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Labor's Great War: The Struggle for Industrial Democracy and the Origins of Modern American Labor Relations, 1912-1921

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This book catalogs in great detail the various labor-related alphabet governmental agencies of WWI, especially the WLB, and their interventions in some of the major labor disputes of WWI. Obviously much research has gone into detailing names of key players and the sequence of events. But this book is supposed to be about industrial democracy. While it is stressed that the term "industrial democracy" came to the fore during this period, there is limited coverage of why this is so and the nature of any industrial democracy that may have been established. No where in the book is there a detailed look at how industrial democracy worked in an actual place of work. Many obvious questions are left unanswered. How widespread was any such industrial democracy? How did the typical worker or the media react to the concept? How did shop committees and trade unions interact? Also, it is unclear as to what the author's claims are regarding industrial democracy's lasting effects. He clearly shows that employers dominated the ERP's of post-WWI. The New Deal intervention in labor affairs was clearly not one of instituting democracy. McCartin does indicate that labor relations of the current period seem to have come almost full circle to some form of 19th century thinking. Basically, McCartin's book seems to indicate that "industrial democracy," whatever that was, was not much more than a blip on the screen of labor history. His book needed to focus far more on just what industrial democracy is and its difficulties and transience in real working peoples lives as well as an institution. The role of the AFL in stifling industrial democracy is given insufficient weight.

This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of American military affairs. Joseph A. McCartin's purpose in his book Labor's Great War: The Struggle for Industrial Democracy and the Origins of Modern American Labor Relations, 1912-1921, was to re-examine the history of how labor relations went through profound changes in the U.S. during the Great War. McCartin argued, "Few groups during the war had fed so lavishly as labor on hopes for the aftermath. Samuel Gompers [founder of the American Federation of Labor], had viewed the crisis as a crucible in which he might forge permanent gains for organized labor." For example, labor's long sought dream of an eight-hour workday came to fruition. In addition, wages rose over twenty percent of 1914 levels in most sectors of the economy. McCartin found that, "Even historians who have ably examined Wilsonian labor policies, such as Robert D. Cuff, David M. Kennedy, or Valerie Jean Conner, have not shed much light on the interplay between labor reforms or workers' struggles or shown how each of these shaped and constrained the other." McCartin's well researched book convincingly concluded that, "The crusade for industrial democracy was unable to sustain the tenuous coalition of trade unionists, progressives, Democrats, and radicals that it had brought together on the eve of the war." During the 1920's, union membership was in steady decline.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history.

The author provides great detail about the WWI industrial democracy debate. As a student, I found this book very useful in developing my own work and understanding of that time period's labor movement. Great resource for researchers. Two thumbs up!

This is a wonderful history of labor and "industrial democracy" in the World War I era. Mr. McCartin writes with bold force about the idea of "industrial democracy" and how it helped to shape the American labor movement at a pivital point in this nation's history. Mr. McCartin's illumination of Frank Walsh's role in this interesting period was particularly insightful. In addition to being painstakenly researched, this book was written with a style rare for most history books. This is clearly the best book yet written about labor in World War I.

I throughly enjoyed this insightful book