Union Voice/Readers Write: Riesel's Other Side
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)“Today's Labor History (Weekend Labor
History, 4/5 UC) includes the following
description of Victor Riesel (right):
‘a crusader against mob infiltration of
unions,” writes Nick Unger. “This is at
best only partially accurate. He was also an
FBI informer for decades, a proponent of the
McCarthy era blacklisting that weakened unions
for over a generation, and a crusader against
unions connecting with anti-war student
activism in the 1960's and 70's. Click
here for a less one-sided view. It would
have been better to let (Riesel) go unmentioned
than to by implication deem all the damage he
did to the labor movement not worth noting. One
would not describe Ronald Reagan's relationship
with labor by mentioning SAG and leaving out
PATCO.”