Labor Will Rule: Sidney Hillman and the Rise of American Labor.

• Author: Karson, Marc

Labor will rule," said Sidney Hillman in 1918. Steve Fraser recalls this statement to convey a dream that failed. But Fraser's book portrays more than the public life ad rise to power of Hillman, who was a leader of the clothing workers' union during the first half of the Twentieth Century. To Fraser's credit, he interweaves with that personal story the wider historical one - the roles of Congress, industry, and government agencies in policy formation.

Fraser describes Hillman's rise from a shop worker to a labor leader of national stature, battling steadily in the industrial and political arenas for a better life for workers. Providing a balanced view, Fraser credits Hillman with his overwhelming dedication to the labor movement and its membership while not overlooking the less noble side of his character. In pursuing power, he could be arrogant, self-righteous, and unkind to subordinates who opposed his policies - but dignified and self-controlled with those more powerful than himself.

This fusion of pragmatism and social idealism was Hillman's lifelong trademark, Fraser says. In Hillman's youth in Russia, he did not complete the rabbinical training that his ancestors had undergone, but organized for the Bund, a secular Jewish workers' movement carrying on practical work in trade unions. Politically, he supported the Mensheviks.

Because of the repressive nature of the Russian government, Hillman emigrated and settled as a cutter in a Chicago garment factory in 1907, soon becoming a business agent for a United Garment Workers local. A 1910 strike brought him to the attention of Chicago's leading progressives, some of whom became his mentors. An attraction to intellectuals characterized his entire life. Fraser suggests this was because he was "always sensitive to his lack of a formal education."

But a deeper interpretation might be that Hillman, like other Jewish immigrants - even those as prominent as Felix Frankfurter - felt that his origins stigmatized him. To compensate for this insecurity, he may have created an idealized self-image requiring constant confirmation by leaders in society whom he admired. As Fraser hints, such associations had a moderating influence on Hillman, enhancing the pragmatic side of his character.

Fraser thoroughly documents how Hillman's energy, ambition, and workaholic habits brought him high office and contributed to his desire for power, status, and relationships with other national figures. However, he paid...