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9780252079283 Academic Inspection Copy

Wobblies on the Waterfront

Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia
  • ISBN-13: 9780252079283
  • Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
    Imprint: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
  • By Peter Cole
  • Price: AUD $69.99
  • Stock: 0 in stock
  • Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
  • Local release date: 16/04/2013
  • Format: Paperback 256 pages Weight: 0g
  • Categories: History of the Americas [HBJK]
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For almost a decade during the 1910s and 1920s, the Philadelphia waterfront was home to the most durable interracial, multiethnic union seen in the United States prior to the CIO era. For much of its time, Local 8 was majority black, always with a cadre of black leaders. The union also claimed immigrants from Eastern Europe, as well as many Irish Americans, who had a notorious reputation for racism. This important study is the first book-length examination of how Local 8, affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World, accomplished what no other did at the time. Peter Cole outlines the factors that were instrumental in Local 8's success, both ideological (the IWW's commitment to working-class solidarity) and pragmatic (racial divisions helped solidify employer dominance). He also shows how race was central not only to the rise but also to the decline of Local 8, as increasing racial tensions were manipulated by employers and federal agents bent on the union's destruction.
''An invaluable resource to those interested broadly in the historiography of race and industrial unionism and more specifically in Local 8 itself... An inspiration to those of us who hold out hope for a unified labor movement.'' Labor History
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