Reds Or Rackets?: The Making of Radical and Conservative Unions on the WaterfrontWhy is the American working class different? For generations, scholars and activists alike have wrestled with this question, with an eye to explaining why workers in the United States are not more like their radicalized European counterparts. Approaching the question from a different angle, Reds or Rackets? provides a fascinating examination of the American labor movement from the inside out, as it were, by analyzing the divergent sources of radicalism and conservatism within it. Kimeldorf focuses on the political contrast between East and West Coast longshoremen from World War I through the early years of the Cold War, when the difference between the two unions was greatest. He explores the politics of the West Coast union that developed into a hot bed of working class insurgency and contrasts it with the conservative and racket-ridden East Coast longshoreman's union. Two unions, based in the same industry—as different as night and day. The question posed by Kimeldorf is, why? Why "reds" on one coast and racketeers on the other? To answer this question Kimeldorf provides a systematic comparison of the two unions, illuminating the political consequences of occupational recruitment, industry structure, mobilization strategies, and industrial conflict during this period. In doing so, Reds orRackets? sheds new light on the structural and historical bases of radical and conservative unionism. More than a comparative study of two unions, Reds or Rackets? is an exploration of the dynamics of trade unionism, sources of membership loyalty, and neglected aspects of working class consciousness. It is an incisive and valuable study that will appeal to historians, social scientists, and anyone interested in understanding the political trajectory of twentieth-century American labor. |
Contents
Social Foundations of Unionism | 19 |
Shipowners Organize | 51 |
The Strategic Pivot | 80 |
Generations in Motion | 99 |
From Hot to Cold War | 127 |
Unions in the Making | 159 |
| 213 | |
| 237 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Albion Hall American Labor Anti-Communism anti-communist Bridges's Browder cargo coastwide Cold War Committee Communist Party conservative Darcy docks dockside dockworkers dual unionism economic fascism Harry Bridges Henry Schmidt Hiring Hall ideology ILWU ILWU Papers ILWU's insurgents interview with author job actions July La Follette Committee labor force Labor History Labor Movement Labor Relations Larrowe leadership left-wing lines loggers longshore unionism longshoremen Madell marine workers membership ment militant MWIU October organization Pacific Coast Pacific Maritime Association party's percent pickets pier police political port port's Portland portwide radical rank and file rank-and-file recruitment reported Ryan San Francisco San Pedro seamen Seattle Seymour Martin Lipset Shape-Up ship shipowners shoremen sling load Social socialist strategy strikers struggle syndicalist thousand tion trade union union leaders United University Press voted wage walkout wartime waterfront waterfront employers Waterfront Worker West Coast Wobblies working-class York York's