Haymarket Originals: Heat the Ground Up 1. Why the American Working Class Is Different
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Jan 23, 2024 Delve into the origins of the American working class, from immigrants to enslaved workers, leading to the Civil War and the rise of industrial corporations like railroads. Explore the national uprising of workers in 1877 and the emergence of the labor movement. Engaging insights into Class Struggle Unionism, the impact of the CIO on American labor history, and the transformation of the working class through economic cycles.
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CIO Built Mass Industrial Union Power
- The CIO transformed unorganized mass-production workers into durable industrial unions across auto, steel, rubber, and electrical industries during the 1930s–40s wave of organizing.
- By 1946 nearly 5 million workers experienced stoppages and 1.6 million struck simultaneously, showing the CIO's unprecedented scale and political weight.
Davis Explains American Working Class Exceptionalism
- Mike Davis frames American exceptionalism in working-class formation as historically rooted, not merely a myth to reject or accept.
- He offers a materialist account linking slavery, frontier small property, and immigration to the US working class's unique trajectory.
Multiple Streams Shaped US Proletariat
- US class formation followed different streams: slavery, small-property artisans/farmers, and immigrant labor, producing a heterogeneous proletariat.
- These distinct origins shaped political alignments and made unified industrial politics harder to achieve before the 1930s.