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Andrew HeiskellAndrew Heiskell
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Session:         Page of 824

Incorporated, while I don't think you could say it was greeted with open arms, there was absolutely no resistance to it. And, of course a lot of journalists are essentially liberal minded types and in the Thirties, if ever there was a time when unions were needed it was probably in the Thirties. It was also a time when the unions were supported by the government, actively supported. And the laws were legislated in their favor. So the Guild, quote, started to organize Time. I was a member of the Guild in my years on the editorial side. And then I switched to management and I was a member of the management negotiating team for many years. And the relationship deteriorated fairly soon, partly over union demands,-

Q:

What year are you talking about?

Andrew Heiskell:

I'm talking about 1939. I think 1939--1940. Part the union demands, and partly because the political leanings of the union. The Guild was moving left ward at a rapid pace. It had become sort of the champion of the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Lots of writers went over. There was a lot of volunteering for the Republicans and there was not a lot, but there was considerable involvement by some of the leftist union members in the Communist aspect of the Republican side in the Civil War. They did a fairly thorough job of organizing and gained a considerable amount of power, enough so that the management's reaction was to try to minimize, or to stop the growth of their power; namely not to allow them into a position of power, of being able to shut us down. Of course, the goal of a union to have that power. The goal of





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