Making the World Safe for Workers: Labor, the Left, and Wilsonian Internationalism

The Working Class in American History

by Elizabeth McKillen

In this intellectually ambitious study, Elizabeth McKillen explores the significance of Wilsonian internationalism for workers and the influence of American labor in both shaping and undermining the foreign policies and war mobilization efforts of Woodrow Wilson's administration. McKillen highlights the major fault lines that emerged within labor circles as Wilson pursued his agenda in the context of Mexican and European revolutions, World War I, and the Versailles Peace Conference. McKillen's spotlight falls on the American Federation of Labor, whose leadership collaborated extensively with Wilson, assisting with propaganda, policy, and diplomacy. At the same time, other labor groups (and even sub-groups within the AFL) vehemently opposed Wilsonian internationalism. As McKillen shows, the choice to collaborate with or resist U.S. foreign policy remained an important one for labor throughout the twentieth century. In fact, it continues to resonate today in debates over the global economy, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the impact of U.S. policies on workers at home and abroad.

Genres: Labor

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Indeed. The World has to be safe for Workers. So Workers would be able to work more days without break, so they could generate value, because the State has to collect taxes to give generous pensions to McKillen and his gang. And I am sure McKillen has lots of nieces and nephews to hire in that comfy Academic environment, all fighters for the Workers' cause. And while the Workers will toil to create value, McKillen will have a divine right to not be bothered to work, not even the useless paper pushing he did up to this volume, and the Workers will have a right to pay his bills, and give him money to make gifts to his own grandchildren.