Organize the Unorganized

A limited series podcast covering the 1930s rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and its legacy.

Benjamin Y. Fong

05.09.2024

From the Docks to the Killing Floors

Episode 6 of Organize the Unorganized takes a deep dive into several CIO union powerhouses, including the United Electrical Workers, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and others in textile and meatpacking industries.

Benjamin Y. Fong

05.04.2024

Steel and the Soul of Capitalism

Episode 5 of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO tells the story of the Little Steel strike of 1937 and the brutal context of steel organizing in the US. It was a tragic failure and a major turning point for the CIO.

Benjamin Y. Fong

04.28.2024

The CIO’s Culture of Unity

Episode 4 of Organize the Unorganized examines three key factors behind the CIO’s success: a robust commitment to collective bargaining, a canny application of militant tactics, and the “culture of unity” that made successful political action possible.

Benjamin Y. Fong

04.21.2024

Power at the Point of Production

From iconic strikes at Goodyear to the battle against GM, episode 3 of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO tells the story of transformational victories in rubber, auto, and steel that put the militant CIO on the map.

Benjamin Y. Fong

04.18.2024

Industrial Workers Get Organized

Episode 2 of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO explores the institutional formation of the CIO and the key personalities who would become the organization’s early leaders, John L. Lewis and Sidney Hillman.

Benjamin Y. Fong

04.15.2024

A New Giant of Labor Emerges

Episode 1 of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO explores key developments that led to the CIO’s founding: the split with the AFL, the broken promises of welfare capitalism, the National Industrial Recovery Act, and the mass strikes of 1934.