The Right and Labor in America in Retrospective: Remarks

Abstract

My co-editor, Nelson Lichtenstein, and I were honored that Professor Michael Hillard put together a symposium, The Right and Labor in America: Politics, Ideology, and Imagination. It is exciting to know that this collection is being read and taken seriously because, at various points, we were unsure this project would see the light of day. This collection’s backstory is important because it illustrates the book’s central point: the history of the American labor movement cannot be separated from the trajectory of U.S. conservatism because the Right’s rise depended on its concerted assaults on trade unionism.