Remember Sweeney's appeal to intellectuals?
Remember SAWSJ? (Scholars, Artists, and Writers for Social Justice)
Remember the teach-ins in universities across the country?
Remember the books about the new labor movement and the new
labor-intellectual alliance?

In a new article, AUD founder Herman Benson looks at the
labor-intellectual alliance that bloomed in 1995, and its startling
decline. Why, Benson asks, was Andy Stern's call for a break with the
AFL-CIO and a new crusade of organizing met with no resounding echo
from intellectuals? What happened to SAWSJ? What is the role for
intellectuals in the new labor movement?

"Can union leaders, always super sensitive to anything that might
challenge their authority, even remotely, tolerate intellectuals who
feel free to speak their mind. On the other side, will intellectuals,
(aware of that depressing quality of labor leadership) refrain from
speaking out frankly for fear of losing access to established union
power? These questions are posed now precisely because this is a time
of rapid change in the labor movement when discussion should be free
and frank."

Read more in New Politics , or on Benson's Union Democracy Blog.