17 William Sentner and UE Part 3: Backlash Against Worker Power and the Left in St. Louis, 1945 - 55

The Smash Up Derby Podcast: Working Class Politics, Labor Unions, and Democratic Socialism

The third and final part of our interview with Prof. Rosemary Feurer about William Sentner, UE District 8, and radical unionism in the Midwest. In this episode, Sentner and the UE build a broad coalition with farmers, environmentalists and small business for worker-driven economic planning during and after the war, but this visionary initiative is defeated by red-baiting, and anti-communist purges by labor, business and government force Sentner out of leadership and eventually destroy UE District 8.