Monarchs of All They Survey

In 1935 the Wagner Act established a national labor relations policy explicitly designed to encourage collective bargaining and facilitate union growth. Hailed as labor’s “Magna Carta” by New Deal politicians, union leaders, and Liberals generally, its basic provisions are still the law, essentially unmodified by amendments made in the Taft-Hartley and Landrum-Griffin Acts.

For this operation to be successful, its real nature must be hidden from the public. It is precisely the latter’s natural sympathy for the “underdog” which constitutes both a danger to the success of the operation and an opportunity to exploit it effectively. Labor has developed a mystique which proclaims that workers are weak and oppressed, that only unions can protect them against injustice because unions are the supremely democratic organizations of their own choosing. This is the staple of union publicity, disseminated through every channel of communication and omnipresent as the implicit premise of every union legislative proposal.

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Michael J. Bernstein

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In 1935 the Wagner Act established a national labor relations policy explicitly designed to encourage collective bargaining and facilitate union growth. Hailed as labor’s “Magna Carta” by New Deal politicians, union leaders, and Liberals generally, its basic provisions are still the law, essentially unmodified by amendments made in the Taft-Hartley and Landrum-Griffin Acts.

For this operation to be successful, its real nature must be hidden from the public. It is precisely the latter’s natural sympathy for the “underdog” which constitutes both a danger to the success of the operation and an opportunity to exploit it effectively. Labor has developed a mystique which proclaims that workers are weak and oppressed, that only unions can protect them against injustice because unions are the supremely democratic organizations of their own choosing. This is the staple of union publicity, disseminated through every channel of communication and omnipresent as the implicit premise of every union legislative proposal.