singers).  

Archival audio credits: UPWA oral histories recorded and generously provided by Rick Halpern; Deadline for Action (UE, 1946); James Matles Retirement Speech via UE History; oral histories of James Downey, Tom Girdler, Jr., and Harold Ruttenberg via AAPB. 

Buy Rick Halpern's Down on the Killing Floor Black and White Workers in Chicago's Packinghouses, 1904-54: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p066337

Fragile Juggernaut is a Haymarket Originals podcast exploring the history, politics, and strategic lessons of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the rank and file insurgency that produced it. Support Fragile Juggernaut on Patreon and receive our exclusive bimonthly newsletter, full of additional insights, reading recommendations, and archival materials we’ve amassed along the way. 

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