Strike!
The True History of Mass Insurgence from 1877 to the Present

Brecher, Jeremy

Publisher: Straight Arrow Books, San Francisco, USA
Year First Published: {12450 Strike! STRIKE The True History of Mass Insurgence from 1877 to the Present Brecher, Jeremy Straight Arrow Books San Francisco USA A history-from-below that brings to light strikes as authentic revolutionary movements against the establishments of state, capital, and trade unionism. 1972 1997 329pp BC12450-Strike.jpg B Book 0-89608-569-4 331.892 Brecher writes: The mains actors in the story are ordinary working people. Most historians, whether radical or conservative, tend to consider ordindary workers a mere "rank and file," controlled and directed by unions and labor leaders. Strikes are presumably the work of these organizations and leaders. I have found, on the contrary, that far from fomenting strikes and rebellions, unions and labor leaders have most often striven to prevent or contain them, while the drive to extend them has generally come from a most undocile "rank and file." Indeed, the most important lessons I learned in preparing this book is the extent to which ordinary working people, acting on their own, have through the decades thought, planned, drawn lessons from their own experiences, organized themselves, and taken action in common. Much of the time these abilities have had no chance for expression; they were suppressed in a society which believed ordindary working people should distrust one another and obey their superiors. But when "looking out for number one" and "getting along by going along" no longer worked, people discovered that together they had powers they never suspected. This is important because the greatest problem we face today is our powerlessness. It underlies every particular problem we face: war, pollution, racism, brutality, injustice, insecurity, and the feeling of being trapped, our lives wasting away, pushed around by forces beyond our control. The source of all these problems is not some cruel decree of fate; every one of them results from the fact that we do not control the life or our own society. The fundamental problem we face -- and the key to solving the more particular problems -- is to transform society so that ordinary people control it. Table of Contents: Preface Part I: The History of American Strikes Prologue Chapter 1: The Great Upheaval Chapter 2: May Day Chapter 3: "The Ragged Edge of Anarchy" Chapter 4: Nineteen Nineteen Chapter 5: Depression Decade "Don't Starve - Fight" Nineteen Thirty Four Sitdown Chapter 6: Postscript the War and Post-war Strike Wave Part II: The Significance of American Strikes Chapter 7: The Significance of Mass Strikes The Mass Strike Process The Course of Mass Strikes The Containment of Mass Strikes Chapter 8: The Current Scene Chapter 9: From Mass Strike to New Society Afterword: A Challenge to Historians CX6590 0 true true false CX6590.htm [0xc0008da1b0 0xc000fad9e0 0xc0012964e0 0xc0012ac0c0 0xc00158dce0 0xc0022b59b0 0xc0022f8780 0xc002454840 0xc0024721e0 0xc0002cf770 0xc0002f3da0 0xc00009bf20 0xc000187e60 0xc0003e8cc0 0xc00025f320 0xc000610fc0 0xc0007b1620 0xc0007b1f50 0xc000b9aa80 0xc000e573b0 0xc0005ca960 0xc0005fa720 0xc000af59e0 0xc000d25980 0xc000eb4b40 0xc000b8dbc0 0xc00191f170 0xc001c3a600 0xc0021d5740 0xc00232d440 0xc0024b3830 0xc002516270 0xc000185ec0 0xc00058a930 0xc0009ef800 0xc000bed170 0xc000f206c0 0xc00103be90 0xc0010a2de0 0xc001157530 0xc001157cb0 0xc00118f470 0xc0020b6db0 0xc0021ee690 0xc0026db7a0 0xc002711da0 0xc0029045a0 0xc002ab07b0 0xc002ac6c60 0xc002adbf50 0xc002b1ae40 0xc002b60ba0 0xc002bb60c0 0xc002bcf9b0 0xc002be99e0] Cx}
Year Published: 1997
Pages: 329pp ISBN: 0-89608-569-4
Dewey: 331.892
Resource Type: Book
Cx Number: CX6590

A history-from-below that brings to light strikes as authentic revolutionary movements against the establishments of state, capital, and trade unionism.

Abstract:
Brecher writes: The mains actors in the story are ordinary working people. Most historians, whether radical or conservative, tend to consider ordindary workers a mere "rank and file," controlled and directed by unions and labor leaders. Strikes are presumably the work of these organizations and leaders. I have found, on the contrary, that far from fomenting strikes and rebellions, unions and labor leaders have most often striven to prevent or contain them, while the drive to extend them has generally come from a most undocile "rank and file." Indeed, the most important lessons I learned in preparing this book is the extent to which ordinary working people, acting on their own, have through the decades thought, planned, drawn lessons from their own experiences, organized themselves, and taken action in common. Much of the time these abilities have had no chance for expression; they were suppressed in a society which believed ordindary working people should distrust one another and obey their superiors. But when "looking out for number one" and "getting along by going along" no longer worked, people discovered that together they had powers they never suspected.

This is important because the greatest problem we face today is our powerlessness. It underlies every particular problem we face: war, pollution, racism, brutality, injustice, insecurity, and the feeling of being trapped, our lives wasting away, pushed around by forces beyond our control. The source of all these problems is not some cruel decree of fate; every one of them results from the fact that we do not control the life or our own society. The fundamental problem we face -- and the key to solving the more particular problems -- is to transform society so that ordinary people control it.

Table of Contents:

Preface

Part I: The History of American Strikes
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Great Upheaval
Chapter 2: May Day
Chapter 3: "The Ragged Edge of Anarchy"
Chapter 4: Nineteen Nineteen
Chapter 5: Depression Decade
"Don't Starve - Fight"
Nineteen Thirty Four
Sitdown
Chapter 6: Postscript the War and Post-war Strike Wave

Part II: The Significance of American Strikes
Chapter 7: The Significance of Mass Strikes
The Mass Strike Process
The Course of Mass Strikes
The Containment of Mass Strikes
Chapter 8: The Current Scene
Chapter 9: From Mass Strike to New Society
Afterword: A Challenge to Historians

Strike!The True History of Mass Insurgence from 1877 to the Present

Subject Headings

Strike!
The True History of Mass Insurgence from 1877 to the Present