Bio-Bibliographical Sketch of Bert Cochran
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Implications for the Training Provision for Brazilian Office Workers
TECHNOLOGY, SKILLS AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF WORK: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TRAINING PROVISION FOR BRAZILIAN . OFFICE WORKERS Ana Maria Lakomy Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Education at the Institute of Education University of London Department of Policy Studies Institute of Education University of London 1995 BIEL LOREN. UNA/. Abstract This thesis is concerned with the process of office automation in Brazil and its skills and training outcomes. The thesis combines a theoretical analysis with an empirical study undertaken in Brazil. Following an introductory chapter, Chapter 2 discusses and analyses two existing theoretical perspectives which address the relationship between technology, work organisation and skills. These are: the labour process approach with reference to the 'deskilling thesis' developed by Harry Braverman (1974) and the 'flexible specialisation thesis' based on Michael Piore and Charles Sabel (1984). They focus on technological changes on the shopfloor, in advanced industrialised countries. Chapter 3 applies the main arguments put forward by these two • approaches to the office environment in advanced industrialised countries. Based on the discussion of a number of empirical studies concerned with the skill outcomes of new technology in the office, the chapter also develops two models of office automation: the 'technology-driven' and the 'informational' models. These models are used as a framework for the discussion of the empirical research undertaken in Brazilian offices. Chapter 4 discusses the recent economic developments in Brazil in order to provide a context for understanding the empirical findings. The chapter describes the country's process of industrialisation, the current economic context and its implications for the adoption of new technology in the Brazilian office environment. -
Before Braverman: Harry Frankel and the American Workers' Movement
chapter 8 Before Braverman: Harry Frankel and the American Workers’ Movement* What was so great about Harry Braverman? The question, obviously rhetorical, elicits a predictable response in academic circles, where the author of Labor and Monopoly Capital (1974) is deservedly praised for a text that christened the emerging field of labour process studies.1 Braverman’s book was rigorous in its conceptualisations, sufficiently abstract to present an argument that reached beyond particularities into generalised, universal experience and historical and empirical enough to sustain an analysis meant to be received across disciplin- ary boundaries. Moreover, it bridged the academic and activist worlds of left scholarship and practice, a breeze of fresh interpretive air that reinvigorated intellectual sensibilities and revived the study of the work process in fields such as history, sociology, economics, political science and human geography. One of the 50 or so most important studies produced in the third quarter of the 20th century, Labor and Monopoly Capital earned its author a remarkable reputation that, sadly, he never lived to enjoy.2 Authors of great books, having scored the music which rings in the collective ear of generations of readers, inevitably face a cacophony of criticism, some very good, some quite indifferent and some irritatingly bad. Braverman soon faced an avalanche of revisionist study, much of which was written to displace his analysis by showing that somewhere, somehow, some group’s historical engagement with the work process stepped outside the general boundaries developed in Labor and Monopoly Capital. In the end, such studies remain, for the most part, mere footnotes to the edifice of labour process studies, the foundation of which has been, for almost a quarter-century, Braverman’s book. -
I,/I(,I Ulpr Maceo Dixon National of Fice COPY I COPY COPY
I, 14 Charles Lane New York, N.Y. 10014 October 8, 1979 TO ORGANIZERS AND NATIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS Dear Comrades, Enclosed are copies of communications between comrades in industry and the National Of fice concern- ing trade-union activity and the role of worker- Bolsheviks. Also included is correspondence between David Herreshoff and Frank Lovell. Herreshoff is a former member of the party. These materials would be usef ul for trade-union fraction heads and coordinators Comradely , I,/i(,i ulpr Maceo Dixon National Of fice COPY I COPY COPY Phoenix, Arizona September 14,1979 Frank Lovell a / o S;i(ITrp 14 Charles Lane New York, N.Y. 10014 Dear comrade Lovell: In this letter I want to ask for your opinion on three questions . The first is what attitude our fractions should, in general, take towards "shop floor" issues in the plants. Before I go further, let me say that I am not of the opinion that our fractions should orient towards these "shop floor" issues and neglect what has been called "broad social questions." I agree generally with the replies to comrade Riehle in the pre-convention discussion by comrades Ryan, Kendrick and Taylor. But none of these articles dealt concretely with what attitude we should take towards "shop floor" questions. We clef initely should talk to as many workers as we can about "broad social issues" and socialism, sell the press, bring contacts to forums, etc. In the process, workers see us as people with intel- ligent ideas and consequently come up to us and ask us what to do about every problem, big and small. -
Where Did Braverman Go Wrong? a Marxist Response to the Politicist Critiques
Where did Braverman go wrong? A Marxist response to the politicist critiques Onde está errado Braverman? A resposta marxista às críticas politicistas Eduardo Sartelli1 Marina Kabat2 Abstract Braverman is considered an unquestionable reference of Marxist labour process. The objective of this paper is to show that despite Braverman’s undeniable achievements he forsakes the classical Marxist notions related to work organization, i. e. simple cooperation, manufacture and large-scale industry and replaces them with the notion of Taylorism. We also intend to show that because of this abandonment, Braverman cannot explain properly how the deskilling tendency operates in different historical periods, and in distinct industry branches. Finally, we try to demonstrate that those Marxist concepts neglected by Braverman are especially useful to understand labor unrest related to job organization. Braverman overvalues the incidence of labor fragmentation and direct forms of control and disregards the impact of mechanization achieved with the emergence of Large-scale industry and the new forms of control associated with it. Whereas Braverman’s allegedly Marxist orthodoxy is considered responsible for this, in fact, exactly the opposite can be asserted: the weaknesses of the otherwise noteworthy work of Harry Braverman are grounded in his relinquishment of some crucial Marxist concepts. We state that labor processes conventionally considered Taylorist or Fordist can be reconceptualized in Marxist classic terms allowing a better understanding of the dynamic of conflicts regarding labor process. Keywords: Labor process. Politics. Marxism. Regulationism. Workers’ Struggles. Resumo Braverman é considerado uma referência inquestionável do processo de trabalho marxista. O objetivo deste artigo é mostrar que, apesar das contribuições inegáveis de Braverman ele abandona as noções marxistas clássicas relacionadas à organização do trabalho, a saber, cooperação simples, manufatura e grande-indústria e substituí-las com a noção do taylorismo. -
The Role of the Trotskyists in the United Auto Workers, 1939- 1949
The Role of the Trotskyists in the United Auto Workers, 1939- 1949 Victor G. Devinatz Willie Thompson has acknowledged in his survey of the history of the world- wide left, The Left in History: Revolution and Reform in Twentieth-Century Politics, that the Trotskyists "occasionally achieved some marginal industrial influence" in the US trade unions.' However, outside of the Trotskyists' role in the Teamsters Union in Minneapolis and unlike the role of the Communist Party (CP) in the US labor movement that has been well-documented in numerous books and articles, little of a systematic nature has been written about Trotskyist activity in the US trade union movement.' This article's goal is to begin to bridge a gap in the historical record left by other historians of labor and radical movements, by examining the role of the two wings of US Trotskyism, repre- sented by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and the Workers Party (WP), in the United Auto Workers (UAW) from 1939 to 1949. In spite of these two groups' relatively small numbers within the auto workers' union and although neither the SWP nor the WP was particularly suc- cessful in recruiting auto workers to their organizations, the Trotskyists played an active role in the UAW as leading individuals and activists, and as an organ- ized left presence in opposition to the larger and more powerful CP. In addi- tion, these Trotskyists were able to exert an influence that was significant at times, beyond their small membership with respect to vital issues confronting the UAW. At various times throughout the 1940s, for example, these trade unionists were skillful in mobilizing auto unionists in opposition to both the no- strike pledge during World War 11, and the Taft-Hartley bill in the postwar peri- od. -
Joseph Hansen Papers
http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf78700585 No online items Register of the Joseph Hansen papers Finding aid prepared by Joseph Hansen Hoover Institution Archives 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305-6003 (650) 723-3563 [email protected] © 1998, 2006, 2012 Register of the Joseph Hansen 92035 1 papers Title: Joseph Hansen papers Date (inclusive): 1887-1980 Collection Number: 92035 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 109 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box, 3 envelopes, 1 audio cassette(46.2 linear feet) Abstract: Speeches and writings, correspondence, notes, minutes, reports, internal bulletins, resolutions, theses, printed matter, sound recording, and photographs relating to Leon Trotsky, activities of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States, and activities of the Fourth International in Latin America, Western Europe and elsewhere. Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives Creator: Hansen, Joseph, Access The collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Joseph Hansen papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Archives. Acquisition Information Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1992. Accruals Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at http://searchworks.stanford.edu . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number of boxes listed in this finding aid. -
Rethinking the Historiography of United States Communism: a Comment
American Communist History, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003 Rethinking the Historiography of United States Communism: A Comment JOHN MCILROY Bryan Palmer’s critical commentary on the historiography of American Com- munism is eloquent and persuasive and I fully endorse the core components of his argument. Absent or insubstantial in many studies, both traditional and revisionist, a singular casualty of historical amnesia, Stalinism matters. A proper understanding of American Communism demands an account of its political refashioning from the mid-1920s.1 Moreover, Palmer’s important rehabilitation of the centrality of programmatic disjuncture opens up what a simplistic dissolution of Stalinism into a timeless, ahistorical official Commu- nism closes down: the existence of and the need to historicize different Commu- nisms, the reality of an “anti-Communism” of the left as well as of the right, the possibility of rediscovering yesterday and tomorrow a revolutionary interna- tionalism liberated from Stalinism which threatened not only capital but organized labor, working-class freedoms and any prospect of socialism. In this note I can touch tersely on only two points: the issue of continuity and rupture in the relationship between the Russians and the American Party in the 1920s and the question of how alternative Communisms handled the problem of international organization. Russian Domination and Political Rupture My emphasis on the continuity of Moscow control of US Communism is different from Palmer’s. What I find striking is the degree to which Russian domination of the Comintern and thus of the politics of its American section was sustained from 1920, even if the political content of that domination changed significantly as Stalinism developed. -
CIO in Detroit Urges National
Workers of the World, Unite ! FORD STRIKE AND THE “ FOURTH WAGE ROUND” By Bert Cochran — See Page 2 — t h e MILITANT PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE Vol. X III - No. 21 217 NEW YORK, N. Y., MONDAY, MAY 23, 1949 PRICE: FIVE CENTS Ford Maneuvers CIO in Detroit Fail to Shake Strike Solidarity Urges National D E T R O IT — Thousands of Ford workers are maintain ing their 24-hour picket line around the huge Rouge plant in Dearborn as the strike against speedup comes to the end of its^ second week. Bendix strikers in • > ---------------------------------;----------------- South Bend, Ind., Chevrolet work guarantee assembly line produc ers in Flint who have voted for tion at a constant speed geared ‘Labor Holiday’ the second time in a year to to “normal work practices” and strike against speedup, workers not require workers to make up in every UAW plant in the coun production lost through power try are anxiously watching de failures, parts shortages, etc. Oil, Ship Unions Calls for 24-Hour Stoppage velopments in the Ford strike, COMPANY’S ANSWER which can have a decisive effect on the outcome of “fourth wage The company responded by an Ask Shorter Week To Win Taft-Hartley Repeal round” negotiations this year. nouncing the firing of seven more The latest “peace formula” of UAW officials on charges they the UAW international team of had “invaded” the company’s of With Same Pay DETROIT, May 17 — The Greater Detroit an& negotiators headed by W alter fices to intimidate salaried em Wayne County CIO Council at its meeting tonight ployees into leaving their jobs on Calling upon all labor organiza Reuther has been rejected by the tions to join in a drive for a Ford Motor Company. -
Revolution and Culture: the Bogdanov-Lenin Controversy (Cornell, 1988) Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication Data Sochor, Zenovia A
A. A. Bogdanov, 1873-1928 REVOLUTION AND CULTURE The Bogdanov-Lenin Controversy ZENOVIA A. SOCHOR Studies of the Harriman Institute CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London Copyright © 1988 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Pres~, 124 Roberts Place, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 1988 by Cornell University Press. • International Standard Book Number 0-8014-2088-1 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 87-25063 Printed in the United States of America Librarians: Library of Congress cataloging information appears on the last page of the book. The paper in this book is acid-free and meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. To my parents, Joseph and Maria Sochor STUDIES OF THE HARRIMAN INSTITUTE Columbia University The W. Averell Harriman Institute for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union, Columbia University, sponsors the Studies of the Harriman Institute in the belief that their publication contributes to scholarly research and public understanding. In this way the Institute, while not necessarily endorsing their conclusions, is pleased to make available the results of some of the research conducted under its auspices. A list of the Studies appears at the back of the book. Contents Preface ix Part I Points of Departure 1. The Bogdanov-Lenin Controversy 3 2. Cultural Prerequisites of Revolution 21 3. Bogdanovism 42 Part II After October: Which Way to Socialism? 4. -
UC Santa Barbara Dissertation Template
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Defining the Monster: The Social Science and Rhetoric of Neo-Marxist Theories of Imperialism in the United States and Latin America, 1945-1973 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Christopher Cody Stephens Committee in charge: Professor Nelson Lichtenstein, Chair Professor Alice O’Connor Professor Salim Yaqub June 2018 The dissertation of Christopher Cody Stephens is approved. ____________________________________________ Salim Yaqub ____________________________________________ Alice O’Connor ____________________________________________ Nelson Lichtenstein, Committee Chair April 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I had the benefit of working with many knowledgeable and generous faculty members at UCSB. As my advisor and the chair of my dissertation committee, Nelson Lichtenstein has ushered the project through every stage of its development, from conceptualization to defense. I pitched the idea of writing a seminar paper on Andre Gunder Frank in his office roughly four years ago, and since then he has enthusiastically supported my efforts, encouraged me to stay focused on the end goal, and provided detailed feedback on multiple drafts. That is not to say that I have always incorporated all his comments/criticisms, but when I have failed to do so it is mostly out of lack of time, resources, or self-discipline. I will continue to draw from a store of Nelson’s comments as a blueprint as I revise the manuscript for eventual publication as a monograph. Alice O’Connor, Mary Furner, and Salim Yaqub also read and commented on the manuscript, and more broadly influenced my intellectual trajectory. Salim helped me present my work at numerous conferences, which in turn helped me think through how the project fit in the frame of Cold War historiography. -
“A Seemingly Incongruous Alliance”: Trotskyists and Teamsters in 1934 / Bryan D
Document generated on 09/30/2021 5:44 p.m. Labour Journal of Canadian Labour Studies Le Travail Revue d’Études Ouvrières Canadiennes “A Seemingly Incongruous Alliance” Trotskyists and Teamsters in 1934 Bryan D. Palmer, Revolutionary Teamsters: The Minneapolis Teamsters Strikes of 1934 (Leiden: Brill, 2013) Alan Wald Forum: History Under Harper Volume 73, Spring 2014 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1025206ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Canadian Committee on Labour History ISSN 0700-3862 (print) 1911-4842 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this note Wald, A. (2014). “A Seemingly Incongruous Alliance”: Trotskyists and Teamsters in 1934 / Bryan D. Palmer, Revolutionary Teamsters: The Minneapolis Teamsters Strikes of 1934 (Leiden: Brill, 2013). Labour / Le Travail, 73, 301–310. All Rights Reserved © Canadian Committee on Labour History, 2014 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ REVIEW ESSAY / NOTE CRITIQUE “A Seemingly Incongruous Alliance”: Trotskyists and Teamsters in 1934 Alan Wald Bryan D. Palmer, Revolutionary Teamsters: The Minneapolis Teamsters Strikes of 1934 (Leiden: Brill, 2013) Bryan Palmer’s exuberant 300-page book immediately takes its place among the essential works about 1930s radicalism in the United States. Revolutionary Teamsters is no nostalgic chronicle of sepia-tinted events, much less a sentimental tryst with the revolutionary past. -
Montgomery Sent Spirited Caravan Past Philadelphia the Flood of Protest and Honest Elections” Washington-Bound Curs Swelled by Ronald Jones Street
Memorial Day Martyrs of Labor (See Page 3) THE MILITANT PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE INTERESTS OF THE W ORKINC PEOPLE Vol. XXI - No. 21 NEW YORK, N. Y., MONDAY, MAY 27, 1957 PRICE 10c Standing Up for Freedom March On Washington Showed Determination To Win Equal Rights Excellent Union Turnout The Union Train Rally Hailed From District 65 in N.Y. Each Note By Henry Gitano “Stand back and let ’em through,” is what the gateman shouted as New. York’s union train-contingent Of Militancy arrived to be “counted! in” at the nationwide mass demon By John Thayer stration against Jim Grow in Washington. It was a Part of the estimated 27,000 persons who demonstrated against Jim Crow by,- attending monumental event, this vanguard army that expanded By' special trains and buses, the “Prajter Pilgrimage For Freedom” in Washington, D. C., May 17. People above stood on chartered planes, motorcades Montgomery’s and Tallahasse’sJ the asphalt road curving around the Lincoln'Memorial throughout the 316-hour meeting. The and every means of individual mass action pattern to the na- for a high purpose. A Spanish size of the crowd was difficult to estimate since it could not be seen as a whole frpm any travel thousands of Negro free tional scene. speaking member of 65 said: “I point. believe in brotherhood against dom fighters from every corner This vast delegation did not discrimination. We are demon of the country marched on Wash come to lobby, nor did they come strating that we are united and ington for the May 17 prayer merely to hear speeches or ready to fight for one another.