Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas current issue

Editor's Introduction

Fink, L. — 2009-09-01

Closing Time

Jeffire, J. — 2009-09-01

The Short, Radical Life of Pearl McGill

Rousmaniere, K. — 2009-09-01

This essay draws on the surviving letters of an early 20th century Iowa woman who moved rapidly from participation in a local factory strike, to activism in some of the most radical political movements of the day, to career as a rural school teacher, to victim of domestic violence. Pearl McGill's life is both typical of the struggles and tragedies of working women and political activists, and is exceptional in its drama. Also exceptional is that her story survives at all.

Primitive Accumulation

Holton, W. — 2009-09-01

Nearly every free American who lived through the recession of the 1780s blamed it, in part, on the thirteen state governments. However, two main camps staked out diametrically-opposed positions on what precisely the states had done wrong. James Madison, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and many of the other men who went on to write the United States Constitution believed the states had damaged the economy by caving in to farmers' demands for tax-reduction and debt-mitigation measures that brought temporary relief while wreaking long-term havoc. They believed the excessively-democratic state assemblies had bungled their way into a vivid demonstration of the perils of popular rule. On the other hand, thousands of other Americans contended that the assemblies had undercut farmers' productive capacity with stringent monetary policies and predatory taxes. They blamed the recession on elite, not popular, misrule. This debate is important if only because the elitist analysis associated with men like Hamilton and Madison became the basis for the adoption of the Constitution.

Schemes of Ambition

Edling, M. M. — 2009-09-01

Traditionally, the framing and adoption of the Constitution have been interpreted as an attempt by the social and economic elite to halt the democratization of American political life. In contrast, recent scholarship on the Constitution have argued that the rationale behind constitutional reform was the need to create a central government that could address political problems arising from inter-state and international relationships. An important aspect of this reform was the centralization of fiscal and financial powers that would allow the federal government to act vigorously on the international arena in defence of American interests.

The Marx of the Constitutional Era?

Kulikoff, A. M. — 2009-09-01

Using a political economy framework, Woody Holton argues that state fiscal policies during the 1780s constitute primitive accumulation, that violent process by which powerful men steal the means of subsistence of common folk, thus forcing them into waged labor and creating a class of proletarians. Clearly, the process was not completed in the nineteenth century. But this is not, I would argue, because the ruling class acquiesced in the demands of small farmers, as Holton argues, but resulted from a fierce conflict between small producers and capitalists and their allies that lasted more than a century.

Response to Woody Holton's "Primitive Accumulation"

Zagarri, R. — 2009-09-01

Holton's maintains that in explaining the origins of the U.S. Constitution historians have emphasized the concerns expressed by elites while overlooking the issues that most troubled large numbers of "ordinary" Americans. The strength of the argument is that Holton gives voice to the protests and grievances of small farmers and debtors, who believed that the state governments were imposing oppressive and unjust taxes during the 1780s. Yet his argument has several weaknesses. First, he overlooks regional differences within the country in the way that state legislatures responded to the taxation issues of the 1780s. Southern states, in which slave labor was most important, addressed the complaints quickly and minimized conflict among whites. Second, Holton overlooks the work of the historian Jackson Turner Main, which suggests that there was no definite connection between indebtedness and opposition to the U.S. Constitution. Finally, Holton's narrow focus on economic issues obscures the broader motives that led to writing and ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Rebuttal

Holton, W. — 2009-09-01

Death at the Machine: Critiques of Industrial Capitalism in the Fiction of Labor Activist Lizzie M. Holmes

Percy, R. — 2009-09-01

At the beginning of the twentieth century former socialist and anarchist Lizzie Swank Holmes wrote a series of eight fictional stories for the American Federation of Labor journal. Financial necessity was no doubt an important motivator, but Holmes likely also recognized the large and diverse potential readership American Federationist could offer. Examination of these stories thus pushes us to consider the complex rather than linear relationship between an individual's radical and labour politics and her journalist and literary production. Through Holmes we consider the ease with which many individuals moved between and through a number of different organizations, some of which appear in opposition with one another.

The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln

Laurie, B. — 2009-09-01

Linked Labor Histories: New England, Colombia, and the Making of a Global Working Class

English, B. — 2009-09-01

Glass Towns: Industry, Labor, and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s

Licht, W. — 2009-09-01

Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950

Thompson, H. A. — 2009-09-01

Black and Blue: African Americans, the Labor Movement, and the Decline of the Democratic Party

Boyle, K. — 2009-09-01

The Shifting Grounds of Race: Black and Japanese Americans in the Making of Multiethnic Los Angeles

Leonard, K. A. — 2009-09-01

On Strike and on Film: Mexican American Families and Blacklisted Filmmakers in Cold War America

Gonzalez, G. G. — 2009-09-01

Getting the Goods: Ports, Labor, and the Logistics Revolution

Lichtenstein, N. — 2009-09-01

Bitter Harvest: The Social Transformation of Morelos, Mexico, and the Origins of the Zapatista Revolution, 1840-1910

Caplan, K. D. — 2009-09-01

Making a Living: Work and Environment in the United States

Lipin, L. M. — 2009-09-01

Citizen Docker: Making a New Deal on the Vancouver Waterfront, 1919-1939

Goings, A. — 2009-09-01

The Great Strikes of 1877

Brecher, J. — 2009-09-01

Social Democracy in the Global Periphery: Origins, Challenges, Prospects

French, J. D. — 2009-09-01

Labor and Laborers of the Loom: Mechanization and Handloom Weavers, 1780-1840

Ouellette, S. — 2009-09-01

A Power among Them: Bessie Abramowitz Hillman and the Making of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America

Merithew, C. W. — 2009-09-01

CONTRIBUTORS

2009-09-01