Irving Brown (November 20, 1911 – February 10, 1989) was an American

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist and leader in the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and subsequently the AFL-CIO. Brown played a prominent role in Western Europe and Africa during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

in splintering communist-led labor movements. Along with expelled former Communist Party of the USA member Jay Lovestone, he founded the American Institute for Free Labor Development in 1962.

Early life

Born in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, in 1911, he became a boxer before he joined a trade union, where he clashed with the

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a trade union, labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union, the union now represents a di ...

. He studied at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and at the

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

.Staff writer (Mar. 17, 1952)
"The Most Dangerous Man."
''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. During the latter half of the 1930s, Brown was an organizer for the Automobile Workers Union. In 1940 Brown began to organize for the American Federation of Labor on a national level, and by 1942 Brown had become a labor representative to the War Production Board. As a lieutenant of the US Army, he helped the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...

(OSS) plan the invasion of Sicily and the landing in the south in Provence.

Cold War

He arrived in Paris in November 1945 and organized

anticommunist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

unions. He supported in particular the creation of the French '' Force ouvrière'' (FO) union, which he subsidized by André Bergeron and Léon Jouhaux in 1947, and the Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions (CISL), created in 1950. Until 1986, Brown was present at every annual congresses in FO. The AFL-CIO's Free Trade Union Committee subsidized FO Frédéric Charpier, ''La CIA en France. 60 ans d'ingérence dans les affaires françaises'', Seuil, 2008, p. 40-43. See als
Les belles aventures de la CIA en France
, 8 January 2008, '' Bakchich''. and other anticommunist unions in Europe. In 1949, alongside Jay Lovestone, he supported the split in the

World Federation of Trade Unions The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is an international federation of trade union, trade unions established on October 3, 1945. Founded in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the organization built on the pre-war legacy of the Int ...

(WFTU) to create the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The ICFTU included the AFL-CIO, the British

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...

, the FO, the Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions, and the Spanish Unión General de Trabajadores. Thereafter, the WFTU represented the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

, and the ICFTU represented the so-called " free world". As a friend of W. Averell Harriman, who was in charge of the Marshall Plan, Brown easily diverted funds from the Marshall Plan to support anticommunist organizations.Kelber, Harry (Nov. 22, 2004)
"AFL-CIO's Dark Past (No. 3): U.S. Labor Secretly Intervened in Europe, Funded to Fight Pro-Communist Unions."''laboreducator.org''.
:"The third in a series of six articles." By 1952, his activities were already well known, and he was the subject of an article by '' Time magazine''
"The Most Dangerous Man."
According to ''Time'', he was charged of the mission by the AFL Free Trade Union Committee. Brown gave financial support to anticommunist movements that broke the 1947 strikes in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He also helped organize the anticommunist coalition of free trade unions in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and the Mediterranean Port Committee, which wrested control of French, Italian, and Greek ports from the communists. In

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, he gave his support to Pierre Ferri-Pisani, a former municipal counsellor. Established in France, he headed the international relations of the AFL-CIO from his offices at 10, rue de la Paix, in Paris. From 1951 to 1954, the CIA division, headed by Thomas Braden, provided $1 million a year to Brown and Lovestone ($1,600,000 in 1954). In 1952, he was in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

to support the trade unionists who had decided to vote to quit the

(WFTU) of mainly-communist unions. In the 1980s, the election of the Socialist Party candidate François Mitterrand to the presidency in 1981 made the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) foundation subsidize, alongside the AFL-CIO, the right-wing National Inter-University Union (UNI). Brown believed, "France... is threatened by the Communist apparatus.... It is a clear and present danger if the present is thought of as 10 years from now."Barbara Conry
Loose Cannon: The National Endowment for Democracy
November 18, 1993.

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

Later life

Brown started suffering from serious health problems in 1986. He was decorated by US President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

in 1988 of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and he died the following year.

Publications

Articles

"Algerians Die for Freedom, not Moscow."
'' Africa Today'', vol. 3, no. 4 (Jul.-Aug. 1956), p. 6. .

References

External links

*
Photography of Irving Brown and commentaries

AFL and AFL-CIO International Affairs Department, Irving Brown papers
at the University of Maryland Libraries {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Irving 1920 births 1989 deaths American trade unionists CIA activities in Russia and Europe American Federation of Labor people AFL-CIO people Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients American trade union leaders Activists from the Bronx Activists from New York (state) New York University alumni Columbia University alumni