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This title in other formats:Other titles in the Working Class in American History series:
Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950 (Working Class in American History)by Rosemary Feurer
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments: In Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950 Rosemary Feurer examines the fierce battles between Midwestern electrical workers and bitterly anti-union electrical and metal industry companies during the 1930s and 40s. Organized as District 8 of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE) and led by open Communist William Sentner, workers developed a style of unionism designed to confront corporate power and to be a force for social transformation in their community and nation.
Feurer studies District 8 through a long lens, establishing early twentieth century contexts for these conflicts. Exploring the role of radicals in local movement formation, Feurer argues for a "civic" unionism that could connect community and union concerns to build solidarity and contest the political economy. District 8's spirited unionism included plant occupations in St. Louis and Iowa, campaigns to democratize economic planning, and local strategies for national bargaining that were depicted as a Communist conspiracy by a corporate influenced Congressional committee in Evansville, Indiana. District 8 was destroyed through reactionary networks and the anti-Communist backlash of the mid-twentieth century, but Feurer argues that its history tells another side of the labor movement’s formation in the 1930s and ‘40s, and can inform current struggles against corporate power in the modern global economy.
A website with more photographs and documents is available at www.radicalunionism.niu.edu
Book News Annotation:Feurer (history, Northern Illinois U.) examines the radical union
organizing of District 8 of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine
workers and places it in the context of national and international
developments. She discusses how a militant minority, including
Communist president of District 8, William Sentner, developed a form
of community organizing rooted in the unemployed and union organizing
struggles of the 1930 and aimed at wholesale transformation of the
union movement at the national and international levels. She also
explores how an eventual anti-communist backlash allowed employers
and more right-wing forces in the Congress of Industrial
Organizations to challenge and eventually roll back the gains of the
United Electrical, Radio, and Machine workers. The work is also
notable in that it explores unionization at the "independent"
companies on the periphery of the electrical and metal trades
industries, rather than at the already well-studied large
corporations.
Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Synopsis:After several failed attempts to organize workers in the early years of the Depression, District Eight of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE) elected the openly communist William Sentner as president. Rosemary Feurer’s Radical Unionism in the Midwest examines the story of the famously fierce battles between the Sentner-led UE workers and bitterly anti-union companies during the 1930s and ‘40s.
Feurer studies District Eight through the union backlash in the wake of the 1937-38 recessions, the growth of the district during World War II, and the postwar anticommunist drive that targeted Sentner. Based on this history, Feurer contests the conventional idea that the political perspectives of radicals held little significance for trade union behavior and strategies. From one of the longest sit-down strikes in U.S. history to their community campaigns to democratize union decision making, Feurer argues that radical leaders and a significant segment of UE workers developed a style of unionism that sought to connect union and community concerns in order to undermine business power in the community and on the shop floor. Synopsis:The dynamic relationship between union strategy and the ideals of radicalism What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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