Summary Information
Ralph Helstein Papers
1933-1985
- Helstein, Ralph, 1908-1985
Mss 867; Tape 1163A
4.8 c.f. (12 archives boxes) and 7 tape recordings
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Personal correspondence, speeches and notes, oral history interviews, labor history teaching materials, and subject files of Ralph Helstein, a long-time progressive leader and president of the United Packinghouse Workers of America. Correspondence documents his private law practice (1942-1964), work as general counsel of the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee and as president of the UPWA (1946-1968), and activities and speaking engagements outside the labor movement and after his retirement with organizations such as Israel Histadrut, the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, and the Committee for Rural Democracy in Crystal City, Texas. There are also by-laws, minutes, and financial reports of the Rath Packing Company collected while Helstein was a member of the company's board of directors; documents about an internal investigation prompted by A.T. Stephen's charges in 1958 of Communist influence within the UPWA; and a notebook used by Helstein during the contract bargaining in the 1960s. Prominent correspondents include Saul Alinsky, Patrick Gorman, Michael Harrington, Hubert H. Humphrey, Eppie Lederer (Ann Landers), Carey McWilliams, George Meany, Leslie Orear, and Edwin Witte.
There is a restriction on use of some of this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00867 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Ralph Helstein was the first attorney to head a CIO international union. In this position his sense of ethics, belief in democratic principles of free speech and equality, and interests in civil rights, grass-roots organizing, and the impact of technology on workers helped shape the historically radical and ethnically diverse United Packinghouse Workers into one of the most progressive unions of the post-World War era. Described by many as a pragmatic idealist and the most intellectual labor leader of his time, Helstein's analytic and rhetorical abilities, modest personal demeanor, and passion for ideas made him a natural spokesman and advocate for progressive causes and organized labor.
Ralph Leslie Helstein was born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1908 and he grew up in Minneapolis as the only son of an Orthodox Jewish clothing manufacturer. He earned a B.A. in English literature (1929) and a law degree (1934) from the University of Minnesota. Immediately after graduation he began working for the National Recovery Administration, first in a staff position, and then as a labor compliance officer in Washington, D.C. After the NRA was disbanded in 1936 he returned to Minneapolis where he began a private law practice. In 1939 he joined Douglas Hall to found Helstein and Hall, a firm devoted exclusively to labor law.
Helstein began his association with the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee (PWOC) in 1937 as legal representative and contract negotiator. During the same period he helped to organize CIO unions in the automobile, oil, and electrical industries. He became general counsel for the Minnesota CIO Council in 1939 and is credited with negotiating the first guaranteed annual wage in the meat packing industry with George A. Hormel Co. in the same year. The year 1939 also witnessed Helstein's wedding to Rachel Brin, a social worker. The couple had two daughters, Nina and Toni, born in 1943 and 1946 respectively.
In 1942 Helstein moved to Chicago as the counsel of the PWOC. After the PWOC became the United Packinghouse Workers of America, Helstein was retained as general counsel of the new union. In this capacity he was involved in the negotiations surrounding numerous home-front labor disputes, including the National War Labor Board's take-over of a Cudahy plant in 1944. He also was active in groups concerned with fair housing and education in his Hyde Park neighborhood.
In 1946 Helstein, a compromise candidate, was elected president of the UPWA. Helstein's election caused a stir within organized labor, where his qualifications as a representative of blue collar workers were questioned. Helstein responded to his critics within the labor movement by familiarizing himself with every aspect of meat packing work and challenging his detractors to show that his background had hurt the union.
During this period Helstein participated in the Aspen Executive Institute and the activities of Highlander Folk School, served on the board of directors of the Industrial Areas Foundation and Kehilath Anshe Mayriv Temple, was a trustee of the Institute for Psychoanalysis, a member of the research committee of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and a frequent speaker at fundraisers sponsored by American supporters of the Israeli trade union movement, Israel Histadrut.
As UPWA president Helstein championed anti-discrimination policies in both the union and the work place and he permitted dissenters within the union to air their grievances so that unresolved conflicts would not damage the union's effectiveness. He applied similar reasoning to the question of Communists within the UPWA. Refusal to purge the union's ranks of Communists as well as its later association with the civil rights movement led to two HUAC hearings on the UPWA in 1952 and 1959, an AFL-CIO Executive Board investigation and report in 1959, and a UPWA hearing and report in 1961.
In 1965 Helstein reached the height of his career in the labor movement with his appointment to the AFL-CIO Executive Council. The same year he was appointed to the White House Task Force on Cities, where he helped investigate job opportunities for inner-city minority residents.
In 1968 UPWA merged with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen. Helstein served as vice president and special council to the merged union until his retirement in 1972. The issues of employment and the just distribution of wealth continued to occupy Helstein in his retirement. He was a founder and vice-chair of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC), and he also served on the board of directors of Toward Freedom, a newsletter which focused on news from the Third World. Helstein also worked as a consultant for the Akbar Fund in Zavala County, Texas, investigating the newly-formed Chicano-American party, La Raza Unida. He also supported numerous oral history projects about labor history. In 1975 he taught “Topics in Labor History,” an upper-level course at Roosevelt University. In 1980 Helstein was elected to the Board of Directors of the Rath Packing Company during the period of the employee buy-out. However, increasing health problems limited his ability to participate, and he resigned in 1983. Ralph Helstein died at his home in Chicago, Illinois on February 14, 1985, following a heart attack.
Scope and Content Note
For the period from 1942 to 1968 the Helstein Papers overlap and complement the United Packinghouse, Food and Allied Workers Records which are also held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
The Helstein collection has been organized into BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, CORRESPONDENCE, SPEECHES, and SUBJECT FILES series. Photographs received with the collection have been separated to the Visual Materials Name File.
The BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL consists of biographical clippings gathered for research convenience from throughout the collection and several oral history interviews and transcripts. The interviews reflect Helstein's willingness to share his knowledge of the history and internal politics of the UPWA. The papers include transcripts of a series of interviews by Elizabeth Balanoff, transcripts and tapes of a two-day interview with Merle Davis for the Iowa Labor History Oral History Project, and a preparatory discussion for the UPWA Oral History Project of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin that was conducted by Rick Halpern and Roger Horowitz. (The tapes produced by that project are a separately-catalogued collection [Tape 1106A] held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.) The series also includes a high school research paper about Helstein that was based a personal interview.
CORRESPONDENCE (1942-1985) deals primarily with Helstein's personal business, speaking engagements, and involvement with civic organizations and individuals. This series has been divided into four subseries based on Helstein's position within the UPWA or AMC&BW. The PWOC and UPWA General Counsel correspondence is a mix of personal correspondence, contacts with local community groups such as the Chicago Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, and routine union and National War Labor Board business. The subseries also includes exchanges between Helstein and his law partner, Douglas Hall, concerning cases and the consequences of NWLB rulings.
The UPWA President subseries consists primarily of congratulations, invitations, and other routine correspondence from individuals and organizations outside the UPWA. Many of the speaking engagements involve university seminars or conferences on labor law, economics, and industrial relations. Other letters document Helstein's involvement with journalists, authors, editors and publishers, radio broadcasts, politicians, and numerous Christian and Jewish civic groups. There are several letters of a more personal nature from various UPWA members and from Saul Alinsky (who was a friend who attended the same temple), H. Hubert Wilson, and Fred Blum. This correspondence has been arranged chronologically, with a separate section of files grouped by organization or activity.
The AMC&BW Vice President and Special Counsel correspondence is evenly divided between material documenting Helstein's personal activities, interests, and engagements and AMC&BW notes, memoranda, and documents sent to Helstein by Patrick Gorman in order to keep him abreast of union affairs. The exchange with Gorman continues in the correspondence of the AMC&BW President Emeritus period, though it gradually becomes more personal in nature. The correspondence in the series is arranged chronologically, although a few files are arranged by function, organization, or activity in order to follow Helstein's intent.
SPEECHES AND ARTICLES includes drafts, notes, transcripts, and final versions of speeches, presentations, articles, and Congressional testimony that cover a thirty-six year period in Helstein's career. The files are arranged chronologically, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1960s and early 1970s. Also included are notes and draft lectures for Helstein's “Topics in Labor History” course at Roosevelt University and a sample of the material that Helstein collected as part of his thinking and writing process.
The SUBJECT FILES series consists of material collected by Helstein or by his colleagues and correspondents. With the exception of the 1960s contract negotiations notebook, which includes a number of “Memoranda to Myself,” Helstein appears in these files only incidentally. The files vary in size from the “Golden Rule” union philosophy statement of Jay Hormel to the extensive corporate material collected as a result of Helstein's appointment to the board of directors of the Rath Packing Company.
Particularly useful within the SUBJECT FILES are the materials for the union's response to the accusations made in 1958 by A.T. Stephens, a former Vice-President of the UPWA, that there were Communist and Negro cliques within the union leadership. Though these charges were found to be groundless, the claim that Helstein showed poor judgment and the implication that he was a Communist dupe were sufficient to torpedo his appointment to the Illinois Fair Employment Practices Commission in 1961.
The papers also include the notebook of background information Helstein used during the contract negotiations of the 1960s. Helstein worked as a consultant for the Akbar Fund of the Committee for Rural Democracy in Zavala County, Texas investigating the Chicano-American party, La Raza Unida, that was founded by Jose Angel Gutierrez. The collection includes several files of background material Helstein used for this study. Also here are copies of documents on the UPWA's “Operation Dixie” project sent to Helstein by Barbara Griffith. These papers cannot be quoted without the permission of the William R. Perkins Library at Duke University.
Administrative/Restriction Information
The “Operation Dixie” file (Box 11, Folder 7) contains copies of papers held by the Manuscript Department, William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, and they may not be quoted without permission.
The Elizabeth Balanoff interview (Box 7, Folders 3-5) may not be quoted without the permission of Roosevelt University.
The Merle Davis interview (Tape 1163A) for the Iowa Labor History Society may not be reproduced without permission.
Presented by Ralph Helstein, Chicago, Illinois, 1985; Rachel Brin Helstein, Chicago, Illinois, 1986-1987; and Elizabeth Balanoff, Chicago, Illinois, 1986. Accession Number: M85-340, M86-069, M86-123, M87-034, M87-040
Processed by Liza Pfaff (Intern), 1996.
Contents List
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Mss 867
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Series: Biographical Material
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Clippings, 1982
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Oral history interviews and biographical papers
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Box
7
Folder
3-5
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1972-1974, Elizabeth Balanoff
: Quotation from this file is restricted.
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Box
7
Folder
6
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1979, Student paper by David E. Neisser
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1983, Merle E. Davis (Iowa Labor History Oral History Project)
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Tape 1163A
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Recordings
: Reproduction of this tape is restricted.
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Mss 867
Box
7
Folder
7-8
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Transcript
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Box
7
Folder
9
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1983, Rick Halpern and Roger Horowitz
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Series: Correspondence
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Subseries: PWOC and UPWA General Counsel
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Box
1
Folder
2-5
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1943-1945
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Box
1
Folder
6-7
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Helstein and Hall, 1942-1946
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Subseries: UPWA President
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Chronological files
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Box
1
Folder
8-9
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1946
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Box
2
Folder
1-10
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1947-1959
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Box
3
Folder
1-2
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1960-1962
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1964
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Box
3
Folder
3
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Personal
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Box
3
Folder
4
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Speaking Engagements
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Box
3
Folder
5-6
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1965, Speaking Engagements
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1966
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Box
3
Folder
7-8
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Personal , [Jan-Aug only]
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Box
4
Folder
1-2
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Speaking Engagements
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1967
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Box
4
Folder
3
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Personal
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Box
4
Folder
4-5
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Speaking Engagements
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Box
4
Folder
6
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1968
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Subject files
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Box
4
Folder
7
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AFL-CIO Executive Council, 1966
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Box
4
Folder
8-9
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Merger with AMC&BW, 1950-1968
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Box
5
Folder
1
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SCLC, 1964-1965
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Box
5
Folder
2
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White House Task Force on Cities, 1965-1966
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Subseries: AMC&BW Vice President and Special Counsel
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Box
5
Folder
3
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1969-1972
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Box
5
Folder
4
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Newfoundland Trip, 1972
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Box
5
Folder
5-6
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Gorman, Patrick, 1969-1972
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Subseries: AMC&BW President Emeritus
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Box
5
Folder
7-9
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General, 1973-1984
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Subject File
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Box
6
Folder
1
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Crystal City Trip and Report, 1973-1976
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Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee
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Box
6
Folder
2
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General, 1973-1982
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Box
6
Folder
3
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Swedish trip, 1975
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Box
6
Folder
4
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Thomas/Debs dinner, 1974-1977
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Box
6
Folder
8-9
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Gorman, Patrick, 1973-1983
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Box
6
Folder
5
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Highlander Center, 1982-1984
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Box
6
Folder
6-7
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Illinois Labor History Society [Les Orear], 1973-1983
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Box
6
Folder
10
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Rath Packing Company, 1980-1985
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Box
6
Folder
11
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Retirement letters, 1972-1973
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Box
7
Folder
1
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Roosevelt University labor history course, 1974-1975
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Box
7
Folder
2
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Toward Freedom, 1975-1984
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Series: Speeches and Articles
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Drafts
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Box
7
Folder
10-11
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1947-1965
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Box
8
Folder
1-5
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1966-1983
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Speech material
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Box
8
Folder
6
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Quotes, circa 1959-circa 1980
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Box
8
Folder
7
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Economic data, 1960-1972
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Topics in Labor History, 1975
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Box
9
Folder
1
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Classroom material
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Box
9
Folder
2-4
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Research notes and drafts
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Series: Subject Files
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Box
9
Folder
5
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Communist affidavits, 1939-1940
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Communist Investigations
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Box
9
Folder
6
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A.T. Stephens notebook, 1958-1961
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Box
10
Folder
1
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Reports and summaries, 1959, 1961
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Box
10
Folder
2-6
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Contract negotiations notebook, 1963-1966
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Crystal City background material
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Box
10
Folder
7
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Akbar Fund correspondence and field reports, 1974
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Box
11
Folder
1
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Economic and social reports, Committee for Rural Democracy proposal, 1973-1975, undated
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Box
11
Folder
2
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Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee and related groups, circa 1968-1979
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Box
11
Folder
3
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Hormel memo, 1933
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Box
11
Folder
4
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Illinois Fair Employment Practices Commission clippings, 1961
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Box
11
Folder
5
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Labor and the Cold War papers by Harry Targ, 1983, undated
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Box
11
Folder
6
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Mergers, 1956-1980
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Box
11
Folder
7
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Operation Dixie, 1943-1953
: Quotation from this file is restricted.
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Box
11
Folder
8
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PWOC and UPWA, Students' historical papers, 1974, 1982
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Rath Packing Company
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Box
11
Folder
9
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Analysis by Tove Helland Hammer and Robert N. Stern, 1983, 1985
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Box
11
Folder
10-11
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Board of Directors minutes, 1980-1981, 1983
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Box
11
Folder
12
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By-laws, 1980
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Box
11
Folder
13
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Employee Stock Ownership Plan and
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Box
12
Folder
1
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Trust Agreement, 1980
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Box
12
Folder
2
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Financial reports, 1980
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Box
12
Folder
3
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Financial statement and annual report, 1980
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Box
12
Folder
4
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Labor contracts with AMC&BW and UF&CW, 1976, 1979
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Box
12
Folder
5
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News releases, 1980-1983
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Box
12
Folder
6
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Notices to stockholders, 1980-1981
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Box
12
Folder
7
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Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, 1980
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