Battling for American labor : wobblies, craft workers, and the making of the union movement

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Howard Kimeldorf: Battling for American labor : wobblies, craft workers, and the making of the union movement

English language

ISBN:
978-0-520-21833-8
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Kimeldorf's main argument is that the American working class is not conservative nor bereft of class consciousness and that these supposed traits do not explain how the AFL became the dominant union structure in the first quarter of the 20th century. Despite different ideologies, he argues that the AFL and IWW were both "syndicalist" (a claim that rests on his misunderstanding of the meaning of that term, reducing it to just direct action at the point of production), and most rank-and-file workers were more concerned about bettering their conditions in the here and now than any far-off dream, whether that of AFL or IWW. He doesn't really succeed in his argument – sure, workers were not conservative, but that's not because they embraced his false definition of syndicalism.

He discusses the IWW at length on the docks in Philadelphia, and then uses their brief attempt at organizing restaurant and hotel …

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Kimeldorf's main argument is that the American working class is not conservative nor bereft of class consciousness and that these supposed traits do not explain how the AFL became the dominant union structure in the first quarter of the 20th century. Despite different ideologies, he argues that the AFL and IWW were both "syndicalist" (a claim that rests on his misunderstanding of the meaning of that term, reducing it to just direct action at the point of production), and most rank-and-file workers were more concerned about bettering their conditions in the here and now than any far-off dream, whether that of AFL or IWW. He doesn't really succeed in his argument – sure, workers were not conservative, but that's not because they embraced his false definition of syndicalism.

He discusses the IWW at length on the docks in Philadelphia, and then uses their brief attempt at organizing restaurant and hotel …