Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"We Are All Leaders"
describes a kind of union qualitatively different from the bureaucratic
business unions that make up the AFL-CIO today. From African American
nutpickers in St. Louis, chemical and rubber workers in Akron, textile
workers in the South, and bootleg miners in Pennsylvania to tenant farmers
in the Mississippi Delta, packinghouse and garment workers in Minnesota,
seamen in San Francisco, and labor party campaigns throughout the country,
workers in the 1930s were experimenting with community-based unionism.
Contributors to this volume
draw on interviews with participants in the events described, first-person
narratives, trade union documents, and other primary sources to tell what
workers of the 1930s did. The alternative unionism of the 1930s was democratic,
deeply rooted in mutual aid among workers in different crafts and work
sites, and politically independent. The key to it was a value system based
on egalitarianism. The cry, "We are all leaders " resonated
among rank-and-file activists. Their struggle, often ignored by historians,
has much to teach us today about union organizing.
CONTRIBUTORS: Rosemary Feurer,
Peter Rachleff, Janet Irons, Mark D. Naison, Eric Leif Davin, Elizabeth
Faue, Michael Kozura, John Borsos, Stan Weir
A volume in the series
The Working Class in American History, edited by David Brody, Alice Kessler-Harris,
David Montgomery, and Sean Wilenz
Synopsis
This collection of articles delves into the little-known community-based unionism of the 1930s. Worlds apart from bureaucratic business unions like the AFL-CIO, these organizations emerged from workers involved in many kinds of labor, from African American nutpickers in St. Louis to chemical and rubber workers in Akron, and from bootleg miners in Pennsylvania to tenant farmers in the Mississippi Delta.
The contributors draw on eyewitness interviews, first-person narratives, trade union documents, and other primary sources to describe experimental forms of worker activism during the period. This alternative unionism was democratic, deeply rooted in mutual aid among workers in different crafts and work sites, and politically independent. The key to it was a value system based on egalitarianism. The cry, "We are all leaders " resonated among rank-and-file activists. Their struggle, though often overlooked by historians, has much to teach us about union organizing today.
Contributors: John Borsos, Eric Leif Davin, Elizabeth Faue, Rosemary Feurer, Janet Irons, Michael Kozura, Mark D. Naison, Peter Rachleff, and Stan Weir
Synopsis
Contains the Bryant Spann Memorial Prize in Literature for 1997, an award-winning essay, "The Very Last Hurrah" by Eric Leif Davin
This collection of articles delves into the little-known community-based unionism of the 1930s. Worlds apart from bureaucratic business unions like the AFL-CIO, these organizations emerged from workers involved in many kinds of labor, from African American nutpickers in St. Louis to chemical and rubber workers in Akron, and from bootleg miners in Pennsylvania to tenant farmers in the Mississippi Delta.
The contributors draw on eyewitness interviews, first-person narratives, trade union documents, and other primary sources to describe experimental forms of worker activism during the period. This alternative unionism was democratic, deeply rooted in mutual aid among workers in different crafts and work sites, and politically independent. The key to it was a value system based on egalitarianism. The cry, "We are all leaders " resonated among rank-and-file activists. Their struggle, though often overlooked by historians, has much to teach us about union organizing today.
Contributors: John Borsos, Eric Leif Davin, Elizabeth Faue, Rosemary Feurer, Janet Irons, Michael Kozura, Mark D. Naison, Peter Rachleff, and Stan Weir