Listing 1 - 2 of 2 |
Sort by
|
Choose an application
Why is the American working class different? For generations, scholars and activists alike have wrestled with this question, with an eye to explaining why workers in the United States are not more like their radicalized European counterparts. Approaching the question from a different angle, Reds or Rackets? provides a fascinating examination of the American labor movement from the inside out, as it were, by analyzing the divergent sources of radicalism and conservatism within it. Kimeldorf focuses on the political contrast between East and West Coast longshoremen from World War I through the early years of the Cold War, when the difference between the two unions was greatest. He explores the politics of the West Coast union that developed into a hot bed of working class insurgency and contrasts it with the conservative and racket-ridden East Coast longshoreman's union. Two unions, based in the same industry-as different as night and day. The question posed by Kimeldorf is, why? Why "reds" on one coast and racketeers on the other?To answer this question Kimeldorf provides a systematic comparison of the two unions, illuminating the political consequences of occupational recruitment, industry structure, mobilization strategies, and industrial conflict during this period. In doing so, Reds orRackets? sheds new light on the structural and historical bases of radical and conservative unionism.More than a comparative study of two unions, Reds or Rackets? is an exploration of the dynamics of trade unionism, sources of membership loyalty, and neglected aspects of working class consciousness. It is an incisive and valuable study that will appeal to historians, social scientists, and anyone interested in understanding the political trajectory of twentieth-century American labor.
Labor unions --- Labor unions and communism --- Labor unions and international relations --- Political activity --- History --- International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union --- History. --- International relations and labor unions --- Trade-unions and foreign policy --- Communism and labor unions --- Trade-unions and communism --- Industrial unions --- Labor, Organized --- Labor organizations --- Organized labor --- Trade-unions --- Unions, Labor --- Unions, Trade --- Working-men's associations --- I.L.W.U. --- ILWU --- International Longshoremen & Warehousemen's Union --- International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union --- International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union --- International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union. --- International relations --- Communism --- Labor movement --- Societies --- Central labor councils --- Guilds --- Syndicalism --- International Longshore and Warehouse Union --- International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America --- Pacific Maritime Association --- ILWU (International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union)
Choose an application
In this incisive reinterpretation of the history of the American labor movement, Howard Kimeldorf challenges received thinking about rank-and-file workers and the character of their unions. Battling for American Labor answers the baffling question of how, while mounting some of the most aggressive challenges to employing classes anywhere in the world, organized labor in the United States has warmly embraced the capitalist system of which they are a part. Rejecting conventional understandings of American unionism, Kimeldorf argues that what has long been the hallmark of organized labor in the United States-its distinctive reliance on worker self-organization and direct economic action-can be seen as a particular kind of syndicalism.Kimeldorf brings this syndicalism to life through two rich and compelling case studies of unionization efforts by Philadelphia longshoremen and New York City culinary workers during the opening decades of the twentieth century. He shows how these workers, initially affiliated with the radical IWW and later the conservative AFL, pursued a common logic of collective action at the point of production that largely dictated their choice of unions. Elegantly written and deeply engaging, Battling for American Labor offers insights not only into how the American labor movement got to where it is today, but how it might possibly reinvent itself in the years ahead.
Labor unions --- Labor movement --- Syndicalism --- Stevedores --- Restaurants --- Business & Economics --- Labor & Workers' Economics --- Cafés --- Dining establishments --- Restaurants, lunch rooms, etc. --- Food service --- Happy hours --- Dock hands --- Dockers --- Dockhands --- Dockworkers --- Longshore workers --- Longshoremen --- Shore porters --- Waterfront workers --- Waterside workers --- Wharf labourers --- Wharfies --- Wharfys --- Harbor personnel --- Social movements --- History --- Employees --- Industrial Workers of the World --- American Federation of Labor --- History. --- AFL --- AFT --- AF of L --- A.F.L. --- A.F. of L. --- Amerikanskai︠a︡ federat︠s︡ii︠a︡ truda --- Federação Americana de Trabalho --- AFL-CIO --- Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada --- IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) --- I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World) --- Wobblies --- Industrialʹnye rabotniki mira --- Sekai Sangyō Rōdōshadan --- IRM (Industrial Workers of the World) --- I.R.M. (Industrial Workers of the World) --- Industrialʹnye rabochie mira --- Průmysloví dělníci světa --- P.D.S. (Industrial Workers of the World) --- Trabajadores Industriales del Mundo --- Lavoratori industriali del mondo --- Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance
Listing 1 - 2 of 2 |
Sort by
|