AMERICAN LABOR TODAY (Reference Shelf, Vol. 37, Number 5).

Edited by Herbert L. Marx Jr. '43. New York:H. W. Wilson Co., 1965. 208 pp. $3.00.

This small volume of selected writings from journals, magazines, and newspapers examines the current status of organized labor in America. If the tone is mainly critical of unionism, if the weaknesses of the institution appear to outweigh its strengths, this is less the result of editorial bias as it is a reflection of the current trend in "labor research" in many of the nation's university centers and editorial offices. Whatever the cause, it has been fashionable in recent years, even among writers philosophically committed to labor organization, to find more to deplore than to admire in the present-day brand of unionism. It is doubtful therefore if any representative collection of contemporary essays on unionism would place the institution in a more favorable light than does the present one.

The selections in the volume are arranged in six sections. One section is devoted to new approaches to collective bargaining, another to the non-bargaining activities of trade unions, and a third to current issues in labor law. These sections are brief and to the point; they introduce the reader to creative developments in bargaining procedures, to novel methods of adjusting to technological change, to labor's role in the less developed economies, and to policy issues such as "right-to-work" and compulsory arbitration.

The heart of the volume lies, however, in the remaining sections which deal primarily with the forces affecting union growth and the prospects for unionism in the economy of the future. Of special interest are the selections analyzing the recent decline in union membership strength and the growing "revolt" of the rank and file against national union officers.

These analyses may not warrant the judgment that unionism has reached a "plateau of growth and influence," but they do suggest that major changes may be necessary" in the structure and functioning of the union movement if a decline in strength is to be avoided. The "revolt" of the membership is related of course to a major shortcoming of modern unionism—the centralization of power and the suppression of democratic rights. This reviewer supports the need for reform of union government and would like to think that appropriate remedies are within the power of the union movement. Too few of labor's critics appear to recognize, however, that strong national leadership serves a constructive purpose in collective bargaining and that some degree of conflict inevitably exists between union democracy and "union responsibility."

It is to be hoped that the careful reader of this volume will discover — as many of labor's more ardent detractors apparently have not - that democracy in unions is a far from simple issue and particularly that large-scale reform, however desirable it may be, is likely to be purchased only at the expense of other social values such as industrial peace and economic stability.

Professor of Business Economics