| Reviews / Comptes Rendus | Labour/Le Travail, 60

REVIEWS / COMPTES RENDUS

John Barnard, American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers During the Reuther Years (Detroit: Wayne State University Press 2004)

FROM THE OUTSET of this book, John Barnard leaves no doubt about his sympathy and support for the United Auto Workers, and particularly longtime President Walter Reuther and his allies. He acknowledges the encouragement and financial grants he received from a number of UAW leaders, although he also makes clear that this "is not in any sense an 'authorized' or 'official' history." (xiii)

The greatest strength of Barnard's study is his massive research base. He makes extensive use of union archives and conducted interviews with a wide array of UAW leaders. Barnard also makes good use of the secondary literature on the UAW, particularly Nelson Lichtenstein's magnificent biography of Reuther, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit. Barnard is certainly aware that much of the scholarship on Reuther and the UAW is far from favourable, but he rarely engages these critics, or interpretive debates of any kind.

Rather, Barnard devotes himself to building a narrative that emphasizes the achievements and contributions of the union. To be sure, Barnard pays much attention to the many controversial aspects of the union's history, including the internal divisions, political machinations, and the numerous unfulfilled goals. But in Barnard's account, the accomplishments of Reuther and company greatly outweigh the failures.

Barnard provides no shortage of evidence to support his perspective. He is especially effective in bringing home the extent of the struggle required to establish the union in the major automakers' plants. For instance, he emphasizes how precarious the union remained, and how much work was still left to be done, after the initial breakthroughs of the 1937 sitdown strikes. He outlines how internal discord and employer resistance nearly drove the UAW out of GM plants, and only Reuther's decision to mount a risky strike for recognition by the tool and die makers allowed the union to regain its organizing momentum. (141–6)

The dedication of Reuther and his comrades in building the union is one of many parts of the book that is enriched by some compelling pictures. Barnard includes well-known photographs just before and after the 1937 "Battle of the Overpass" in which Reuther, future UAW vice-president Richard Frankensteen, and other organizers were brutally beaten by a group of Ford "servicemen." (107–8) Altogether, the book features more than 75 images, mostly from the Reuther library, including photographs of pickets, sit-downers, demonstrations, parades, conventions, and of course key union leaders.

Barnard also provides a thorough account of the battles among different factions within the union. His enthusiasm for the union is an especially valuable asset in this regard, as he shows how these were not merely petty squabbles but rather high stakes struggles for control of a powerful organization. Barnard also shows a keen eye for incidents that bring his story to life. For instance, Barnard provides an engaging description of the tactics that Homer Martin, the UAW's unsteady and often autocratic first president, employed to keep control of the 1937 convention. Barnard writes that "Martin kept a small metal box on the podium, an 'applausograph,' that he claimed could record the volume of voice votes with scientific accuracy." (122) Sure enough, "with the president announcing the results, the close votes went in favor" of his side. (122)

Not surprisingly, Barnard seems most assured in his analysis of the prosperous years that followed World War II, when Reuther won and then consolidated power and the UAW made its greatest gains on wages and benefits at the bargaining table. Barnard traces in impressive detail the union's advances, which allowed the weekly wages (inflation-adjusted) of the average auto worker to triple from $56.61 in 1946 to $170.07 in 1960. (260)

Regarding political matters, Barnard portrays Reuther as a principled leader and a shrewd tactician. While acknowledging many unfulfilled goals and a few key errors in judgment, Barnard describes Reuther as a tenacious and creative force leading labour's efforts to influence the broader political landscape. He also generally stands behind Reuther's (mostly successful) tactics in defeating rival factions in the UAW, including in cases that have been flashpoints for critics. The best example is Barnard's treatment of the "crackdown" on leaders of Local 600, based in Ford's massive set of plants at Rouge River. He concedes that the decision to put the local in the hands of an administrator "smacked of revenge," and that some key opponents of Reuther were lumped together with communists and driven out of positions of influence. (245–6)

But Barnard insists that there is more to the story than Reuther taking "political advantage" of "the "Red Scare" hysteria of the times. He argues that Reutherites were also motivated by, among other things, a "principled objection to Communism," and a deep conviction that the "democratic left, of which they were a part" had to prevail over the "totalitarian left" in the "struggle to shape humanity's future." (246)

This is one of a number of cases for which Barnard needed to do more than give his account of events and address in detail some key historiographic issues about the UAW. As it is, some of his statements about controversial events – such as his claim that Reuther was "both an anti-communist and an opponent of extremist anti-communism" (247) – cry out for further explanation and justification.

Social historians will find a number of underdeveloped themes in Barnard's study particularly noticeable. After an early chapter on the auto industry before the union, Barnard tends to neglect the lives and experiences of autoworkers, and particularly the social factors such as race and gender that helped to shape them. The importance of women and gender issues in the union, let alone in the broader community, especially needed further examination. For instance, the contribution of women to the sit-down strikes, which has been well explored elsewhere, is given only a few paragraphs. While Barnard does devote considerable attention to race relations, especially in the 1960s, his analysis would have profited from drawing on insights from recent scholarship on racism and racial identities.

Barnard's approach to other themes, especially shop-floor militancy, shifts depending on the circumstances. In discussing the strikes that helped establish the union, he credits average workers "on the shop floor" for creating "the initial commitment to union action." He contends that while organizers and future leaders could give some assistance, "nothing happened unless workers themselves stepped forward, asserted their rights, and drew up an agenda." (95) But his view changes after the union becomes increasingly secure and a stable collective bargaining system is in place. Indeed, Barnard almost takes it for granted that Reuther and other top UAW leaders were justified in viewing shop-floor-initiated actions as destructive and disruptive.

There is also a conspicuous regional bias. One can hardly quibble with a study of the auto industry focusing on the midwest region, especially the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit. But the book would have been enriched by giving more consideration to industrial growth and union activity in other areas, particularly Canada (since the UAW was an international union in the period covered by the study) and the American South.

On the whole, however, Barnard's work succeeds in its most basic goal of making readers appreciate the achievements of Reuther and other leaders who built and led the UAW through its greatest years. For scholars in Canada, where the field of institutional labour history remains underdeveloped, Barnard has provided another valuable service. He also shows just how much the field has to offer when served by a dedicated historian.


DAVID GOUTOR McMaster University

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