American labor historian David Montgomery will speak on “War and Labor: Some Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” at 7 p.m. today in 100 Willamette.
Montgomery is a former machinist and the Farnam Professor of History at Yale University. He has written a stack of books on the history of labor unions, including “Citizen Worker: The Experience of Workers in the United States with Democracy and the Free Market During the 19th Century.”
Montgomery’s lecture will address the historical lessons of labor’s engagement with the issues of war and peace during the 20th century. He is expected to discuss labor unions’ massive opposition to World War I, in contrast with how labor was largely united in its support of World War II.
He may likely focus attention on labor unions’ reactions to the war in Iraq, including the national AFL-CIO’s opposition to attacking Iraq without obtaining support from the U.N. Security Council.
The lecture is free and open to the public, and it is sponsored by the Labor Education and Research Center, the University History Department and the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics.
— Jennifer Bear