A voice for freedom
Former AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland
championed workers' rights both at home and abroad

Former AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland, who died Aug. 14 of lung cancer at the age of 77, will be remembered as an ardent champion of free trade unionism and democracy throughout the world, as well as the union leader who helped revitalize the American labor movement. Kirkland served as AFL-CIO president from 1979 until 1995.

AFT president Sandra Feldman paid tribute to the late union leader, noting his advocacy of freedom both at home and abroad and his crucial support during the fledgling years of teacher unionism. "He was an early supporter of our fight for collective bargaining rights and our full participation in the trade union movement," she said.

Kirkland was "one of the master builders of the modern American labor movement," said AFL-CIO president John Sweeney. He described Kirkland as "a man of clear principles and broad vision who was articulate in his defense of working families" and his belief in the crucial role that unions play in every society.

After he succeeded AFL-CIO president George Meany in 1979, Kirkland re-energized and reunited the labor movement during his 16-year tenure. In 1981, he spearheaded the massive Solidarity Day march and rally on the mall in Washington, D.C. The rally--which brought together 400,000 marchers from 350 trade unions, civil rights groups and other coalitions--defended education, health care, workers' rights and social programs that were under attack from the Reagan administration.

"We have come too far, struggled too long, sacrificed too much and have too much left to do to allow all that we have achieved for the good of all to be swept away without a fight," Kirkland told the marchers. Solidarity Day rallies also were held in 1982, 1983 and 1991--the 10th anniversary.

Throughout his tenure as president, Kirkland worked to modernize the labor movement. He expanded the role of the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, known as "labor's college," created the Labor Institute for Public Affairs and instituted programs to eliminate conflict between unions in organizing campaigns. He also expanded the executive council to include more women and minorities. Kirkland also brought back unions that had left the AFL-CIO, including the United Auto Workers, the United Mine Workers and the Teamsters.

Born in Camden, S.C., Kirkland served in the merchant marine during World War II and earned a degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1948. He served on the staff of the AFL and later of the combined AFL-CIO; he was elected AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer in 1969.

Kirkland, both passionate and erudite in his speeches, gave his first major address to the AFT at the union's 1980 convention in Detroit. He defended the federal role in education and delivered a stinging rebuke of the Republican Party's platform on education--words that are as current today as they were almost two decades ago. "The first goal of the American labor movement was the creation of a system of free public education. We wanted our children in public schools learning, not dying in the mines and mills," he told delegates. "We have fought too long and too hard for good schools, decent pay for teachers and education for all to accept the wreckage of an entire system in order to stamp out evils that lurk only in the minds of those who drafted the Republican platform."

Those who created this platform, he said, "provided the nation with the promise of a glorified, nostalgic trip down memory lane back to the past. But we remember that past in its bleaker aspects. We fought very hard to change it, and we have no desire now to return to the twilight zone."

Battle for democracy

Kirkland was equally passionate about promoting democratic institutions and free trade unionism abroad, and under his leadership, the federation played a vital role in supporting the struggle for democracy worldwide, particularly in Eastern Europe, China, South Africa, Cuba and Chile. "Lane believed that the American labor movement must be a part of the struggle for social justice here at home and throughout the world," said AFT's Feldman.

One of Kirkland's most significant achievements was sustaining the Polish free trade union movement, Solidarity, in the 1980s. During those years, the AFL-CIO and its affiliates, including the AFT, helped keep the Solidarity operation alive with funds to purchase computers, copying machines, printing presses and other equipment. After the communist government in Poland fell and Solidarity swept the elections there, union leader Lech Walesa saved his greatest thanks for the American labor movement. Arriving to a thunderous celebration at the 1989 AFL-CIO convention, Walesa noted that when others considered Solidarity a lost cause, "you helped us survive the most difficult days, the moments of despair and hopelessness."

Kirkland relished the celebration, declaring it "a moment of triumph for every trade unionist in America."

And when Nelson Mandela visited the U.S. after his release from prison in South Africa, he called upon Kirkland and the AFL-CIO to express his thanks for their support.

Kirkland, who helped create the National Endowment for Democracy, was unrelenting in his disdain for dictatorships of either the left or the right, and he refused to have contacts with government-controlled worker organizations abroad.

American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001