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 [0xc000a42030 0xc000f955f0 0xc001257e30 0xc00126ba10 0xc001561440 0xc00228a720 0xc0022b74d0 0xc000239f50 0xc00025d8f0 0xc0002c94a0 0xc0002ebaa0 0xc0000de360 0xc0000dd290 0xc0003c5ec0 0xc0001ec090 0xc000a0e720 0xc000d32c90 0xc000ad2570 0xc000b24150 0xc000e9e9f0 0xc0004758f0 0xc0004a1650 0xc0009337d0 0xc000b21590 0xc000ce4600 0xc000b959e0 0xc001aa03c0 0xc001ae7770 0xc0021071d0 0xc00220ae10 0xc0022a9e00 0xc00235e780 0xc0023fdf20 0xc00255b710 0xc000480480 0xc00061dd40 0xc0008d11d0 0xc000a6c930 0xc000ab5860 0xc000b4dfb0 0xc000b78750 0xc000b79ef0 0xc001ba3140 0xc001f38780 0xc0023313e0 0xc0026819b0 0xc00285baa0 0xc0029eda70 0xc002a01f20 0xc002a2d230 0xc002a6c120 0xc002a99e30 0xc002af1350 0xc002b28c60 0xc0025f5050] 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