Noam Chomsky Quotes

The question is always 'What is the role of a labor movement?' How much is about collective bargaining, how much is about social change for all workers?

The labor movement has failed to capture the support of the public at large.

We back Solidarity [the Polish trade union], and bust our unions.

Ten thousand times has the labor movement stumbled and bruised itself. We have been enjoined by the courts, assaulted by thugs, charged by the militia, traduced by the press, frowned upon in public opinion, and deceived by politicians. 'But notwithstanding all this and all these, labor is today the most vital and potential power this planet has ever known, and its historic mission is as certain of ultimate realization as is the setting of the sun.

The labor movement has a great role to play in our country today.

I have been very interested in labor movement. If I could have wished another life, I would have loved to be a pioneer woman in the beginning of labor movement.

This led me to understand that trade unionism, the instrument of working-class liberation and of social change could, and indeed should, be also an instrument of industrial progress.

Trade unions are a force for good - a force for a more equal society.

I'm a passionate trade unionist.

Duty of the Catholic Worker to Join Organized Labor

What the labor movement did in this country is to make sure that capitalism worked.

The formation of the smallest worker’s organization will for the history writers of the future be more important than the battle of Sadova

The labor movement is our brother's keeper! The labor movement is our sister's keeper!

The labor movement is people. Our unions have brought millions of men and women together, made them members one of another, and given them common tools for common goals. Their goals are goals for all America - and their enemies are the enemies for progress. The two cannot be separated.

The labor movement was the principal force that transforme­d misery and despair into hope and progress.

The remarks that [Steven] Lerner gave at Pace University: "'Unions are almost dead. We cannot survive doing what we do but the simple fact of the matter is community organizations are almost dead also. And if you think about what we need to do it may give us some direction which is essentially what the folks that are in charge - the big banks and everything - what they want is stability.'" So we have "'to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement'".

Anti-union propaganda has been considerably more successful here [ in the U.S.] than in Europe, even among working people who would benefit [from] unions.

Trade unionism is not socialism. It is the capitalism of the proletariat.

Labor #‎ Unions are the leading force for #‎ democratization and #‎ progress .

The origin of the labor movement lies in self-defense.

The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor.

Organized labor is the only way to have fair distribution of wealth...

If I were a factory employee, a workman on the railroads or a wage-earner of any sort, I would undoubtedly join the union of my trade. If I disapproved of its policy, I would join in order to fight that policy; if the union leaders were dishonest, I would join in order to put them out. I believe in the union and I believe that all men who are benefited by the union are morally bound to help to the extent of their power in the common interests advanced by the union.

With all their faults, trade-unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed.

Solidarity was the movement that turned the direction of history, I think.