Episode 1: Under the Blue Eagle

Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO

https://jacobin.com/2024/04/organize-cio-podcast-bridges-trucker-strikes The first episode of Organize the Unorganized sets the stage for the story of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, first getting into the history of the organization from which it broke off, the American Federation of Labor, and then describing three developments that raised workers’ expectations in the lead-up to the founding of the CIO: the broken promises of welfare capitalism, the National Industrial Recovery Act, and the mass strikes of 1934. Interviewees, in order of appearance: Ruth Milkman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center; Robert Cherny, Professor Emeritus of History at San Francisco State University; Ahmed White, Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado-Boulder; Dorothy Sue Cobble, Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Labor Studies at Rutgers University; Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at UC-Santa Barbara; Lizabeth Cohen, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University; Bryan Palmer, Professor Emeritus of History at Trent University; Steve Fraser, Labor Historian; David Brody, Professor Emeritus of History at UC-Davis; Erik Loomis, Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island; Jeremy Brecher, Labor Historian Songs, in order of appearance: Aunt Molly Jackson, “CIO Union Song,” https://lomaxky.omeka.net/items/show/1352 (7:28); Joe and Esther Zane Gelders, “The Ballad of John Catchings,” https://lomaxky.omeka.net/items/show/197 (23:50); John Greenway, “The Ballad of Bloody Thursday,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWafvcwXCtc (32:08) Clips, in order of appearance: John L. Lewis speech, from Mike Wallace’s Biography, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fwAr3_oHKg&t=384s (0:00); AFL vs. CIO split in 1935, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IsJZAknuIQ (11:51); David Dubinsky speech, from “ILGWU. David Dubinsky Audio-visual Recordings: Collection Number: 5780/002 AV,” Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Box 2, Folder 10, “David Dubinsky—United Auto Worker Convention, Atlantic City, New Jersey, regarding racketeering” (18:49); “1934 United States Labor Disputes and Strikes newsreel archival footage,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIaLk-LKlqI (25:33); “San Francisco General Strike, 1934 - Part 2,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaccCzN7WLc (29:45); “Farrell Dobbs Speaks! Teamster Battles of the 1930s: Part 1,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLr45LwsqGI&t=1462s (41:46) Theme music by Drake Tyler.