ERIC DIRNBACH Growing up in Philadelphia, I learned about some of the rich local labor history: the 1827 founding of the first union to cross craft lines, the 1835 general strike, and the 1869 founding of the Knights of Labor. Some of it was personal—my father took part in the 50-day teachers strike of 1981. But it wasn’t until decades later that I … [Read more...] about Review: This Little-Known Black Wobbly Dockworker Led the Most Powerful, Democratic Union of His Day
radical history
May Day History: The Haymarket Riot
by Lenny Flank In the early United States, labor unions were outlawed—they were considered to be illegal conspiracies in restraint of “free trade.” That changed in 1842, when, in the Hunt case, the courts ruled that collective bargaining was legal and that workers could form unions and associations. At first, labor unions were small, weak, and rarely extended beyond the … [Read more...] about May Day History: The Haymarket Riot