Description
Book SynopsisThe International Workers Order was an American consortium of ethnic mutual self-insurance societies that advocated for unemployment insurance, Social Security and vibrant industrial unions. This interracial leftist organization guaranteed the healthcare of its 180,000 white, black, Hispanic and Arabic working-class members. But what accounted for the popularityand eventual notorietyof this Order? Mining extensive primary sources, Robert Zecker gives voice to the workers inA Road to Peace and Freedom.He describes the group's economic goals, commitment to racial justice, and activism, from lobbying to end segregation and lynching in America to defeating fascism abroad. Zecker also illustrates the panoply of entertainment, sports, and educational activities designed to cultivate the minds and bodies of members. However, the IWO was led by Communists, and the Order was targeted for red-baiting during the Cold War, subject to government surveillance, and ultimately liquidated. Zecker ex
Trade Review"This thoroughly researched, detailed study of the International Workers Order (IWO) tells an important story of the narrowing possibilities of voluntary associations and political discourse resulting from the rampant governmental anticommunism between the 1930s and the1950s.... Zecker has illuminated an important story, and we are in his debt for the superb research and clear writing of his account."--
Journal ofAmerican History
