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 [0xc000b5df50 0xc000ff72f0 0xc0012b5890 0xc0013b5470 0xc0015f6bd0 0xc002311bc0 0xc002350960 0xc0002a11a0 0xc0002c0b10 0xc000323c20 0xc0005d14a0 0xc000192660 0xc000171920 0xc0003b63f0 0xc00028e0f0 0xc000a86690 0xc00057ad80 0xc00057b6b0 0xc000aa4300 0xc000c36ba0 0xc000493920 0xc0004b5680 0xc000a35560 0xc000b43290 0xc000c70270 0xc0007621b0 0xc0015b2270 0xc001631590 0xc001bec240 0xc001d9bce0 0xc002214c90 0xc0022615c0 0xc002480210 0xc002656420 0xc00023b680 0xc0003fef30 0xc0006fc270 0xc0007e3860 0xc00087a7b0 0xc000908e10 0xc000909590 0xc00095cd50 0xc0017636e0 0xc001bfec90 0xc0020956e0 0xc0020fdcb0 0xc002761a10 0xc0028e56b0 0xc0028f7b30 0xc002920e10 0xc002947c80 0xc0029767e0 0xc0029bbcb0 0xc0025a8c90 0xc0025cac90] 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