The Great Regression

If there's one thing that all authoritarian movements seem to have in common, it could very well be a hostile stand against unions. The Soviet Union outlawed all independent labor unions and then created government managed unions to take their place. Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany took similar tacts, mandating membership in government created unions headed by political appointees and banning all others. In fact, the brownshirts and blackshirts, before seizing power, had fought in the streets with striking workers.

Labor history in America is one of opposition and then co-opting. Until the New Deal, unions were illegal and presidents would send in the National Guard to shoot at striking workers. Following after the New Deal was the Taft-Hartely act, which outlawed sympathetic strikes, political strikes, general strikes and closed shops among other things. By this point the IWW, the most radical union arguably, had been decimated by the Palmer raids and Woodrow Wilson seizing control of the lumber industry when there was a labor dispute.

Most of the unions that remained were large conservative organizations, and combined with the anti union legislation (right to work laws for example) union membership dwindled steadily over time. Now, a new wave of Republican legislators is intent on attacking a weakened foe, perhaps hoping to finish unions once and for all. In Wisconsin, public employees would be forbidden to collectively bargain for anything other than wages, and in Michigan a proposed law that seems set to pass would allow a governor appointed "emergency manager" to void union contracts at will.

There seems to be a perception that unions are strangling the economy or exerting a corrupt influence on society. These are just the rantings of extremely authoritarian figures who are afraid of voluntary associations. When legislation was proposed to legalize card check commercials were aired comparing card check legalization (an increase in economic freedom) with mandatory unionization or outlawing secret elections. What we're talking about is voluntary groups, heavily restricted by the government already, getting targeted by legislators claiming an interest in freedom.

I can't imagine anything more beneficial for freedom in the United States than repealing the Taft-Hartely act, right to work laws and an increase in the membership in radical class oriented unions (like the IWW).