As Cold War tensions transformed American labor politics, the IFLWU became entangled in a major confrontation over alleged Communist influence. In 1948, union vice president Irving Potash was represented by attorneys Lee Pressman and Joseph Forer alongside several other politically controversial labor figures, including Gerhard Eisler, Ferdinand C. Smith, Charles A. Doyle, and John Williamson. On May 5, 1948, Pressman and Forer secured a preliminary injunction allowing the defendants to receive hearings before examiners independent of the Immigration and Naturalization Service officials involved in their investigations and prosecutions. The legal battle unfolded against an increasingly aggressive anti-Communist campaign inside organized labor. Between 1949 and 1950, the Congress of Industrial Organizations expelled the IFLWU and ten other unions it accused of being “Communist dominated,” stripping the fur and leather workers of their place in the CIO’s industrial coalition. The union survived for several more years before merging in 1955 into the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, a decisive end to its independent identity. The episode illustrates how ideological purges could reshape the institutions representing workers in fashion-adjacent trades, even when the immediate conflict concerned political affiliation rather than a single factory disaster.
Preparing the daily feature…
AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1940s–1950s
The Irving Potash Case and the CIO’s Anti-Communist Reckoning
International Fur and Leather Workers Union (IFLWU), Irving Potash, Lee Pressman, and Joseph Forer / 1940s–1950s
As Cold War tensions transformed American labor politics, the IFLWU became entangled in a major confrontation over alleged Communist influence. In 1948, union vice president Irving Potash was represented by attorneys Lee Pressman and Joseph Forer alongside several other politically controversial labor figures, including Gerhard Eisler, Ferdinand C. Smith, Charles A. Doyle, and John Williamson. On May 5, 1948, Pressman and Forer secured a preliminary injunction allowing the defendants to receive hearings before examiners independent of the Immigration and Naturalization Service officials involved in their investigations and prosecutions. The legal battle unfolded against an increasingly aggressive anti-Communist campaign inside organized labor. Between 1949 and 1950, the Congress of Industrial Organizations expelled the IFLWU and ten other unions it accused of being “Communist dominated,” stripping the fur and leather workers of their place in the CIO’s industrial coalition. The union survived for several more years before merging in 1955 into the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, a decisive end to its independent identity. The episode illustrates how ideological purges could reshape the institutions representing workers in fashion-adjacent trades, even when the immediate conflict concerned political affiliation rather than a single factory disaster.
The daily editorial is currently unavailable. There’s still an entire archive to explore.