DOCSLIB.ORG

Brookwood Labor College Photographs LAV000567 BLC

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Brookwood Labor College Photographs LAV000567 BLC *XLGHWRWKH%URRNZRRG/DERU&ROOHJH 3KRWRJUDSKV/$9B%/& 7KLVILQGLQJDLGZDVSURGXFHGXVLQJ$UFKLYHV6SDFHRQ0DUFK (QJOLVK 'HVFULELQJ$UFKLYHV$&RQWHQW6WDQGDUG :DOWHU35HXWKHU/LEUDU\ &DVV$YHQXH 'HWURLW0, 85/KWWSUHXWKHUZD\QHHGX Guide to the Brookwood Labor College Photographs LAV000567_BLC Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 History ............................................................................................................................................................ 4 Scope and Content ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Arrangement ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 5 Related Materials ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Controlled Access Headings .......................................................................................................................... 6 Collection Inventory ....................................................................................................................................... 6 - Page 2 - Guide to the Brookwood Labor College Photographs LAV000567_BLC Summary Information Repository: Walter P. Reuther Library Creator: Brookwood Labor College (Katonah, N.Y.) Creator: Ellickson, Katherine Pollak Creator: Reuther, Victor G., 1912 Creator: Prenner, Doris Title: Brookwood Labor College Photographs ID: LAV000567_BLC Date [inclusive]: 1921-1937 Physical Description: 2.75 Linear Feet (2MB, 1OS, 1 SB) Photographic prints and scrapbooks. Language of the English Material: Language of the Material mostly in English. Material: Abstract: Brookwood Labor College in Katonah, New York was founded in 1921 as an experimental college for labor specific classes. It was a residential college different from traditional colleges. It only lasted until 1937 when it fell victim to the depression. Collection documents students, faculty, and other labor leaders affiliated with the school, as well as the buildings and grounds of the Brookwood Labor College. Classes, Brookwood Labor Player performances, and other student activities are also depicted. Citation Style "Brookwood Labor College Photographs, Box [#], Folder [#], Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University" ^ Return to Table of Contents - Page 3- Guide to the Brookwood Labor College Photographs LAV000567_BLC History Brookwood Labor College in Katonah, New York was founded in 1921 as an experimental college for labor specific classes. It was a residential college different from traditional colleges. It only lasted until 1937 when it fell victim to the depression. Brookwood was founded by a group of several labor activists beginning with William Mann Fincke who donated his 53 acres and large colonial farmhouse in Katonah, New York for the college's location and Evelyn Preston, from the League of Women Shoppers, donated $50,000 for a Women's dormitory. Its biggest supporter, however, was the AFL (American Federation of Labor) unions. The short survival of the college was reliant on union scholarships and donors or "angels" as Brookwood staff referred to them. After A.J. Muste left in 1933 the college slowly started to lose financial support as well as dwindling numbers of students and had to close finally in 1937. ^ Return to Table of Contents Scope and Content Collection documents students, faculty, and other labor leaders affiliated with the school (e.g. United Textile Workers Executive Board), as well as the buildings and grounds of the Brookwood Labor College. Classes, Brookwood Labor Player performances, and other student activities are also depicted. Scrapbooks contain various publications, ephemera, clippings, artwork, and photographs on the history of the college. ^ Return to Table of Contents Arrangement Arranged by format and then by major subject depicted. Folders are not in any order. ^ Return to Table of Contents - Page 4- Guide to the Brookwood Labor College Photographs LAV000567_BLC Administrative Information Publication Statement Walter P. Reuther Library 5401 Cass Avenue Detroit, MI 48202 URL: http://reuther.wayne.edu Revision Description Revised arrangement and description by Deborah Rice. 2017-03-27 Acquisition Donated in 1972 by Mark and Helen Starr. Additional photographs were donated in 1974 by Doris Prenner, Office Secretary of Brookwood Labor College. Photographs donated from Katherine P. Ellickson and Victor Reuther as part of their papers were also included. Processing History Processed and finding aid written by Walter P. Reuther Library. Revised by Deborah Rice on March 27, 2017. Access Collection is open for research. Patrons must make an appointment with the AV Department prior to visiting. Access to scrapbooks (Box 3-4) at the discretion of an archivist due to fragility. Use Refer to the Walter P. Reuther Library "Rules for Use of Archival Materials." For image reproduction, contact the AV Department. Other Copies Photographs, excluding scrapbook images, were digitized. ^ Return to Table of Contents - Page 5- Guide to the Brookwood Labor College Photographs LAV000567_BLC Related Materials Related Materials Brookwood Labor College Records, Brookwood Labor College: Mark and Helen Norton Starr Papers, Katherine Pollack Ellickson Papers ^ Return to Table of Contents Controlled Access Headings • Labor movement • Labor education • Photographs • Women in the labor movement • Theater • Reuther, Roy, 1909-1968 Collection Inventory Title/Description Instances A class of first year students at Brookwood held outside (open-air Box 1 Folder 1 Item 1 class), 1928. .Josephine Colby, instructor, is standing on the left. A class meeting in "our only classroom", 1921. The instructor, Box 1 Folder 1 Item 2 Arthur Calhoun, is seated at the head of the table. Harry Bellaver is fourth from the left. Bessie Freedman is sixth from the left, and Eva Shafron is seventh from the left. David Saposs holding class on the porch of the main building at Box 1 Folder 1 Item 3 Brookwood, 1924. A view of a classroom at Brookwood Labor College, 1921 or 1927. Box 1 Folder 1 Item 4 "Our only classroom". "Esperanto Group", photographed in front of the main building at Box 1 Folder 1 Item 5 the Brookwood Labor College, April 1929. Mark Starr is seated second from the right. A Brookwood class meeting on the front porch of the main building, Box 1 Folder 1 Item 6 spring 1930. - Page 6- Guide to the Brookwood Labor College Photographs LAV000567_BLC A class meeting outside behind the main building at Brookwood, Box 1 Folder 1 Item 7 date unknown. Instructor David Saposs holding class on the porch of the main Box 1 Folder 1 Item 8 building, 1924. A class meeting outside on the Brookwood grounds, date unknown. Box 1 Folder 1 Item 9 A.J. Muste, Chairman of the Brookwood faculty, is seated on right, facing the camera (wearing a suit). The Brookwood Labor College staff, 1927. Doris Prenner, Box 1 Folder 2 Item 1 Brookwood's office secretary, is standing in the front row left. Brookwood faculty and staff, undated. Left to right, back row: Box 1 Folder 2 Item 2 ____________, ___________, David Saposs, ___________, ___________, Tom Tippett, John C. Kennedy, Helen Norton (Starr) and A.J. Muste. Kneeling: Katherine Pollack (Ellickson), __________, and Mark Starr. Seated: __________, Doris Prenner, __________, and _____________. A group photographed in front of the main building at Brookwood. Box 1 Folder 2 Item 3 Doris Prenner is in front row, second from the right. "The Mustes and Jack L. - 1930" (Jack Lever is a former Box 1 Folder 2 Item 4 Brookwood student). Nancy Muste Box 1 Folder 2 Item 5 David Saposs and his daughter Corrine. 1929. Box 1 Folder 2 Item 6 A.J. Muste and Arthur Calhoun's children, with Olive Golden Box 1 Folder 2 Item 7 (front row left), and Connie Muste (back row, fourth from left), Brookwood, August 1929. Connie Muste playing with Brookwood student Charlie Maute on Box 1 Folder 2 Item 8 the porch of the main building. Clinton S. Golden, Business Manager and Field Representative for Box 1 Folder 2 Item 9 Brookwood Labor College. Clinton S. Golden, Business Manager and Field Representative for Box 1 Folder 2 Item 10 Brookwood Labor College. Portrait of Josephine Colby, and Instructor in English and Public Box 1 Folder 2 Item 11 Speaking at Brookwood Labor College, undated. Josephine Colby, A Brookwood Instructor, at Nantucket, September Box 1 Folder 2 Item 12 1929. Dora, Olive and Clinton S. Golden, February 1929. Box 1 Folder 2 Item 13 Dora Golden standing on the grounds at Brookwood, near the Box 1 Folder 2 Item 14 women's dormitory. Jasper Deeter, Drama Instructor at Brookwood Labor College, Box 1 Folder 2 Item 15 1926-1927. "Fritzie", Brookwood's first dietician. Box 1 Folder 2 Item 16 Helen Norton Starr, Instructor in Labor Journalism at Brookwood Box 1 Folder 2 Item 17 Labor College, February 1, 1929. - Page 7- Guide to the Brookwood Labor College Photographs LAV000567_BLC Peggy Greenfield?, Office Secretary at Brookwood?, 1929. Box 1 Folder 2 Item 18 Tom Tippett, Brookwood faculty member. "Tom
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Records of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car
    Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters A Register of Its Records in the Library of Congress Prepared by Grover Batts and Audrey Walker Revised by Melinda K. Friend Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 1997 Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2000 Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms000016 Latest revision: 2004-11-17 Collection Summary Title: Records of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Span Dates: 1920-1968 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1950-1968) ID No.: MSS48439 Creator: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Extent: 41,000 items; 144 containers; 70 linear feet Language: Collection material in English Repository: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Abstract: Part I consists of general correspondence, subject files, and personal papers of the brotherhood's founder, A. Philip Randolph, documenting the growth and functions of the union chiefly after 1940. Part II consists of correspondence and subject files of brotherhood officials Benjamin F. McLaurin (international field organizer), A. Philip Randolph (founder and president), and Ashley L. Totten (secretary-treasurer), and other subject files, financial records, and miscellaneous records. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. Names: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Blanchette, A. R. (Arthur Robinson), 1910- --Correspondence Bond, Julian, 1940- --Correspondence Dellums, C. L. (Cotrell Lawrence)--Correspondence Dubinsky, David, 1892- --Correspondence Farmer, James, 1920- --Correspondence Green, William, 1872-1952--Correspondence King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968--Correspondence McKissick, Floyd B.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise and Fall of Socialist Adult Education in North America: Theorizing from the Literature
    Kansas State University Libraries New Prairie Press 2011 Conference Proceedings (Toronto, ON, Adult Education Research Conference Canada) The Rise and Fall of Socialist Adult Education in North America: Theorizing from the Literature Tara Silver Ontario Institute for Stuides in Education, University of Toronto Shahrzad Mojab Ontario Institute for Stuides in Education, University of Toronto Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/aerc Part of the Adult and Continuing Education Administration Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License Recommended Citation Silver, Tara and Mojab, Shahrzad (2011). "The Rise and Fall of Socialist Adult Education in North America: Theorizing from the Literature," Adult Education Research Conference. https://newprairiepress.org/aerc/ 2011/papers/93 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences at New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Adult Education Research Conference by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Rise and Fall of Socialist Adult Education in North America: Theorizing from the Literature Tara Silver & Shahrzad Mojab Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto Key words: socialism, radical adult education, state repression, feminism Abstract: This paper provides a brief overview of literature on the rise and fall of early 20th century experiments in North American socialist adult education. Through a Marxist-Feminist theoretical framework, we examine and contrast the contributions of the folk school movement and the more explicitly socialist labour colleges to the broader field of adult education in Canada and the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Interracial Unionism in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and the Development of Black Labor Organizations, 1933-1940
    THEY SAW THEMSELVES AS WORKERS: INTERRACIAL UNIONISM IN THE INTERNATIONAL LADIES’ GARMENT WORKERS’ UNION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK LABOR ORGANIZATIONS, 1933-1940 A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Julia J. Oestreich August, 2011 Doctoral Advisory Committee Members: Bettye Collier-Thomas, Committee Chair, Department of History Kenneth Kusmer, Department of History Michael Alexander, Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Riverside Annelise Orleck, Department of History, Dartmouth College ABSTRACT “They Saw Themselves as Workers” explores the development of black membership in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) in the wake of the “Uprising of the 30,000” garment strike of 1933-34, as well as the establishment of independent black labor or labor-related organizations during the mid-late 1930s. The locus for the growth of black ILGWU membership was Harlem, where there were branches of Local 22, one of the largest and the most diverse ILGWU local. Harlem was also where the Negro Labor Committee (NLC) was established by Frank Crosswaith, a leading black socialist and ILGWU organizer. I provide some background, but concentrate on the aftermath of the marked increase in black membership in the ILGWU during the 1933-34 garment uprising and end in 1940, when blacks confirmed their support of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and when the labor-oriented National Negro Congress (NNC) was irrevocably split by struggles over communist influence. By that time, the NLC was also struggling, due to both a lack of support from trade unions and friendly organizations, as well as the fact that the Committee was constrained by the political views and personal grudges of its founder.
    [Show full text]
  • Brookwood Labor College Records
    , , , ! THE BROOKWOOD LABOR COLLEGE COLLECTION Papers, 1921-1937 49 linear feet Accession number 567 The papers of the Brookwood Labor College were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs in September, 1972, by Mark and Helen Starr. The Brookwood Labor College was a co-educational resident workers' institution situated at Katonah, New York, some forty-one miles from New York City. Founded in 1921, it was the outgrowth of a labor conference held on March 3l-April 1 of that year. Its policy called for a pro­ gressive, non-factional education for workers as it sought to play an increasing role in the task of building a militant, intelligent, powerful labor movement. Its curriculum focused on the study, analysis, and dis­ , cussion of the philosophy and policies of labor organizations in the United States and the world, including the American Federation of Labor. I Within a few years after it was established, Brookwood was officially ! I, endorsed or financially supported by thirteen national and international , unions including the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, the American Federa­ , I, tion of Teachers, and the United Textile Workers. In 1928 a rift , developed between the AFL and Brookwood which led to the withdrawal of support by the AFL-affiliated unions. In 1930 Brookwood set up an extension department in respona,e to an increasing demand for lectures and courses outside of Brookwood. Earlier, Brook- wood had started a program of summer institutes dealing with various labor problems. In 1933 Brookwood weathered a faculty conflict concerning its policy of non-factional labor education and continued on until 1937 when it closed its doors due to a lack of funds.
    [Show full text]
  • Katherine Pollack Ellickson Papers
    Katherine Pollak Ellickson Papers 1921-1989 57.5 linear feet 4 cardfiles 4 oversize folders Accession #LP00321 The papers of Katherine Pollak Ellickson were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs by Ms. Ellickson in 1969 and were opened for research in 1970. Additional papers were placed in the Archives in December of 1978 and in 1984 and 1989 and were opened for research in September of 1979 and July of 1998, respectively. Katherine Pollak was born September 1, 1905, the daughter of Francis D. Pollak and Inez Cohen. She attended and taught at the Ethical Culture School in New York City, studied economics at Vassar College (A.B., 1926) and did graduate work at Columbia University. She married John Chester Ellickson, agricultural economist, in 1933, but continued to use her maiden name until 1938. Her years in workers' education included tutoring, teaching and writing for the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers (1927-49), Brookwood Labor College (1929-32), including field work in Southern textile mill towns and West Virginia coal camps, and the FERA Southern teachers' training school in 1934. As assistant to the director at the CIO national office (1935-37), she dealt with many organizational problems while conducting research and writing, and her papers include original notes and minutes of the earliest CIO meetings. At the CIO national office, as Associate Director of Research from 1942-1955, she was secretary of the Social Security Committee; organized meetings of national union Social Security directors to discuss collective bargaining and legislative problems; served as liaison between the research directors of the national unions and government research agencies, especially the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and represented the CIO on government advisory committees on Social Security, manpower, farm labor and women and children.
    [Show full text]
  • Heywood Broun, Benjamin Stolberg, and the Politics of American Labor Journalism in the 1920S and 1930S Christopher Phelps in Th
    Accepted for publication in Labor: Studies in the Working-Class History of the Americas (forthcoming 2018). 2017 Christopher Phelps, moral rights of the author have been asserted. No permission to distribute or reproduce without authorization. Draft: Published version will be available in PDF for sale from Duke University Press. Heywood Broun, Benjamin Stolberg, and the Politics of American Labor Journalism in the 1920s and 1930s Christopher Phelps In the two decades from 1919 to 1939, when labor’s fortunes faltered in the Roaring Twenties only to revive in the Great Depression, and when publishers were consolidating the newspaper industry into corporate chains, Heywood Broun (1888-1939) and Benjamin Stolberg (1891-1951) were two of the most prominent American journalists to focus on labor. As first president of the American Newspaper Guild, Broun is the subject of two admiring biographies by fellow journalists who depict him as a gentle, big-hearted, gin-imbibing, lumbering bear of a man, yet his labor writings have received little analysis.1 Stolberg, practically forgotten today, was once so admired that the Socialist standard-bearer Norman Thomas placed him “easily in the front rank” of that “little company of those men and women who both understand the American labor movement and can help explain it to itself and to others.”2 Juxtaposing the lives and writings of Stolberg and Broun will provide insight into American labor journalism’s interwar achievements and dilemmas, particularly the politics of its coverage. The author gratefully acknowledges comments from Tim Barker, Leon Fink, Nelson Lichtenstein, and Jeff Schuhrke, research leave from the University of Nottingham, and the Martin Duberman Visiting Fellowship of the New York Public Library.
    [Show full text]
  • Race, Labor, and Class in Interwar New York
    21 Race, Labor, and Class in Interwar New York Race, Labor, and Class in Interwar New York David Ratnoff This paper was written in The Evolving American City (HIST 410), taught by Dr. Shelton. Black urban politics in New York City blossomed as black migrants found employment in the industrial North during the Great Migration. Publishing its first issue in 1917, the black radical newspaper the Messenger, sought to raise race- and-class consciousness among its readership. Heralding the “New Negro,” the Messenger promoted Socialist politics and encouraged trade unionism. An important interlocutor with other black periodicals, the Messenger argued that racial advancement was predicated on class consciousness and labor organization. Yet the Messenger’s short lifespan reflected the limits of Socialist politics as a vehicle for black political mobilization. “AS WAGE SLAVES WE HAVE RUN AWAY FROM THE MASTERS IN THE SOUTH, BUT TO BECOME THE WAGE SLAVES OF THE MASTERS OF THE NORTH,” THE MESSENGER, 1919.1 Black Labor Consciousness: On the Agenda Black labor relations in New York City during the interwar period reflected tensions between race-based and class-based consciousness, intensifying unionism, and the lure of socialist politics. At the turn of the century, New York was the beneficiary of massive in-migration from the South—part of the nationwide “Great Migration” of blacks from the rural South to rapidly industrializing Northern cities. Since Reconstruction, unions had enforced the color line—denying membership to black laborers while providing support to whites. The Great Migration, which coincided with American participation in World War I (WWI), made union racism salient in Northern cities.
    [Show full text]
  • Heywood Broun, Benjamin Stolberg, and the Politics of American Labor Journalism in the 1920S and 1930S Christopher Phelps in Th
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Repository@Nottingham Accepted for publication in Labor: Studies in the Working-Class History of the Americas (forthcoming 2018). 2017 Christopher Phelps, moral rights of the author have been asserted. No permission to distribute or reproduce without authorization. Draft: Published version will be available in PDF for sale from Duke University Press. Heywood Broun, Benjamin Stolberg, and the Politics of American Labor Journalism in the 1920s and 1930s Christopher Phelps In the two decades from 1919 to 1939, when labor’s fortunes faltered in the Roaring Twenties only to revive in the Great Depression, and when publishers were consolidating the newspaper industry into corporate chains, Heywood Broun (1888-1939) and Benjamin Stolberg (1891-1951) were two of the most prominent American journalists to focus on labor. As first president of the American Newspaper Guild, Broun is the subject of two admiring biographies by fellow journalists who depict him as a gentle, big-hearted, gin-imbibing, lumbering bear of a man, yet his labor writings have received little analysis.1 Stolberg, practically forgotten today, was once so admired that the Socialist standard-bearer Norman Thomas placed him “easily in the front rank” of that “little company of those men and women who both understand the American labor movement and can help explain it to itself and to others.”2 Juxtaposing the lives and writings of Stolberg and Broun will provide insight into American labor journalism’s interwar achievements and dilemmas, particularly the politics of its coverage.
    [Show full text]
  • Communists and the Classroom: Radicals in U.S. Education, 1930-1960 Jonathan Hunt University of San Francisco, [email protected]
    The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Rhetoric and Language Faculty Publications and Rhetoric and Language Research 2015 Communists and the Classroom: Radicals in U.S. Education, 1930-1960 Jonathan Hunt University of San Francisco, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.usfca.edu/rl_fac Part of the Education Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, and the Political History Commons Recommended Citation Hunt, J. (2015). Communists and the Classroom: Radicals in U.S. Education, 1930-1960. Composition Studies, 43(2), 22-42. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Rhetoric and Language at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Rhetoric and Language Faculty Publications and Research by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Articles Communists and the Classroom: Radicals in U.S. Education, 1930–1960 Jonathan Hunt Concern about Communists in education was a central preoccupation in the U.S. through the middle decades of the twentieth century. Focusing on post-secondary and adult education and on fields related to composition and rhetoric, this essay offers an overview of the surprisingly diverse con- texts in which Communist educators worked. Some who taught in Com- munist-sponsored “separatist” institutions pioneered the kinds of radical pedagogical theories now most often attributed to Paulo Freire. Communist educators who taught in “mainstream” institutions, however, less often saw their pedagogy as a mode of political action; their activism was deployed mainly in civic life rather than the classroom.
    [Show full text]
  • General Strike
    WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2019 VOL. 125, NO. 15 (ISSN 0023-6667) An Injury to One is an Injury to All! General Strike: What’s old could be new again Wage theft By Mark Gruenberg PAI Staff Writer highlighted WASHINGTON (PAI)—Is the General Strike, a worker weapon that struck fear into in House corporate chieftains and crooks By Howard Kling, and their political cronies a cen- Workday Minnesota tury ago, making a comeback? ST. PAUL — Workers and A new film, commemorat- business owners highlighted ing centennial of the Great the need for stronger wage Seattle General Strike of 1919, theft laws during a press con- plus a panel of experts in work- ference and legislative hear- er history and rights, tackled ing at the Minnesota Capitol that question Feb. 6 at a pro- earlier this month. worker pro-minority pro- The hearing before the woman D.C. bookstore event Minnesota House Labor sponsored by the Metro Committee was the first stop Washington AFL-CIO’s DC for HF6, a bipartisan bill that LaborFest. would set rules and penalties The answer: Yes, but in a for employers who avoid pay- different way than it was prac- ing, or fail to pay, wages ticed in the decades before earned by their employees. Seattle. And on a different scale. “I am here today to The Pacific Northwest demand an end to this practice Labor Heritage foundation, of wage theft,” said Humberto with both financial and Miceli, a member of Centro archival aid from Oregon and In February 1919, tens of thousands of workers went on strike in Seattle for six days.
    [Show full text]
  • Class War and Political Revolution in Western Pennsylvania, 1932-1937 Eric Leif Davin University Ofpittsburgh
    Blue Collar Democracy: Class War and Political Revolution in Western Pennsylvania, 1932-1937 Eric Leif Davin University ofPittsburgh "Revolution, up and down the river!" cried The Bulletin Index on its No- vember 11, 1937 cover. That cover of Pittsburgh's TIME-like weekly maga- zine also featured the smiling young face of ElmerJ. Maloy, the "C.I.O. Mayor- Elect," as The Bulltin Index termed him, of the nearby steel town of Duquesne. But Maloy, leader of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) in Duquesne, was not, in himself, the "revolution." He was merely the most visible symbol of the revolutionary political transformation of the Western Pennsylvania steel towns lining the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Riv- ers around Pittsburgh. On November 2, 1937, seventeen of these company- run steel towns swept out long-dominant Republican incumbents and in- stalled labor-oriented Democratic challengers. These administrations - com- posed entirely of SWOC members and their dose allies - pledged to end the cozy, feudal partnership between local government and the giant steel corpo- rations, "The most Republican of U.S. industries," as the Index described them. It was a political revolution, a major party realignment, a lasting transfer of political power.' This political revolution was due to an increasing political polarization along class lines during the Depression of the Thirties which seemed to indi- cate class and class-based economic issues would become the defining ele- ments of American politics for some time to come. Initially, as Richard Oestreicher points out, the 1932 election of Roosevelt was a rejection of the Depression status quo, not a class act.
    [Show full text]
  • Workers Education at the University of California, 1921-1962
    2013 - 4 Stirring the Pot and Adding Some Spice: Workers Education at the University of California, 1921-1962 Tobias Higbie University of California, Los Angeles June 2013 www.irle.ucla.edu The views expressed in this paper are not the views of The Regents of the University of California or any of its facilities, including UCLA, the UCLA College of Letters and Science, and the IRLE, and represent the views of the authors only. University affi liations of the authors are for identifi cation purposes only, and should not be construed as University approval. Stirring the Pot and Adding Some Spice: Workers Education at the University of California, 1921-1962 Tobias Higbie UCLA History Department Institute for Research on Labor & Employment [email protected] Stirring the pot and adding spice. From the Student Worker, yearbook of the 1936 Western Summer School for Workers. Papers of the University President, CU-5, Series 2, 1936, folder 140. University of California Archives, Bancroft Library. History of UC Worker Education Programs 2 At the end of World War II California created a new academic institution devoted to the study and influence of industrial relations. Along with similar initiatives in at least five other industrial states, the University of California’s Institute of Industrial Relations (IIR) aimed to bring academic balance to the rancorous hand-to-hand combat typical of labor relations in the 1930s and 1940s. In the folklore of the university, this was uncharted territory upon which the visionary scholar Clark Kerr would make his name. The future Berkeley Chancellor and university president later recalled that the IIR was the brainchild of liberal Republican governor Earl Warren.
    [Show full text]