Catholic Labor Education and the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists: Instructing Workers to Christianize the Workplace
Abstract
The Association of Catholic Trade Unionists (ACTU) was founded in New York in 1937 and quickly spread to industrial cities across the Northeast and Midwest. It was a lay organization, not a union itself, but it worked closely with labor unions to provide education in Catholic social doctrine and to build a network of Catholic activists within the labor movement. This article examines how the ACTU used labor education as its primary vehicle for what it called "Christianizing the workplace."
Dr. Lubienecki traces the ACTU's educational programs, its relationship with diocesan labor schools, and the specific vision of a Christianized industrial order that motivated its work. The article shows how ACTU educators drew on papal social teaching to frame collective bargaining, union democracy, and workers' rights in Catholic terms, making unionism not merely acceptable but morally obligatory for Catholic workers.
The article also examines the tensions within the ACTU between its religious mission and its engagement with Cold War anti-communism, which eventually shaped both its curriculum and its relationships with the broader labor movement.
Publication Details
Journal: Journal of Catholic Education Volume: 18, No. 2, 2015 DOI: 10.15365/joce.1802062015 Open access PDF: Digital Commons LMU