So a thread summarizing some of this pamphlet. https://twitter.com/thehousered/status/1386134073991630849

First, the signatories to the report:

James Chamberlain Baker, Mary Beard, Carl Becker, Jacob Billikopf, Morris Llewellyn Cooke, John A. Fitch, William G. Haber, Herbert Harris, Willard Hotchkiss, Freda Kirchwey, William Draper Lewis, Lewis Mayers, Spencer Miller, Jr.

James Myers, Max Otto, Selig Perlman, Edward Alsworth Ross, Msgr. John A. Ryan, Joel Seidman, I.L. Scharfman, Herbert L. Spencer, Philip J. Taft, Ordway Tead, Francis Tyson, Lynn T. White, William Allen White

Pulling some of those out that jump out to me: Msgr. John A. Ryan was a hugely influential figure in Catholic social thought, and was a big supporter of FDR.

However, Catholic trade unionists (Association of Catholic Trade Unionists) were a major source (maybe THE major source) of organized opposition to CPUSA within the CIO. I don't know enough about Ryan to know how connected he was to ACTU, but assume there was probably some.

A lot of the historians here (Selig Perlman) are heavily associated with the institutionalist "Commons School" of labor analysis.

Freda Kirchwey was the editor of The Nation, and wasn't (as far as I know) at all associated with anti-communism (the opposite, I think!)

Mary R. Beard was a major historian and political activist in her own right and collaborated with the Pankhursts in the United Kingdom.

Methodology of the survey: the ACLU conducted hearings from 1941 to 1943, asking trade union officials, public officials, and employers to express their views. They also reviewed relevant court cases and documents of all major national and international unions.

An overview of the content:

Section 1: Aspects of trade union governance.
Section 2: Membership requirements and discrimination.
Section 3: Expulsions and disciplinary action.

Section 4: Distribution of authority in union governance.
Section 5: Conventions, elections, tenure of office, financial disclosure, and member participation in determining policy.

Framing the report:

"We are opposed to legal restraints on unions beyond two measures guaranteeing (1) that unions shall be open to all qualified workers without discrimination (2) that the democratic rights of members under union constitutions shall be protected."

Some summary takeaways:

Most unions were reasonably or highly democratic, and few unions were an explicit issue. The most significant problem was discrimination: some unions, like the Machinists, were huge and highly discriminatory (the Machinists actively barred Black members).

The majority of unions didn't actively bar workers of color, but many had segregated locals and auxiliaries. Given the existence of closed shop agreements, refusing to admit to membership was a de facto ban on working in some industries.

The ACLU didn't oppose closed shop agreements (some bosses and liberals used this as a reason to attack the closed shop): they opposed discriminatory restrictions on union membership. Closed unionism, not the closed shop, was the problem.

Their analysis of internal suppression of political dissent oddly focused on communist-led locals, likely because anti-communists were more likely to trust the courts would uphold their suits against their unions (and the ACLU used court records to analyze this).

However, they fall back to anti-communist tropes to suggest that communists were uniquely predisposed to injure democracy.

It's worth quoting in full.

"Intrusion of political party interests in union affairs marks a considerable number of unions, and is frequently accomplished by manipulation by a minority of democratic procedure, through such tactics as attending and voting in blocs, caucusing in advance . . ."

". . . or wearing out the majority in meetings protracted by parliamentary wrangling. Communist Party members, and in less degree, members of other minority political groups, have resorted to these tactics."

Their solution: a "Bill of Rights" for Union Members. I'm summarizing, not typing word for word.

1.) Eliminating restrictions on union membership except for incompetence in "trade or calling," "bad moral character," or a "record of anti-union activity."

2.) Democratic participation, through provisions for regular meetings or conventions, free discussion within the union, control of dues, assessments, and finances by members, and clear financial reporting to the membership.

3.) Protection against arbitrary disciplinary proceedings, guaranteed by constitutional provisions for fair hearings before persons other than those bringing charges, with a process for appeal to an independent body.

4.) Fair and equal treatment with respect to job placement in instances where unions exercise control over employment.

Many of these principles are reflected in the LMRDA Bill of Rights for union members; however, the LMRDA inserts the state more into ensuring compliance than it seems the ACLU envisioned in this report.

This report has a lot of interesting factual information on the state of trade union organization in 1943, and it has some interesting analysis.

One thing is clear and unaddressed: it makes assumptions about the role of trade unions in American society that lead to their conclusions, namely, that unions are an instrument of *civil society* rather than *political organizations.*