550
PARTISAN REVIEW
t
...
-,
I
account. These parts of the book contain much valuable information
about the history of the union, the victory of the Reuther Caucus, and
the Reuther program; but the autobiographical quality of the earlier
portions is sacrificed. This information about the UAW-CIO should
be more widely known because of its position, not only in the trade union
movement, but also in American life. The UAW now has a membership
of about one million, and within its ranks one will find every race, creed,
political tendency and political splinter in contemporary America. It
represents a merger of social ideas and social power, and has become
one of the strongest democratic forces in the United States. Engaging in
a dual struggle, it has won victories over some of the most powerful
industrial empires in the world, while within its own ranks, it has success–
fully coped with the problems of Stalinism. At its Atlantic City convention
in November, 1948, the UAW repudiated the Communist Party more
completely than ever before in the history of the American labor move–
ment. Today, powerful and militant, it is one of the forces offering some
hope of genuine progress, some vista, in Sandburg's phrase, of "the lights
beyond the prison."
The history of the
VA
W-CIO is also the life story of hundreds of
thousands of union guys, and of the sense of dignity, confidence and
social idealism which they have begun to develop by building their union.
Clayton Fountain's book is a part of that history.
It
describes the personal
and political history of one young worker and his union. It recounts
but one of the many stories which go into the making of a dynamic,
militantly democratic and progressive union which is affecting the politi.
cal, economic, social, and cultural life of the country.
Twenty-one years ago, Fountain, a boy of eighteen, wanting money,
excitement, and experience, stood in line with other recruits at Packard's,
waiting for his first assignment. After his first day's work he went home,
groggy, and exhausted. His dreams were full of scenes of work. He
awoke, "still dazed and groggy." This experience can be multiplied
endlessly in the lives of the auto workers. None of them ever could have
dreamed or imagined that they, together, would become the progressive
force they have become, and that they would contribute toward the crea–
tion of a new and fighting tradition in
thi~
country.
Union Guy
is a docu–
ment which tells a little of this story, and suggests to the reader how it all
happened. It ends in an affirmation of the Reuther program, and an
account of its development. It is a program which, let me add, I con–
sider to be the basis for any constructive and concerted progressive politi–
cal action at the present time.
James T. Farrell
