No Neutrals There: U.S. Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine

Historian Schuhrke (Blue Collar Empire) spotlights in this eye-opening account the “more than one hundred–year alliance between US union officialdom and Zionism.” In 1917, American Federation of Labor delegates voted to endorse a measure that encouraged the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and Schurhke traces how, as U.S. labor power increased in the ’30s and ’40s, the unions’ material support for Israel grew in kind. American labor officials directly lobbied UN diplomats for the creation of a Jewish state in 1947, and millions of dollars of State of Israel Bonds were purchased by U.S. unions, often over the protests of rank and file members. The motivation of union leaders, Schuhrke shows, was a “patriotic” desire to stay in step with U.S. ideological alignment on international issues, from the anti-communism of the Cold War to the war on terror of the 2000s. Schuhrke’s unspooling of American unions’ international machinations is impressive and concise. Equally fascinating are his ironic snapshots of conditions for Palestinian workers during the same period: “Israeli employers were free to violate union contracts and discriminate against Palestinian workers by paying them lower wages,” he notes. The result is a unique and revealing look at one facet of America’s deep relationship with Israel. (Oct.)