ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the emergence of a distinct cadre of labour activists with experience of political warfare during the early 20th century, a period when many gravitated towards Soviet communism only to turn towards the western state powers in response to the rise of Stalinism and fascism. Among these the Lovestoneites were particularly important as a group which maintained a degree of cohesion as their allegiances shifted, shaping the American Federation of Labor’s (AFL) distinctive style of anti-communism.
The AFL’s contacts with allied intelligence agencies during the Second World War encompassed murky contacts with the British Political Warfare Executive before United States entry into the war and later involvement in the labour operations of the Office of Strategic Services. Anti-communism remained as a significant element of the AFL’s international activities even after Soviet entry into the war, providing an important precedent for the later Cold War state-private network.
