Book Review: "Labor In Maine: Building The Arsenal Of Democracy and Resisting Reaction at Home, 1939-1952," by Charles A. Scontras.

Once again Charles A. Scontras has proved that he is arguably, pound for pound (measured in books and their content), the most prolific, the most important Maine historian of the late 20th and early 21st century. There are other close contenders, but Scontras has produced 11 solid books. Nine of these have appeared since 1985 and they are all carefully researched, richly informative and eminently readable volumes. All are focused on labor history, which has always been a huge gap in the fabric of the state's history. Scontras is a fearless researcher who relies on union records, company documents, state records, personal records and newspaper accounts (weighed for their varied biases in different areas).What he comes up with is a generally fair and reasoned account that, even if one disagrees with his premise, provides the facts for further argument. My major complaints with previous volumes, such as the near classic "Collective Efforts Among Maine Workers: Beginnings and Foundations 1820-1880," and "Organized Labor in Maine: War, Reaction, Depression and the Rise of the CIO, 1914-1943," were overlong titles and the lack of an index. The new volume, "Labor in Maine Building the Arsenal of Democracy and Resisting Reaction at Home, 1939-1952," still bloviates in the title but redeems itself with a good index. It is also a big, beefy, thoroughly illuminating account of the home front as seen through the eyes of organized labor. This proves by no means a pretty, peaceable-brotherhood picture. The CIO and ALF, not to mention local unions, were going against one another at the outset. Indeed, the memory of the unsuccessful 1937 Lewiston-Auburn Shoe Strike, led by the CIO, was fresh in people's minds. If this were not bad enough, local businessmen and elements in rival labor organizations painted the left-leaning CIO as communist. In fact there was a small Communist Party active in Maine, which included such colorful individuals as Louis P. Gordon, Harry Warsaw and Helen E. Knudsen. Their presence, though not always affiliated with the CIO, complicated matters and inflamed some locals, especially those connected with the Grange. Mainers had elected a Democrat as governor during the New Deal, but he was hardly a Roosevelt man. Senators, including White and Brewster, were deeply anti-labor. Indeed, Margaret Chase Smith, with her progressive Republican values, was the only real friend labor could claim. Benjamin Dorsky, president of the Maine Federation of Labor, called the problem of clinging to the GOP no matter what, "inherited political faith." In short, it was the right of the individual to be his own agent even when it was clearly shown that home workers were getting only pennies an hour for piece work, that railroad workers were paid after the banks closed so checks could not be cashed until Monday and that wood workers were frequently paid late or shortchanged. The sudden appearance of more than 20,000 new jobs in South Portland's new shipyards caused huge social and economic problems. Because of federal contracts, the pay was very good compared to that of traditional local jobs. Rents were at a premium so the prices went sky-high. Established people began to see the new workers as a problem, "Shipyard trash." In fact, such men and women had taken difficult, dangerous jobs that needed training and concentration, a fact generally overlooked by most natives. This is a side of the World War II home front that was not much touted at the time and quickly forgotten after VJ-Day. To his credit, Scontras has followed the history of organized labor up to 1952, when membership reached between 90,000 and 95,000 out of a non-agrarian workforce of 250,000. As he notes, the climate had changed due to hard work. "The National Labor Relations Act, even though amended by the Taft-Hartley Act, still formed the legal scaffolding of labor's rights" And locals' so-called "little" Taft-Hartley measures in the legislatures went down in defeat. The author is strong on teamwork and tends to shy away from heroes, but certainly the names of Benjamin Dorsky and George Jabar stand out. Readers will also see the impact of women in the workplace and in power. Witness the extraordinary rise of Margaret Chase Smith, Lucia M. Cormier and Maine Labor Commissioner Marion Martin. The latter told the Legislature: "The time has come to give Maine workers at least as much consideration budget-wise as it has given to deer, fish and other wildlife." This is a well-written book. Anyone really wishing to understand the growth and development of our state needs to read it. William D. Barry is a local historian who has authored five books, including "Tate House: Crown of the Maine Mass Trade" and the novel "Pyrrhus Venture." He lives in Portland.

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