21. Consumerism-Consumers Union,, 1933-1980

Summary: Documents Consumers' Research's interest and tracking of the growth, progress, associations and problems of Consumers Union (CU) after the 1935 strike which led several former Consumers' Research (CR) associates or employees to form Consumers Union. CR was interested in the CU board members, sponsors and employees whose "relationships" or "connections" made them suspected leftists, communists or fellow travelers. In addition to red baiting, CR attempted to denigrate CU by questioning their technical competence in consumer product testing and their discussion of contraception and other largely ignored health questions. Material on individual CU board members or staff includes some correspondence prior to or during the 1935 strike when individuals were politically allied with CR and later, when CR considered these individuals enemies. Scattered throughout the series are files on individuals who were extremely important in the development and operation of CU such as Arthur Kallet and Colston E. Warne, but there are also files on individuals on the periphery of CR including a playwright who spoke at CU's second annual meeting, a few players in the strike against CR who had little or nothing to do with CU, CU sponsors such as Heywood Broun or Anna Louise Strong, labor leader Michael Quill, and CU board member and consumer advocate, Ralph Nader. Large segments of this series consist of letters from subscribers confusing CR and CU or wanting to know the differences between the two organizations. CR answered such inquiries with materials from their "Red Rope" file which consisted of pamphlets, handouts and other information documenting CU's alleged communist connections. The red scare information is particularly substantial in 1939-1940, when the House Un-American Activities Committee (Dies Committee) released a controversial report--written by Committee researcher and former CR Vice-President J.B. Matthews, on communist infiltration in the consumer movement--and in 1953-1954 when CU was placed and then removed from a list of "front organizations" by the Un-American Activities Committee. Several anti-CU broadsides or articles were produced by CR. CR also assisted writers of anti-CU material. Also spread throughout the series are letters, booklets and other materials questioning CU's technical competence especially in the photographic and stereo fields. This documentation includes correspondence of CR with industry critics. CR tracked CU's progress by clipping anything printed about CU, having informants attend CU's annual meetings, having "friends" subscribe to CU publications which were then passed onto CR, and also having these "friends" write letters to CU which were worded by CR. CR also sent staff members and photographers to snoop outside CU headquarters when employees went out on strike in 1954. Series consists of correspondence, photographs, magazine and newspaper clippings, technical and scholarly publications, various reports, and other materials. Subjects include CU's advertising; the American Investors Union; CU's annual meetings; CU's attack on tests conducted by CR which were used for Photography Buyers Guide, 1965; WBAI radio and the Pacifica Radio Network; relationships of CU board members, sponsors, staff and others with leftist, communist or front organizations (including separate files on Harold Aaron, Mildred Edie Brady, Robert Brady, Heywood Broun, Persia Campbell, Herbert S. Denenberg, Abraham Isserman, Arthur Kallet, Paul Kern, Dexter Masters, Ralph Nader, Walker Sandbach, David Swankin, Ernst Toller, and Colston E. Warne); CU's "communist connections" as seen by CR including the "Red Rope file," articles and pamphlets on CU's associations with communists, banning CU in schools, and files on Michael Quill, Madeline Ross, Walter Trumbull and Goodwin Watson; confusing CR and CU; consultants; criticisms and attacks on CU; subscribers switching from CR to CU or vice versa; educational materials; CU's "errors and misrepresentations;" CU as imitator and competitor of CR; informants used by CR to gather information on CU; The Medical Newsletter, CU litigation and lobbying; Milk Consumers Protective Committee; organization and methods of CU; CU publications including Bread & Butter (1941-1947), Consumers Union Reports (1936-1940), Consumers Union Reports Limited Edition (1936-1940), and Consumers Union Buyer's Guide, 1937-1948), and special publications including material on contraceptives; publications also include CR notes on Consumer Reports issues (1941-1980); and CU publicity and subscription promotions.