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 [0xc0009e0210 0xc000f5dbc0 0xc001230720 0xc001246300 0xc00153a090 0xc0022b8360 0xc0022e3110 0xc0002024b0 0xc000217e30 0xc0002913e0 0xc0002b5a10 0xc000058a80 0xc0001a6bd0 0xc0003f1a40 0xc0002548d0 0xc0024ed260 0xc000e04d80 0xc000e056b0 0xc0008de510 0xc000aace40 0xc0005fc570 0xc000628360 0xc000c91aa0 0xc000f79a40 0xc0011e4c00 0xc00119e450 0xc001f81dd0 0xc001fbd290 0xc0022280c0 0xc002441320 0xc002523ec0 0xc0021dbc50 0xc0003eacc0 0xc0007e17d0 0xc000d2c6c0 0xc000f98030 0xc001219590 0xc0012ece70 0xc00130dda0 0xc0013c0540 0xc0013c0cc0 0xc0013fa480 0xc0021a5f80 0xc00263f860 0xc002804ab0 0xc0028370b0 0xc00256e750 0xc002cb7a40 0xc002cc9ef0 0xc002ab34a0 0xc002ac6390 0xc002af00f0 0xc0001735f0 0xc000226f00 0xc00026cf30] 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