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The Most Dangerous Man In Detroit: Walter Reuther And The Fate Of American Labor
Walter Reuther, the most imaginative and powerful trade union leader of the past half-century, confronted the same problems facing millions of working Americans how to use the spectacular productivity of our economy to sustain and improve the standard of living and security of ordinary Americans. As Nelson Lichtenstein observes, Reuther, the president of the United Automobile Workers from 1946 to 1970, may not have had all the answers, but at least he was asking the right questions.
The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit vividly recounts Reuther's remarkable his days as a skilled worker at Henry Ford's great River Rouge complex, his two-year odyssey in the Soviet Union's infant auto industry in the early 1930s, and his immersion in the violent labor upheavals of the late 1930s that gave rise to the CIO. Under Reuther, the autoworkers' standard of living doubled.
The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit vividly recounts Reuther's remarkable his days as a skilled worker at Henry Ford's great River Rouge complex, his two-year odyssey in the Soviet Union's infant auto industry in the early 1930s, and his immersion in the violent labor upheavals of the late 1930s that gave rise to the CIO. Under Reuther, the autoworkers' standard of living doubled.
592 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1995
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About the author
Nelson Lichtenstein
59 books30 followersNelson Lichtenstein is a professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor and Democracy.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 24, 2018
One of the most respected and regarded labor historians, coming out of the New Labor history, Nelson Lichtenstein wrote this biography of Walter Reuther, which really explores Reutherism. He painted a picture of Walter Reuther as a solid man of the left, despite his opponents calling his faction right-wing (though it probably was to the right of center in 1930s labor politics). Reuther and his brothers Victor and Roy grew up in a solidly Eugene Debs Socialist Party family, and he and his brother, after being laid off from Ford auto factories, toured Europe in 1933 as fascism rose, helping with social democratic resistance forces in Germany as Nazis moved to destroy them and saw Red Vienna's workers' housing and childcare centers (and probably much more.) They even arrived in the Soviet Union (which as young socialists they probably arrived out of sympathy and curiosity more than being outright Marxist-Leninists), and worked at the Gorky Auto Plant which Ford himself had sold much of the parts to Stalin. When they came home, they quickly became engaged in socialist party politics and began labor organizing in the auto industry, rising as experienced organizers as the CIO moved to organize the UAW. Walter Reuther quickly found himself the President of Local 174, on the West Side of Detroit which was responsible for organizing at GM plants. He quickly became an opponent of the center-left coalition of the UAW, though he called for FDR to adopt the Reuther plan in order to convert the auto industry into war production. Lichtenstein terms this a faustian bargain, in which the UAW sacrificed shop floor syndicalism (union control) and critiquing the limits of the New Deal in return for role in war production, which gave a large boost to the UAW's membership.
After the war, his role in organizing the UAW's GM strike in 1945-46 gave his star a rapid rise, leading him to win the Presidency of the union by a slim margin. He was remarkably consistent as a proponent of European style social democracy even after he left the Socialist Party for mostly pragmatic reasons as to give the UAW a chance to ally with pro-labor Democrats, like Michigan's Governor Murphy. Still, he was consistently anti-Communist and that probably hurt the UAW in the long run as it helped drive out and gut the militancy of the UAW's most militant organizers, despite the zigzagging of the CP's party lines that made them easy targets after they proved untrustworthy to work with by Reuther in his experience with the factionalized UAW of the 1930s-40s. When he rose, he moved against CP members, expelling and firing individual Communists and even moving against Local 600 (at Ford's River Rouge), though he failed to drive out the "Red Local". Reuther saw the building of social democracy as one of the UAW's missions, even as a vanguard, which he indeed, ran the UAW often times like a Leninist organization, in which a central line was to be taken and opponents then were expected to obey the party-line, "democracy not factionalism" as he termed it. Lichtenstein criticized Reuther's faith in collective bargaining as it only benefited a portion of the working class instead of the larger class as he defanged opposition. To this, his right-wing opponents in business termed him "the most dangerous man in Detroit" like George Romney, the governor of Michigan (and Mitt's father.) Still, the UAW had built its own private welfare state for its membership, which brought a generation of auto workers into real wage gains and lifetime income security. Reuther sought to reorganize capitalism in a corporatist manner instead of abolishing it.
Interestingly, Walter Reuther committed to supporting Civil Rights and was largely opposed to the Vietnam War, even as it tied itself to the Democratic Party. They faced down the conservative Southern Dixiecrat wing of the Democrats, as well as the moderate AFL-CIO President George Meaney, whom he eventually broke with and withdrew the UAW from the AFL-CIO with the idea of building an alternative labor union with the Teamsters (who were in a brief moment of reformism as Hoffa sat in jail.) Before he died in a plane crash in 1970, he was working on building an education and recreation center for young unionists, even as he struggled to engage with rising challenges to his leadership in the UAW like the rise of the black militants in the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM). Lichtenstein saw him as a man of contradictions, confined to the prison of the UAW infrastructure that he had built up during his two decades of control. He was instrumental in putting the UAW behind the Civil Rights movement (supporting it both rhetorically, in political lobbying, and financially such as being a major funder of the 1963 March on Washington) yet it lagged behind in bringing black leadership into the upper levels of the UAW and often was unsure how to approach racial tensions within Detroit as racist white workers violently attacked black workers. Lichtenstein saw Reuther of having major power to bring real change to the lives of millions, yet came up short in other aspects before his life ended.
This is an important book, as Reuther is a bridge between the Old Left Establishment and the New Left, the CIO militancy and the establishment labor unions, and both the establishment and unravelling of the New Deal coalition. One can not understand the history of the labor movement without knowing the story of Walter Reuther, warts and all.
After the war, his role in organizing the UAW's GM strike in 1945-46 gave his star a rapid rise, leading him to win the Presidency of the union by a slim margin. He was remarkably consistent as a proponent of European style social democracy even after he left the Socialist Party for mostly pragmatic reasons as to give the UAW a chance to ally with pro-labor Democrats, like Michigan's Governor Murphy. Still, he was consistently anti-Communist and that probably hurt the UAW in the long run as it helped drive out and gut the militancy of the UAW's most militant organizers, despite the zigzagging of the CP's party lines that made them easy targets after they proved untrustworthy to work with by Reuther in his experience with the factionalized UAW of the 1930s-40s. When he rose, he moved against CP members, expelling and firing individual Communists and even moving against Local 600 (at Ford's River Rouge), though he failed to drive out the "Red Local". Reuther saw the building of social democracy as one of the UAW's missions, even as a vanguard, which he indeed, ran the UAW often times like a Leninist organization, in which a central line was to be taken and opponents then were expected to obey the party-line, "democracy not factionalism" as he termed it. Lichtenstein criticized Reuther's faith in collective bargaining as it only benefited a portion of the working class instead of the larger class as he defanged opposition. To this, his right-wing opponents in business termed him "the most dangerous man in Detroit" like George Romney, the governor of Michigan (and Mitt's father.) Still, the UAW had built its own private welfare state for its membership, which brought a generation of auto workers into real wage gains and lifetime income security. Reuther sought to reorganize capitalism in a corporatist manner instead of abolishing it.
Interestingly, Walter Reuther committed to supporting Civil Rights and was largely opposed to the Vietnam War, even as it tied itself to the Democratic Party. They faced down the conservative Southern Dixiecrat wing of the Democrats, as well as the moderate AFL-CIO President George Meaney, whom he eventually broke with and withdrew the UAW from the AFL-CIO with the idea of building an alternative labor union with the Teamsters (who were in a brief moment of reformism as Hoffa sat in jail.) Before he died in a plane crash in 1970, he was working on building an education and recreation center for young unionists, even as he struggled to engage with rising challenges to his leadership in the UAW like the rise of the black militants in the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM). Lichtenstein saw him as a man of contradictions, confined to the prison of the UAW infrastructure that he had built up during his two decades of control. He was instrumental in putting the UAW behind the Civil Rights movement (supporting it both rhetorically, in political lobbying, and financially such as being a major funder of the 1963 March on Washington) yet it lagged behind in bringing black leadership into the upper levels of the UAW and often was unsure how to approach racial tensions within Detroit as racist white workers violently attacked black workers. Lichtenstein saw Reuther of having major power to bring real change to the lives of millions, yet came up short in other aspects before his life ended.
This is an important book, as Reuther is a bridge between the Old Left Establishment and the New Left, the CIO militancy and the establishment labor unions, and both the establishment and unravelling of the New Deal coalition. One can not understand the history of the labor movement without knowing the story of Walter Reuther, warts and all.
August 1, 2018
Walter Reuther did not have much of a personal life. He spent little time at home with his two children, or his wife, nee May Wolf, who was herself a former socialist labor activist. While at home he tended to woodwork in his shop, a laborer at all times. As the author notes, Reuther was truly wedded to the United Auto Workers, which he helped birth in Detroit in the 1930s, and which he led from 1946 until his death in a plane crash in 1970.
Reuther was the son of immigrant German workers, and his dad was a dedicated unionist and socialist around the Ohio River Valley. Reuther showed an aptitude for metal work from a young age, and took those skills to the then-center of metal innovation, Detroit. As some GM executives said, his brio and intelligence could have made him a leader of the company. Yet instead, Reuther took a trip to work in factories in Gorky in the Soviet Union, from which he celebrated the efforts of the Stalinist government, and returned to organize workers in the Depression. His good organizing skills in the Kelsey-Hayes wheel shop, and in later strikes helped him along, but it was the pictures of him being beaten by Ford thugs while he was distributing leaflets at the "Battle of the Overpass" in May 1937 that made him a star. He also moved from alliance with the Communists and broad laborite planning goals to an anti-Communist and Keynesian goals after World War II, from which he rallied the broader social democratic left.
Reuther's story, so essential to the labor history of the United States, gets lost in this book in endless recountings of internal UAW executive board meetings and annual conferences, battles between now-forgotten UAW presidents Homer Martin and R.J. Thomas, and endless strike minutiae. This book should have dealt more with Reuther's relationship to the broader world, and less with his internecine struggles, which can rightly be left in the dustbin of history.
Reuther was the son of immigrant German workers, and his dad was a dedicated unionist and socialist around the Ohio River Valley. Reuther showed an aptitude for metal work from a young age, and took those skills to the then-center of metal innovation, Detroit. As some GM executives said, his brio and intelligence could have made him a leader of the company. Yet instead, Reuther took a trip to work in factories in Gorky in the Soviet Union, from which he celebrated the efforts of the Stalinist government, and returned to organize workers in the Depression. His good organizing skills in the Kelsey-Hayes wheel shop, and in later strikes helped him along, but it was the pictures of him being beaten by Ford thugs while he was distributing leaflets at the "Battle of the Overpass" in May 1937 that made him a star. He also moved from alliance with the Communists and broad laborite planning goals to an anti-Communist and Keynesian goals after World War II, from which he rallied the broader social democratic left.
Reuther's story, so essential to the labor history of the United States, gets lost in this book in endless recountings of internal UAW executive board meetings and annual conferences, battles between now-forgotten UAW presidents Homer Martin and R.J. Thomas, and endless strike minutiae. This book should have dealt more with Reuther's relationship to the broader world, and less with his internecine struggles, which can rightly be left in the dustbin of history.
August 19, 2023
A frustrating book about a frustrating labor leader by a frustrating labor historian. Walter Reuther was unquestionably one of the greatest trade unionists in US history. But he was also at times one of the greatest enemies of the Left forces trying to make the gains of the labor movement permanent through worker power. Few unionists in US history have been as effective at linking the struggle on the shop floor to the struggle to transform society. Which is why his devotion to US liberalism, which never once paid back his tireless efforts, is so maddening.
Time after time Reuther had a chance to break from the Democratic Party after its leaders betrayed American workers for the interests of their corporate patrons and he refused to do so. He worked hard to crush first the Communists (much to Lichtenstein's approval), then the anti war movement, and finally Black nationalists, in favor of slavish devotion to a bourgeois political party that refused to confront corporate power and plunged into endless wars and coups against workers abroad.
Yet at the same time, unlike so many of the most famous unionists in US history, Reuther was never a true class collaborationist. Unlike Jimmy Hoffa or Joe Ryan he never stole from workers, took money from bosses, or traded sellout contracts for plush favors. He never abandoned the workers in the UAW, and remained genuinely devoted to fighting to improve their lives. It's just a historic shame that his way of doing so was so single mindedly lashed to political forces with no interest in winning that fight.
The fundamental opposition of workers and bosses is an intrinsic aspect of class society. It can't be papered over with appeals to moderation or "shared prosperity." Workers have to build broad coalitions for sure, but with an understanding that the bosses will never, ever allow us to build a just society until their source of power, their wealth and control of industry, is taken from them forever. We can't do that by working to sabotage left wing forces for fear of alienating suburban racists. Social democracy, a philosophy based fundamentally on denying the class nature of the capitalist state, can never solve the inherent barbarism of a system it refuses to overthrow. Europe stands today as stark proof of this.
Devotion to class politics is not youthful idealism or some well meaning utopian dream.
It's our only hope.
Time after time Reuther had a chance to break from the Democratic Party after its leaders betrayed American workers for the interests of their corporate patrons and he refused to do so. He worked hard to crush first the Communists (much to Lichtenstein's approval), then the anti war movement, and finally Black nationalists, in favor of slavish devotion to a bourgeois political party that refused to confront corporate power and plunged into endless wars and coups against workers abroad.
Yet at the same time, unlike so many of the most famous unionists in US history, Reuther was never a true class collaborationist. Unlike Jimmy Hoffa or Joe Ryan he never stole from workers, took money from bosses, or traded sellout contracts for plush favors. He never abandoned the workers in the UAW, and remained genuinely devoted to fighting to improve their lives. It's just a historic shame that his way of doing so was so single mindedly lashed to political forces with no interest in winning that fight.
The fundamental opposition of workers and bosses is an intrinsic aspect of class society. It can't be papered over with appeals to moderation or "shared prosperity." Workers have to build broad coalitions for sure, but with an understanding that the bosses will never, ever allow us to build a just society until their source of power, their wealth and control of industry, is taken from them forever. We can't do that by working to sabotage left wing forces for fear of alienating suburban racists. Social democracy, a philosophy based fundamentally on denying the class nature of the capitalist state, can never solve the inherent barbarism of a system it refuses to overthrow. Europe stands today as stark proof of this.
Devotion to class politics is not youthful idealism or some well meaning utopian dream.
It's our only hope.
November 26, 2007
I didn't read this from cover-to-cover, but I enjoyed reading about Reuther's early years, the formation of the UAW (particularly the "Battle of the Overpass"), and later on the UAW's affiliation with the civil rights movement. Reuther was both brave and a political pragmatist--so much so that it is at times difficult to decipher what were his true beliefs, and what he said he believed for political gain.
November 25, 2009
One of the best modern labor histories
December 18, 2022
A good overview of the story of American industrial unions in the middle third of the 20th century, by way of a biography of one of the most important unionists of the era. Walter Reuther was a leading figure in the United Auto Workers, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and eventually American liberalism on the national and global stages. The author, Nelson Lichtenstein, is obviously an expert on the subject and tons of research went into the book, but he sometimes provides too little context or explanation and I found myself flipping back in vain to try to figure out what some proper noun was referencing. (There's an index, but it could be more complete.) In a worrying sign of sloppiness, I think a majority of the foreign language words, place names, etc. may be misspelled: for example, one footnote refers to both the "Partito Socalista [sic] Italiano" and the "Parti [sic] Communista Italiano," Juan Bosch becomes Juan Bosh, Weimar becomes Weimer, etc. I'd definitely recommend the book to anyone who's specifically interested in U.S. labor history from this period or the UAW. For others, I'd probably recommend reading a few chapters or finding a history that's pitched at a bit more of an introductory level.
December 31, 2018
In addition to being a fascinating biography of an influential and enigmatic labor leader, this book is a good summation of the challenges and opportunities of mid-century unionism. Reuther's life took him from the militant strikes of 1930s Detroit through to leadership of one of the country's most powerful unions during organized labor's heyday in the 1950s before political and racial tensions fractured the labor movement in the 1960s. Lichtenstein handles a complex topic with both clarity and delicacy, refraining from heavy editorializing. It's a bit long and dense, but I might recommend this to anyone who wants to better understand the US' post-war prosperity--where it came from and where it went.
March 9, 2024
As one who was born in Detroit with members of the UAW on all sides of the family, I always knew of Walter Reuther, so reading this biography had a ring of familiarity throughout, from places to events. Reuther said that “the American labor movement is as radical on basic things as the European labor movement, but we don’t dress our things up with socialist slogans….We are pragmatic; if a thing will work, we are for doing it - if it’s radical or conservative - we’re for doing it,” although I think he was really talking about himself. Then again, Reuther *was* the American labor movement for many. This was a very detailed- and sometimes dense - biography of the man and the events of his life. I’d say if you’re interested in labor history, it’s a good book to read.
January 30, 2023
What a book! What a life! From West Virginia glass factories to the Rogue River Ford plant and Wayne State University....Gorky Tool and Die in the U.S.S.R and a tour around pre-war Nazi Germany. and that is all before he is thirty.
I learned so much about the American Economy in first half of the 20th century. Seeing what they were afraid of, what issues and solutions both the workers and the bosses tried to come up with to fend of destruction has given me so many new avenues to explore.
Walter Reuther was so close. His misses are still wounds we are trying to heal today. May we carry on his legacy and bring prosperity to all and dignity to all workers.
I learned so much about the American Economy in first half of the 20th century. Seeing what they were afraid of, what issues and solutions both the workers and the bosses tried to come up with to fend of destruction has given me so many new avenues to explore.
Walter Reuther was so close. His misses are still wounds we are trying to heal today. May we carry on his legacy and bring prosperity to all and dignity to all workers.
June 22, 2022
Excellent biography of the labor leader Walter Reuther. The only thing I think it lacked was not enough information about his personal life. Also the description of his death seemed to fall short in going into more detail, but when it came to describing his history as a labor organizer, it was well documented.
October 22, 2020
Biographies of labor leaders are notorious for bias; many were funded in full or part by the unions involved. This is a reasonably well balanced, cogent study of UAW leader Walther Reuther, famous for his unstinting support of civil rights and his unending feud with AFL-CIO head George Meaney.
May 25, 2025
An extremely detailed (occasionally too detailed for its own good) biography of one of the heroes of the American labor movement that is honest of both his successes and miscalculations. Critical for understanding the role of unions and the state in today’s world.
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October 30, 2009Important stuff to know, I think.
November 22, 2011
Fianlly!
Long but informative. A good biography.
Long but informative. A good biography.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews