Fitch, Robert, 1938-....

Robert "Bob" Fitch was born in Chicago in December 1938. He received a PhD in sociology from the State University of New York (SUNY), Binghampton. A Marxist and prolific writer on many topics, Fitch was particularly concerned with unionism. As well as writing about them, he worked as union organizer for the American Federation of Musicians, Local 802 in New York City during the mid 1980s. Fitch also taught and lectured at universities throughout New York City. He died aged 72 in March 2011.

From the description of Robert Fitch Papers 1905-2010 1990-2005. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 757687185

Robert Fitch was an independent journalist, labor union organizer and professor of political sociology, urban studies and labor studies. Born in December 1938 in Chicago, Fitch joined the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 5 at the age of 15 as a Laborer.

Fitch attended the University of Illinois, where he earned his Bachelors degree in History. After service in the Air Force, where he worked in military intelligence, Fitch enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley. While earning his Masters in History, he helped to found the Revolutionary Union (which later became the Revolutionary Communist Party) with Bob Avakian, H. Bruce Franklin and Stephen Charles Hamilton. During this period, he also served as the editor of Ramparts, and co-founded the magazine Socialist Revolution, which later became Socialist Review, and then Radical Society .

Fitch co-authored Ghana: End of An Illusion with his wife Mary Oppenheimer, while he was at Berkeley. Published in 1968, the book describes the events leading up to the 1966 overthrow of the Kwame Nkrumah regime. A second book, Who Rules The Corporation? was published in Japanese in 1978. In 1976, Fitch enrolled in the doctoral program of Sociology at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He received his Ph.D. in 1993, after completing his dissertation The Political Economy of New York City: Space, Class and Power, 1958-1992 .

In 1980, Fitch began his career as a teacher, serving as an instructor at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies at Empire State College (Saratoga Springs, NY), where he would teach until 1985. He also began to teach in New York University’s Metropolitan Studies Department in 1981. In 1984, he was invited to be a Visiting Critic at Harvard University's Graduate School for Design. In 1985, he was offered a position as a Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Business at Chuo University’s (Tokyo).

After returning to the United States, Fitch returned for a short period to the Metropolitan Studies Department at New York University in 1988. He also worked as an organizer for the American Federation of Musicians, Local 802 in New York City from 1989 to 1990 as well as an adviser to the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Local 1180.

Throughout the 1990s, he worked as a journalist, writing extensively for the Village Voice, the Nation, The Baffler, Newsday, Tikkun and other journals, magazines and newspapers. His articles from this period focus on corruption within labor unions, including election fraud, embezzlement of benefit funds and sweatshop conditions sanctioned by labor unions. In addition, he also pointed out corruption in local government, and the acquiescence of both government and labor to what he termed FIRE; finance, insurance and real estate interests, both on a local and national level. Many of these articles drew the ire of labor union officials and members, particularly those implicated by Fitch’s exposes. His book The Assassination of New York, which expanded on these themes, was published by Verso in 1996.

During this time, Fitch also taught and lectured at universities throughout New York City, including Long Island University, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Queens College and LaGuardia Community College (1993-2011).

In 2006, Public Affairs published his book Solidarity for Sale, which focused on union corruption, which Fitch argued had been a part of organized labor in the United States from its beginnings.

Fitch died at the age of 72 in March 2011.

From the guide to the Robert Fitch Papers, Bulk, 1990-2005, 1905-2010, (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)