Document Type
Article
Abstract
[First paragraph]
The working-class in the United States has been, and continues to be, systematically excluded from normative political representation and is allowed little opportunity to contribute to the terms and conditions of its social existence (Henwood, 1987; Moberg, 1992). While few workers today resist such marginalization, this has not been always the case. During the formative period of U.S. labor consciousness (from the end of the Civil War until the First World War), the political alienation of labor was routinely challenged by workers who relied extensively (and illegally) on collective self-help in their pursuit of economic justice. With this method, labor achieved many gains -- including the eight-hour work day and a federally guaranteed minimal wage. These welcomed developments attest to the power of worker militancy and collective action (Zinn, 1990, 181).
Recommended Citation
Schwartz, Omar "On Power and Equity: Toward a Working-Class Rhetoric." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture, vol. 4, no. 2, 2004, pp. 1–26.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol4/iss2/7
Included in
American Politics Commons, American Studies Commons, Collective Bargaining Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Labor Economics Commons