We Are All Leaders: The Alternative Unionism of the Early 1930s
by Staughton Lynd (Editor)
49 Members (4.33)
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"We Are All Leaders" describes a kind of union qualitatively different from the bureaucratic business unions that make up the AFL-CIO today. From African American nutpickers in St. Louis, chemical and rubber workers in Akron, textile workers in the South, and bootleg miners in Pennsylvania to tenant farmers in the Mississippi Delta, packinghouse and garment workers in Minnesota, seamen in San show more Francisco, and labor party campaigns throughout the country, workers in the 1930s were experimenting with community-based unionism. Contributors to this volume draw on interviews with participants in the events described, first-person narratives, trade union documents, and other primary sources to tell what workers of the 1930s did. The alternative unionism of the 1930s was democratic, deeply rooted in mutual aid among workers in different crafts and work sites, and politically independent. The key to it was a value system based on egalitarianism. The cry, "We are all leaders!" resonated among rank-and-file activists. Their struggle, often ignored by historians, has much to teach us today about union organizing. CONTRIBUTORS: Rosemary Feurer, Peter Rachleff, Janet Irons, Mark D. Naison, Eric Leif Davin, Elizabeth Faue, Michael Kozura, John Borsos, Stan Weir A volume in the series The Working Class in American History, edited by David Brody, Alice Kessler-Harris, David Montgomery, and Sean Wilenz show lessTags
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Author Information
Staughton Lynd received a BA from Harvard, an MA and PhD from Columbia and a JD from the University of Chicago. He taught American history at Spelman College in Atlanta, where one of his students was the future Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Walker, and at Yale University. Staughton served as director of Freedom Schools in the Mississippi show more Summer Project of 1964. He has written or editor numerous books, including Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizer, ed. Alice and Staughton Lynd, expanded ed (Haymarket Books, 2011). show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- We Are All Leaders: The Alternative Unionism of the Early 1930s
- Original publication date
- 1996
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, History, Economics, General Nonfiction, Business
- DDC/MDS
- 331.88 — Society, government, & culture Economics Labor economics Labor unions, labor-management bargaining and disputes Labor unions (Trade unions)
- LCC
- HD6508 .W344 — Social sciences Industries. Land use. Labor Industries. Land use. Labor Labor. Work. Working class Trade unions. Labor unions. Workers'
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 49
- Popularity
- 616,819
- Rating
- (4.33)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
