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Palgrave Macmillan

The U.S. Labor Movement in the 20th and Early 21st Century

A Critical Analysis

  • Book
  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. Adam Barrington

    1. Labor activist and community organizer, Cleveland, USA

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  • Proposes an application of class analysis to explain the co-optation of the labor movement since the New Deal
  • Uses conventional and Marxist sociological theories and the American labor movement as an historical case study
  • Explains the decline of unions in the United States

Part of the book series: Social Movements and Transformation (SMT)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Adam Barrington
    Pages 1-9

  3. What Happened to the U.S. Labor Movement?

    • Adam Barrington
    Pages 11-30

  4. The Early U.S. Labor Movement

    • Adam Barrington
    Pages 31-65

  5. The U.S. Labor Movement Since 1955

    • Adam Barrington
    Pages 67-120

  6. Filling the Void: The Reactionary Response to Neoliberalism and Its Crises

    • Adam Barrington
    Pages 121-144

  7. Rebuilding the Labor Movement and Prospects for the Future

    • Adam Barrington
    Pages 145-165

  8. Conclusion: A World to Win

    • Adam Barrington
    Pages 167-173

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 175-191
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Keywords

About this book

This book provides a critical analysis of the labor movement in the United States in the 20th and early 21st century. It explores ideological trends within the labor movement and its conflicts with capital and the state. It identifies class-collaborationism between the conservative labor bureaucracy and the capitalist class as the primary source of U.S. labor’s precariousness and fragility. It argues that the U.S. labor movement at its most radical and militant stage was an effective force for change against the power structure in the early 20th century. At the opposite end, it also argues that today’s institutionalized labor movement led by the AFL-CIO hinders labor’s historic struggle against capital and aids in the maintenance of the existing capitalist order. The book concludes by assessing the prospects for the future development of militant working-class activism and identifies essential components of an emerging radical labor movement that is capable of effectively challenging the capitalist system in the period ahead.

Reviews

“Adam Barrington's book points out the ways in which the government and the rich and powerful have gone to great lengths to break and tame the labor movement. In addition, he explains how the union bureaucracy itself has contributed to the impotence of organized labor. To rebuild the labor movement then, we must not only confront the power structures of capitalism, but we must work outside of - as well as inside - the conservative trade unions structures and institutions as necessary.”
—Ron Kaminkow, Locomotive Engineer, Organizer for Railroad Workers United

Authors and Affiliations

  • Labor activist and community organizer, Cleveland, USA

    Adam Barrington

About the author

Adam Barrington is a labor activist and community organizer who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a delegate for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199. He served as a labor organizer for Local 4041 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in Reno, Nevada, USA.  He received his Master’s degree in Sociology at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he conducted research on the history of the U.S. labor movement.  He plans to pursue future doctoral studies in sociology focused on the contemporary labor movement in the United States.

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