Minneapolis in the early 1930s was anything but a union stronghold. An employers' association known as the Citizens' Alliance kept labour organisations in check, at the same time as it cultivated opposition to radicalism in all forms. This all changed in 1934. The year saw three strikes, violent picket-line confrontations, and tens of thousands of workers protesting in the streets. Bryan D. Palmer tells the riveting story of how a handful of revolutionary Trotskyists, working in the largely non-union trucking sector, led the drive to organise the unorganised, to build one large industrial union. What emerges is a compelling narrative of class struggle, a reminder of what can be accomplished, even in the worst of circumstances, with a principled and far-seeing leadership.
"This is the story of the strikes and union organizing drive the men and women of Teamsters Local 574 carried out in Minnesota in 1934, paving the way for the continent-wide rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) as a fighting social movement. Through hard-fought strike actions, which were in fact organized battles, they made Minneapolis a union town, defeating not only the trucking bosses but strikebreaking efforts of the big-business Citizens Alliance and city, state, and federal governments. They showed in life what workers and their allies on the farms and in the cities can achieve when they're able to count on the leadership they deserve."--BOOK JACKET.
"This is the story of the strikes and union organizing drive the men and women of Teamsters Local 574 carried out in Minnesota in 1934, paving the way for the continent-wide rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) as a fighting social movement. Through hard-fought strike actions, which were in fact organized battles, they made Minneapolis a union town, defeating not only the trucking bosses but strikebreaking efforts of the big-business Citizens Alliance and city, state, and federal governments. They showed in life what workers and their allies on the farms and in the cities can achieve when they're able to count on the leadership they deserve."--BOOK JACKET.
This new South End Press edition makes available the full text of this out-of-print classic--along with a new foreword by Manning Marable, interviews with participants in DRUM, and reflections on political developments over the past threee decades by Georgakas and Surkin.
Sixteen year old Willem Stoner and his father, together with other New York teamsters, are hired by Colonel Henry Knox to haul almost sixty cannons, some weighing more than a ton, on wagons and sleds 300 miles from Ft. Ticonderoga, New York to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the brutally cold winter of 1775-1776. The artillery is desperately needed by General Washington and the Continental Army, preparing to attack the British in Boston. At the beginning of the arduous trek, Will is befriended by Ensign Nathaniel Holmes of the Marblehead Mariners. Their friendship deepens as the "Noble Train of Artillery," struggles through snow drifts and storms, across the partially frozen Hudson River and over the Berkshire Mountains during a blizzard and on into Cambridge. Using ropes, chains and freshly cut trees as levers, Will and his companions hungry and poorly clothed against the harsh winter, battle to maneuver the massive cannons up steep inclines and to slow the wagons and sleds from running away on the precipitous icy downward slopes and crushing the drivers and their teams of horses and oxen. After the treacherous descent from the Berkshires, the caravan slogs through axle deep mud as the frozen roads thaw at the end of their fifty-day journey. Arriving in Cambridge, Will stays in the barracks with the Mariners who are serving as General Washington's Headquarters troops. He makes friends with Private Adam Cooper one of several African American soldiers, free men who enlisted in Colonel Glover's regiment along with other fishermen from Marblehead and Salem. When a race riot breaks out between the Mariners and some backwoods riflemen, Will finds himself in the midst of the melee, fighting alongside the Mariners. In the early morning hours of the sixth anniversary of the Boston Massacre, Washington's troops occupy Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston and its harbor. Will, now assigned to Colonel Knox's artillery regiment, hauls a cannon up to the Heights and tensely awaits the assault by the battle tested and disciplined Redcoats and the feared Death's Head Cavalry. Later, on an exposed promontory overlooking the Boston Neck, he is caught in a fierce British artillery bombardment. When the British leave Boston, Will searches for his older brother, Johan who is apprenticed to a Boston merchant. After inquiring in the more respectable areas of the city, he wanders among the grog shops and taverns along the wharves. There, he makes a surprising discovery and is almost tarred and feathered as a Tory sympathizer. Will is rescued at the last minute by his friends in the Mariners and Knox's artillery. Through Will's experiences, this novel explores the divided loyalties that tore families apart and the motives of ordinary people taking up arms against King George. Unlike many historical novels that take substantial liberties with established facts, "Cannons for the Cause," is carefully researched. The End Notes include background information about the events described, different interpretations by prominent historians, and quotes from the historical figures' own correspondence. Original sources used are diaries, newspapers, gazettes and broadsheets. The historical figures emerge from under the cloak of hero worship and the fog of historical mythology as real people, not too unlike modern Americans in their doubts, concerns and aspirations. The fictional characters, based on solid research of those who actually lived through the tumultuous years of 1775-1776, add to the novel's historical authenticity.
U.S. Trotskyism 1928-1965. Part III: Resurgence: Uneven and Combined Development is the third of a documentary trilogy on a revolutionary socialist split-off from the U.S. Communist Party, reflecting Leon Trotsky’s confrontation with Stalinism in the global Communist movement. Spanning 1954 to 1965, this volume surveys the Cold War era, the civil rights and black liberation movements, the 'third wave' of feminism, and other social and cultural developments of the 1950s and 1960s. Documenting responses to a variety of anti-colonial and revolutionary insurgencies, the volume also surveys the crisis and decline of Stalinism. Attention is given to internal debates and splits, but also to the partial reunification of the international Trotskyist movement (the Fourth International), as well as substantial contributions to the study of history and the development of Marxist theory. Scholars and activists will find much of interest in these primary sources.
Bryan D. Palmer's award-winning study of James P. Cannon's early years (1890-1928) details how the life of a Wobbly hobo agitator gave way to leadership in the emerging communist underground of the 1919 era. This historical drama unfolds alongside the life experiences of a native son of United States radicalism, the narrative moving from Rosedale, Kansas to Chicago, New York, and Moscow. Written with panache, Palmer's richly detailed book situates American communism's formative decade of the 1920s in the dynamics of a specific political and economic context. Our understanding of the indigenous currents of the American revolutionary left is widened, just as appreciation of the complex nature of its interaction with international forces is deepened.
In 1889, Samuel Winkworth Silver’s rubber and electrical factory was the site of a massive worker revolt that upended the London industrial district which bore his name: Silvertown. Once referred to as the “Abyss” by Jack London, Silvertown was notorious for oppressive working conditions and the relentless grind of production suffered by its largely unorganized, unskilled workers. These workers, fed-up with their lot and long ignored by traditional craft unions, aligned themselves with the socialist-led “New Unionism” movement. Their ensuing strike paralyzed Silvertown for three months. The strike leaders— including Tom Mann, Ben Tillett, Eleanor Marx, and Will Thorne—and many workers viewed the trade union struggle as part of a bigger fight for a “co-operative commonwealth.” With this goal in mind, they shut down Silvertown and, in the process, helped to launch a more radical, modern labor movement. Historian and novelist John Tully, author of the monumental social history of the rubber industry The Devil’s Milk, tells the story of the Silvertown strike in vivid prose. He rescues the uprising— overshadowed by other strikes during this period—from relative obscurity and argues for its significance to both the labor and socialist movements. And, perhaps most importantly, Tully presents the Silvertown Strike as a source of inspiration for today’s workers, in London and around the world, who continue to struggle for better workplaces and the vision of a “co-operative commonwealth.”
