The Revival of Labor Liberalism is a careful analysis of the twentieth-century decline of the labor-liberal coalition and the important efforts to revive their political fortunes. Andrew Battista chronicles the efforts of several new political organizations that arose in the 1970s and 1980s with the goal of reuniting unions and liberals. Drawing from extensive documentary research and in-depth interviews with union leaders and political activists, Battista shows that the new organizations such as the Progressive Alliance, Citizen Labor Energy Coalition, and National Labor Committee made limited but real progress in reconstructing and strengthening the labor-liberal coalition. Although the labor-liberal alliance remained far weaker than the rival business-conservative alliance, Battista illuminates that it held a crucial role in labor and political history after 1968. Focuses on a fraught but evolving partnership, Battista provides a broad analysis of factional divisions among both unions and liberals and considers the future of unionism and the labor-liberal coalition in America.

|Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1

PART 1: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE LABOR-LIBERAL COALITION
1. Understanding the Labor-Liberal Coalition 9
2. The Rise of the Labor-Liberal Coalition 27
3. The Decline of the Labor-Liberal Coalition 43
4. Labor Redivided 61

PART 2: THE REVIVAL OF THE LABOR-LIBERAL COALITION: CASE STUDIES
5. The Progressive Alliance 83
6. The Citizen Labor Energy Coalition 103
7. The National Labor Committee 122
8. The Political Strategy and Social Bases of the Dissident Unions 147

PART 3: THE PAST AND FUTURE OF LABOR-LIBERAL POLITICS
9. Toward, and Beyond, 1995 165
10. The Labor-Liberal Coalition: Retrospect and Prospect 191

Appendix 213
Notes 215
Index 261|

"Battista's well-researched, informative account of labor's political struggles illuminates an important dimension of industrial relations history. Highly recommended."—Choice

"Battista's analysis of attempts to rebuild a labor-liberal coalition provides considerable new information about the role played by union leaders and their reformer counterparts."—Industrial and Labor Relations Review

"[Battista] provides a rich discussion of political rivalries between the dominant and dissident wings of labor, competition over institutional resources, and the coordination of position-taking between labor liberals and non-labor liberals."—Journal of American History

​"I recommend the book—certainly anyone who lived through the last four or five decades and possesses a scholarly interest in American politics will find themselves informed."—Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare

"Battista's focus on the forty years after 1968 offers readers new insights into efforts by labor liberals to reconstruct the alliance to fir the contemporary political environment. . . . Highly readable."—Labor Studies Journal|

Andrew Battista is a professor emeritus of American politics and political theory at East Tennessee State University.