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 [0xc0009e20c0 0xc000f91800 0xc001266240 0xc001267e00 0xc00155f8f0 0xc0022aad20 0xc0022d9ad0 0xc0001ff0e0 0xc000230a80 0xc00028ff80 0xc0002ca5d0 0xc0000def60 0xc00064aa20 0xc000337770 0xc000069aa0 0xc0009ee720 0xc000ca29f0 0xc000ca3320 0xc0007c4f90 0xc000937890 0xc0001d4b70 0xc0001f68d0 0xc000682f60 0xc0007eae70 0xc00095a000 0xc000614540 0xc00156f4d0 0xc0015e88a0 0xc0019578f0 0xc001de7590 0xc001f14600 0xc001fa0ff0 0xc0023fde90 0xc0025db860 0xc0001bb740 0xc0003ab050 0xc00061c570 0xc000701cb0 0xc000778c00 0xc00082d350 0xc00082dad0 0xc000867290 0xc001812780 0xc00193bf50 0xc0020dcf30 0xc00218b530 0xc0027efa40 0xc002971a70 0xc002985f20 0xc0029ab230 0xc0029e8120 0xc002a13e30 0xc002a69350 0xc002a98c60 0xc002aaec60] 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