Book Reviews

Book Reviews Jake Alimahomed-Wilson. Solidarity Jake Alimahomed-Wilson, an aca- Forever? Race, Gender, and demic sociologist teaching at Cali- Unionism in the Ports of Southern fornia State University, Long Beach, California. Lanham, MD: Lexington uses existing repositories of oral Books, an imprint of The Rowman & histories as well as some of his own Littlefield Publishing Group, www. conducted interviews and results rowman.com, 2016. xi+205 pp., bib- from field study observation to liography, index. US $85.00, hard- explore the challenges and barriers back; ISBN 978-1-4985-1434-7. (E- facing black workers and women on book available, ISBN 978-1-4985- the waterfronts of San Pedro, Long 1435-4.) Beach, and Los Angeles at the hands of union officials and members, both The International Longshore and historically and up to the present day. Warehouse Union (ILWU), a dom- Alimahomed-Wilson argues that inant waterfront labour union along institutionalized racial and gender the West Coast of North America, inequality have been the lot of has carefully cultivated a militant, minority groups outside the over- radical image and brand that arching white, masculine longshore represents rank-and-file members and culture in the commercial ports of glorifies the long-time leadership of southern California for a long time. Harry Bridges, to almost mythical Persons of colour and women, or proportions. Oral histories — record- both, were denied fair opportunity for ed, preserved, and made available hiring and employment, consistently through the efforts of officially discriminated against and harassed, sanctioned historians like Harvey occasionally threatened with vio- Schwartz, and equally committed lence, and made to feel unwelcome individuals and groups at local levels on the waterfront. Nonetheless, they — have brought voice and content to persisted in gaining recognition of this endeavour. What better than past their rights and fought back with and present longshore workers telling targeted lawsuits to force the union their stories and experiences in their and the employers' association to own words? accept and integrate more of them. Since its founding in 1937, the As a consequence, numbers of ILWU has outwardly abhorred all blacks, Latinos, and women slowly forms of discrimination on the basis increased among longshore workers of race or other lines of prejudice. in ILWU Local 13, marine clerks in The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord, XXVI, No. 3 (July 2016), 317-370. 318 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord ILWU Local 63, and unionized tinue the trail-blazing work of his foremen in ILWU Local 94, though foreman father; and Clovijean Good, overall percentages still remain small a black woman from an established and structural discrimination con- longshore family behind a prominent tinues. Technological and organiza- court challenge, among others. From tional changes, in turn, created new the Unemployed 500, when black job classifications and broke up the longshore workers were deregistered old gang system and its lingering from the union post-war, to the pat- culture. riarchal networks that reserved spots The money spent by union locals on the waterfront for favoured family in defending against lawsuits and members, minorities struggled reaching settlements with its own against discriminatory behaviour on members, paid for by other members, the part of union locals. is presented as a waste of resources The individual stories and re- in light of other priorities, when collections are important, though policies could simply be changed. without further reference to docu- Alimahomed-Wilson is almost sad to mentary sources such as minute reach the conclusions that he does, books, financial records, and volu- given that the ILWU is still con- minous legal proceedings, oral his- sidered among the most progressive tory alone has limitations. The exam- and principled unions in the Amer- ination for discovery before trial, for ican labour movement. Despite being instance, represents a form of oral aware of problems with racism and history, one taken under oath, tran- sexism, Harry Bridges and other scribed, and subject to scrutiny by an international officers were reluctant opposing lawyer. Besides the oral to intervene in the affairs of auto- history collections used by nomous union locals which were left Alimahomed-Wilson, the ILWU to deal with matters themselves. Anne Rand Library in San Francisco Obviously, southern California ports has correspondence files arranged by were slower than other West Coast union local and individual officials, locations to catch up with the times, as well as the international executive and integrate black and female board minutes. Harry Bridges, who workers more fully in the union. once graced the cover of Time Individual chapters draw magazine, knew his way around a extensively from oral histories and courtroom, as evidenced by his provide useful background bio- vehicular homicide charges, deport- graphical profiles for the longshore ation hearings, high-profile political workers interviewed by Alimahomed- trials, and divorce cases. In the Brit- Wilson: Tony Salcido, a Latino in- ish Columbia context, ILWU locals volved in the union leadership who are relatively well-off financially and preserved much of the historical routinely engage in legal proceed- record; Elbert Kelly Jr., a black ings, either to benefit or defend Vietnam veteran attracted to the civil against members. Exactly how much rights movement and eager to con- did discrimination actually cost Book Reviews 319 ILWU locals in southern California Eighteenth Century) uses the per- in monetary terms, and could they sonal histories, letters and memoirs afford it as a part of doing business? of eighteenth-century Dutch sailors, This key question, so central to the to describe their lives at sea. Jaap overall argument, remains largely Bruijn taught maritime history at the unanswered by the available con- University of Leiden for some four sulted sources. decades, retiring in 2003. In this Solidarity Forever? has a high book, he has returned to where he retail price, no discount being offered began his research and writing began, for availability in a digital format. exploiting and summarizing many Save for the front cover, the book has things that he has learned through an no illustrations or photographs. extremely productive career. He Missing from the bibliography is specifically acknowledges the Russell Brewer's comparative study research and publications of his many of organized crime and waterfront students and other scholars whose unions in the Long Beach and Los work he incorporates in the book. Angeles areas, Policing on the There are numbers, for example, Waterfront (Oxford University Press, relating to the size of the maritime 2014). The basic index is quite dis- sector and how many men were appointing, and surprisingly, omits mustered to man the ships, which most of the longshore workers named helps establish a context for the in the book. Maritime historians personal stories. It is the concen- accustomed to rigorous research in tration on the detail of people’s lives, libraries, archives, and museums though, which gives the book an should not be put off by intimacy, in this case almost making Alimahomed-Wilson's sociological the historian and his readers some- and ethnographic approach, which thing of voyeurs. The personal touch has some utility in challenging the of reporting events in sailors’ lives, mythology behind the brand and the straightforward writing style and keeping the ILWU honest. the author’s clear command of every aspect of the topic makes the book Chris Madsen enjoyable and easy to read. North Vancouver, British Columbia Zeegang enjoys two meanings: swells created by the winds which Jaap R. Bruijn. Zeegang Zeevarend sailors faced and also the new sense Nederland in de achttiende eeuw. of a sailor going to sea. Using the Zutphen, Netherlands: WalbergPers, personal reminiscences of ten men www.walburgpers.nl, 2016. 319 pp., who, for various reasons, chose a life illustrations, bibliography, index. at sea, along with many letters that Euro 29, 50 €, hardback; ISBN 978- other sailors wrote or received, 9-46249-098-7. Bruijn describes in 12 chapters various aspects of work and practices in This finely-crafted book (translated the maritime world as well as the as Seafaring in the Netherlands in the institutions which shaped those who 320 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord were involved and what they did. colonies in North America, was a Where sailors came from, how they disaster for the Dutch navy, the were recruited, work and life on fisheries and for shipping in general. board, the dangers faced, the kinds of The conquest by revolutionary France goods carried or sought, the type of in 1795 which made the Netherlands ships employed in different enter- an enemy of Britain again, had an prises, the composition of crews, and even deeper and more sustained life on land for the sailors and their impact on the maritime sector. families each get separate treatment. Overfishing, most notably whaling, Bruijn identifies five different sectors and environmental changes along of Dutch shipping — the trade to the with increasing competition from East Indies and to the West, including British shipping, further damaged the Africa and the Americas, the fish- position of the Dutch and employ- eries, whaling, and the navy — and ment opportunities for sailors. Still, after an overview of the divisions, many men found work, mixing each is dealt with in a chapter. The sailing with jobs on land or signing Dutch East India Company gets on for the long voyage to Batavia extensive and detailed consideration, (Jakarta) and then sailing on East since the author has long been a India Company ships in the Far East leading figure in the study of Dutch before coming home, that is if they maritime connections with the colony lived long enough to do that. Even in southeast Asia. The other sectors that option disappeared after 1795 are not, however, in any way under- when the Dutch East India Company represented.

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