Reuther the Red?

The article discusses labour historian Victor Devinatz's article (published in Labour/Le Travail, 49 (Spring 2002)) that Walter Reuther was affiliated with the US Communist Party in the mid to late 1930s. At the time, Reuther was a vice president of the United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW); he went on to become UAW president from 1946 till his death in 1970. The author, who has written a major biography of Reuther, concludes that this was not the case, although Reuther did work closely with a number of UAW activists who were party members.