Macalester College                                                                           Spring 2006

                                 History 221-01: American Labor Radicalism                

T/Th 1:00 – 2:30 PM                                                                        Old Main 002

Peter Rachleff       office hours: M, T, W: 10am – Noon                 Old Main 306

X 6371                                                                                       rachleff@macalester.edu

 

     The world of the early 21st Century seems to be a tumultuous place.  Globalization, immigration, and the reorganization of production, on the one hand, and the rise of ideological fundamentalisms, on the other, make the future, our future, seem quite uncertain.  In Central and South America, new political, labor, and social movements have arisen and taken prominent places on the global stage, while the anti-globalization and World Social Forum movements seem to have given voice to the poor and disenfranchised from India, Africa, and parts of Asia.  Where will U.S. workers find themselves, place themselves, within this process?  And what resources does their history bequeath to them?

     Most of us don’t think much about the history of the U.S. labor movement, let alone whether there is a particularly “radical” cast to its history.  This is not a topic that receives much attention in the mass media or the popular culture, nor is it considered in high school history and social studies.  Does this invisibility and marginalization reflect a lack of presence, of vitality, of influence?

     This course is designed to explore the history of American Labor Radicalism from the making of a transatlantic working class in the 18th century to the struggles of immigrant taxi drivers in the 21st century.  It is my intent to demonstrate that there has been a complex and significant history which can be called “American Labor Radicalism,” and that this history has often turned on questions of “diversity” – of membership, alliances, ideologies and visions, strategies and tactics, organizational forms, and means of representation and expression.  Engaging this history, I hope to show, will offer us new ways of thinking about the present and future, not just of the labor movement in the United States, but of working people around the world.

     Most of our readings will be “microcosmic” in character, case studies, some even biographies.  I realize that, for many of you, this will be your first college-level History course, and, that for some of you, it might be your only one.  I see one of my most important roles as providing historical context for these particular focal points explored by our readings.  Therefore, from time to time, I will lecture about the “big picture.”  But most of the time we will be engaged in conversations about the reading.  Therefore, it is important that you come to class having done the reading, prepared to talk about it.  I will use email to send you questions to consider in preparation for class sessions, and I invite you to use email to share ideas, raise questions of your own, and explore issues with each other.  I will expect you not just to offer your ideas but also to listen thoughtfully to each other.  Your grades will reflect substantially your on-going contribution to the intellectual life of this course.  You will also be asked to write two short papers, one about the American Studies Conference in late February, the other about any additional lecture or film, on or off-campus, and three papers of three-to-five pages in length, relying on course readings, which will allow you to dig deeper into particular issues or themes and to present your own arguments about them.  There will be no exams.

    

     The following books are available for purchase at the college bookstore:

Linebaugh and Rediker, THE MANY-HEADED HYDRA

Brecher, STRIKE!

Salvatore, EUGENE V. DEBS: CITIZEN AND SOCIALIST

Rosemount, JOE HILL AND THE MAKING OF A REVOLUTIONARY WORKING-

             CLASS COUNTER-CULTURE

Orleck, COMMON SENSE AND A LITTLE FIRE

Kelley, HAMMER AND HOE

Lipsitz, A RAINBOW AT MIDNIGHT

Louie, SWEATSHOP WARRIORS

Mathew, TAXI! CABS AND CAPITALISM IN NEW YORK CITY

     These books will hopefully also be available on reserve at the library.  There will be a few other readings made available electronically.

 

Daily syllabus (subject to change)

 

1/24   Introduction: Diversity, Intersectionality, and Working-Class History

          Read: Faue, “Gender, Class, and History”

                    Roediger, “’More Than Two Things’: The State of the Art of Working Class

                                History”

                    *These readings will be emailed to you.  Please read them before the first

                      class and be prepared to discuss them.

 

1/26    The Making of a Transatlantic Working Class

           Read: MANY-HEADED HYDRA, Intro, 1-2

 

1/31    The Making of a Transatlantic Working Class

           Read:  MANY-HEADED HYDRA, 3-4-5

 

2/2      The Making of a Transatlantic Working Class

           Read: MANY-HEADED HYDRA, 6-7

 

2/7      The Making of a Transatlantic Working Class

           Read: MANY-HEADED HYDRA, 8-9 and Conclusion

 

2/9      Industrialization and the Making of the U.S. Working Class

           Read: EUGENE V. DEBS, 1-2-3

           *Hand out paper topic #1, due 2/23

 

2/14    Emergence of Class Conflict in the U.S.

           Read: STRIKE, 1-2

                     Gutman, “Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America”

 

2/16    Class Conflict, Populism, and Socialism

            Read: STRIKE, 3

                      DEBS, 4-5-6

 

2/21     Socialism and Labor Radicalism

            Read: DEBS, 7-8-9

 

2/23     Socialism, Feminism, and Labor Radicalism

            Read: COMMON SENSE AND A LITTLE FIRE, Prologue, 1-2-3

            *Paper #1 due in class

 

2/24-2/25: American Studies Conference: Environmental Racism

 

2/28     Socialism’s Legacy

            Read: DEBS, 10 and Epilogue

                      COMMON SENSE, 4-5-6-7 and Epilogue

           *Hand in short paper on the American Studies Conference

 

3/2      The IWW and a Revolutionary Working Class Counter-Culture

           Read: JOE HILL, 1-2-3

 

3/7      The IWW and a Revolutionary Working Class Counter-Culture

           Read: JOE HILL, 4-5-6

                     STRIKE, 4

 

3/9      Whiteness, Radicalism, and Remaking the Working Class

            Read: JOE HILL, 7-8

 

SPRING BREAK: read HAMMER AND HOE

 

3/21     Labor Radicalism and Anti-Racism

            Read: HAMMER AND HOE

            *Hand our paper topic #2, due 4/11

 

3/23     Labor Radicalism and Anti-Racism

            Read: HAMMER AND HOE

                      Vargas, “’Do You See the Light?’: Mexican-American Workers and

                               CIO Organizing”

 

3/28     The 1930s and the Emergence of Industrial Unionism

            Read: STRIKE, 5

 

3/30     WWII and the Wildcat Strike

            Read: STRIKE, 6

                      A RAINBOW AT MIDNIGHT, 1-2-3

 

4/4       WWII and the Postwar Challenge

             Read: A RAINBOW AT MIDNIGHT, 4-5-6

 

4/6      Incorporating the Challenge

           Read: A RAINBOW AT MIDNIGHT, 7-8-9

            

4/11   Culture of Politics, Politics of Culture

           Read: A RAINBOW AT MIDNIGHT, 10-11-12-13

           *Paper #2 due in class

4/13    Culture and Counter-Culture

            Read: A RAINBOW AT MIDNIGHT, Conclusion

                       JOE HILL, 13-14-15

                       STRIKE, 8

 

4/18     The Social Contract Frays: The Vietnam War

            Read: STRIKE, 7

 

4/20     Neo-Liberalism, Globalization, and the Crisis of the Labor Movement

            Read: STRIKE, 9

            *Hand out final paper topic, due 5/5

            *Second short paper on outside talk or film due in class

 

4/25     Emergence of a New Labor Movement

            Read: SWEATSHOP WARRIORS, Intro, 1-2-3-4

 

4/27     Emergence of a New Labor Movement

            Read: SWEATSHOP WARRIORS, 5-6 and Conclusion

                      TAXI, 1-2-3-4

 

5/2       Emergence of a New Labor Movement

            Read: TAXI, 5-6-7

 

5/5       Final paper due at Noon