Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Luff on Anticommunism, Labor and Civil Liberties

Jennifer Luff, the Research Director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University, will present her book Commonsense Anticommunism: Labor and Civil Liberties between the World Wars, tomorrow, September 27, from 4 until 5:30 at the Mortara Center for International Studies, Georgetown University, 3600 N Street, NW, Washington, DC.  Eric Arnesen, Professor of History, George Washington University, will comment.

According to the announcement:
Between the Great War and Pearl Harbor, conservative labor leaders declared themselves America's "first line of defense" against Communism. In her new book Commonsense Anticommunism, historian Jennifer Luff argues that the AFL's "commonsense anticommunism" tried to steer a middle course between the American Legion and the American Civil Liberties Union, defending unions while condemning communism.  The outcome of that effort, she argues, shaped American labor politics in ways we continue to grapple with today.