Labor in America

Melvyn Dubofsky is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History & Sociology at Binghamton University, SUNY, USA. He has published extensively on labor history and has been a key figure in the field since the 1960s. Joseph A. McCartin is a Professor of History and Executive Director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor & the Working Poor at Georgetown University. He has authored and edited numerous books on U.S. labor history and is a prominent voice in contemporary labor studies.

• List of Figures ixPreface to the Tenth Edition xiiAcknowledgments xivList of Abbreviations xv1 Laboring a Nation into Being 1Varieties of Bound Labor 2Patterns of Control, Resistance, and Accommodation 10The Agency of an Embryonic Working Class 13Workers, Revolution, and Nation Building 182 Labor in the New Republic, 1790 to 1830 22The Intensification of Agricultural Slavery 23Scraping By: Race, Gender, Ethnicity, and the Limits of Resistance 27From Journeymen’s Organizations to Unions 363 The Protean Power of Organization, 1828 to 1840 45Workingmen’s Parties and the Emergence of a Politics of Labor 47Labor Organizing in the 1830s 55A National Labor Movement 58Employer Counterattack 61The National Trades’ Union 63The Decline of Unionism 664 Irrepressible Conflicts, 1840 to 1860 68The Factory System and New Technologies 69Immigration, Urbanization, and Divisions of Ethnicity and Race 73Reformism and the Antebellum Working Class 76Reawakening 10-hour Movement 80Rebuilding Unions 82The Coming of War 845 The Incomplete Triumph of Free Labor, 1861 to 1877 88Wartime Conditions and Expanded Worker Organizing 89Black Labor and Emancipation 92The Limits of Reconstruction 94National Labor Union 96The Eight-Hour Movement, Cooperatives, and the Greenback-Labor Movement 103Depression, Upheaval, and Fragmentation 1076 The Great Upheaval, 1877 to 1887 111Changing Economic and Social Context 115The Origins and Rise of the Knights of Labor 118The Knights of Labor at Flood Tide 126The Decline of the Knights 130Denouement: Haymarket, Richmond, and the Thibodaux Massacre 1327 The Rise of the American Federation of Labor, 1886 to 1896 137The Appeal of Trade Unionism: From Washerwomen to Skilled Craftsmen 137Origins of the New Unionism 140Samuel Gompers and the Founding of the American Federation of Labor 142Autonomy, Skill, Race, and Gender: AFL Principles and Policies 146The Homestead Strike, Depression, and the Limits of AFL Unionism 150Eugene V. Debs and the Pullman Strike 155Trade Unionism in Turbulent Times 1608 Labor at the Dawn of the Progressive Era, 1896 to 1908 163The Failure of Populism and the Birth of the Socialist Party 164Progressive Era Experiments with Labor–Capital Cooperation 169Labor’s Limited Breakthrough: The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902 172Labor, Law, and Increasing Employer Resistance 177AFL Political Action and a Nascent Labor–Democratic Alliance 1819 Winds of Change, 1908 to 1916 184Stirrings of Reform 184Emergence of the New Unionism 186The Radical Unionism of the Industrial Workers of the World 190The Spirit of the IWW 193The IWW’s Challenge to the AFL 196Labor Upheaval, Federal Action, and a Budding Political Alliance 20110 War, Reform, and Reaction, 1914 to 1922 205Repression of the IWW and the Socialist Party 206Toward Industrial Democracy 209African Americans, Women, and Mexican Immigrants 211Peace in Europe, Class Conflict at Home 214The Last Throes of Postwar Labor Militancy 220The Open Shop American Plan and Labor’s Deferred Dreams 22311 The 1920s 227Welfare Capitalism 230The Failure of Insurgent Politics, 1922 to 1924 234The AFL after Gompers 236Crisis and Glimmers of Change: Miners, Clothing Workers, and Pullman Porters 238Depression and the Demoralization of Organized Labor 24112 The New Deal and the Rebirth of Labor Militancy 245Section 7(a) and the Revival of Organizing 246The Wagner Act and the Second New Deal 253The Emergence of the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) 260Labor and Roosevelt’s Reelection 26813 The CIO and the New Deal Order 271The Little Steel Strike, the Roosevelt Recession, and the Resurgence of the AFL 278The Consolidation of the CIO and a More Inclusive Union Membership 281A Final New Deal Victory: The Fair Labor Standards Act 286Labor and the Emerging New Deal Political Order 288Encroaching War and the 1940 Election 29114 World War II 295Workers, Unions, and Wartime Labor Policy 298The NWLB and Labor Politics 308Race, Gender, and the Changing Union Movement 312Demobilization and the Postwar Strike Wave 314A New Industrial Relations System 31915 Workers and Unions in the Postwar Era 321Anticommunism, the Politics of 1948, and the Purge of the Labor Left 325The Politics of Collective Action in the Emergent New Deal Order 328The Heyday of Collective Bargaining 331A United Labor Movement 333The Travails of a Sleepy Monopoly 33816 Labor’s Long Sixties, 1960 to 1973 344Confronting Automation, Alienation, and Structural Inequalities 348Labor, Civil Rights, and the Great Society 351Public Employees, Farmworkers, and a Diversifying Union Movement 353War and Division 357The Challenges of Solidarity 35917 The Great Reversal, 1974 to 1990s 363Economic Crisis and Its Aftermath 363Restructuring the Labor Force 365The Rise of Conservative Politics and Neoliberal Policy 369The Reagan Revolution 375The Post-Reagan Political Economy and Labor Policy 380The Crisis of Unionism 38418 Renewal and Setback, 1990s to 2009 388The Impetus for Change 389A Change of Direction for Labor 394From Setbacks to Schism 398Fissuring, Financialization, and the Great Recession 403The Obama Moment 40819 Resiliency and Disruption, 2009 to 2020 411The Impact of the Great Recession 412A Renewed Assault on Unions and Collective Bargaining 415Obama’s Mixed Legacy for Workers 418Labor’s Green Shoots 422Workers, Unions, and the 2016 Presidential Election 428The Trump Years 430Labor and the 2020 Election 43320 Making the Road by Walking: Labor in the 2020s 435Further Reading 446Index 449