The Labor Research Association (LRA) was a left-wing labor statistics bureau established in November 1927 by members of the Workers (Communist) Party of America. The organization published a biannual series of volumes known as the ''Labor Fact Book''; it compiled and produced statistics and information for use by trade unions and political activists. The LRA has been frequently characterized as a

front organization A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy ...

of the Communist Party. Jonathan Tasini was the executive director of the Labor Research Association in 2008.

Organizational history

The Labor Research Association (LRA) was established late in 1927 by

International Publishers International Publishers is a book publishing company based in New York City, specializing in Marxism, Marxist works of economics, political science, and history. Company history Establishment International Publishers Company, Inc., was founde ...

president

Alexander Trachtenberg Alexander "Alex" Trachtenberg (23 November 1884 – 26 December 1966) was an American publisher of radical political books and pamphlets, founder and manager of International Publishers of New York. He was a longtime activist in the Socialist Part ...

and several individuals formerly associated with the Socialist Party's

Rand School of Social Science The Rand School of Social Science was formed in 1906 in New York City by adherents of the Socialist Party of America. The school aimed to provide a broad education to workers, imparting a politicizing class-consciousness, and additionally served a ...

, including

Scott Nearing Scott Nearing (August 6, 1883 – August 24, 1983) was an American radical economist, educator, writer, political activist, pacifist, vegetarian and advocate of simple living. Biography Early years Nearing was born in Morris Run, Tioga County ...

, Solon DeLeon, and Robert W. Dunn. In addition, founders included the prominent radical intellectuals

Anna Rochester Anna Rochester (March 30, 1880 — May 11, 1966) was an American labor reformer, journalist, political activist, and Communist. Although for several years an editor of the liberal monthly '' The World Tomorrow,'' Rochester is best remembered as a ...

and

Grace Hutchins Grace Hutchins (August 19, 1885 – July 15, 1969) was an American labor reformer and researcher, journalist, political activist and communist. She spent many years of her life writing about labor and economics, in addition to being a lifelong de ...

.Julia M. Allen, ''Passionate Commitments: The Lives of Anna Rochester and Grace Hutchins.'' Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2013; p. 131. According to American communist writer

Myra Page Dorothy Markey (born Dorothy Page Gary, 1897–1993), known by the pen name Myra Page, was a 20th-century American communist writer, journalist, Trade union, union activist, and teacher. Background Page was born Dorothy Page Gary on Octobe ...

, her husband John Markey (writing as "John Barnett") began working there in 1930, at which time LRA's directors included Anna Rochester, Bob Dunn, Grace Hutchins, Carl Haessler, and Charlotte Todes Stern (another John Reed Club member, along with her husband Bernhard Stern).

Edward Dahlberg Edward Dahlberg (July 22, 1900 – February 27, 1977) was an American novelist, essayist, and autobiographer. Background Edward Dahlberg was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Elizabeth Dahlberg. Together, mother and son led a vagabond existence ...

contributed writings. Dunn, Hutchins, and Rochester published '' Labor Fact Book''. Originally conceived and organized by Trachtenberg, LRA was announced at the November 2, 1927 meeting of the Political Committee of the Workers (Communist) Party. The organization's declared task was "to conduct research into economic, social, and political problems in the interest of the American labor movement and to publish its findings in articles, pamphlets and books." To this end, from 1931 to 1963, the LRA published a biannual series of statistical and political yearbooks called ''The Labor Fact Book.'' These were produced by International Publishers. The LRA tried to established connection between the

labor movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

and the Communist movement.

Elizabeth Dilling Elizabeth Eloise Kirkpatrick Dilling (April 19, 1894 – April 30, 1966) was an American writer and political activist.Dye, 6 In 1934, she published ''The Red Network—A Who's Who and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots'', which catalogs over ...

, ''The Red Network: A 'Who's Who' and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots.'' p. 184.

''Labor Fact Book'' volumes

19311934193619381941194319451947194919511953195519571959196119631965

References

Organizations established in 1927 Communism in the United States Communist Party USA mass organizations 1927 establishments in the United States {{US-org-stub

Organizational history

''Labor Fact Book'' volumes

See also

References