Chomsky discusses the role of organized labor as the first line of defense against corporate tyranny from the 1930s to today. Workers who operate in solidarity are a democratizing force that challenges elite controls. US corporations demonized organized labor to the point that the fundamental right to organize and unionize remains unprotected by the government.

The US has a long and violent labor history, but Woodrow Wilson and the red scare crushed unionizing efforts in the 1920s. Reorganizing efforts by groups such as the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s, especially during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administrations, helped pave the way for the victories of the 1960s.

FDR’s New Deal was divisive for businesses but was ultimately successful due to popular activism and support from key corporate players like General Electric. The 1930s saw organized labor protesting workers’ rights through strikes and other offensives. Their language is reminiscent of Marxist ideology, but Chomsky points out that they were fighting a class war during the Great Depression.

In the end, government stimulus brought about exponential growth in industrial production during the World War II, which created jobs and spurred substantial economic growth. This prompted the corporate world to launch a reactionary counter-offensive, starting with the Taft-Hartley Act and McCarthyism, which dismantled unions and controlled social networks such as the education system, churches, and sports leagues.