Espinosa-Organista Wins Quote Contest

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Luis Espinosa-Organista is this week’s Quote Contest winner, correctly identifying former AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland as the source of the quote: ”We have come too far, struggled too long, sacrificed too much, and have too much left to do, to allow that [which] we have achieved for the good of all to be swept away without a fight.  And we have not forgotten how to fight.” Noting that Kirkland (1922-1999) said these words at the 1981 Solidarity Day rally in DC, Espinosa-Organista goes on to say that “Kirkland's leadership at the AFL-CIO (79-95) was remarkable in every sense: he helped reunite the labor movement by creating programs to resolve conflicts between unions and managed to bring back unions that had left the Federation; he battled the Reagan administration’s aggressive anti-union agenda while happily enlisting the labor movement as cold war soldiers. He also helped in the creation of the CIA's petty cash box and Reagan's favorite child: the abominable National Endowment for Democracy-elsewhere-but-here.” Honorable mentions to Jeff Slater, Hunter Phillips, Joe Horgan, Scott Wilson, Jennifer Shaw, Martha Mountain (who adds that Kirkland also said "We must be part of the general staff at the inception, rather than the ambulance drivers at the bitter end."), James Spellane, Barbara Leonardi, Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture, Colleen O'Neill, Jim Lowery, Jordan Barab, Keith Goodman, Loretta Kane (who recalls that “It was my very first march.  I was there handing out ERA-YES signs to Teamsters”), Jack Clark,  Solange Bitol & Bob Lucore.