Working Hard for the American Dream

Randi Storch is Professor of History at the State University of New York, College at Cortland. She is author of Red Chicago: American Communism at Its Grassroots, 1928-1935 (2007).

• List of Illustrations viiAcknowledgments ixIntroduction: Back to the Future 11 “Everyone Was Ready For Unionism”: The Precursors, Promises, and Pitfalls of Industrial Unions in the 1930s 10Political Prelude: Industrial Democracy Betrayed, from Wilson to Hoover 12Corporate Prelude: The Unintended Consequences of 1920s Corporate Policies 25Working-Class Prelude: Activism 32A New Deal for Workers: A Failed and Flawed Start 41Fighting for Unionism in the 1930s Without Meaningful Federal Protection 44The Wagner Act and Industrial Unionism 48Corporate Resistance and Workers’ Unity 58Extending the New Deal for Workers 61Assessing Workers’ New Deal and Industrial Unionism 65Conclusion 682 Big Wars, Big Labor, Big Costs 70Wartime Mobilization, 1939–1941 73Government Intervention: War Industries and Labor Policies, 1941–1945 87Wartime Demographic Developments 93Crisis in Industrial Relations, 1945–1946 103Postwar Politics and Taft-Hartley, 1946–1948 108Political (Mis)calculations: Operation Dixie, CIO Purges, and International Alliances, 1946–1950s 114Big Labor, Big Costs, 1955–1960s 120Conclusion 1273 Civil Rights Versus Labor Rights, 1960s–1970s 128Expanding Public and Service Sectors 131Public Sector Workers and Union Rights 133New Laws and Workplace Challenges 141Women and Workplace Rights 151The Push and Pull of Changing Times: New Unionists, Rank-and-File Movements, AFL-CIO Leaders, and Nixon 157Unionists Divided and Under Siege 169Conclusion 1724 Working More for Less and Other Troubles for Workers in the Late Twentieth Century 174Profit Making in a Global World 176The Human Price of Modern Capitalism 182The Political Shaping of the Economy 189The AFL-CIO Leadership’s Resistance to Change 199Innovation and Possibilities 205Change from the Bottom-Up 216Conclusion 222Epilogue: The Illusive American Dream: A Personal Journey 224Bibliographical Essay 253Index 278

“Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels of students; faculty and researchers; professionals; general readers.”  (Choice, 1 October  2013)