Reddit reviews The Fall of the House of Labor

David Montgomery - Fall of the House of Labor

David Montgomery - Worker's Control in America

In the early 20th century when unions reached the zenith of their power, they got an 8 hour workday, 5 day work week, and protection and benefits for specific groups of workers.

Today, they negotiate for delayed deportation of jobs to Mexico and Indonesia. Today they are at the mercy of the corporations they once were able to call tens of thousands of people to strike against.

Sure, you pay your dues but your wages have been going down every single year for 35 years, meanwhile early in the 20th century they were going up as were benefits. So you tell me whose money was put to better use?

Your dues go to groups that represent business interests but with a human face on them--don't totally destroy our worker base, just delay their destruction as opposed to totally destroying it as the CEOs would prefer for their costs.

If you are interested in reading up on it, there's a great book on it called Fall of the House of Labor by one of the leading historians of American labor, David Montgomery. It ends around the early 1920s because that's when they saw most of their leaders jailed, killed, disenfranchised, and attacked by the culture in general when previously they were organizing points for major social movements and revivals.

Our unions today are paltry and useless compared to ones that existed decades ago and you're frankly getting fucked raw, they're more like a holding position than a serious collective bargaining unit that progressively earns better conditions for everyone.

The Fall of the House of Labor by David Montgomery

Noam Chomsky calls this man the greatest labor historian. Here's his book that covers the real start of the labor movement, up until the US government becomes scared of the labor movement, and largely the IWW, and crushes it.

From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend by Priscilla Murrolo, A. B. Chitty, and Joe Sacco

Another general book on unions in the US.

History of the Labor Movement in the United States: The Industrial Workers of the World by Philip S. Foner

Philip S. Foner has written more than 8 extensive books on the history of labor in the US. Here's his book on the IWW.

The Industrial Workers of the World: Its First 100 Years by Fred Thompson

This one comes from the IWW itself.

Here's chapter 13 of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, titled A Socialist Challenge. He concentrates on the beginning of the 20th century as a whole, and the role that socialist organizations like the IWW played. But it's a beautiful introduction to the names and events you may dig more deeply into with the other books. You can read the entire book on that website, and you should if you haven't. It is required reading for any socialist who wants to understand the history of the US.

Finally, here is Labor History Links, the most extensive labor history website ever created. The amount of information and primary documents here is staggering. You can click on the chronological tab at the top, and it will take you to the page with links to pieces of labor history throughout the development of the US. Search for the IWW in your browser or any related terms, and have a blast.

> I would love to see how a truly free economy would perform.

The closest we've come is late 19th century United States. The market was prone to such wild gyrations that the business community and government began to understand it needed to be administered to maintain a steady flow of profits and output.

It's well documented in this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Fall-House-Labor-Workplace-1865-1925/dp/0521379822