Background The Trade Union Unity League had its roots in an earlier Communist Party foray into the
trade union movement, the
Trade Union Educational League (1920-1929), headed by
William Z. Foster. This earlier organization sought to pursue a "boring from within" tactic inside the previously existing unions, inside and outside of the
American Federation of Labor — seeking to organize left wing "militants" within these unions with a view to transforming the unions themselves into revolutionary instruments. The TUEL sought to build a democratic, industrial, rank and file-centered union movement by attempting to steer conservative AFL and independent unions to the left on the political spectrum. Despite his lifelong enmity towards dual unionism, Foster remained at the helm of the TUEL organization when it changed its name and tactics at its 1929 convention. This change of line was externally driven, Foster explained to his associate from the
United Mine Workers of America,
Powers Hapgood at the time of the change, declaring "Powers, the Communist Party decided that policy. As a good Communist I just have to go along."
Formation The TUUL was founded at a convention held in
Cleveland, Ohio, on August 31, 1929. The TUUL emerged out the Trade Union Education League (TUEL), which was founded by William Zebulon Foster in 1920. The TUEL attempted to create an "amalgamation of the trade unions" by forging alliances, organizing unity conferences, winning control of different local unions as well as city and state labor federations. The TUEL aimed to provide leadership for numerous local, as well as regional, industry-wide strikes. In 1928, the Communist International finally encouraged League members to abandon their "boring from within" strategy. In 1929, the TUEL gave way to the Trade Union Unity League (TUUL) and began to establish new unions. The TUUL founded about a dozen industrial unions in various economic sectors including textiles, marine labor, mining, shoe and leather manufacturing, and agricultural labor. Soon after the founding of the TUUL, approximately 50, 000 workers were organized by TUUL affiliates. This period in the Party's history has been called its "hey day" and is notable for Communists' unyielding antagonism to more moderate organizers, who were branded "
social fascists." TUUL activists attempted to organize some of the most marginal populations of the
working class, such as the unemployed, women, and
Blacks in the racially segregated
American South.
Development of the Union At its founding conference, the TUUL outlined that it would use three organizing strategies: forming national industrial unions along the lines of the NMU, NTWU and the NTWIU; in industries where the federation struggled to organize unions, grouping together local unions and shop committees into national industrial leagues; and organizing left-wing oppositions in the AFL unions. The TUUL largely focused on building extensive industrial unions and on inter-ethnic and inter-racial organizing. Specifically, the TUUL focused on promoting the rights of marginalized African American workers: "The advancement of the workers generally is inseparably bound up with the advancement of the Negroes." The TUUL viewed class struggle as a unifying experience for all workers. Beginning in 1928, when the TUUL the organization helped organize between 40,000 and 60,000 workers. The TUUL organized more than a dozen unions including the National Miners Union (NMU), the National Textile Workers Industrial Union, the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union, and the Agricultural Workers Industrial League (which later became the Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union). The TUUL also set up the Office Workers Union in New York with
Gertrude Lane as its leader. The passage of the
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) in 1933 led to increase in strike activity by the AFL and TUUL unions. With the enactment of the NIRA and the inclusion of Clause 7(a), which provided many private-sector workers with a federally protected right to organize, union membership in the United States increased considerably. Clause 7(a) of the NIRA was unclear regarding workers' legal right to collective-bargaining representation. Therefore, many employers established company unions in an attempt to prevent workers from joining AFL, TUUL, or independent unions. Nevertheless, the TUUL benefited from the National Industrial Recovery Act through significant increases in its membership. The CPUSA referred to the NIRA as "slave legislation" and considered its character to be protofascist. Many TUUL-led strikes were offensive in character and pushed for wage increases or improved working conditions. However, many of these strikes were spontaneous, thus the unions had little opportunity to prepare sufficiently. Communist trade unions were ordered to enter CIO industrial unions or to work within existing AFL unions. Radical, communist unions were instructed by the CPUSA to join with the CIO and the AFL in order to promote general labor unity as well as industrial unionism. With the establishment of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the end of Third Period Communism in 1935, American communist leader, William Z. Foster, returned to a "boring from within" strategy. Thus, Foster and the CPUSA worked to integrate hundreds of Communist organizers into
John L. Lewis's newly established industrial union organization. However, the vision of a democratic and activist trade unionism, which was bolstered by the TUUL, ultimately provided a bridge and a training ground for CPUSA trade union activists when they reentered the AFL in 1934. Former TUUL members played a role in organizing the CIO unions during the 1930s. The TUUL unions' struggle marks the inception of the CPUSA's commitment to building industrial unionism in the United States. == Affiliated unions and headquarters==