This book has had a long gestation period. It probably began in 1931, when I first became a dissident at the University of Wisconsin. In 1933, when Hitler came to power in Germany, I was in the classes of both John R. Commons and Selig Perlman. The former was ending a distinguished career as an economic theorist, reformer, and labor historian. Perlman, Commons' disciple and already an eminent labor academician, was carrying on the “Wisconsin School” tradition: featuring the local union of the American Federation of Labor as the preferred model of labor organizations, frowning on industrial forms of organizations as dangerous, discouraging labor union involvement in politics.

At Wisconsin in the 1880s, Commons' mentor Richard T. Ely had been placed on trial before the Board of Regents for discussing the subjects of socialism and trade unionism. In the early 1930s, it was no longer daring or risky for an academic to discuss AFL-style unionism or to give a course on capitalism, socialism, and communism, as Professor Perlman did each year. But Perlman made clear his strong disapproval of ideas popular in the 1930s with many undergraduates: mass or open unionism, radical politics, and a labor party.

I had then, and have now, great respect for Perlman's insights. I am sure they influenced my own later views.