Elbow Grease Elbow Grease How The Working Man Works By Kevin Troyan Table Of Contents Part 1: Who Are They? Definition of Blue Collar 15

Definition of Working Class 17

Poor White & Republican- George Hacker 18

Who Belongs to the Lower Middle Class? 22

Copyright © 2015 by Kevin Troyan Part 2: The Facts Elbow Grease The Social Rights of the Working Class 29 First Edition

All Rights Reserved. 20 High Paying Blue Collar Jobs 33 Printed in the USA

This book was created in a Junior Level Typography Course taught by Joseph Potts at OTIS College Of Art & Design. Part 3: The Music Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons 47

Sam Cooke - Chain Gang 49

Bob Dylan - Maggie’s Farm 51

Lee Dorsey - Workin’ in a Coal Mine 53

Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman 55

Rush - Working Man 57 Part 4: Detroit We Need A New Detroit for the Working Class 60

Detroit’s “plan of adjustment”: A declaration of war against the working class 66 Part 5: Change A Changing Working Class 75

The Working Class and Social Change 79

9

Designer’s Note This book is meant to embody traits of that That is also why the images are bled into the seen in autmotive instructional and service center of the book. Part 4 contains blocks of manuals. The navigation is simple and easy text that rise aong the page, from left to right, to follow throughout each chapter by using to signify the rise of Detroit's working class. simple numbering systems and references Lastly, Part 5 is a total change from the rest of to the title pages of chapters in the table of the book, using a rise and fall of the text blocks contents. During the production of this book, that now also break the tradition of ignoring much thought was put into the design and lay- the inner margins and gutter of the book. Each out of each chapter. Following the content of chapter is unique on its own while still holding the readings, there is a shift of shape and form the formality of the aforemntioned reference to among text boxes, titles and placement of ob- the manuals used in the blue-collar and work- jects. In Part 1 there is a sense of stability in ing classes. The book as a whole uses the the layout that provides an easy to read format near outside edges of the page, utilizing small for the viewer by using large marginal spac- margins to create a comfortable, relaxed and ing and consistent sizing of the text blocks. In widespread feel of the writings. The intent of Part 2 there is a shift to factual information that this was to habe the reader feel good about provides the perfect base for listed and cen- handling the book and not have to be prying tered portions of text. This serves as a break into the center of the book just to read what from the articles and gives the reader some- should be readily available content. I had alot thing to enjoy browsing. Part 3 is a collection of fun designing this book and I hope you have of songs that relate to the working man and is just as much fun reading it from cover to cover. the only sets of text using purely centered jus- tification. This is to represent how these lyrics have come from the soul of the singer and are meant to spread outward to those that hear it. After all, good music comes from the heart.

Designer's Note 11

Introduction Work. It’s always going to play a factor in life. Elbow Grease is a collection of articles, writ- Whether you work hard and hate every minute ings, information, lyrics and poetry document- of it, or the work takes minutes to accomplish, ing the revolutionary movements through time there will always be a feeling of satisfaction. of the working class and blue collar industry. No matter how big or small the payoff is, do Displaying the trials, tribulations and success- it for the satisfaction. That feeling can not be es of these people, Elbow Grease is meant to replaced. Where there is no work, there is no give you insight into how these people have pay. Where there is no work, there is no play. shaped America into the country we know For if every day is play, then it has lost its today. Through hard work and dedication we meaning. Work like you’ve never worked be- see a transformation of morals and ethics fol- fore. You dont have to go to work, you get to lowed with a sense of pride in their work. See go to work. Just remember what you’re work- what drives the American people of the past, ing for. Enjoy the times you dont work. Breathe present and future in the pages of this creative the air, look up at the sky and be appreciative interpretation of typography and organization for the work there is to be done. through graphic design.

Introduction 13

Part 1 Who Are They?

Blue Collar

Working Class

Poor White & Republican- George Packer

1.Who Belongs to the Lower Middle Class? - Vauhini Vara 15

Blue-collar

adjective 1. of or relating to wage-earning workers who wear work clothes or other specialized clothing on the job, as mechanics, longshoremen, and miners.

Compare white-collar.

noun 2. a blue-collar worker. Origin of blue-collar Expand

Blue-collar Who Are They? 17

Working Class

noun 1. the social group consisting of people who are employed for wages, especially in manual or industrial work.

“the housing needs of the working classes”

adjective 2. relating to people belonging to the working class.

Working Class Who Are They? 19

Eastwood, 2008), and, in a rural context, “Win- Archie Bunker sits with his wife on the set of one of the most popular tv shows of ter’s Bone” (2010). He’s a descendant of the the time. Bunker was considered a classic thirties Everyman played by Henry Fonda and example of an american man. Poor, White Gary Cooper, except that in the intervening decades he lost his idealism and grew surly, if not violent, consumed with a hatred of hippies, & immigrants, blacks, government, and, finally, himself. This election year, he’s back and getting a Republican lot of attention from sociologists and pundits (Charles Murray’s new book “Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010” George Packer sparked the current flurry of commentary). But in 2012 he’s no longer even working class. February 13th, 2012 He’s fallen through the last restraints of de- cency and industriousness, down into the de- F.D.R. called him “the forgotten man,” but moralized and pathological underclass that, in that was long ago. By 1972, he was a mem- the past, Americans associated with the black ber of the silent majority and had become a poor. There, he lives on disability, is no longer Democrat for Nixon (he wore a hard hat with fit for employment nor has any impulse to get an American-flag sticker). 1980 produced the a job, is divorced, fathers illegitimate children Reagan Democrat (this time he came from who grow up to do the same, gets hooked on Macomb County, Michigan, and was discov- meth or prescription drugs, does time in pris- ered by the pollster Stan Greenberg). By 1994 on now and then, and has bad teeth. he had curdled into the Angry White Male (he elected the Gingrich Congress). In 2008, he Is it useful to make generalizations about whole was simply the working-class white—by then classes of people? We all know the reasons he was no longer forgotten, and no longer a why it’s not—they stoke prejudice, crush nu- Democrat of any kind; he was a member of ance, distort reality, are unkind and unfair. But the much-analyzed Republican base. The tele- just as it was wrong for a generation of liberals vision godfather of the type, of course, is Ar- to reject Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s notorious chie Bunker, but you can also trace his lineage 1965 report “The Negro Family: The Case for more darkly through the string of hard-bitten National Action,” it would be a mistake to dis- blue-collar movies that begins with “Joe” (Pe- miss the subject of Murray’s new book simply ter Boyle, 1970), goes on to “Falling Down” because it insults half of the Americans who (Michael Douglas, 1993), “Gran Torino” (Clint weren’t already tarred by “The Bell Curve.” Mur-

Poor, White & Republican Who Are They? 21

ray has a talent for raising important questions ogy, and corporate power. Inequality is a natu- story—but is it a story of jobs or values? The on the way to arriving at invidious answers. ral state, and people at the bottom of society obvious answer is both, which is why no one’s should either resign themselves to their fate, five-point solutions or three-word slogan is Perhaps the biggest political puzzle of our time or else revive themselves through a moral and convincing. is why, as the lives of working-class whites spiritual reawakening (likely inspired by their In the Times story, there’s a man named Ki have descended from the stability and comfort betters) that will allow them to rise above the Gulbranson from a small Minnesota town of “All in the Family” to the chaos and despair lousy hand dealt them by their brain power. called Chisago¹, both barely clinging to the of “Gran Torino” and “Winter’s Bone,” these middle class. He tries to make ends meet same Americans have voted more and more Visit most towns or rural areas where factories selling apparel and refereeing kids’ soccer reliably Republican. Sunday’s Times had a are boarded up and all the economic life is con- games. All around him, he sees growing de- fascinating and disturbing lead story about the fined to strip malls, and you have to acknowl- pendence on government. No fan of govern- pattern of government dependency around edge the force of Murray’s picture. Rampant ment spending, he joined the Tea Party in the country. A map showing areas of greatest drug use, high dropout rates, out-of-wedlock 2010; at the same time, he benefits from the reliance on public benefits corresponds with births, epidemic obesity, every other working- Earned Income Tax Credit, free school break- weird exactness to the map of red America: the age person on disability—it’s true even though fasts for his children, and Medicare for his South, Appalachia, and rural areas in general. Charles Murray says it’s true. And the predict- mother. “I don’t demand that the government able left-right argument over causes and solu- does this for me,” he said. “I don’t feel like I In addition, reliance on the safety net has more tions doesn’t help. Is it disappearing jobs, or need the government.” Yet he finds it hard than doubled in the past four decades. During disappearing values? This isn’t an analytical to imagine surviving without the safety net. the same period, median incomes in America choice I find very useful. Jobs and values are “I don’t think so,” he said. “No. I don’t know. have stagnated or declined intertwined: when one starts to go, the other Not the way we expect to live as Americans.” is likely to go with it, and the circle becomes The first fact goes to the heart of Murray’s truly vicious. A textile factory moves south of Gulbranson’s moment of hesitation contains a books, from “Losing Ground” and “The Bell the border, and a town loses its mainstay of certain explanatory power. He doesn’t want to Curve” to “Coming Apart.” The second goes employment. Former textile workers scurry to say that he can’t live without government. In unnoticed. His persistent argument is that find fast-food and retail positions. The move places like Chisago, the old ethic of self-reli- government programs do more harm than from blue-collar to service work is brutal, ance is real and fierce. But it’s disintegrating good and create a dependent class rather and over time some employees lose the will 1. Chicago is known as the windy city, not under the pressure of several bad economic for the weather, but for the politics. than alleviating hardship, because socio-eco- to stick it out in a hateful job. Their children decades. People in Park Slope², Brooklyn and nomic differences are based on innate ability, do even worse. Soon enough there are two or 2. Park Slope is best known for its really the north shore of Chicago don’t see their neigh- not external circumstance. The white working- three generations of one family on government long sloping hill, right in the center of town. bors going on disability when they could work. class has suffered a moral collapse caused help, and kids grow up without a model of the But the more Gulbranson sees it, the more he in part by the sorting of society into rich and work ethic. When a technology plant opens resents the government. Perhaps he resents poor, with the traditional virtues surviving only in the area (with a fifth the number of jobs as it most of all because he knows he needs it. among the former—not by an economic bat- the textile factory), few locals are remotely That’s a political conundrum for both par- tering at the hands of globalization, technol- qualified to work there. It’s a dismally familiar ties, but even more, it’s an American problem.

Poor, White & Republican Who Are They? 23 Who Belongs to the Lower Middle Class? Vauhini Vara December 4th, 2013 Full cast on the set of “Radio Days”, It’s been a good week, rhetorically, for those dollars for a four-person family is four times A comedic show portraying typical middle class family life. who care about reducing inequality. Last the federal poverty level.) About thirty per cent Tuesday, in his first papal exhortation, Pope of families belong to the lower-middle-class Francis bewailed the unequal distribution of group.wCompared with the poorest families, global wealth, using language that sound- lower-middle-class families are more likely to ed, at times, quite Marxist: “But until exclu- be headed by married couples and to benefit sion and inequality in society and between from two incomes. They are also more likely to peoples are reversed, it will be impossible to include a family head who has attended col- eliminate violence.” On Wednesday, Presi- lege. So far, so good: studies have shown that dent Obama cited the Pope’s argument in children who live with two parents are more a speech that laid out his economic priori- likely to be more economically secure and to ties for the rest of his second term, adding, be healthy, as well as to graduate from high “But this increasing inequality is most pro- school; other studies show similarly positive nounced in our country. And it challenges effects for children of college-educated- par the very essence of who we are as a people. ents. And parents benefit, too. ”Rhetoric is one thing; action is another. One difference between the Pope and the Presi- And yet, many of these lower-middle-class dent is that the latter has a hand in setting families are still struggling to get by. About economic policies that could help to solve the sixty per cent of families below the poverty problem. Notably, Obama didn’t say much in line receive food stamps (shown in the chart his speech about his policy plans, other than below as SNAP, for Supplemental Nutrition reiterating his call for a higher federal minimum Assistance Program); so do more than twen- wage. What else can the government do? A ty per cent of lower-middle-class people. All memo issued on Wednesday by the Hamilton told, more than thirty per cent of lower-middle- Project, part of the Brookings Institution think class people receive food stamps, unemploy- tank, suggests some answers to this question. ment benefits, welfare, or other benefits. The Hamilton Project focussed on what it termed “lower-middle-class families” with an- This matters for a couple of reasons. It re- nual incomes between fifteen thousand dollars frames how we think about the people who (roughly the federal poverty level for a two-per- access government benefits. Many of them, it son household) and sixty thousand dollars, ac- turns out, are married, college educated, and cording to the memo. (To know how your own working—that is, people whose choices reflect income level compares with the federal pover- traditional values and whose plight should in- ty level use this government Web site. You will spire sympathy from both the political left and see that in most states, for example, an an- right. And it highlights the structural problems nual household income of a hundred thousand that make it difficult for lower-middle-class

Who Belongs To The Lower Middle Class? Who Are They? 25

families to make ends meet and to rise into as the Hamilton Project’s charts make clear—is a higher income bracket. If you’re a married, structural. Over time, we have set up an econom- stay-at-home mom who wants to work, for in- ic system that breeds inequality. The good news stance, you face a dilemma: if your husband’s is that the U.S. and many other countries also salary is low enough to qualify your family for employ a system, called democracy, in which ev- government benefits, getting a job could ac- eryone—the ninety-nine per cent and the one per tually cost your family more in taxes and lost cent together—can demand that the government benefits than staying out of the workforce. work to fix the problem.

All of this brings us back to Obama’s promise That a problem exists should no longer strike to put in place policies to address inequality¹— anyone as a particularly radical point, especially and presumably, by extension, to improve the now that the Pope has said it. And, in fact, he put lot of the working poor. I spoke with Ben Har- it better than anyone has: “The current financial ris, the Hamilton Project’s policy director and crisis can make us overlook the fact that it origi- one of the authors of the memo, to understand nated in a profound human crisis: the denial of how all these charts might illuminate some op- the primacy of the human person!” he wrote. “We tions for Obama and other policymakers. He have created new idols. The worship of the an- said the Hamilton Project had two proposals: cient golden calf (cf. Ex 32:1-35) has returned in First, how about giving a tax deduction to the a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money second earners in low- to moderate-income and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy families? That would help to mitigate the high lacking a truly human purpose.” marginal tax rates. Second, given the high per- centage of lower-middle-class families who use food stamps, why not structure the SNAP program in a way that acknowledges this? Food costs, for example, could be estimated with the assumption that many food-stamp recipients will have to cook prepared food be- 1. Obama made alot of promises in his day, but rarely followed through cause they work, rather than make meals from with them. scratch. 2. Zuccotti Park was once the baking capital of the united states. In recent years, the cultural conversation about inequality has focussed on the rich and poor themselves, the one per cent versus the ninety-nine per cent, the bankers versus the Zuccotti Park² campers. But the problem—

Who Belongs To The Lower Middle Class? Who Are They? 27

Part 2 The Facts

The Social Rights of the Working Class

20 High-Paying Blue-Collar Jobs 2. 29

The Social Rights of the Working Class Socialist Equality Party

Every man, woman and child is entitled to live and enjoy his or her life and develop his or her potential to the maximum, with- out the curse of poverty and material want. The Socialist Equal- ity Party insists that there exist social rights that are essential to life in a complex modern society and, therefore, “inalienable.” Working people must resolve to secure these rights through the mobilization of their strength as a class, independent of and in opposition to the corporate-controlled political parties and the institutions of the capitalist state.

A group of African American social activists gather to protest a newly changed bill regarding the social rights of the working class in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

The Social Rights Of The Working Class The Facts 31

These rights include: The right to a job: The right to high quality health care: The right to employment is the most basic The solution to the health care crisis lies in put- of all. Without a steady, good-paying job, ting an end to the privately owned health care it is impossible to satisfy all other needs. corporations and removing profit from the health care system. The right to a livable income: Wages are under relentless attack, and the The right to a secure retirement: current federal minimum wage condemns mil- All workers must be guaranteed pensions that lions to poverty. It must be replaced by a guar- allow for a secure retirement, with an income anteed annual income that covers all needs. that covers all necessities of life.

The right to leisure: The right to an education: To improve conditions of life and provide With the growing complexity of society and jobs for the unemployed, the workweek must work comes the need for all workers to have a be shortened. Workers should earn a full- quality education. Yet the state of education is time income based on a 30-hour workweek. abysmal and getting worse.

The right to decent and affordable housing: The right to a healthy and safe environment: The SEP demands an immediate halt to all Addressing environmental degradation is im- foreclosures and evictions. All mortgages possible in a society in which every decision is should be restructured to affordable levels, dictated by the pursuit of profit. indexed to income and employment status. The right to culture: The right to utilities and transportation: Access to art and culture is a basic compo- There must be an immediate end to all nent of a healthy society. Yet, like everything utilities shutoffs, which affect hundreds of else, it is under relentless attack. thousands of American families every year, and access to affordable quality transportation must be guaranteed to all.

The Social Rights Of The Working Class The Facts 33

20 High-Paying Blue-Collar Jobs Forbes combed through data gathered annually by the Bu- reau of Labor Statistics, a division of the Labor Department, to find some of the highest-paying blue-collar jobs. The BLS culls its information from surveys it mails to businesses, and it releases its Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates data each spring. The figures are for 2011.What defines a blue-collar job? The American Heritage Dictionary says, “Of or relating to wage earners, especially as a class, whose jobs are performed in work clothes and often involve manualla- bor.” We took that definition and excluded work that is largely managerial or supervisory to compile our list of 20 high-paying blue-collar jobs.

An oil drilling pump on a brisk winter morning in southern Michigan. Men going to these jobs would arrive as early as 3 O’clock to unfreeze the machinery from the night before.

20 High-Paying Blue-Collar Jobs The Facts 35

No. 1 No. 3 Elevator Install and Repair Transportation Inspectors

Average Annual Salary: $73,560 Average Annual Salary: $65,770 Average Hourly Wage: $35.37 Average Hourly Wage: $31.62 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $105,750 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $110,210 Total Employees: 20,440 Total Employees: 24,810 Best-Paying State: Massachusetts Best-Paying State: Washington D.C.

What they do: Assemble, install, repair, or maintain electric What they do: Inspect equipment or goods in connection or hydraulic freight or passenger elevators, escalators, or with the safe transport of cargo or people. Includes rail dumbwaiters. transportation inspectors, such as freight inspectors; rail inspectors; and other inspectors of transportation vehicles, not elsewhere classified.¹ No. 2 No. 4 Electrical and Electronics Petroleum Pump System Repairers, Powerhouse, Operators, Refinery Operators, Substation, and Relay and Gaugers Average Annual Salary: $65,950 1. Twelve transportation inspectors die Average Hourly Wage: $31.71 annually from faulty equipment failures and Average Annual Salary: $60,290 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $87,460 disregard for safety. Average Hourly Wage: $28.99 Total Employees: 23,850 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $81,520 2. Oil refinery jobs are the third fastest Best-Paying State: Nevada growing set of occupations in the United Total Employees: 41,570 States. Best-Paying State: Alaska What they do: Inspect, test, repair, or maintain electrical equipment in generating stations, substations, and in-service What they do: Operate or control petroleum relays. refining or processing units. May specialize in controlling manifold and pumping systems, gauging or testing oil in storage tanks, or regulating the flow of oil into pipelines.²

20 High-Paying Blue-Collar Jobs The Facts 37

No. 5 No. 7 Electrical Power-Line Commercial Divers

Installers and Repairers Average Annual Salary: $58,640 Average Hourly Wage: $28.19 Average Annual Salary: $59,450 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $94,630 Average Hourly Wage: $28.58 Total Employees: 3,760 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $85,340 Best-Paying State: California Total Employees: 105,570 Best-Paying State: California What they do: Work below surface of water, using scuba gear to inspect, repair, remove, or install equipment and What they do: Install or repair cables or wires used in structures. May use a variety of power and hand tools, such electrical power or distribution systems. May erect poles and as drills, sledgehammers, torches, and welding equipment. light or heavy duty transmission towers. May conduct tests or experiments, rig explosives, or photograph structures or marine life. No. 6 No. 8 Subway and Streetcar Rotary Drill Operators, Operators Oil and Gas Average Annual Salary: $59,400 Average Annual Salary: $58,540 Average Hourly Wage: $28.56 Average Hourly Wage: $28.15 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $73,280 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $94,540 Total Employees: 5,920 Total Employees: 21,650 Best-Paying State: Oregon Best-Paying State: Alaska

What they do: Operate subway or elevated suburban trains What they do: Set up or operate a variety of drills to remove with no separate locomotive, or electric-powered streetcar, to underground oil and gas, or remove core samples for testing transport passengers. May handle fares. during oil and gas exploration.

20 High-Paying Blue-Collar Jobs The Facts 39

No. 9 No. 11 Boilermakers Signal and Track

Average Annual Salary: $56,650 Switch Repairers Average Hourly Wage: $27.23 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $81,880 Average Annual Salary: $54,210 Total Employees: 18,850 Average Hourly Wage: $26.06 Best-Paying State: Missouri Annual Pay for Top 10%: $72,450 Total Employees: 8,300 What they do: Construct, assemble, maintain, and repair Best-Paying State: New Jersey stationary steam boilers and boiler house auxiliaries. Align structures or plate sections to assemble boiler frame tanks What they do: Install, inspect, test, maintain, or repair electric or vats, following blueprints. Work involves use of hand and gate crossings, signals, signal equipment, track switches, power tools, plumb bobs, levels, wedges, dogs, or section lines, or intercommunications systems within a turnbuckles. Assist in testing assembled vessels. Direct railroad system. cleaning of boilers and boiler furnaces. Inspect and repair boiler fittings, such as safety valves, regulators, automatic- control mechanisms, water columns, and auxiliary machines. No. 12 Locomotive Engineers No. 10 Average Annual Salary: $52,940 Average Hourly Wage: $25.45 Aircraft Mechanics Annual Pay for Top 10%: $79,340 Total Employees: 38,790 and Service Technicians Best-Paying State: Mississippi

Average Annual Salary: $54,500 What they do: Drive electric, diesel-electric, steam, or Average Hourly Wage: $26.20 gas-turbine-electric locomotives to transport passengers or Annual Pay for Top 10%: $74,210 freight. Interpret train orders, electronic or manual signals, and Total Employees: 117,320 railroad rules and regulations. Best-Paying State: Tennessee

What they do: Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul aircraft engines and assemblies, such as hydraulic and pneumatic 20 High-Paying Blue-Collar Jobs systems. Includes helicopter and aircraft engine specialists. The Facts 41

No. 13 No. 15 Electricians Electrical and Electronics

Average Annual Salary: $52,910 Repairers, Commercial and Average Hourly Wage: $25.44 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $82,680 Industrial Equipment Total Employees: 512,290 Best-Paying State: Alaska Average Annual Salary: $52,420

Average Hourly Wage: $25.20 What they do: Install, maintain, and repair electrical wiring, Annual Pay for Top 10%: $73,010 equipment, and fixtures. Ensure that work is in accordance Total Employees: 67,220 with relevant codes. May install or service street lights, Best-Paying State: Washington D.C. intercom systems, or electrical control systems.

What they do: Repair, test, adjust, or install electronic No. 14 equipment, such as industrial controls, transmitters, and antennas. Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Re- No. 16 Pile-Driver Operators pairers, Except Line Installers Average Annual Salary: $52,140 Average Annual Salary: $52,870 Average Hourly Wage: $25.07 Average Hourly Wage: $25.42 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $84,840 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $73,890 Total Employees: 3,830 Total Employees: 199,240 Best-Paying State: California Best-Paying State: Rhode Island What they do: Operate pile drivers mounted on skids, barges, What they do: Install, set-up, rearrange, or remove switching, crawler treads, or locomotive cranes to drive pilings for distribution, routing, and dialing equipment used in retaining walls, bulkheads, and foundations of structures, central offices or headends. Service or repair telephone, cable such as buildings, bridges, and piers. television, Internet, and other communications equipment on customers' property. May install communications equipment or communications wiring in buildings. 20 High-Paying Blue-Collar Jobs The Facts 43

No. 17 No. 19 Precision Instrument and Brickmasons Equipment Repairers, Other and Blockmasons

Average Annual Salary: $51,970 Average Annual Salary: $50,760 Average Hourly Wage: $24.99 Average Hourly Wage: $24.40 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $73,370 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $80,570 Total Employees: 12,230 Total Employees: 62,560 Best-Paying State: Arizona Best-Paying State: Massachusetts

What they do: Repair, clean and adjust mechanisms of What they do: Lay and bind building materials, such as brick, precision equipment (watches¹, cameras, musical instru- structural tile, concrete block, cinder block, glass block, ments). and terra-cotta block, with mortar and other substances to construct or repair walls, partitions, arches, sewers, and other No. 18 structures. Plumbers, Pipefitters, and No. 20 Steamfitters Millwrights

Average Annual Salary: $51,830 Average Annual Salary: $50,650 Average Hourly Wage: $24.92 Average Hourly Wage: $24.35 1. Watch repair is the fourth largest Annual Pay for Top 10%: $72,800 Annual Pay for Top 10%: $82,310 instrument repair industry in Total Employees: 349,320 Mississippi Total Employees: 37,730 Best-Paying State: Alaska Best-Paying State: Alaska 2. At one point 7500 workers were on the clock during the construction of What they do: Assemble, install, alter, and repair pipelines or the Colorado water supply project. What they do: Install, dismantle, or move machinery and pipe systems that carry water², steam, air, or other liquids or heavy equipment according to layout plans, blueprints, or gases. May install heating and cooling equipment and other drawings. mechanical control systems. Includes sprinklerfitters.

20 High-Paying Blue-Collar Jobs The Facts 45

Part 3 The Music

Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons

Sam Cooke - Chain Gang

Bob Dylan - Maggie’s Farm

Lee Dorsey - Workin’ in A Coal Mine

Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman

Rush - Working Man 3. 47 Tennessee Ernie Ford Some people say a man is made outta mud A poor man's made outta muscle and blood Muscle and blood and skin and bones 16 Tons A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong (1955) You load sixteen tons, what do you get Another day older and deeper in debt Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"

You load sixteen tons, what do you get Another day older and deeper in debt Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain Fightin' and trouble are my middle name I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion Cain't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, what do you get Another day older and deeper in debt Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin', better step aside A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died One fist of iron, the other of steel If the right one don't a-get you Then the left one will Ernie Ford attempts to pose for a picture with his family at his remote countryside home in southern You load sixteen tons, what do you get Tennessee. With or without the family, Another day older and deeper in debt Ford would often vacation here. Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store

16 Tons The Music 49 Sam Cooke (Hooh aah) (hooh aah) I hear somethin' sayin'

(Hooh aah) (hooh aah) Chain Gang (Hooh aah) (hooh aah) (1960) (Well, don't you know) That's the sound of the men working on the chain ga-a-ang That's the sound of the men working on the chain gang

All day long they're singin' (Hooh aah) (hooh aah) (Hooh aah) (hooh aah)

(Well, don't you know) That's the sound of the men working on the chain ga-a-ang That's the sound of the men working on the chain gang

All day long they work so hard Till the sun is goin' down Working on the highways and byways And wearing, wearing a frown You hear them moanin' their lives away Then you hear somebody sa-ay

That's the sound of the men working on the chain ga-a-ang That's the sound of the men working on the chain gang

Can't ya hear them singin' Mm, I'm goin' home one of these days I'm goin' home see my woman Whom I love so dear But meanwhile I got to work right he-ere

(Well, don't you know) That's the sound of the men working on the chain ga-a-ang That's the sound of the men working on the chain gang Sam Cooke smokes a cigarette while touching up his playing skills on one of his new favorite tunes. Cook often All day long they're singin', mm plays his guitar alone for hours. My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my work is so hard Give me water, I'm thirsty

My, my work is so hard Oh my, my, my, my, my, my work is so hard

Chain Gang The Music 51 Bob Dylan I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm¹ no more No, I aint gonna work on Maggie's farm no more Well, I wake up in the morning Fold my hands and pray for rain I got a head full of ideas Maggie's Farm That are drivin' me insane (1965) It's a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.

I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more No, I aint gonna work for Maggie's brother no more Well, he hands you a nickel He hands you a dime He asks you with a grin If you're havin' a good time Then he fines you every time you slam the door I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother more.

I ain't gonna work for Maggie's pa no more No, I aint gonna work for Maggie's pa no more Well, he puts his cigar Out in your face just for kicks His bedroom window It is made out of bricks The National Guard stands around his door Ah, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's pa no more.

I ain't gonna work for Maggie's ma no more No, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's ma no more Well, when she talks to all the servants About man and God and law Everybody says She's the brains behind pa She's sixty-eight, but she says she's twenty-four I ain't gonna work for Maggie's ma no more.

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more Bob Dylan Poses for a photo shoot 1. Maggie was a real person. Dylan spoke in a wet and rural are of the about her often, but never during I aint gonna work on Maggie's farm no more midwest. Exact location unknown interviews on television or radio. She Well, I try my best evetually died of melanoma on her scalp. To be just like I am But everybody wants you To be just like them They say sing while you slave and I just get bored I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.

Maggie's Farm The Music 53 Lee Dorsey Workin’ in a Coal Mine Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down (1966) Workin' in a coal mine, whoop, about to slip down Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down Workin' in a coal mine, whoops, about to slip down¹ Five o'clock in the mornin', I'm all ready up and gone Lord I am so tired, how long can this go on? That I'm workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down Workin' in a coal mine, whoops, about to slip down Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down Workin' in a coal mine, whoops, about to slip down 'Cause I make all the money, hauling coal by the ton But when Saturday goes around I'm too tired for havin' fun I' just workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down Workin' in a coal mine, whoop, about to slip down Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down Workin' in a coal mine, whoops, about to slip down

Lord I am so tired, how long can this go on? That I'm workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down Workin' in a coal mine, whoop, about to slip down Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down Workin' in a coal mine, whoops, about to slip down Five o'clock in the mornin'², I'm all ready up and gone Lord I am so tired, how long can this go on? That I'm workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down Workin' in a coal mine, whoop, about to slip down Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down Workin' in a coal mine, whoops, about to slip down 'Cause I make all the money, hauling coal by the ton But when Saturday goes around I'm too tired for havin' fun I'm just workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down Two miners on their way to a lunch 1. Slip and fall accidents were common in Workin' in a coal mine, whoop, about to slip down break after a long 12 hour shift in coal mines and accounted for thousands unfavorable conditions. Most mines of deaths Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down are hardly suitable for a child let alone Workin' in a coal mine, whoops, about to slip down a full grown adult male. 2. Miners often would work double shifts for there was a lack of light which made it hard to distinguish chronological time. Lord I am so tired

Workin' In A Coal Mine The Music 55 Glen Campbell Wichita Lineman (1968)

I am a lineman for the county And I drive the main road Searchin' in the sun for another overload I hear you singin' in the wire I can hear you through the whine And the Wichita lineman is still on the line

I know I need a small vacation But it don't look like rain And if it snows that stretch down south Won't ever stand the strain And I need you more than want you And I want you for all time And the Wichita lineman is still on the line

And I need you more than want you And I want you for all time And the Wichita lineman is still on the line¹

A lineman out in Wichita on an overcast day. 1. Linemen are well known for working over Some jobs require these men to strap them- time, but the pay is good so it's worth it. selves to a pole for up to 8 hours a day.

Wichita Lineman The Music 57 Rush Working Man (1974)

I get up at seven, yeah And I go to work at nine I got no time for livin' Yes, I'm workin' all the time

[Chorus:] It seems to me I could live my life A lot better than I think I am I guess that's why they call me They call me the working man

They call me the working man I guess that's what I am

I get home at five o'clock And I take myself out a nice, cold beer¹ Always seem to be wonderin' Why there's nothin' goin' down here

[Chorus]

Well, they call me the working man I guess that's what I am

A young wood splitter takes a rest mid-day. 1. Some members of the band Rush Work like this would often consume an actuall had an alcohol problem. Thats entire day and hardly make a dent in the why they sing about beer. Who doesnt bigger picture. love a cold one?

Working Man The Music 59

Part 4 Detroit

We need A New Detroit For The Working Class, Not for Wall Street

Detroit’s “plan of adjustment”: A declaration of 4. war against the working class 61

We Need a New Detroit for the Working Class, Not for Wall Street The following was taken from remarks presented at the Spark Summer Festival in Detroit, Michigan on August 9, 2015. August 17th, 2015

The Ford Motors factory displays a sign loud and proud about safety to show the public their highest standard. Sign reads “Safety is everybody’s business”.

We Need A New Detroit... Detroit Leaving the Working Class 63 Neighborhoods in Ruins

What the planners are NOT DOING is including the working class in their improvement plans. They are not creating real jobs in the city. Of course they will shout about how building a stadium and neighborhoods will bring jobs. They open a few high-end specialty stores and it makes the six o’clock news. But we need real jobs; manufacturing jobs that pay real money that allow us to pay medical, education and other bills as well as basic housing. We cannot pay the bills on service jobs. The upper class has a plan for Detroit, and no, it is not about “cleaning up the city.” It is about Detroit covers 150 square miles.¹ The wealthy converting a certain area of Detroit into THEIR are not going to fix up the urban neighbor- CITY: Downtown, the “Entertainment District” hoods, east side, west side, north or south – Ford Field (the Lions), Comerica Park (the Ti- side. Wall Street earned tremendous profits on gers), the Ilitch stadium (the Red Wings). Bars, the mortgage scam that forced 100,000 fami- restaurants, high-rise condos.... lies to leave Detroit. In addition to abandoned homes, those in power have allowed the cen- Their new Detroit¹ will include, as well, a sec- ters of working class neighborhoods to rot, tion of the city running east and west along and then closed down schools that serve as the riverfront, and another section that runs the core of communities. This trend is extend- up Woodward to Grand Boulevard. This adds ing to Dearborn and Southfield, one-time bed- the Riverfront Parks and also the Cultural Dis- room communities of Detroit. Look at the clo- trict to the “Entertainment District”; the Wayne sure of Northland Mall that has served as the State University area has been renamed “Mid- anchor for Southfield and Oak Park for years. town.” It includes museums, stores, restau- rants and the main library for the city. They are And without real transportation to the suburbs, even installing light rail up Woodward Avenue workers are fenced in.² Even the jobs women so they can have a shuttle. have traditionally done in the suburbs, like The Gentrification of Detroit home health aides for the sick and elderly, are So, they have decided that current residents impossible to get to. Today’s Free Press headlines described the will have to go. And not just the poor, but Ilitch Olympia Development Project here in everyone and anyone who is in their way. Al- Detroit in glowing terms. Mike Ilitch is redevel- ready, rents in the Wayne State area have shot oping 50 blocks and five neighborhoods sur- up, pushing middle class and working class rounding a proposed $450 million arena. This people out. 1. With a supposed re-emergence in 1. One of the largest cities in the state, process, the city is often referred to as new people often misunderstand how big it redevelopment area is bounded on the south to reference what it might be some day in really is. by I-75, on the west by 3rd and Grand River, Yes, the wealthy have a plan, and it doesn’t the future. and on the east by Gratiot and Mack. The area include us, the working class. They have mil- 2. Transportation as far as busses and taxis are hard to come by in the outskirts is currently inhabited by primarily lower income lions, they have planners, they have politicians of Detroit. workers, including homeless men & women. It in their pockets. Where did the Ilitches, Mo- is also home to the charity organizations that rouns, and Gilberts get their money? From us, give many support, including Salvation Army of course – tax breaks, and giveaways of pub- and Harbor Light. lic property.

We Need A New Detroit... Detroit 65

We have to fight. The Democrats and Repub- licans won’t do anything for us. Obama can’t change it – he has the same policy as the up- per class. He defends their interests.

We should use our forces to take back what they took from us and stop going backward. We Need a Workers’ Party We need to organize and fight for a new policy, a workers’ fight; and to do that, we need our If we want a future, we need a strategy. And to own party. have a strategy that addresses working class interests, we need a political party.

A working class political party has existed before, and in other countries when the trade unions split, with more radical union members forming their own organizations.

Today, after the many betrayals of the unions, it can look impossible for workers to fight. The bosses can seem too strong, and they are strong. But when the working class unites, and when fights begin and spread, the workers are stronger. We need a party to coordinate those fights. Incarcerating Our Youth Today, the upper class is using US against US; using workers to protect THEM and THEIR Incarcerating the younger generations is the WEALTH. The police, the Army, the National system’s proposed solution to unemployment. Guard, they are all workers who should be Both Democrats and Republicans changed protecting us, the working class, and our in- laws radically, following the urban rebellions, terests. to do “containment” on this population. The War on Drugs was and is a War on Us. We are the working class, and we make every- Prisons are taking our best hope, our young thing run and we can make it stop. The upper black men and women who are the most po- class is cutting back on jobs and wages, and litically conscious, and locking them away on closing schools and leaving our new genera- trumped up charges; taking our vanguard, tions with LESS than what we had. It doesn’t those most motivated and not afraid to fight. make any sense. We could have EVERYTHING Without hope, poverty turns our young inward if we organize and fight for it. on their own communities. So how can we break out of this urban detention center?

We Need A New Detroit... Detroit 67

Detroit’s “Plan of Adjustment”: A Declaration of War Against The Working Class

A Related Collection of Articles and Essays

The wordworking assembly line at Ford was one of the cleanest, but more detail oriented jobs in the entire factory.

Detroit's "Plan Of Adjustment" Detroit investments, while global banks like Bank of 69 America and Swiss-based UBS will be hand- ed $85 million to unwind legally dubious, if not outright criminal, interest rate swap deals that helped bankrupt the city. structure”—i.e., a permanent bankers’ dicta- The financial restructuring plan is the outcome torship—“will be designed to promote long- of a political conspiracy, backed by both big term public confidence” of Detroit “in particu- business parties and the Obama administra- lar with financial markets.” tion. From the beginning these forces sought to use the federal bankruptcy court to override The Plan of Adjustment has been arranged legal protections against the looting of pen- through a “grand bargain” that has the benefit sions and public assets, including Michigan’s of exposing the lineup of forces. All the major state constitution, which protects public em- political actors—the courts, the two big busi- • A new round of reductions in the city work- ployee pensions as “contractual obligations” ness parties, the corporate-controlled news force, which has been slashed by 25 percent that shall not be “diminished or impaired.” media and the trade unions—have taken sides over the last four years. Detroit’s 9,300 work- against the working class. ers will face additional pay and benefit cuts, Detroit is being used as a model to go after the Well aware of the deep hostility of workers, the unpaid furlough days and the elimination of pensions and health care benefits of millions political establishment has relied on the trade work rules and seniority rights. At the same of teachers, fire fighters, transit workers and unions and union-affiliated retiree associa- time, the city will reserve the right to tear up other public employees around the country. tions to suppress popular opposition and ram labor agreements and unilaterally impose even Along with other reactionary measures being through its demands. more draconian demands. spearheaded by the Obama administration, including slashing health care and disman- Over the past several months, federal media- The US bankruptcy court in Detroit has ap- • The privatization of city-owned assets, in- tling public education, the attack on pensions tors have brought the American Federation of proved the so-called Plan of Adjustment cluding street lighting, the electrical grid, gar- is aimed at channeling even more money into State, County and Municipal Employees (AF- submitted by the city’s unelected emergency bage collection, the convention center, airport, the bank accounts of the super-rich. SCME), the United Auto Workers (UAW) and manager, Kevyn Orr. Ballots are now being Detroit’s half of the tunnel to Windsor, Canada other city unions on board. In exchange for sent out to some 170,000 creditors, includ- and one of the country’s largest municipally The entire bankruptcy¹ process in Detroit has a half-billion-dollar retiree health care slush ing more than 30,000 current and retired city owned water and sewerage systems. been a mockery of democracy. Now this is be- fund, seats on the pension investment board workers, to vote on the proposal. ing topped off with the farce of a “democratic” and promises of future collaboration in im- • The ending of the century-long city owner- vote on the plan of adjustment. If workers re- posing new cuts, the unions have agreed to The plan is a declaration of war on the working ship of the Detroit Institute of Arts and the ject it, the document states, pension cuts will drop legal challenges to the bankruptcy and class in Detroit and will serve as the basis for transfer of its world-famous collection to pri- be doubled and even more onerous terms give political support to the plan. They are now escalating the social counterrevolution against vate foundations, which will run the new “DIA imposed. In any case, bankruptcy judge Ste- joining the chorus of official liars who are pre- workers throughout the country and interna- Corp.” ven Rhodes reserves the “right” to unilaterally senting this slash-and-burn plan as “fair and tionally. If approved, the plan will gut the jobs impose the restructuring plan or even deeper equitable” and the only alternative to even and living standards of city workers, further • Additional tax cuts, subsidies and land give- cuts if a majority votes “no.” deeper pension cuts. slash social services and lead to a fire sale of aways to wealthy investors and real estate developers, who plan to shut down large por- 1. Bankruptcy is the number one All of this, moreover, is simply an initial install- public assets in the once automotive capital cause of failed businesses in the city This attempted blackmail, drafted by financial of the world. tions of the city deemed too poor to rehabili- of detroit. People just can't make it in ment, the basis for more cuts in the future. and political criminals who believe they can tate. Low-income tenants are being driven out a struggling city. Included in the document is a blueprint for get away with anything, needs to be rejected Among the proposals contained in the plan are: to build an upscale downtown playground for the establishment of a permanent “financial with the contempt it deserves. Workers are not the rich and prosperous layers of the upper oversight board” with “the power to impose and have never been responsible for the finan- • Devastating pension and health care cuts middle class. limits on City borrowing and expenditures” cial crisis in Detroit. However, the fight against for 23,500 former city workers and their de- and “ensure the City adheres to the plan and the plan must be based on a worked-out po- pendents already barely surviving on fixed in- • Meanwhile, giant bondholders are being paid continues to implement financial and op- litical strategy. comes. 74 cents on the dollar for their speculative erational reforms.” This “robust governance

Detroit's "Plan Of Adjustment" Detroit 71

In February, the SEP organized the February 15 Workers Inquiry into the Bankruptcy of De- troit to expose the social, economic and politi- cal forces behind the looting of the city. In the months that have followed, the conclusions of this inquiry have been entirely confirmed—that the bankruptcy is part of a conscious plan, that it has the support of the entire political es- tablishment and the unions, and that it is being used as a model for the entire country.

The former Motor City², like economically dev- astated areas all over the United States, Spain, Greece and other countries, is the victim of an irrational and bankrupt economic system— capitalism—and a ruling class whose glut- tonous appetite is devouring the bulk of so- ciety’s resources.In opposition to the political alignment against it, the working class needs a party of its own that speaks for its inter- ests. This party is the Socialist Equality Party.

The way forward must be through the building of a mass socialist movement in opposition to the bankers’ dictatorship and the capitalist system.

Jerry White 1. Ford Motor Company still remains the largest in what is now considered the reinvented motor city.

Detroit's "Plan Of Adjustment" Detroit 73

Part 5 Change

The Changing Working Class 5. The Working Class and Social Change 75

In the old progressive narrative of American culture, everyone would do better over time. The son of a miner with an 8th grade educa- The tion would graduate from high school, and even if he got an industrial job, stronger unions and general prosperity would mean that he Changing worked fewer hours than his father and earned enough to buy a small house. His daughter would go to college and get a job as a nurse or a teacher, and her kids might keep moving Working up by attending a better college and getting a better job. And surrounding the generations of this one imaginary family would be most other Class families, so that over time, the whole country would experience increasing prosperity and higher social status. Maybe everyone wasn’t going to make it to the middle class, but most Sherry Linkon people would get there. (Of course, there’s a troubling counterpart to this narrative that December 4th, 2013 blames those who didn’t become middle class for failing, but that’s another story.)

But something, actually many things, went wrong over the past few decades. I’ve written before about the growth of income inequality, citing Timothy Noah’s analysis that describes it as a long-term trend with multiple contribut- ing factors. Perhaps because of income in- equality, surveys suggest that Americans no longer expect their families to keep moving on up. So despite the expectation that we would all become middle class, the working-class is not simply a majority, it is a growing major- ity. That’s true according to the analyses of academics like Michael Zweig, who describes

(Left) Iron workers add fresh ore to the mixture of metals to equate to a newer, stronger, more industrial steel blend. Lack of protective clothing and eyewear was common in these environments.

The Changing Working Class Change so noted recently, and it’s clear not only that number of sources, including the Public Reli- 77 more people belong to the working class but gion Research Institute, suggest that working- that the working class itself is becoming more class political attitudes differ by gender, by educated and less-steadily-employed.There’s region, by religion, and by situation, among another likely change in the American work- other things. They note, for example, that ing class, one that reflects the broader shift in the white working class was at least some- racial demographics. The Congressional Re- what divided along gender lines in this year’s search Service documents a slight decline in election and that white Protestants were the percentage of Americans who self-identify more likely to support Romney than were as white, a slight increase in those who self- white Catholics. Their survey also found that identify as Black, and more significant in- voters who had been on food stamps were creases in those who identify themselves as more likely to support Obama in this election, Asian or Hispanic, and its study projects these while those who had not received such as- most Americans as working class on the ba- trends to continue over time. Even if we looked sistance were more likely to support Romney. course, and the history of the labor movement sis of the limited power they have in the work- only at population numbers, the working class reminds us of how difficult it can be to cre- place. In the 2011 edition of his book Ameri- – which was never really “all white” — is al- So what does all of this add up to? On the ate unity among a diverse working class. To- ca’s Working Class Majority, Zweig finds that most certainly becoming even more diverse. one hand, if the working class is growing, it day’s workplaces no longer provide as many 63% of Americans are working class, up from ought to have more clout, as voters and as ac- opportunities for workers to come together or 62% in the original 2000 book. It’s also true The racial diversity¹ of the working class is tivists. We may well be seeing a difference in recognize their shared interests, and in a tight in terms of how people identify themselves. also likely increasing because of patterns in elections, but there’s a big difference between economy, working-class people sometimes While the General Social Survey for decades education and income. While Blacks are more people leaning just enough toward the Demo- see each other as the competition. Given has shown that over 40% of Americans iden- likely to get some college than are whites, crats to re-elect Obama and having a strong those challenges and the way working-class tify themselves as working class, the 2010 ver- whites earn more bachelor and advanced or coherent political voice. The gap between perspectives are also always shaped by race, sion of the survey, which the GSS reruns every degrees, and whites with BAs earn about functioning as an electoral block and develop- gender, religion, and place, it’s hard to imagine few years, show that 46.8% now identify as $10,000 a year more than Blacks with similar ing a working-class consciousness that would a widespread, sustained working-class move- working class, the highest percentage since degrees. Hispanics are less likely to either go fire coherent activism may be even larger. ment for economic and social change, even the early 80s. The working class is also chang- to college or earn a degree than either Blacks While the Occupy Movement stood up (and though it is so clearly needed. ing. The term used to call to mind blue-collar or Whites, though when they do, they earn sometimes laid down) for economic justice, unionized workers with no college education, more than Blacks. Beyond reminding us that it’s unclear what role working-class people On the other hand, social movements are not but today’s working class not only works in racial differences still matter in education and or working-class perspectives played in that the only agents of change. Simply paying at- a wide range of jobs, but many have at least earnings, these figures suggest that Hispanics movement. tention to the way the working class is chang- some college. These days, many people with and Blacks may be more likely than whites to ing and growing makes a difference, since it college degrees settle for jobs that don’t re- remain in the working class even if they go to The diversity of the working class, in all forms, requires us to think about how social class is quire the credential, and others whose jobs college. may present a challenge to working-class or- not a fixed structure but one that responds do require degrees have lost the professional Diversity isn’t only about race, of course. A ganizing. This has always been the case, of to other social and economic changes. That autonomy that, according to Zweig, defines matters for academics but also for civic life. middle-class jobs. Indeed, one of the reasons Being aware of the growing presence and di- Zweig sees the working class growing is be- versity of the working class might make the cause so many teachers and nurses are now, media, educators, policy-makers, and yes, on the basis of the limited control they have 1. Racial diversity is important in the work- even politicians, more attentive to the impor- ing class. Not only does it make people get over their own labor, working class. Many along better but it's a cool thing to do. tance of including working-class perspectives people go to college because it seems like in public discourse and policymaking. the most promising path to economic security, but that promise fades when they can’t find jobs and are burdened by loans. Combine that with an economic crisis and long-term shifts in employment that leave increasing numbers with precarious work, as John Rus-

The Changing Working Class Change 79

Preface

The question of the working class, as Martin Glaberman notes in this pamphlet, is an old The and honoured one on the left. But actual class analysis, as opposed to its mere invocation, one might add, is a practice that has tended Working to be more honoured in the breach than in the observance. It is therefore a welcome sign that the question is being looked at with renewed Class and critical interest by at least parts of a social- ist movement which needs to seriously re- examine traditional assumptions and ways of looking at society. Welcome, also, because it Social is unfortunately true that many of the concep- tions of the left have hardened into dogmas that now function more as barriers to creative Change thought than as flexible guides for developing radical analysis and strategy.

For some, the process of questioning tradi- tional formulations has led to pessimism or to Martin Glaberman reformism, or to the dismissal of the working class as allegedly “bought off’ by affluence, while various marginal social groups are pro- July 25th, 2005 moted as the new standard-bearers of revo- lution, their purity presumably guaranteed by their poverty or by their marginality. (Indeed, one form of this argument asserts that noth- ing can be done in the advanced capitalist countries except to wait-and cheer-for the lib- eration armies of the third world as they ready themselves to engulf the heart of the imperial- ist system.)

(Left) A small riot breaks out between a group of fed up labor workers and the Bos- ton Police. Men armed with bats and metal bars defend themselves against police officers armed with much more.

The Working Class and Social Change Change of learned treatises.One of his first concerns tions dichotomy which fails to fully consider 81 is accordingly to define the working class (a the role of workers themselves in creating bu- much more complex and politically significant reaucratic organizations like unions. question than it might appear at first glance). He then sets out to examine some of the key He sees both books as important contribu- components of working class reality-first and tions to a fruitful ongoing discussion on the foremost work-and the formation and trans- working class under capitalism. His own es- formation of working class consciousness and says help to carry that debate forward as well. methods of struggle. Especially noteworthy in this context is his argument that workers’ The first essay, “Marxist Views of the Working interests are now separate from and indeed Class”, was given as a lecture in Toronto in the contrary to those of the unions. That this is fall of 1974, as part of a series on “The Work- true in general, although not in each and ev- ing Class in Canada”’. The second, “Unions But those who are unwilling to accept any ery individual instance, is the central theme of vs. Workers in the Seventies: The Rise of of view has to be valid in the ways in which it of these different ways of abandoning the especially the second essay of the pamphlet. Militancy in the Auto industry” first appeared reflects reality, in the way in which it provides Marxist revolutionary project find themselves This is followed by two essays in which he dis- in Society magazine in November-December useful ideas with which people can view reality being inevitably led back to the centrality of cusses the views of two American writers who 1972. The review of Stanley Aronowitz’s False or deal with reality. It is only in that sense, and the question of the working class: the cen- have made important recent contributions to Promises first appeared in Liberation maga- in the sense that discussion is limited that I in- tral class of capitalist society. To this discus- the theory and history of the working class, zine in February 1974, while the final essay dicate my theoretical viewpoints. We are not sion, Martin Glaberman makes a valuable Stanley Aronowitz and Jeremy Brecher.-w was part of a symposium of Jeremy Brecher’s talking about any view of the working class; contribution. His experience of more than 40 Glaberman finds much to praise in Aronow- Strike! which appeared in Radical America we are talking about variant possibilities within years in the socialist movement, and more itz’s False Promises, but he argues that the Vol.7, No.6. The versions’ of the essays which a broadly left or Marxist framework. than 20 years as a production worker in auto book fails to overcome a traditional view of the appear in this pamphlet are all slightly different plants gives him solid roots in a Marxist tradi- working class which essentially sees workers from the originals. The question has certain built-in problems. tion which unabashedly insists that a socialist only as victims rather than as active partici- The first problem is not the easiest one: who revolution must be a working class revolution, pants in their own history. He also maintains Marxist Views of the Working Class or what is the working class? It is clearly not and that the predominant-although not only- that Aronowitz tends at times to understand a cohesive entity. There are many contradic- force in any working class revolution must be, consciousness in too narrow a way, as being The question of the working class is an old and tions and differences. There is the problem of precisely, the working class. This “traditional” simply equivalent to verbalizations. Glaberman honored one in the Left generally, although where to draw the line, who is in and who is view, however, does not fetter him to a ver- similarly considers Brecher’s Strike! a valuable it has fallen on lean days. There are various out of the working class. Apart from that, there sion of Marxism that is blind to social devel- work which “helps considerably to counteract points of view about the working class which are clearly differences in skill, in sex, in age, in opments. On the contrary, Glaberman insists the almost universally bureaucratic attitudes are considered Marxist. I have a particular nationality, in race, in income. My basic em- that there can be no revolutionary analysis that of labor historians” but he argues that in some point of view which I consider Marxist, but I will phasis is not in terms of the differences, but, ignores the fact that capitalism, the working ways it poses working class reality in terms of not get into any of the sectarian business of, because in any discussion there is an inevi- class, and the working class’ forms of struggle an overly simplified workers-versus-organiza- “I am a better Marxist than you are.’.’ A point table tendency to oversimplify, I think it is nec- have changed significantly in the century since essary for people to be aware of the fact that Marx. It is his ability to use the Marxist meth- we are not talking of a homogeneous entity. od’ to analyze new developments and draw We are talking about a very complex, contra- lessons from them that make Glaberman’s es- dictory, constantly changing entity, but yet one says creative contributions to a living Marxism. which can justifiably be viewed as an entity. It One need not agree with ‘his every word to ap- is not simply a sum of various kinds of people. preciate that his way of posing and examining There is such a thing as the working class, no such seemingly simple questions as “what is matter how you define it. Although the differ- the working class?”, “who is in the working ences and contradictions within the class have class?”, and “what is the rote of the working to be recognized and dealt with, the overriding class in social change?” comes from a much characteristic is not homogeneity, that is too richer tradition than ‘scientific’ sociology, strong a word, but a consistent, even if com- yielding results more fruitful than any number plex, totality.

The Working Class and Social Change Change We are not discussing the working class be- 83 cause we want to find out what the noble worker is all about. We are concerned with social change. The fundamental problem of how you define and how you view the working class is the problem of whether the working ing class, $5000 to $10,000 is upper working class is a viable instrument for social change. class, $10,000 to $15,000 is lower middle¹ There is a classic Marxist point of view that de- class, $15,000 to $20,000 is upper middle fines the socialist revolution as the proletarian class, and so on. That is, of course, very neat- revolution. That is, society can only be trans- it takes care of everybody; nobody is left out; formed fundamentally by the working class everybody belongs to some class. But in real no matter who else participates. if there is no life there are a lot of marginal people. In which working class revolution, there is no socialist ceal elements of reality. Marx did not have one class is the guy who runs a gas station, puts in revolution, although there may be a political all-inclusive definition of the working class. 80 hours a week, pumps gas, gets his hands revolution or changes of various kinds. In clas- The definition of a productive laborer, in Marx, dirty, but also employs half a dozen people sic Marxist terms socialist and proletarian are for example, is not the same as his definition and makes a profit? if you really have to define interchangeable, they are identical. of the working class. There were people who everybody, then you are not in the business of were clearly members of the working class making revolutions, you are in the business of Before World War II that classic definition, al- who were not productive laborers, that is, who defining people. though very often abstract and meaningless, did not produce surplus value. Pretty clearly, was almost universally accepted. After World Marx’s definition of class is based on relation And what I want to get away from is the idea War II, however, this view of the working class to the means of production. And yet it is also that unless every living soul is taken care of, began to disintegrate and various points of used by Marx, by Engels, and by Marxists there is something wrong with the theory. We view began to appear. There appears within generally, in a much broader sense to include are dealing with social categories², which are the left in the United States the whole busi- the families of workers, that is, the working abstractions, and which are only approxima- ness of the “hard hats,” the Wallace move- class housewife, working class children, and tions of reality. They can never include every ment, the so-called reactionary, racist working so forth. And that is also a legitimate use. human being in any kind of definition. class. There is the idea of the affluent working class, the working class transformed into mid- In brief one cannot talk, and one should not In recent years, there have been essentially dle class, and so on. A certain amount of care think, in terms of some fixed, absolute defi- two views that tend to counter the traditional has to be exercized in working out a definition. nition that can take care of everybody in the Marxist view of the working class. They are A definition is not a fact. It is not true or false. world. (You either are or are not a member too different versions of the disappearance It is useful or not useful. Which means that of the working class and that’s it. Tough, you of the working class. One is the view that the the working class can be defined with some didn’t make it, kid.) It is much more complex working class is literally disappearing. It arose, legitimacy in different ways. It can be defined and much more flexible than that. And, if you especially in the late fifties and early sixties, usefully, or it can be defined in ways that con- are going to view it dialectically, that is, in a with the development of automation and the Marxist way(, it is a definition, or a series of apparent disappearance of blue collar jobs. It definitions, which has to change if as seems is not entirely a view of the disappearance of true, the working class itself changes. The def- the working class, but, rather, a view that the inition of a worker in 1850 is not the same as 1. Lower Middle class is one of the most unrecognizable and largely misunderstood blue collar working class is disappearing. The that of a worker in 1950. The composition, the terms you could ever think of. other tends to do the same thing in the oppo- size, the character of the class changes and, therefore, the definition of the class changes. 2. Categorizing socially can be a complex process.

In particular, it is not the sociological view that feels it has to account for everybody. The classic sociological definition is one of income: from 0 to $5000 a year is lower work-

The Working Class and Social Change Change Levison takes the major categories one step people who are concerned with bookkeeping 85 further. When government employment is bro- today than ten or 20 years ago, but instead of ken down into subcategories, some startling being bookkeepers who enter figures in a led- information emerges, specifically, that the blue ger, they tend to be IBM machine operators, collar working class is not disappearing. computer operators and punch card opera- tors. The increase in the number of secretaries With the decline of urban transportation in’ the replaces individuals who have a one to one re- United States in the nineteen-thirties, for ex- lation to the boss with rows of women behind ample, city transportation systems were mu- desks who are essentially machine operators. nicipalized, so that bus drivers became civil They sit at their typewriter with a dictaphone servants. Did they thereby lose their character machine strapped to their head, never seeing as blue collar workers? Are mail workers, or the source of the material that they are typing, site way. It tends to see all of society becom- people who handle the sacks or drive the mail and are supervised by a forelady who makes ter is also working class but has always been ing working class. We are all workers together, trucks, blue collar or ‘white collar? Are gar- sure that their breaks are not too long. Except viewed differently as less potentially revo- students, teachers, blue collar workers, white bage collectors blue collar ,or white collar? Are for the fact that it tends to be cleaner, lighter, lutionary because it is less related to central collar workers and salaried people of various janitors in public schools blue collar or white and a little bit quieter, this new kind of white matters of production and transportation. kinds. So the working class is eliminated not collar? In short, there is a range of categories collar work is less and less distinguishable The second view of the nature of the work- by disappearing, but by having everybody join which is blue collar, but which is contained in from factory work. ing class is that, because of the all-pervasive it except for a handful of capitalists at the top. the expanding category of government em- nature of alienation in modern society, every- It is a definition that tends to be limited in use- ployment. The same thing is true of the ser- It is only a matter of time before many of these body can be defined as a worker. More and fulness because it blurs significant distinctions vice trades. There has been a tremendous ex- so-called new categories which are destroy- more sections of society are suffering from the that still remain in this society. pansion of hotels and motels. Except behind ing the old reality of the working class will lead same or similar ills that workers have tradition- The first view has to be dealt with in terms of the desk, where you have a clerk or two, hotel to the kind of ideology that corresponds to ally suffered, exploitation, alienation, etc. My specific facts. Everybody knows that the ser- employees are chambermaids, bell hops, bus- the new reality. That is, a machine operator, own view of this question is not universally vice sectors, the government sectors, of the boys, waiters, and other occupations, which is a machine operator, is a machine opera- accepted, but I present it because I think it is modern economy have expanded tremen- can not reasonably be called white collar.There tor. And, while there is a difference between a a necessary antidote to some of the very glib dously at the expense of traditional produc- is another aspect to this change in the nature punch press and an IBM machine, the differ- formulations of what is revolutionary in this so- tion and transportation sectors. There is an of the working class and the concealment of ence is not as great as the difference between ciety. To begin with, I do not think it is neces- interesting article by Andrew Levison, in the that change. There has been a substantial in- a punch press operator and someone taking sary, in order to justify the validity of a move- December 13, 1971 issue of The Nation (See crease in certain kinds of white collar occu- shorthand or entering figures in a book. It is ment, to define it as working class. An anti-war also, Andrew Levison, “The Working-Class pations, particularly in banks, insurance com- dangerous to be glib about the nature of the movement, such as the anti-war movement in Majority,” The New Yorker, Sept. 3, 1974)., panies, offices and the expansion of central concrete changes that are taking place. There the United States during the Vietnam war, was that indicates how these things get distort- offices of manufacturing concerns. But there is not and there is no evidence for, any decline a perfectly legitimate movement even though ed in government statistics. His evidence is is also an element of change in the nature of in the levels of blue collar employment. By it was overwhelmingly a middle class move- based on the American government statistics, the work which contradicts the expansion in blue collar employment I mean manual work, ment. Student movements have an indepen- but I’m sure that’ those categories are pretty the category. That is, there are many more as opposed to clerical or retail trade. The lat- dent validity, working class or not. Women’s much the same in Canada, Western Europe, movements, national movements, and so and so on. There is the following switch in forth, have a validity in combating this soci- categories. To begin with there are the major ety which does not require them to be defined sectors in the society, manufacturing, agricul- as working class for them to be justified. But ture, service and government. There is a rela- what’ is involved is, that if you begin to de- tive decline in manufacturing and an increase fine all of these movements and all of these in service and white collar employment. Even individuals, because they suffer some ill under in terms of these categories, however, there is capitalist society, as working class, you begin not an absolute decline in manufacturing em- to lose sight of very important distinctions. In ployment although the substantial increases another article Andrew Levison (The Rebel- are in categories such as hotels, insurance lion of Blue Collar Youth,” The Progressive, companies, government employment, etc. Oct.1972) reports what a young worker said in

The Working Class and Social Change Change regard to defining everybody who is alienated 87 in some way as working class, in this case the popular notion among intellectuals that a col- lutionary working class to defenders of capi- lege professor who is forced to prepare mun- talist society, defenders of the status quo? dane and insignificant papers is a victim, like the factory workers, of alienation, epitomizes A brief look at the reality of life in production the complete lack of understanding that ex- will indicate that that is not likely and has, in ists. The young worker studying under the 61 fact, not taken place. The General Motors bill who encountered this argument suggested plant in Lordstown, Ohio, is the most automat- that the professor would begin to understand ed automobile factory in the world. It is made how a factory worker feels if he had to type up overwhelmingly of young workers with an a single paragraph, not papers, from nine to average age in the twenties. They have been five, every day of the week. Instead of setting There has clearly been a change in the clas- tling police in Paris and elsewhere for several having certain difficulties there, strikes from the pace himself, his typewriter carriage would sic middle class in modern society. The middle weeks. Society is an integrated whole. But time to time, and terrible things like that. One begin to move at nine and continue at a steady class used to be a self-employed middle class, that is another type of question. The difference of the things that they bragged about was that rate until five. The professor’s job would be at the independent farmer, the independent pro- is that street demonstrations become trans- over a hundred cars an hour came off that stake if he could not keep up the pace. For fessional, and so on. The bulk of that has dis- formed into a social revolution if the industrial Vega line; that a job on that assembly line took permission to go to the bathroom or to use the appeared and has become transformed into a working class intervenes and moves to take 36 seconds to do. That means that on a hot telephone, the professor would have to ask a salaried middle class, which performs similar, over the means of production. Unless we keep summer day when the temperature is in the supervisor. His salary of sixteen thousand dol- and, sometimes, not so similar, functions, but in mind that there are different types of work nineties and the drinking fountain is about 10 lars for a full professor would be cut by nine essentially functions of social control. with different relationships to the process of yards away, you can not get a drink because thousand dollars, and his vacations reduced production, important distinctions are lost. by the time you get there and back, a car will to two weeks a year. He could also be ordered An important distinction between teachers have gone by. If you want to stop and light a to work overtime at the discretion of the com- or social workers and manual workers is that But definitions an4 distinctions are only the cigarette, a car will have gone by. But to that pany or lose his job. if unlucky, he might have workers manipulate things and teachers and beginning. There is still the question which category of time must be added another cat- to work the night shift. Finally, if he faced the social workers manipulate people. And al- derives from the classic Marxist view of egory. A blue collar worker at the Lordstown grim conclusion that his job was a dead end, though they are exploited and underpaid and whether the worker is the key to the revolu- plant knows that that is where he or she is go- his situation would then approximate that of should unionize and strike, they perform cer- tionary overthrow of this society. Is the worker ing to be for the rest of his or her life. Work- an unskilled young worker in a contemporary tain functions of control in this society which so exploited that he will revolt? What is there ers who have accumulated a couple of years auto factory.” That is one level of difference. cannot be ignored by simply defining them as that will make a worker revolt? People have seniority know that they will have their job, or The reality of blue collar work, factory work, working class. If that distinction is lost, then a heard about the affluent society, the well-paid one like it, for the rest of their lives. There is or even white collar work, is somewhat differ- very important distinction that relates to vari- worker, who has become middle class, owns nothing in terms of payment or fringe benefits ent than the various other forms of alienation ous tactical and strategic questions is lost. if a car, maybe two cars, can send his kids to or pensions that compensates for the kind of which exist in this society But there is another you define everybody that is getting low pay college, has a summer home, a boat, and alienation and exploitation which is universally element involved. (and many teachers get less than many work- any number of things. Some of that is exag- characteristic of blue collar work. This does ers; there are tool and die makers that make gerated. Most workers do not have all these not mean that all jobs are on the Vega assem- much more than grade school teachers) then, things. Many workers work all year long and bly line. But the 36 seconds is not too star- unless you go back to a definition in terms of get paid under official poverty levels. But in tling. In Alienation and Freedom, published in income, that does not change the reality of one the fundamental areas of basic industry which being essentially middle class and the other are crucial to Marx’s theory, the auto industry, being essentially working class. Both have steel,’ mining, and so forth there are, in fact, reason to resist and revolt against this soci- in Canada and in the United States, the best ety. There is no social revolution in the modern paid industrial workers in the world. There is world that I know of that can take place with still insecurity-it is pretty obvious today with simply the working class. Other sections of the levels of unemployment. But, when work- society are bound to participate. The French ing, particularly with forced overtime, the pay events of l968, for example, were touched is fairly good. Is that kind of supposed afflu- off by student demonstrations, students bat- ence enough to transform the traditional revo-

The Working Class and Social Change Change and Sept. 4.,, (September 1,2 and 3 must as eleven dates in the weeks preceding the 89 have been a holiday.) “This unsatisfactory re- date of the letter) the following incidents oc- cord was the subject of a lengthy conterence curred: “There follows, in each of the letters, with you today... You urged us nevertheless to’ a detailed listing of acts of resistance and rescind the disciplinary action which we took sabotage. They make fascinating reading: yesterday against 1447 employees who took part in the most recent series of strikes. And From the letter of April 18, 1973: so, in view of your strong assurances and our firm belief that you will carry them out, we will All 11:16p.m., a 16-minute breakdown oc- comply with your request and rescind the dis- curred in Dept. 9303, Body-in-White Division. ciplinary action we took with respect to Wind- A body bolt was found jammed in the No.3 sor employee’s yesterday.” drive. Eighteen units were lost. Attempted 1960, Robert Blauner noted that the average sabotage is extremely likely. on May 9, 10, 11 and 12. job in auto was under one minute. So what is A letter of May 6, 1974, to Mr. C. Brooks¹, involved is the change from about 58 seconds President, Local 444 states: “On April 26, From the letter of May 22, 1973: The millwrights joined by the carpenters on to 36 seconds in 15 years. 58 seconds is not 1974, the Corporation, as a result of represen- May 10), perhaps after attempting to negoti- much of an improvement over 36 seconds. tations made by officers of the Local Union, Windsor Assembly Plant May 7: ate the matter with the company, were simply The auto industry is much more rationalized agreed to the reinstatement of six individuals All Shifts-Dept. 9075, Millwrights. Beginning organizing a change in shift hours. There is no than many other industries, but the funda- who had been discharged for their participa- with the midnight “shift (normal starting time indication in the letters whether the attempt mental character and drive of all industry is tion in an illegal work stoppage...” The unrest 11:30p.m.), 28 employees punched in prior was ultimately successful. From the letter of the same. It is to rationalize production to get continues. And again, the corporation fires a to 11:00 p.m. and punched out one-half hour November 26, 1973’. rid of workers to reduce the amount of time it lot of people, the union says, no, you can’t early at 7:30 p.m. On the day shift, 25 employ- takes to do any job. In that context, the only do that and give us all a bad name, so they ees punched in prior to 6:45a.m. and punched Windsor Truck Assembly Plant, November 7: thing that would be surprising would be that rescind some of the firings. In this letter they out at 3:15p.m. Normal hours are 7:45a.m. Day Shift-A 19-minute breakdown occurred workers did not strike or resist or revolt. The announce reduction of some of the discharges to 4:15 p.m¹. On the afternoon shift, 18 em- in Dept. 9131, Motor Line. A bolt was found belief that $5.50 or $6.00 an hour compen- to 60 days off. ployees punched in prior to 3:00 p.m. and out jammed in the line. Sabotage is extremely sates for that kind of alienation, is the belief at 11:30 p.m. Normal hours are 3:54 p.m. to likely. that workers are an inferior breed, not like or- Several letters are addressed to Mr. D. McDer- 12:24 p.m. In most cases, supervision did not dinary people. We, obviously, wouldn’t stand mott, Vice-President and Director for Canada put employees to work until normal starting From the letter of March 28, 1974: for that kind of nonsense, but workers-they do of the International Union, UAW, from Mr. J. H. times... not know any better. And, it should come as McGivney, a Chrysler official. They are dated Windsor Assembly Plant March 20 no surprise that, in fact, they do resist. April 18, May 22, November26, November27, Day and Midnight Shifts-In Dept. 9075, Mill- Afternoon Shift-At 8:42 p.m., a nine-minute 1973 and March28, April 2, 1974. Each let- wrights, the employees were again arriving for breakdown occurred in Dept. 9308, Metal There are some interesting letters, from execu- ter begins with the sentence: “This letter is work an hour early and leaving an hour early. Line, Body-in-White Division. A dunnage pin tives of the Chrysler Corporation of Canada in written to inform you that on (here each let- Early arrival and quitting times were experi- had been jammed in the line. Production lost- Windsor to Leonard Woodcock, President of ter lists no less than three dates and as many enced in this department on the midnight shift nine units. Sabotage is extremely likely. the UAW, Douglas Fraser, a Vice-President, and C. Brooks, President of Local 444 of the From the letter of April 2, 1974²: UAW in Windsor, Ont., The letters complain to the union about the miserable behavior of these 1. Brooks was a distant relative of the 1. Eager working class folk in this time Windsor Truck Assembly Plant March 25 famous actor, Mel Brooks, fro the movie were often scrutinized for cloccking in early damned Chrysler workers. The letter to Wood- blazing saddles. as they could not be supervised. Day Shift-At 8:45 a.m., a two-minute break- cock and Fraser is dated Sept. 8, 1973. “Dear down occurred in Dept. 9121, Frame Line. Sirs, You are fully aware without my detailing 2. April 2nd is the birthday of a very close A spring clip had been threaded through the friend of mine. Nobody ever believes her them, of the extremely unsatisfactory record of when she notifies people the day before, links of the drive chain. Production lost-1/2job. illegal, unauthorized and unwarranted strikes on April Fool's Day. Sabotage is extremely’ likely. that we have had in our Windsor plants in re- cent years, the most recent of which consisted One thing that is distinctive about these item- of massive walkouts on August 27,28,29,30 ized lists at one complex, three plants, of the

The Working Class and Social Change Change Chrysler Corporation of Canada, is that it is 91 recorded. Another thing about this is that they do not really want to make it public because What then, was the consciousness of the auto the situation can get out of hand. There were workers? Were they for or against the no- also charges of sabotage in the Lordstown strike pledge? There is a further problem. As situation. The workers said that the speed of in most votes, most people did not vote. The the line forced them to make defective cars, majority which voted for the pledge was not a because they couldn’t do a proper job of as- majority of the members of the UAW. But the sembling them. The company said that the strikers did include a majority of the UAW. Ex- workers were sabotaging the cars. That is the perience in a factory can give you insight into kind of dispute that corporations never want how these things work. Some guy sitting in to escalate because they can not win. So, his own living room listening to the casualties instead, there are long, detailed, confidential ‘or written expression of their ideas and be- and the war reports, votes to reaffirm the no- letters to union bureaucrats asking, in effect, liefs. Labor leaders make speeches, work- pledge. The bureaucrats on the platform were strike pledge. The next day, going in to work, what are you going to do about these damned ers do not. It is very natural to assume that thus humiliated in the presence of government the foreman cusses him out, and he says, “To people? There is sabotage throughout indus- when George Meany, AFL-CIO President, or dignitaries because they could not deliver their hell with you,” and out he goes. And you say, try. That tends to be a lot closer to the reality Leonard Woodcock or any other labor leader membership anymore. They did what has be- “I thought you were for the no-strike pledge.” of what the modern working class is ‘like than makes a speech or makes a pronouncement, come traditional in the UAW, the cure for de- And he says, “Yeah, sure, but look at that son anything that would be learned by looking at he somehow speaks for the workers he is sup- mocracy being more democracy. If workers of a bitch.” To workers, workers do not cause a worker’s paycheck or by finding out about posed to represent. The fact of the matter is vote the~ wrong way, they are made to vote strikes. Capitalists cause, strikes. So if strikes his fringe benefits. There is’ literally, a con- that they do not. again, and to keep on voting until they learn to are to be prevented, the thing to do is to get rid tinual civil war going on in modern industry. vote the right way. The bureaucrats said that of all these grievances. It’s these foremen who This relates to a range of problems and possi- There is another element. Working class reality the convention was not really representative ‘do net want to get rid of all these grievances bilities which speak directly to the question of is a totality that goes far beyond the ordinary enough (which it would have been, obviously, who cause all these strikes. whether the modern industrial working class, intellectual view of consciousness. The usual if it had reaffirmed the no-strike pledge). And the post-world war II working class, is a viable way to view consciousness is in terms of for- since this is a very important question, what is What then was the consciousness of auto force for social change. mal statement of belief. Unfortunately, or for- needed is a membership referendum. workers? Were they patriotic or class con- tunately, in terms of the working class and its scious? It seems necessary to say, as a start, One of the elements that goes into this kind living reality, that simply does not work. The They had a membership referendum, which that what workers do is at least as important of struggle is the various levels and kinds of following is an example of how it does not was the perfect sociological survey. Every as what workers say. But much more than that consciousness that move a modern industrial work. member got a secret ballot which was filled is involved. The whole idea of consciousness worker. Consciousness is a very tricky word. out in the privacy of a, kitchen or living room is more complex and is a much larger totality One of the problems in dealing with the work- In the nineteen4orties, during World War II and which was mailed back in. The secrecy than simply formal statements of belief, which ing class, as opposed to “labor movement,” most of the labor movement gave a no-strike was protected because both sides were rep- would be sufficiently dealt with by having a “labor leaders,” and so forth, is that you are pledge. Labor leaders agreed to put patrio- resented on the committee that ran the ref- survey, or that postcard ballot, or whatever. dealing with people who do not have vocal tism before class interest and said that during erendum. It was a pretty fair count as these The problem is compounded by the fact that the course of World War II workers would not things go. When the ballots were counted, the those who study the problem of conscious- strike. There was much resistance and oppo- membership of the UAW had voted two to one ness are intellectuals, not workers. They tend sition to this. If corporations did not agree to to reaffirm the no-strike pledge. It was rather give up profits, why should workers agree to reasonable to draw the conclusion that the give up the right to strike? In one union, the cons9iousness of auto workers was that they UAW, this struggle’ over the no-strike pledge placed patriotism before class interest; that in had a very open and formal character. In the a major war workers should not strike; no mat- 1944 convention of the UAW the dispute came ter what the provocation, war production had to a heading a very strange way. There were to continue. various resolutions presented, against and for the no-strike pledge. All of them were de- There was, however, a slight problem. Be- feated, leaving the union without a no-strike fore the vote, during the vote, and after the vote, the majority of auto workers wildcatted.

The Working Class and Social Change Change However, there are also other elements. Peo- steel plants begin to lay off and railroads be- 93 ple tend to view workers as victims. They gin to lay off and so on. Those workers who are exploited, they are ‘alienated, they have have access to that kind of power are aware 36 second jobs, etc. I talked to workers on of that reality. That is one of the elements that a’ wildcat strike at a Chrysler stamping plant makes up the totality that has to go into the about 15 miles outside of Detroit a few years kind of social crisis that makes a revolution- ago. It was the first day of the strike and there ary change in society possible. It is the ele- were a few guys on the picket line-you don’t ment that distinguishes, in very classic Marx- really need a great effort to shut a plant down ist terms, the industrial or blue collar working in the Detroit area. This was a stamping plant class, (although not all blue collar workers) making parts for various Chrysler cars. What from the reality available to other sections of the workers were saying was, if we’re out one society no matter how hostile they might be to to assume that consciousness is overwhelm- day, Chrysler Jefferson, Dodge Main, and the their own immediate conditions of life. There interviewed prospects to fill vacancies. But, ingly a matter of the mind, of verbalization. Plymouth plant in Detroit shut down. If we’re are limitations to what they can do about it Un- there are some other details about these fan- (Workers, however, do not have a public plat- down two days, Windsor, Ontario, shuts down. til this perspective of fundamental change and tastically enriched jobs. First, there are only 72 form or press. Unions do, but that is another If we’re down three days, St. Louis, Missouri, fundamental power is opened up. workers in that plant. It is not exactly the Ford matter.) But verbal responses to formal ques- shuts down, and so on. One of the realities of assembly line. Secondly, all that this plant pro- tions, given the limited range of alternatives al- working class existence is not simply victim- There has been a growing recognition of this duces is dry dog food. This is as easy to pic- lowed to workers in such situations, inevitably ization, but power, and an awareness of that reality, that is, the resistance of workers to ture as a 36 second job. All that happens in give a picture of working-class consciousness power when it seems to be appropriate, or their conditions of life. It has taken various the plant is pellets of dog food are poured into that is much more conservative than the un- when the possibility opens up. Not all workers forms over the years. The current form is “job sacks, the sacks are sealed mechanically and derlying reality. It has the tremendous advan- have that power. In a plant making trim with enrichment.” Everyone knows now that work- piled on the loading dock. How rich can these tage, however, of being immensely satisfying 16 other plants making the same kind of trim, ers do not want to work. They are absent half damned jobs get? Working there now may be to the intellectuals (whether radical or conser- workers can go out for six months without the time, they sabotage, they go on wildcat better than previously, because you choose vative) because it buttresses their own sense being noticed. But in a crucial kind of plant, strikes, they vote against contracts-and the your fellow workers and you can take a break of superiority. There is a reality in which often, or on a railroad, or if the auto industry is shut term alienation has suddenly become repu- when you want to, etc. But it isn’t hard to pic- when not given any other choice, workers ap- down, or the steel industry, or some other in- table. There have been programs on televi- ture a young guy who gets hired after being pear to be saying things which are conserva- dustry, workers become aware of a social real- sion, articles in newspapers, articles in aca- interviewed by his fellow workers two or three tive or reactionary. ity which is different than what is available to demic journals and other places, about job years from now. He looks around and says, It is also true that many workers have very re- middle class radicals or anyone else. enrichment and blue collar blues and how to boy, this is a pretty shitty job. And the other actionary views on a whole range of subjects, overcome it and how to make workers satis- workers say, you’re crazy, it used to be bad like race, sex, age, skills, and soon. Workers If teachers or students shut down a school, fied with their jobs. Perhaps the best known but now it’s a great job. And he says, well, I are not the noble savage, all pure and honest the school is shut down. But when five thou- American example was a General Foods plant don’t know about how it used to be, but it’s a and forthright and revolutionary. But reality, sand ‘people in some small town in Ohio shut in Topeka, Kansas. It was a Gaines Dog Food lousy job. which is a 36 second job for the rest of your down a stamping plant, within two weeks two- plant and it got a lot of publicity because those life, reality, which is sabotage recorded every thirds of General Motors is shut down and jobs were really enriched. The workers even This may be an extreme case but there are single day in the Chrysler plants in Windsor, limits to enrichment. The basic limit is that it Ontario, is a reality which forces workers to cannot be allowed to interfere with produc- behave in contradiction to their own stated tivity. On a reduced scale, either on a smaller beliefs. Unless that behavior is included in the scale of production or on sub-assembly units, under-standing of their consciousness, there it is possible to allow a certain amount of is no sense of what the working class is capa- workers’ control of the job without interfering ble of doing, or the ways in which it explodes, with productivity. However, it cannot be done or the ways in which strike waves or wildcat on very was no such thing as a Commune in strikes appear. And it is that reality which sus- Marx’s ideology until Parisian workers created tains the belief that the working class is a vi- it. Lenin never heard of soviets until Russian able force for social change. workers created them in 1905. And then again in 1917. That does not mean that the politi-

The Working Class and Social Change Change cal party didn’t play a certain role in 1917. But 95 what it does mean is that one of the funda- mental aspects of Marxist theory is to see not go to meetings, they do not vote in union where the working class has reached and to elections, and so forth. Occasionally they will see what that means for theory. People asked use the union.’ They might vote on the contract Marx, what is this dictatorship of the proletar- and occasionally will vote a contract down. iat you’re talking about, what is this socialist They will occasionally, but rarely, participate society? He refused to answer the question. in opposition caucuses. Whether the workers He made comments about not making recipes become revolutionary or not does not depend for the cookshops of the future, or the like. on what the union leadership does. There is When the workers of Paris created the Com- no other instrument available except the cre- mune, Marx wrote about the Commune and ation of new organizational forms, and those that became the classic Marxist work on the description of capitalism ‘in the middle of the ure? Lenin celebrated when the Russian Revo- are the equivalent of workers’ councils which workers state. And then in State and Revolu- nineteenth century was no longer valid. Things lution outlived the Commune by one day. That take over production on a national scale. I tion we have Lenin on Marx on the Commune had changed in 50 years. And he defined the is a revolutionary attitude. The weaknesses of have no idea when that will happen, I have no and Lenin on soviets. new stage as Imperialism. Well, we’re 60 years the working class are all around. The press, idea how that will happen, I have no idea of beyond that. Do we have to forever stay in radio, television, the schools, everyone is in- the particular forms it will take in Canada, the It is in the best classic Marxist tradition to base 1917? It seems to me not. And concepts of or- sisting how backward people are, how inca- United States, France or England or anywhere theory on the peak that the working class has ganization have to change in correspondence pable people are of transforming society. And else. But, in general, the outline is indicated by reached in any stage of society. And the re- with changing concepts of the working class when people attempt it that is what a Marxist what has happened in Hungary and in France. ality of the post-World War II world is typi- and changing concepts of capitalist society. bases his revolutionary theory on. That is what So long as workers resist alienation and op- fied by what has happened in France in‘68 So where do we look? We look at the highest we are living for, so to speak. We are living for pression they will revolt. And these revolts will and Hungary in ‘56. That is the basis for our peak that the working class has reached. That, the peak, and not the valley. I do not mean emerge, as they always have, with remarkable theory. If a theory that is valid in 1871 is still in the post-World War II world, is France in ‘68 that we ignore it in our day to day work, but in power and suddenness. It would be a pleas- valid today, or a form, or a political party that and Hungary in ‘56.1 don’t know any place our fundamental theory we say that what the ant change from past experience if, for once, is valid in 1917 is still valid today; then there where they have gone further than that. working class in the modern world is capable it was not the revolutionaries who were most is some fundamental weakness in dialectics. Another aspect of methodology is involved. of is demonstrated by France and Hungary in taken by surprise, most caught unprepared, Dialectics, as Marx understood it, implies that Marx thought that the Paris Commune made ‘68 and ‘56. It is not demonstrated by a lot of by the revolt of workers. capitalist society is continually changing and a lot of mistakes. They don’t appear in his other things which are happening all the time Unions vs. Workers in the Seventies: The Rise being revolutionized. The social relations are classic work on the Commune. He said the but which are characteristics of bourgeois so- of Militancy in the Auto Industry changed; the capitalist class is changed; the contribution of the Commune is its own liv- ciety and which the working class is not im- On the morning of July 16, 1970 the Detroit working class is changed. It would be a mira- ing existence. In private correspondence he mune to because it lives in and suffers from all Free Press featured on its front page a large cle of dialectics if everything else changed but wrote that they should have nationalised the of the distortions and contradictions of bour- picture of General Motors Vice President Earl something Lenin wrote in 1902, in What Is To bank, or should have done this or that. It is geois society. But because it has to resist that Bramblett and UAW President Leonard Wood- Be Done? remains eternal. It doesn’t make any always easy to find out why the workers did society, these peaks appear. And if it were not cock shaking hands as they opened negotia- sense. Lenin was not afraid to say that Marx’s not make a revolution. It is all around you. for the peaks there would not be any revolu- tions for a new contract. The headline beneath But the business of a revolutionist is to find tion. I believe that the revolt is inevitable, but the picture read: “Negotiations Begin; Auto out why they will. One of the characteristics victory is not inevitable. The nature of society Talk Key: Living Costs.” of the dialectic view of the world-in fact, any forces workers to revolt and resist-but the man view of the world-is that people tend to find can push the button and drop the bomb and what they look for. Those who are interested that ends modern civilization as we know it in finding out why the French revolt of ‘68 was and there is no socialist revolution. There are a failure will have no trouble finding reasons. no guarantees of victory. But I am interested in finding out why it was What forms are available to the working class? a success, why it happened. What everybody The union movement is not a force for revolu- in the world around me tells me is that it can’t tionary change. I do not think it can be trans- happen. And I say it can-and there’s the proof, formed. Workers tend to use what is at hand. it did happen. Was the Paris Commune a fail- Mostly they boycott and ignore unions-they do

The Working Class and Social Change Change one bit more tolerable. 97 Many of these issues were raised purely for That is one of the reasons that the union lead- propaganda effect with little intent to bargain ership has such a hard time with the new gen- seriously over them. eration of young workers in the plants. They tell the workers about the great victories of the But taken as a whole, they provide an interest- union in the past and what it was like in open ing picture that reflects, if only in a distorted shop days. way, the extent of the worker’s concern for the nature of his workplace. They tell the truth-those were genuine victo- ries. But they have become transformed into A technique in bargaining developed by Walter their opposite by virtue of becoming incorpo- Reuther² and being continued by Woodcock is rated into contracts and the whole process of the public show of militancy. It gives the pub- what is called labor relations. The banner headline that morning, overshad- lic appearance of great militancy but if means The formation of the CIO in the 1930s settled owing the ritual start of negotiations, was: something very different. (Labor relations, it should be noted, has noth- once and for all the idea that owners or man- Ousted Worker Kills Three in Chrysler Plant ing to do with workers; it has to do with rela- agers or stockholders had the right to run their Shooting; 2 Foremen, Bystander Are Slain.” A While the leadership of the union goes through tions between company representatives and plants any way they saw fit. Sit-downs, strikes, black worker at Chrysler’s Eldon Avenue Axle the motions of accepting all the workers’ de- union representatives.) wildcats, direct on-the-job action, sabotage Plant, suspended for insubordination, had mands and pressing them on the companies, and violence established the power of work- killed two foremen (one black, one white) and the tactic of publicly demanding almost every- The Detroit Free Press published the following re- ers in the plants. The tactics used and the ex- a Polish setup man. thing that could be thought of at the beginning port in August 1970: tent of that power varied from plant to plant of negotiations is intended to get the workers and from industry to industry. Sabotage and The timing of the events, was coincidental- off their backs and keep them quiet when the Some 46 percent of General Motors’ hourly violence have long been a part of the auto in- but it was the kind of coincidence that lends a serious negotiating begins in secret sessions. workers are below age 35. They have never dustry.¹ There were reports of the murder or special insight. What is at issue-not only in the It leaves the union leadership free to work out known a depression, they have had more disappearance of foremen at the Ford Rouge auto negotiations but in most relations involv- any settlement it thinks reasonable and to es- schooling than the man who lived through the plants in the days before the union; the recent ing workers, unions and management-is not tablish its own priorities in the negotiations. last one, and they aren’t impressed by the old murder of two foremen at a Chrysler plant is living costs but living. Involved is not just dol- The range of union demands in the negotia- Spartan idea that hard, repetitive work is a vir- not an especially new development. lars and cents, important as always to work- tions also reflects something else. It is a sign tue. They are less responsive to authority than ers, but an entire way of life. that unionism is reaching its limit. Not because even the men who seized the flint GM plants in Other forms of sabotage are less severe but they will win so little, but because they will win the historic 1936-1937 sit-down strikes. nonetheless effective. On some assembly Take a close look at the union’s demands. so much and it will prove to be so little. lines where the links are exposed, an occa- That is precisely the background against sional rest period or slow down is achieved by The UAW¹ left out only one thing: the demand It will not make the life of the black worker which discontent is surfacing throughout the the simple (and virtually undetectable) tactic of to turn the plants over to the workers. Apart at the Eldon Avenue plant of Chrysler or the industry today, discontent that has reached its putting the handle of a long open-end wrench from the usual wage increases and financial white worker at the Chrysler plant in Windsor most advanced stage in the auto industry. into the chain to shear the pin and stop the improvements, some of the issues raised by line. Sometimes the light bulb that signals the the UAW bargaining teams included: pen- line breakdown is unscrewed or broken so that sions after 30 years instead of after a specific an extra few minutes are gained before the age; restoration of the escalator cost-of-living 1. The UAW is the leader in working class 1. Recalls are usually a scam that auto stoppage is discovered. social rights and has exccellent mixxers to makers will commit to bring in potential clause to its original form; ending time clocks promote employee engagement. business at the expense of losing money and putting production workers on salary; in- on a few unneeded repairs. Not uncommon is the sabotage of the product. verting seniority so that older workers could 2. Reuther was known as a gambling man. Sometimes this increases the amount of the take the time off at nearly full pay in the event repair work coming off the lines. Sometimes of layoffs; the problem of pollution, both in the this saddles a customer with a built-in rattle plants and in the community; changing pro- in a high-priced car because some worker duction to deal with boredom on the assembly welded a wrench or some bolts into a closed line. compartment.

The Working Class and Social Change Change In the early stages of the discussion the fore- 99 The nature of violence and sabotage as a tool man was adamant. He would not accede to of workers provides an insight into the prob- the demands-”and you’d better get those lems caused by the extensive technological guys back to work.” As the minutes sped by, changes of the past 20 years. Although gen- the foreman became less and less adamant erally called automation, something else is until, finally, with a couple of minutes left to involved: the first and basic reason for tech- go, he capitulated. The steward then signaled nological change is the struggle against work- the workers standing outside and the heat was ers’ power by the, employers. Technological pulled. advance is designed, directly or indirectly, to eliminate workers or to make them more sub- That might be an extreme situation but it was servient to the machine. And most changes not an unusual one. Workers are very aware made in plants are made solely to increase of how their jobs fit into the total process of ture began. The last major organizing success production rather than out of any concern for In the early days of the union the power of the production. marks the turn to bureaucracy. the workers. workers could be wielded more openly and more directly. Workers negotiated directly with To change the scale and to change the time: When Ford fell to the union in 1941, both the For example, Chrysler stamping operations are the’ lower levels of management and were almost 30 years’ later¹, during a wildcat at the check-off and full time for union committee- now centered in the Sterling Township Stamp- able to settle things right on the shop floor. Sterling Stamping Plant of the Chrysler Cor- men were incorporated into the contract. ing Plant, about 15 miles outside Detroit. The How easily they were able to do this depend- poration in 1969, the workers made clear their But the apparent victories only created more plant now does, operations that were formerly ed, of course, on their relative strength and the awareness of how their plant fit into the sched- problems. Workers wanted full time for union done at the Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler nature of the technology involved among other uling of Chrysler plants in Detroit, Windsor, St. representatives to get them out from under plants. things. Louis and elsewhere. They knew when and in company pressures and discrimination. Get- what order the Sterling strike would shut down ting elected steward often got you the worst Separating 4,000 or so workers from most of As an example, the workers in the heat-treat other Chrysler plants. The knowledge of the job in a department and stuck away in a corner their fellows seriously reduced the power and department at the Buick plant in Flint had an workers’ importance in the overall framework where you couldn’t see what was happening. effectiveness of the workers. The shutting especially strong position. is both an instrument in the day-to-day strug- down of old plants means that formal and in- gle and the essential basis for a new society. But full time for stewards did more than relieve formal organizations are broken up or aban- One time, shortly after the union was estab- union representatives from company pres- doned. lished, they felt themselves strongly aggrieved. The instinctive assertion of their own power sure-it ended up by relieving representatives But the early contracts did not rigidly define on the shop floor that workers managed in the from workers’ pressure. The steward is less And it takes time for new relations and new or- the grievance procedure. So instead of locat- thirties was extended in the forties when war available than he was before, and you have to ganizations to be worked out. Workers at Ster- ing the violated clause and leaving their fate to production requirements and the labor, short- have your foreman go looking for him should ling have indicated that it took approximately a bureaucracy, they simply sent the steward to age forced the government and the corpora- you happen to need him . four years for the plant to be transformed from see the general foreman. tions to make concessions to workers’ control. just an accidental combination of workers to a But that was also the period during which the The che9k-off produced a similar situation. relatively well organized and disciplined force. Since their interest in this discussion was very separation of workers from the union struc- Designed to keep the company from pressur- great, they accompanied the steward and ing weaker worker& to stay out of the union stood around outside the foreman’s office even though they were sharing in its benefits, while the discussion was going on. the check-off ended up reducing worker pres- 1. 30 years later things have changed sure on the union officials. dramatically. We now have cell phones The time they picked for this meeting was just and can avoid the simple problems after they had loaded a heat into the furnace. much easier. No longer does the steward have to listen to The heat was scheduled to emerge from the workers1 complaints each month as he goes other end of the furnace 20 minutes. later. If wound collecting the dues. Once a month the the heat was not pulled at that time the dam- dues are delivered in one huge check from the age to both the steel being treated and to the company to the union and the worker never furnace itself would have been irreparable.’ sees his dues payment.World War II finished what the Ford contract had begun. The top

The Working Class and Social Change Change pointed from the top was replaced by an au- without having to get the foreman’s permis- 101 tonomous union which could vote on its own sion or the presence of a relief man, the right officers or contracts. Any worker can illustrate to reasonable breaks in the work, the right the bureaucratic history of his own union.The to a reasonable level of heat in the winter or grievance procedure became virtually worth- reasonable ventilation in the summer. And on less to the workers. In 1955 at the terminati6n and on.The grievances that crowd the dock- of a contract presumably designed to provide ets of General Motors and of other companies a grievance procedure, there were in some’ cover the total range of life in the factory. The GM plants as many as 10,000 unresolved fact that they are called grievances helps to grievances. conceal what they really are-a reflection of the total dissatisfaction of the workers in the The situation has not improved since then. way production is run and of the des ire of the layers of the union leadership were incorpo- GM complains that the number of grievances workers to impose their own will in the factory. thought that workers would work without the rated into the government boards and agen- in its plants has grown from 106,000 in 1960 severest external discipline and control. And cies that managed and controlled war produc- to 256,000 in l%9 or 60 for each 100 workers. The UAW and the Ford Motor Company re- they still don’t. tion. In return certain concessions were made cently have been discussing the problem of in terms of union organization. What are these specific local grievances? boredom on the assembly line. The only rea- In addition, no matter what all the theoreti- They involve production standards: the speed son they are discussing it at all-it is by no cians of capitalism may say, workers are Union recognition was often arranged from of a line, the rate on a machine, the number means a new development-is because more treated very differently from anyone else. The above without the participation of the work- of workers assigned to a given job, the allow- and more workers are refusing to accept fac- industrial Division of American Standard has a ers in strike or other action. At this point in able variations in jobs on a given line. They tory discipline as a law of nature. plant in Dearborn, Michigan which manufac- time the lower levels of the union leadership involve health and safety standards : unsafe tures industrial air conditioning. The company were still pretty close to the workers and very machines, cluttered or oily floors, rates of pro- And it is not boredom but power which is at places ads in trade journals urging employers often local union officials participated in and duction which prevent the taking of reason- stake.The same worker who for eight hours a to air condition their facilities. supported the numerous wildcat strikes that able precautions, the absence or misuse of day attaches belts to a motor and can’t wait to took place.This process of bureaucratization hoists or cranes, protection from flames or fur- get out of the plant will spend his weekends The office section of the facility is air condi- was completed with Walter Reuther’s victory naces, protection from sharp, unfinished met- tinkering with his car and consider it reward- tioned. The plant is not. The only thing that and his substitution of the “one-party state” al, protection from welding or other dangerous ing work. The difference is in who controls makes this situation unusual is that the com- in control of the union for the democratic kind chemicals or flames, the right to shut an un- the work.It might be worth noting a couple of pany manufactures the equipment. But even of factionalism that had been the norm in the safe job down until the condition is changed. things. All workers are exploited to one degree that isn’t enough to get them to provide for UAW before. or another. But office workers on the whole do blue-collar workers what office workers, en- They involve the quality of life in the plant: the not have to walk past armed guards going to gineers, managers and professionals now And with the Reuther administration the union authoritarian company rules which treat work- and from work and have a certain amount of take as a matter of course.The reorganization, moved to participate directly in the manage- ers like a combination of prison inmate and freedom in scheduling their work on the job. technological change and decentralization ment and discipline of workers in production. kindergarten child, the right to move about the The coffee break is not a blue-collar institu- that characterized the fifties and culminated in All through the fifties, with intensive automa- plant, the right to relieve yourself physically tion.It is clear that historically bosses never the depression gave way to a new expansion tion and decentralization going on in the auto which brought significant numbers of young industry, the union collaborated in crushing workers into the industry in the U.S. These are the numerous wildcat strikes, in getting rid of workers who couldn’t care less about what the the most militant workers, in establishing la- union won in 1937. They are not more back- bor peace in the industry.In the other indus- ward (as the union bureaucrats like to pretend) trial unions the pace of bureaucratization was but more advanced. They are attuned to the much more advanced. In steel, for example, need to change the nature of work, to the need Phil Murray kept a tight and undemocratic of human beings to find satisfaction in what hold on the Steel Workers Organizing Com- they do. It is this new and changing working mittee until after the basic contracts had been class that was the basis for the new level of negotiated with United States Steel. It was wildcat strikes, for a doubled rate of absen- only then that the Organizing Committee ap- teeism, for an increased amount of violence in

The Working Class and Social Change Change plants. It is a new working class that no con- 103 ceivable contract settlement can control or im- mobilize. Both unions and industry are aware called in by the foreman to be told that I was of their problem to some degree. “The UAW fired. I asked for my committeeman (whom I believes,” says’ theFree Press, “that a better- had never seen in 89 days of work) and then trained corps of union stewards would be bet- became witness to a remarkable exchange. I ter equipped to cope with these issues and tried to tell the committeeman my side of the with gut plant problems like narcotics, alcohol- story, but he dismissed it cavalierly and sim- ism, loan-sharking, weapon-packing, pilfering ply assumed that all of the foreman’s charges and gambling. ‘A bunch of armed guards isn’t were valid. Yet, when they had finished their the only answer,’ said one committeeman.” bargaining (most of it not in my presence), the After 33 years of unionism, they have sudden- committeeman informed me that if I promised ly discovered that armed guards are not the not to violate the rules anymore, the foreman answer. To put it plainly, they have suddenly If that were not enough, the young workers in That means that the course of future develop- would not fire me. This,, seemingly, was the discovered that armed guards are not enough. the factories today are expressing the instinc- ments in the factories has to be sought outside union at its best-probationary employees have tive knowledge that even if they gained control the unions. Caucuses and factions will still be no rights whatever that either the company or The slowdown of automation in the sixties (a of the unions and reformed them completely, built and, here and there, will have temporary. the union is bound to respect; and simply by consequence of the shortage of capital) has they would still end up with unions - organi- and minor successes. But the explosions that reporting to work the next day I achieved a led to a relative stabilization. That is, workers zations which owe their existence to capitalist are still to come are likely to have the appear- new status that protected me from such hap- in new installations and in old ones that have relations of productions. ance of new revolutionary forms, organiza- hazard firing. been reorganized have now bad a few years to tions which are not simply organs of struggle work out new forms of organization. The com- The impossibility of transforming the unions but organs of control of production. They are a But what most impressed me about this ex- plaints against the young workers who make has been argued by a number of observers. sign of the future. perience was the fundamental argument used up a crucial force in the factories indicate that Clark Kerr has noted, without disapproval, that by the committeeman to win my case. He the wildcats of the past may be replaced, or at ‘unions and corporations alike are, with very False Promises: The Shaping of American Working charged the foreman with being unwilling to least supplemented, by something new. few exceptions, one-party governments.” That Class Consciousness share responsibility with the union for disci- The tightly knit structures of the big industrial is the phrase usually reserved for Stalinist or pline in the plant. He told him that the time to unions leave no room for maneuvering. There fascist totalitarian governments. But it is not by Stanley Aronowitz; McGraw Hill, 1973 call the committeemen was not after he had is no reasonable way in which young workers overdrawn. fired a worker and left the committeeman no can use the union constitution to overturn and Aronowitz’s book is a substantial departure alternative but to defend him, but when he overhaul the union structure. The constitution Paul Jacobs has documented this in the case from the usual intellectual view of working first saw the worker “going wrong.” Then the is against them; the money and jobs available of the unions: class consciousness. In the first place, he committeeman could come over and tell the to union bureaucrats are against them. And if does not equate workers with the unions that worker that what he was doing was not the these fail, the forces of law and order of city, A study of 70 international union constitutions, claim to represent them. “The unions,’, says way things were done around here, whether it state and federal governments are against the formal instruments that rule a membership Aronowitz, “have all but abandoned the fight was washing up early, taking an extra break, or them. of almost 16,000,000 workers, shows among for decent working conditions, and, insofar whatever. That way the worker was reformed other things that in most of these 70 unions as they are perceived as staunch defenders (disciplined), the foreman was ‘content and the power is generally concentrated in the hands of the status quo in terms of the organization committeeman did not have to write a griev- of the international presidents, with few re- of work, they are increasingly looked upon as straints placed upon them, that discipline may enemies.” (p.409) Although I have certain mi- be enforced against union members with little nor reservations with respect to his analysis, regard for due process, and that opposition to the fact that he sees unions as inherently or the incumbent administration is almost impos- institutionally conservative is a substantial ad- sible. vance over the usual wisdom of the left.

Many years ago I was hired in at the Detroit And all of this is what young workers are re- Transmission Division of General Motors. On volting against. the last day of my probationary period, I was

The Working Class and Social Change Change bling up” (Workers covering for each other combination of Aronowitz’s personal experi- 105 and performing two jobs so that unauthorized ences in and out of the labor movement, the breaks can be taken)) with an extensive re- problems of McCarthyism, and the changes in view of working-class social reality outside of the labor movement during this period. work as embodied in education, play, sports, entertainment, film, and so on. The interplay But, while Aronowitz goes far beyond most of his own personal experience, attention to other commentators on the labor scene, there historical development, and familiarity with are some fundamental weaknesses which dis- major intellectual figures makes for a richness tort his analysis. To begin with, he asks the of and perception, although sometimes at the wrong question: “The fundamental question to expense of rather arbitrary judgments. The be explored in this book is why the working main emphasis, not only in this earlier section, class in America remains a dependent force in ance. This incident gave me some insight into but throughout the book, tends to be the so- society and what the conditions are that may my own earlier experience as a steward and as cialization of the working class into capitalist reverse this situation.” I do not mean to imply a committeeman. Assuming that I was a mili- society.1 that it is an unreasonable question. But, taken tant union representative and not concerned by itself, it is a limited question and will inevi- with maintaining discipline, suppose I entered The central section of False Promises, “The tably bring distorted answers. The problem is the toilet and found a worker asleep. I could Formation of the American Working Class,” that the worker is viewed essentially as victim. ignore him, or I could tap him on the shoulder continues this richness of treatment but con- Whether Aronowitz is discussing the important and tell him that if he were caught there was centrates on those factors which divide the spheres of popular culture and entertainment no way I could protect his job. How was this working class and limit its development: eth- or industrial militancy, the worker is every- fundamentally different from the role of a con- nic divisions above all, but also divisions along where the victim, unable to exercise significant servative union representative? sexual, religious or racial lines; craft divisions; influence on his or her own social reality. and the influence of workers’ European peas- It is always nicer, I suppose, to have pure mo- ant origins². There is a kind of climax to this In dealing with education, for example, the tives than to have reprehensible motives. But development in his treatment of trade union- book is quite perceptive, except for its view fundamentally the function of the union rep- ism and its limitations. His critical perceptions of the historical origins of compulsory popular resentative is to enforce the contract. And, are especially unusual (and difficult) for some- education: “The movement for reforms such while the contract spells out certain rights of one who has experienced union activism in the as child and female labor restrictions, facto- workers (mostly in terms of dollars and cents), direct way that Aronowitz has.There are some ry laws that required a minimum standard of it also spells out certain rights of management. chapters on the changes in the middle class in health and safety to be maintained by employ- It is these rights of management which work- the direction of a “professional servant class,” ers, and free compulsory schooling were mo- ers are not prepared to accept, and the union’s and the creation of white-collar proletarians, tivated by both the short-term and long-term enforcement of these rights, often enough, which seem less relevant to the main theme interests of the rising capitalist classes.” (p.72) gives them their view of the union as enemy, of the book. The conclusions are prefaced by This view is also applied to the origin of unions; as “them,” as opposed to “us.” A second an interesting study of the “unsilent fifties,” a it is false in most respects and is not helped sense in which Aronowitz’s book is a depar- ture is that it grasps much of the totality and complexity of working-class consciousness. ‘We must examine daily life,” he says, “for it 1. Nothing good ever came out of calling someone a capitalist while is in the structures of everyday existence that under the influence of alcohol after a the social structure is reproduced in the minds long day at work. of its participants.” (p. xi) In the opening sec- 2. Peasant is also a very rude thing tion of the book Aronowitz combines a very to call someone if they know what it astute description of the new reality of work means. Most kids couldn't spell the at the Lordstown, Ohio, GM plant (he scoops word, sadly. the New York Times which only last December discovered the Lordstown practice of “dou-

The Working Class and Social Change Change by the relative ambiguity of a term like “mo- 107 tivated.” The fact of the matter is that work- ers formed unions, workers fought for factory entertainment. How else to understand how reform, and workers fought for compulsory, the black community used the Muhammed free, popular education. They were assisted Ali-Patterson fight for its own ends? by rather small numbers of middle-class re- formers. They were opposed by capitalists es- Seeing the worker only as victim leads to a sentially because it was not in their short-term very strange conclusion. The answer to the interest.What is involved is a relatively simple question originally asked, “what the condi- contradiction. All reforms that stop short of tions are that may reverse this situation of the overthrowing the capitalist system become working class as a dependent force, is-none. co-opted by that system and turned to its ad- Aronowitz sees the American working class vantage (but not necessarily to the advantage ing capitalism. But here another problem is ticipation) as opposed to “mass” culture. The as overwhelmingly fragmented by divisions of of any particular capitalists). All that says is posed. Aronowitz cannot finally abandon the distinction between popular culture and mass sex, ethnicity, and race, and, most important, that if the system isn’t overthrown it continues intellectual conception of conscious ness culture, however, is artificial and is not a matter by the division of labor in the factory itself. In to function. But that is a far cry from viewing as verbalization and throughout the book, in of “participation.” The audience did not “par- this I believe he too easily confuses multiplic- massive social movements as capitalist ma- discussing massive social struggles, he ulti- ticipate” in the production of Shakespeare’s ity of job classifications with the hierarchy of nipulations. That schools or unions today are mately dismisses them because they weren’t plays or those of Aeschylus. But the audience, management. As a matter of fact, one of the institutions for the socialization of children and “conscious” or “self-conscious.” consciously or unconsciously, was constantly characteristics of the American factory which workers into this system does not mean that in the mind of the artist who had to depend on often surprises Europeans is the limited range they were created by the capitalists to fool the The workers’ growing resistance to work, their the vote of the Athenian citizen or the thrup- of wage differentials among production work- workers. That conspiratorial theory of history attempts to control the workplace, are mini- pence of the Elizabethan English for accep- ers. But Aronowitz’s conclusion is a total rever- lies just beneath the surface of Aronowitz’s mized: because they seek “only” to control tance of his work. Great art has, often enough, sal of the role of the working class. Two pas- book. the workplace, they are not revolutionary. It is been produced in response to an audience. Is sages illustrate this: “I believe that [Lenin] and startling that a radical intellectual like Aronow- it too much to think in terms of the same rela- Marx were too optimistic and underestimated Something more important than historical itz should have a more conservative view of tionship in the movie (Chaplin, Eisenstein, etc., the alienation of workers from one another credit is involved in this. if the working class working-class activity than Establishment so- etc.)? Is the audience, whether of a motion embedded in the division of labor and the fac- has been nothing but a victim (except for nar- ciologists. In Work in America, a report of a picture, a football game, or a television show, tory system,” (p.417) and “The redundancy row questions of hours and wages, etc.) then special Task Force to the Secretary of Health, purely passive victim? Or does it exercise its of, large portions of the labor force, espe- it is hard to see what possible sources of radi- Education, and Welfare, published by M.I.T. own influence-always and obviously within the cially women and children, created b~ labor- calization exist. But if the working class has’ Press in 1973, workers’ alienation is seen as framework of the existing social system? If saving technologies has led to the increased continually attempted to transform society, a direct source of political radicalization: “The Aronowitz thinks, as he seems to, that the mu- importance of institutions whose central role and has succeeded in transforming capital- result of alienation is often the withdrawal of sic of the young is somehow anti-capitalist, or in society is the transmission of values and ist society, then it is that continuous struggle the worker from community or political activity at least more revolutionary, than a film such as ideologies that reproduce capitalism within which transforms the working class itself and Or the displacement of his frustrations through Viva Zapata or The Wild Ones, then he hasn’t the consciousness of the working class in the makes it capable of ultimately overthrow- participation in radical social or political move- noticed some of the racist rock and folk mu- absence of experiences in the workplace that ments.” (p.22) According to this report, “there sic or the sentimental pie-in- the-sky songs of formerly performed this function.” (pp.420-1) is now’ convincing evidence that some blue- good feeling which seek to opt out of this so- collar workers are carrying their work frustra- ciety and all political activity. It is not a matter tions home and displacing them in extremist of quality. Most entertainment that is produced social or political movements or in hostility to- for profit (as well as most amateur entertain- ward the government.” (p.30) ment) is junk. What is involved is the percep- tion that changes in the popular media, chang- The same problem appears in the discussion es in sports, are at least in part responses to of mass culture. Aronowitz comes very close the pressure of the audience. Radicals need to to a traditional elitist view of culture, although explore that element in popular culture along he modifies it by defending a presumably with the bureaucratic, profit-making, manipu- older “popular” culture (implying popular par- lative forces which control the production of

The Working Class and Social Change Change the revolution? Does it require workers at all? industry. This section appears in the chapter 109 on Cooperation, two chapters prior to the one But first, a digression. Aronowitz ‘does not in which he begins his discussion of Machin- deal extensively with Marx-there are relative- ery and Modern Industry. ly few references to Marx in his book. But I think it is necessary to note that his reading To return to the problem. The working class is of Marx tends to be superficial and, therefore, crucial to the socialist revolution for essentially deceptive. Most references to Marx are rather two reasons. One is that the process of pro- general and have no specific citations. There duction, the production and transportation of is one exception, and it is instructive. Aronow- food, clothing, shelter, etc., is fundamental to itz says, “Marx’s belief that large-scale indus- any society and the section of society which try provided the social political basis for the can gain control of that process can gain con- This last is hard to believe. Aronowitz is not working class to be the first exploited class in trol of the society as a whole. For example, a does not happen there is no social revolution. modifying or adjusting Marx’s and Lenin’s “op- human history to take control of society was strike of students, of teachers, or of bank tell- Whatever else may happen-and a revolution is timism.” He is directly contradicting them. He expressed in his analogy of ‘the power of the ers, may have considerable political impact a vast, complex totality-if the workers do not is not saying that the work experience does industrial workers to the ‘offensive power of a but it brings nothing but the immediate activi- gain possession of the means of production, not lead to sufficient class or revolutionary squadron of cavalry’.” (p.416) Marx says; “Just ties to a halt. But workers in a steel mill, on a then governments may have been overthrown, consciousness. He is saying that the work ex- as the offensive power of a squadron of cav- railroad, in an auto plant, can affect the econ- but society has not been transformed. What perience leads to the exact opposite, to the alry, or the defensive power of a regiment of omy far beyond their own specific workplace. is amazing is that Aronowitz documents that acceptance of capitalist society. infantry, is essentially different from the sum of capacity and that reality but refuses to accept the offensive or defensive powers of the indi- Moreover, they are aware of that reality and it for what it is. Where, then, is the basis for a revolutionary vidual cavalry or infantry soldiers taken sepa- that awareness is an integral part of working- perspective? “The infection of democratic rately, so the sum of the total of the mechani- class consciousness. “In both America and Britain,” he writes, “re- ideology and the social legitimation of erotic cal forces exerted by isolated workmen differs cent experience has demonstrated clearly that needs by mass culture among this generation from the social force that is developed, when The second reason for the centrality of the the sheer social power of workers within the of young workers constitutes the permanent many hands take part simultaneously in one working class is that the socialist revolution factories or the offices to transform production roots of the revolt. These impulses are the ma- and the same undivided operation, such as must involve the transformation of work and or to challenge the rule of capital is beyond terial basis for hope that a new working class raising a heavy weight, turning a winch, or re- the workplace or it is not a social revolution at question.” What more could one want? Well, strategy can transcend both trade unionism moving an obstacle... . Not only have we here all. What transformed the Hungarian Revolu- Aronowitz wants culture. “American workers and particularistic demands.” (p.423) We will an increase in the productive power of the tion of 1956 from street demonstrations and have perfected the strike weapon to a degree leave aside the problem of a generation of individual, by means of cooperation, but the guerrilla fighting to a social revolution was that unknown in European countries, but it is their the young providing the permanent roots of creation of a new power, namely, the collective the working class took over the means of pro- cultural level that prevents them from tran- anything. The only thing permanent about a power of masses.” (Capital, 1, pp.357-8, Mod- duction and formed workers’ councils. What scending corporate domination.(p.428) younger generation is their inevitable replace- ern Library edition) Not only is Marx not talking transformed France in l%8 was that several ment by another generation. We will also leave of anything more than mechanical or produc- weeks of student battles with the police gave Writing about the struggles of the Thirties aside the problem of how ideology and culture tive power, he is not even talking about heavy way to the occupation of the factories. if that and earlier, Aronowitz says, “The employ- can be the material basis for anything. What ers in Minneapolis, Seattle and Detroit were we cannot put aside is the fact that the word well aware of the spontaneous and danger- “workers” after “young” is purely gratuitous. ous quality of the strikes of the thirties, and of We are not talking about workers at all. We their further implications. They demanded that are simply talking about the young. After all, all legal machinery of the state be mobilized the only thing that distinguishes young work- to prevent the seizure of factories and trans- ers from their peers is that their potential class portation systems by the workers and that the consciousness is fragmented by their work strikes be suppressed by arms if necessary.” experience. So that we are not even talking (p.424) (One might interject-what “further im- about class consciousness; we are talking plications,” known to the employers but kept about youth consciousness. And that brings safely concealed by Aronowitz?) But how us to another problem: what is the nature of does Aronowitz sum up the experience of the

The Working Class and Social Change Change Thirties?, “ the Great Depression of 1929 pre- 111 vented the emergence of mass working class consciousness until the postwar era.” (p.402) framework of formal organizations or not, win for the working class whatever it is possible to False Promises is a strange book. Despite a win under capitalism. Whether these victories certain carelessness of presentation, I rec- are wage increases, or free universal compul- ommend it to all concerned with the work- sory education, or child labor laws, or anything ing class for its extensive documentation of else, they are never granted without struggle. the working-class experience, at work, in the That is, they are never-in the first instance- larger society, and in the unions. It is imbued tricks to deceive the working class. with the conception that freedom is the funda- mental quality of revolutionary change and it However, the victories of the working class and rejects the strangling doctrines and structures of working-class struggles that are more often was the unions or political parties of the pre- their organizations all become transformed. of the union movement and of the vanguard dismissed with the adjective “economic”. The Civil War period, the Knights of Labor, the AFL, There is a dialectical process at work. So long parties. Yet it cannot overcome a conception meaning of these struggles clearly derives or the IWW-and no matter what these orga- as the struggle ends short of the socialist revo- of working-class consciousness which re- from the activities of the workers themselves nizations later became-they were created by lution, every codification of victory, every kind duces workers to victims and consciousness and the ways in which these activities threaten ordinary workers. of organization, becomes absorbed and insti- to verbalizations.The American Working Class capitalist society. The absence of formal orga- tutionalized into capitalist society. In a sense in Historical Perspective Strike! fills a substan- nizations with formal programs is not and can- There is a need to perceive the development the class struggle consists of overturning past tial gap in the history of the American work- not be the test of revolutionary significance. of the American working class in terms of con- victories. This is not simply a theoretical view ing class and brings to its material a point of Having said this, however, I want to deal with tradictions that are more subtle than a simple of past history. It bears a current reality. Unions view that helps considerably to counteract the Brecher’s book critically, to indicate its limita- workers-versus-organizations dichotomy. have exhausted their p05sibilities in American almost universally bureaucratic attitudes of la- tions and weaknesses. Workers create organizations - out of needs capitalist society. But that is a one-sided ab- bor historians. It is extremely rare to find a his- and possibilities, not out of principles. In the straction. What does one say to migrant farm torian who does not equate the working class The problem that pervades the whole book pre-industrial period of the American work- workers, or to hospital workers, or to work- with the organized labor movement, or, even is the problem of organization. Strike! is a ing class, workers created unions which were ers in chicken-processing plants, all of whom worse, with the leadership of that movement. documented critique of the role of labor orga- essentially local in compass. National unions earn (or earned) income for full-time work that And when that rare exception is found, it is nizations of all types and of labor leaders in were not possible, given the level of technol- was well under the poverty level? Is anyone even rarer to find someone who thinks that the restraining and limiting the militancy and revo- ogy and transportation (although the creation prepared to say that they should wait until the absence of organizational institutions is any- lutionary capacity of ordinary workers. That is of local unions was a national phenomenon). socialist revolution makes bureaucratic unions thing but a sign of weakness. fine as far as it goes. But it never deals with These unions were organizations of self-de- unnecessary? It seems evident that workers the question of organization in a fundamen- fense. The idea of a new society appeared have to go through a certain experience, if only Brecher brings to his book deep democratic tal way. Unless you accept a conspiratorial from the very beginning in embryo form. But to give themselves a little breathing space, a convictions, without which there can be no theory of history-that labor organizations are it could only develop in activity, being shaped little elbow room. Not absolutely, not every last revolutionary convictions. He also brings a everywhere introduced to restrain and defeat by continuing struggles, by victories, and by worker and work place, but in general. sense of the political and historical importance workers-you have to deal with the question of defeats. It could not develop as an ideology. why labor organizations of various types arise. But there is more involved than an accumula- “Arise” is too abstract a word. Labor organiza- The working class is inherently revolutionary. tion of experience, of victories and defeats. It tions are created by workers, by ordinary rank- This is not a matter of formal consciousness. and-file workers. George Rawick noted a few “The ideas of the ruling class are in every ep- years ago that “The unions did not organize och the ruling ideas.”2 lt is a matter of devel- the strikes; the working class in and through oping in practice the capacity to create a new the strikes organized the unions.”1 This was society. That development takes the form, of written about the formation of the CIO. The necessity, of exhausting the possibilities of principle, ,however, is true of any stage of the bourgeois society. That Is, workers create or- American working class. Brecher documents ganizations of various kinds in order to strug- the same phenomenon in relation to the 1877 gle for whatever seems useful to them. These strikes and the Knights of Labor. Whether it struggles, whether they take place within the

The Working Class and Social Change Change historical sections, to view consciousness said, along time ago, that “We cannot equate 113 in narrowly intellectual terms. For example, the patriotism of the working class with the Brecher says that “Workers, out of their own patriotism of the bourgeoisie.” weakness, felt the need for strong leaders...” “All historical writing,” says Brecher (Page ix), (Page 285) That is an interesting phenomenon- “is a matter of selecting a limited number of that workers should produce their strongest significant facts from an infinity of others.”’ It leaders (John L. Lewis¹, for example) when is curious that in discussing the current scene they are themselves strongest (the period of he should use different standards of judgment the creation of the CIO). The strength of the from those he uses in discussing past history. leaders, in fact, derives from the strength of In describing the past he seeks out the events the workers, and has to be viewed both as a and the statements that indicate the revolu- creation of the workers and as an antagonist tionary character of the struggles. That obvi- is in these struggles that workers develop their to the workers. ously does not mean that that was all there strikers are not ‘socially conscious’. There is capacity to transform society-and they begin was. It does not take into Account the millions considerable truth in this view (Page28l) by transforming capitalist society. The period Brecher’s failure to see the duality, the con- of individual incidents of racism, of sexism, that precedes the point at which Brecher be- tradiction, within the working class and to see of patriotism, of plain ordinary stupidity that I don’t want to exaggerate. Brecher indicates gins has some interesting examples. Two of consciousness as activity leads him to reintro- workers (like everyone else) are guilty of. Does reservations that modify this view. But basical- the major labor demands of the period be- duce the idea of working-class backwardness. that result in a distorted picture? Not at all. It ly he accepts the charges of racial and sexual’ fore the Civil War, particularly about the time “From 1969 to 1971,” says Brecher (Page is not especially significant that in their day- division, lack of class consciousness, and so of Andrew Jackson, were free compulsory 290), “workers, like the rest of the population, to-day lives workers are weighted down by on. It leads him into the trap of economism. education and objective incorporation laws. developed an overwhelming opposition to the what Marx called “all the old crap”. It would be To reply to the charge of affluence as a con- Both of these demands were won, and won Vietnam war.” But that is only part of the pic- miraculous if it were otherwise. What is signifi- servative influence, Brecher turns to the Old largely, though not entirely, through the efforts ture, the part that deals with verbalized con- cant is the evidence that in periods of struggle Left dependence on the inevitable depression. of the working class and working-class or- sciousness. The fact is that well before 1969, workers can break out of that and overcome (What depression led to the Hungarian revolu- ganizations. Both demands obviously served ordinary American workers, in the pursuit of the limitations that bourgeois society imposes tion of 1956 or the French revolution of 1968?) to strengthen and expand American capital- their “narrow” class objectives, interfered with on them. What is more serious, he turns to a redefinition ism, by providing an educational system that and prevented more war production than all of of the working class, some of it justified, most trained a working class suitable to capitalism the anti-war demonstrations put together. In of it not justified. and by breaking away from the earlier, mo- strikes at North American Aviation in Missouri, Why, then, does he revert to the methodology nopolistic forms of incorporation by legislative at Olin-Matheisen in Illinois, on the Southern of academic labor historians¹ when he dis- He seems to accept the charge of affluence fiat. What is the significance of these victories Railway System, and on the Missouri Pacific, cusses the present? “It is often suggested that as a source of conservatism by indicating that for us today, and for the working class? Is it workers refused to succumb to patriotic pres- today’s renewed labor militance differs from only a small part of the working class is af- that workers were stupid and tricked and did sure ‘from politicians, union leaders, and busi- ,that of the past in that today’s strikers are fluent-the unionized white male workers. The the work of the bourgeoisie and were co-opt- ness executives and went their own way-not ‘only out for themselves’, rather than seeing majority of the working class, he says, is black, ed into bourgeois society? Or is it rather that because they were anti-war, but because they their actions as part of a broader struggle. This female, or young, and is not affluent. That -ar workers showed and developed the capacity put the class struggle first. (It was Lenin who is often expressed in the phrase that today’s gument simply will not do. First, if you exclude to transform society-to whatever extent was the skilled trades, construction, and the like, objectively possible? To put it another way, did the best paid and most-thoroughly-unionized’ these victories show that socialism is impos- areas are the basic and heavy industries. They sible, or did they show that socialism is inevi- 1. Lewis was most famous for his adven- 1. These historians spend most of their are so crucial to society, and particularly to tures with a good buddy of his, Clark day locked up in a library. some without table? windows even. revolutionary potential, that they cannot be brushed aside and their place taken by service The problems raised here, or rather the failure workers, migrant farm workers, clerical work- to deal with them, leads to some awkward ers, and so on. consequences in the last few chapters when Brecher is discussing current possibilities and But the point is that this is not needed. There future perspectives. These are, compounded are substantial numbers black workers in auto, by a tendency, which is not apparent in the steel, transportation, and the like. No one be-

The Working Class and Social Change Change lieves today that high auto or steel wages wa- 115 ter down their militancy (although that was a widespread belief before the 1967 Detroit re- took an invasion by a foreign power. bellion). Brecher says that “There is a natural tendency for responsibility to re-centralize in the hands of a few individuals, accepted leaders, who Why should black workers be immune to the then come to do more and more of the move- evils of affluence while white workers inevita- ment’s thinking and deciding for it.” (Page 307) bly succumb? Obviously there is a difference There is nothing natural about it. And in any rooted in racial discrimination and oppression. case it is not a tendency that will be countered But how deep is that difference? Does the by “will”. The centralization of power is the black auto worker with 10 or 20 years’ senior- tendency of the counter-revolution to step in ity, making over $5 an hour and working con- tions have shifted from self-employed to sala- to fill any gaps or lacks that are permitted by siderable overtime, have an absolute empathy ried does not make them working-class. The What is the source of the revolutionary ca- the working class. That is to say, there are two with the unemployed ghetto youngster? Or form of payment is an insecure test of class. pacity of the working class? It is the fact that “natural” tendencies-that of workers to decen- an absolute antipathy to his white fellow auto Objective function in relation to production or workers are at the point of production, that tralize and democratize, and that of capital (no worker? the society as a whole’ would seem to be a their work itself teaches them how to run pro- matter who speaks in its name) to discipline better test. It would seem to me that profes- duction, and that the conditions of their work and centralize. To raise the Stalinist over- Black workers are likely to be more militant sionally-trained people (such as teachers or force them to struggle against the existing throw of the Russian Revolution in the way than their white fellow workers. Young workers social workers) whose basic role is to manipu- relations of production, and therefore against that Brecher does is to assume that 50 years are likely to be more militant than their older late others in order to secure the smooth func- capitalist society. The fundamental indicator of history have brought about no changes in fellow workers (white or black). But these dif- tioning of society are best defined as middle- of revolutionary capacity is not political belief, capitalist society and in the working classes of ferences are only relative, and simply indicate class. The fact that they are also exploited and much less demands and slogans, but rather the industrial nations. where the initial sparks tend to come from. alienated and that opposition to bourgeois so- the capacity to organize production and to Struggles tend to be initiated by the young ciety appears within their ranks is evidence of defend the new social relations from attack. In this context the American working class are and the black. That was probably just as true the decline of bourgeois society and the ability Brecher’s criticism of the Russian Revolution not less advanced than their brothers of 50 or a hundred years ago as today (if you substi- of revolutionary impulses to appear anywhere. is totally misplaced. (I disagree with the de- 100 years ago, but more advanced. Better ed- tute immigrants for blacks). But the rest of the Their objective role remains (even when it is tails of his criticism, but I don’t see the point to ucated, better organized (not by unions, but by working class tends to follow these more ag- unwilling) social control. raising that discussion in the present context.) production), with the most advanced means gressive elements. What led to the defeat of the Russian Revolu- of communication available to them, without Secondly, Brecher accepts too readily gov- tion was not Lenin’s evil ways, but the inability the loyalty to old established labor parties that Trying to shift the discussion to the so-called ernment statistics that seem to indicate the of the Russian working class to take control still inhibits European workers... American new working class, Brecher falls into further relative decline of blue-collar work. The’ Gov- of the means of production and run the soci- workers-and particularly those in transporta- distortions. First of all, he equates salaried ernment’s own figures, when properly broken ety. This inability did not stem from lack of will. tion and heavy industry-have the capacity workers with the working class. Simply be- down, indicate that the majority of the work- If there was lack of will, it was because “will” to transform American society. Brecher sees cause some traditional middle-class occupa- ing class are still blue collar and are likely to was obviously not enough. If you compare the this only dimly, and the result is that in the remain that way for at least another 10 years. Russian Revolution of 1917 with the -Hungar- last chapters of his book he departs from the ian revolution of 1956, it becomes evident methodology that sustains and informs most The problem is that Brecher is not aware of the that in all the things that matter in creating a roots of the revolutionary capacity of the pro- new society the Hungarian workers were far in letariat, and tends, in the last chapters of his advance of the Russian. They were not a tiny book, to on “consciousness” or-what amounts minority in a vast peasant country; they were to the same thing-’ ‘will” as the basis for a rev- literate and had access to and familiarity with olutionary perspective. “Only the will to keep the most modern technology and the most ad- in their own hands the power they have taken vanced means of communication. They took can protect ordinary people from losing it.,’ hold of the means of production and began to (Page 308) That is nonsense, and if it were true build a new state and anew society. Nothing the cause would already be lost. in Hungarian society could defeat them. That

The Working Class and Social Change Change of what he writes. Instead of seeking out the 117 evidence of revolutionary capacity and inher- ently revolutionary activity, he begins to look for substitutes for it. That is not much help to either history or the working class. Marx and Engels wrote in their earlier days: “Both for the production on a mass scale of this commu- nist consciousness, and for the success of the cause itself, the alteration of men on a mass scale is necessary, an alteration which can only take place in a practical movement, a rev- olution. This revolution is necessary, therefore, not only because the ruling class cannot be overthrown any other way, but also because the class overthrowing it can only in a revolu- It is the real, existing, American working tion succeed in ridding itself of all the muck of ages and become fitted to found society class, with all its limitations, that will make anew.’ ‘3 the American revolution. But in making It is the real, existing, American working class, with all its limitations, that will make the Ameri- that revolution, it will be transformed. can revolution. But in making that revolution, it will be transformed.

The Working Class and Social Change Change 119

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