Dubinsky, David (1892-1982)

Russian-born US labour leader. He was a prominent figure in the labour movement, both in the USA and at an international level. As president of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), he turned it into one of the USA's most successful unions.

He was born in Brest Litovsk, Russia and he began his labour activism there, for which he was exiled to Siberia. He escaped and emigrated to the USA in 1911. He joined the ILGWU in New York as a cloak cutter and was elected its president (1932-66). He served as labour adviser to the National Recovery Administration (1933-35). Under his leadership the ILGWU was financially solid yet honest, powerful but personal, progressive yet anti-communist. An early supporter of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), he led the ILGWU back into the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1940. When the AFL and the CIO merged (1955) he became a member of the new executive council and then a vice-president of the AFL-CIO. He was active in the international labour movement, representing the AFL at the International Labor Organization and in the UN Economic and Social Council. He also played an active role in areas outside unions, helping to form the American Labor Party (1936), the Liberal Party (1944), and Americans for Democratic Action (1947).