Reform or Repression: Organizing America's Anti-Union Movement (American Business, Politics, and Society)

Author: Chad Pearson
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Category: History Of The Americas, Labour Economics, Labour Economics, Trade Unions
Book Format: Hardcover

Historians have characterized the open-shop movement of the early twentieth century as a cynical attempt by business to undercut the labor movement by twisting the American ideals of independence and self-sufficiency to their own ends. The precursors to today's right-to-work movement, advocates of the open shop in the Progressive Era argued that honest workers should have the right to choose whether or not to join a union free from all pressure. At the same time, business owners systematically prevented unionization in their workplaces.

While most scholars portray union opponents as knee-jerk conservatives, Chad Pearson demonstrates that many open-shop proponents identified themselves as progressive reformers and benevolent guardians of America's economic and political institutions. By exploring the ways in which employers and their allies in journalism, law, politics, and religion drew attention to the reformist, rather than repressive, character of the open-shop movement, Pearson's book forces us to consider the origins, character, and limitations of this movement in new ways. Throughout his study, Pearson describes class tensions, noting that open-shop campaigns primarily benefited management and the nation's most economically privileged members at the expense of ordinary people.

Pearson's analysis of archives, trade journals, newspapers, speeches, and other primary sources elucidates the mentalities of his subjects and their times, rediscovering forgotten leaders and offering fresh perspectives on well-known figures such as Theodore Roosevelt, Louis Brandeis, Booker T. Washington and George Creel. Reform or Repression sheds light on businessmen who viewed strong urban-based employers' and citizens' associations, weak unions, and managerial benevolence as the key to their own, as well as the nation's, progress and prosperity.

Table Of Contents
Introduction. Reformers and Fighters: Employers and the Labor Problem


PART I. NATION
Chapter 1. Fighting "Union Dictation": Birth of the Open-Shop Movement
Chapter 2. "For the Protection of the Common People": Citizens, Progressives, and "Free Workers"


PART II. REGION
Chapter 3. A Tale of Two Men: Class Traitors and Strikebreaking in Cleveland
Chapter 4. Avenging McKinley: Organized Employers in Buffalo
Chapter 5. Making the "City of Prosperity": The Poetry of Industrial Harmony in Worcester
Chapter 6. "A Solid South for the Open Shop": N. F. Thompson and the Labor Solution


Conclusion. Creating the "Common Good": Individual Rights, Industrial Progress, and Virtuous Citizenship


Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
About Chad Pearson
Chad Pearson is Professor of History at Collin College.

(BK-9780812247763)

SKU BK-9780812247763
Barcode # 9780812247763
Brand University of Pennsylvania Press
Artist / Author Chad Pearson
Shipping Weight 0.5900kg
Shipping Width 0.160m
Shipping Height 0.028m
Shipping Length 0.234m
Assembled Length 23.400m
Assembled Height 2.800m
Assembled Width 16.000m
Type Hardcover

Be The First To Review This Product!

Help other Augoods users shop smarter by writing reviews for products you have purchased.

Write a product review

More From This Category