Battling for American Labor; Wobblies, Craft Workers, the Making of the Union Movement [Hardcover]

Howard Kimeldorf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0520218329 | ISBN-13: 978-0520218321 | Edition: 1

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Kimeldorf's stress on tactics and practices in the evolution of industrial syndicalism, rather than on ideological differences between the two unions, marks this as a vital and original contribution."--"American Studies International

From the Inside Flap

"This riveting, nuanced book takes seriously the workplace radicalism of many early twentieth century American workers. The restriction of working class militancy to the workplace, it shows, was no mere economism. Organizational rather than psychological in orientation, Battling For American Labor accounts for both the early preference of dockworkers in Philadelphia and hotel and restaurant workers in New York for the IWW rather than the AFL and for the reversal of this choice in the 1920s. In so doing, it points the way to a fresh reading of American labor history."--Ira Katznelson, Columbia University

"Howard Kimeldorf's book, based on sound and solid historical research in archives, newspapers, journals, memoirs and oral histories, argues that workers in the United States, regardless of their precise union affiliation, harbored syndicalist tendencies which manifested themselves in direct action on the job. Because Kimeldorf's book reinterprets much of the history of the labor movement in the United States, it will surely generate much controversy among scholars and capture the attention of readers."--Melvyn Dubofsky, Binghamton University, SUNY

"Howard Kimeldorf's new book is a very exciting accomplishment. This book will surely leave a major imprint on labor history and the sociology of labor. Kimeldorf's focus on repertoires of collective action and practice instead of ideology is a particularly important contribution; one that will force students of labor to rethink many worn-out arguments. After reading Battling For American Labor, one will no longer be able to assume the IWW's defeat was inevitable, or take seriously psychological theories of worker consciousness."--David Wellman, author of The Union Makes Us Strong

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 254 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520218329
• ISBN-13: 978-0520218321
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,381,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unconvincing finding of class consciousness, November 23, 1999

By 

J. Grattan "Ideas can move the world" (Lawrenceville, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Battling for American Labor: Wobblies, Craft Workers, and the Making of the Union Movement (Paperback)

The author's primary goal is to destroy the myth held by many that the American working class turned to the AFL because it does not regard itself as a class in opposition to the capitalist class. More of the myth is that workers do not find it necessary to participate in politics and they view capitalism kindly.

His means of making his case is to follow the various ups and downs of the shiploaders of Philadelphia and the culinary workers of New York City from 1913 into the 1930s. He clearly shows that when workers are strategically located and can control the relevant labor market that they can extract concessions from employers as long as those advantages remain. In both cases the fortunes of workers rose and fell many times.

A weakness of the book is that it does not explore the ramifications to workers' lives to operate in a direct action mode. What sort of hardships were endured and what were the effects on workers' thinking about capitalistic relations? The claim that in their actions lies class consciousness is not convincing. Obviously some solidarity is needed to effect a strike, but it seems fairly evident that the actions of the workers represented mostly a realistic assessment of their situation and of the best means to achieve economic gains. The actions of the workers could in no sense be termed revolutionary; they are presented in the context of a contest of economic wills within US capitalism.

There is no doubt that class consciousness would have to exist in a capitalistic society for the working class to make permanent headway. In many social democracies, workers have expressed themselves through political parties. That has not occurred in the US. The author does not mention that adverse judicial rulings of that era could be a reason that the political route was not taken by US workers. The IWW viewed direct action as a way of transforming capitalistic relations, but the author demonstrates that workers had little interest in IWW ideology.

Other than a few passing comments, the reader is hard-pressed to determine any applicability to the present era. Industrial relations have been completely transformed in the US with the passage of the NLRA and the rulings of the NLRB and the courts since the era under discussion. Furthermore, working class culture has embraced consumerism as the operant ideology. One wonders whether the author would like to mount an argument for worker class consciousness at this point in history. One suspects that such an argument would be even less convincing than one from the early 1900s. END