Nationwide Strike Research Articles

The National Federation of Labor Youth and the Candy Bar Kids

Thousands of children and youth across the country took to the streets for two weeks in spring 1947 to protest a three-cent increase in the price of chocolate bars. The protest initially generated enthusiastic press coverage and had widespread popular support, but when the National Federation of Labor Youth (nfly), the Communist Party’s youth organization, announced its support, anti-communists in the press and the community red-baited the protesters. The campaign quickly lost momentum, which anti-communists attributed to the presence of Communists but was more likely due to their own red-baiting attacks in the press. Some of these protests were spontaneous reactions to a 40 per cent increase in the price of candy bars, while others were led or inspired by nfly. Either way, the countrywide mobilization of thousands of children and youth marks a turning point in the history of Canada’s left. Erupting in tandem with a nationwide strike of industrial workers and protests of activist consumers demanding greater economic security and a more responsive state, the children’s chocolate bar protest provides a window on this critical moment in the class struggle. The attacks on this popular protest at the moment that the long run of community-based militancy was about to be demonized, delegitimated, and silenced by red-baiting marks a significant milestone in Canada’s Cold War. In addition to adding the youngsters’ challenge to capital and the state to the history of the popular left, the event contributes to the growing literature on children and youth engaged in political protest, while their creative protest strategies offer a youthful dimension to the study of performance activism.

6·10만세운동 관련 중등학교 학생들의 동맹휴학

Immediately after the death of Emperor Yunghui on April 25, 1926, elementary school students first went on nationwide strike. After the death of Emperor Yunghui, schools, under the direction of the Japanese Government-General of Chosun, mainly led by Japanese teachers, held or suppressed students’ funeral and memorial ceremonies, and the students rebelled against the school and went on strike. After the June 10th Independence Movement took place, a series of students’ strike occurred in middle schools in various regions from mid-June 1926. When middle school students sympathized with the June 10th Independence Movement and went on strike, the school strengthened restrictions and punishments, and the students showed steps to advance the strike by ostracizing teachers. The death of Emperor Yunghui and the June 10th Independence Movement made elementary and middle school students realize that the national issue was not simply an issue within the school, but an issue related to Chosun independence.

Democracy as Ambitendent Phenomenon: Problems of National and Social Solidarity

The article’s intellectual core resides in the examination of social phenomena through the lenses of ambivalence and ambitemptiness. Democracy is conceived through the cultivation of the ideal of national solidarity within the framework of the “indivisible and unified nation” and revolution — values which, according to B. Anderson, individuals do not choose of their own volition. Nevertheless, it functions by virtue of structures that are freely chosen by individuals, specifically political parties and civil society organisations, among which trade unions assume a paramount role in ensuring social solidarity. The author posits that a functioning political democracy, viewed as a historically ambi temptuous phenomenon, necessitates the reanimation of sustained equilibrium between the for ces of social hegemony and counter-hegemony. This revival hinges on transformative shifts in the structure of civil society, particularly reinstatement of pivotal social functions to trade unions. The article underscores the phenomenon of unprecedented demonstrative solidarity exhibited by the Democratic Party of the USA towards the strike movement. The author emphasises that a fully-fledged European liberal democracy was established during its golden age, preceding financial globalisation, as a social democracy. Within its framework, competitive and pluralist elections were complemented by the possibility of nationwide strikes facilitated by trade unions capable of social mobilisation. Proposing the term “political society” to denote the phenomenon encompassing political parties and movements, the article argues that their viability depends on their connection with civil society structures. It is asserted that neither right-wing nor left-wing populism possesses the capacity to fully neutralise “democratic fatigue”.

Contract doctors' strike in Malaysia: A content analysis of the perception of medical fraternity and stakeholders on Facebook.

Contract appointment policy for newly graduated medical officers was implemented by the Ministry of Health Malaysia in 2016 to overcome the lack of permanent posts. Contract officers faced disadvantages in terms of salary, leave provision, and career prospects. A nationwide strike, Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) was organised on 26th July 2021. Besides generating widespread public attention, HDK was also closely scrutinised by the medical fraternity and stakeholders. This content analysis aimed to explore how the medical fraternity and stakeholders viewed the strike as their perception would offer vital insights into the fundamental causes and viable solutions to the contract appointment policy. A qualitative content analysis of Facebook (FB) posts on the HDK strike was conducted from 1st June 2021 until 28th February 2022. A total of 182 FB posts were retrieved from stakeholders, medical fraternity groups, and medical key opinion personnel. Inductive coding was used in the thematic analysis to identify pertinent themes. Three main themes emerged: triggering factors, reactions to the strike, and outcomes of the strike. Factors that led to the strike included unequal treatment faced by contract officers, frustration with the government's lack of long-term solutions, and aggravation by the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of reactions, there was a mixture of supportive and opposing voices. No substantial negative impact on the healthcare service resulted from the strike. Instead, it generated widespread attention that propelled the government into implementing solutions to prevent adverse short and long-term consequences. Various suggestions were proposed, including the reform of human resource planning and undergraduate medical education. The results highlight the importance of proactive systemic measures by the government to prevent further strikes that may jeopardise healthcare provision. In summary, social media was found to influence the progress and outcome of HDK, thus demonstrating the impact of media influence on similar issues.

The Herrin Massacre of 1922: Blood and Coal in the Heart of America

The Herrin Massacre of 1922: Blood and Coal in the Heart of America

Senator Elbert Thomas and the Hope for Industrial Equity

Senator Elbert Thomas and the Hope for Industrial Equity

A nationwide strike uncovers unethical practices: consulting on socially responsible collaborator management in Mexico

Learning outcomesIt is expected that students enhance their awareness of businesses’ role in human rights protection as a key factor in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement and core objective achievement, as well as understand the effects of gender-based violence on organizational performance and identify and develop policies for a socially responsible strategic plan for effective communication with current and potential stakeholders.Case overview/synopsisThe case of AFF Consulting Group in Mexico illustrates the challenges that firms face when doing business in an environment riddled with inequality and gender-based violence. The firm is challenged with developing a socially responsible strategic plan to ensure effective communication with stakeholders. The case has been developed as a narrative to demonstrate the intricacies of internal dynamics and discussions, which lead to strategic planning and decision-making.Complexity academic levelThe case study illustrates the challenges of business dynamics in an emerging market. It is applicable, especially, for undergraduate and graduate students in management studies related to CSR, ethics, human resources, collaborator management and human rights.Supplementary materialsTeaching notes are available for educators only.Subject codeCSS 11: Strategy.

\u2018It was hell in the community\u2019: a qualitative study of maternal and child health care during health care worker strikes in Kenya

BackgroundHealth care workers in Kenya have launched major strikes in the public health sector in the past decade but the impact of strikes on health systems is under-explored. We conducted a qualitative study to investigate maternal and child health care and services during nationwide strikes by health care workers in 2017 from the perspective of pregnant women, community health volunteers (CHVs), and health facility managers.MethodsWe conducted in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with three populations: women who were pregnant in 2017, CHVs, and health facility managers. Women who were pregnant in 2017 were part of a previous study. All participants were recruited using convenience sampling from a single County in western Kenya. Interviews and FGDs were conducted in English or Kiswahili using semi-structured guides that probed women’s pregnancy experiences and maternal and child health services in 2017. Interviews and FGDs were audio-recorded, translated, and transcribed. Content analysis followed a thematic framework approach using deductive and inductive approaches.ResultsForty-three women and 22 CHVs participated in 4 FGDs and 3 FGDs, respectively, and 8 health facility managers participated in interviews. CHVs and health facility managers were majority female (80%). Participants reported that strikes by health care workers significantly impacted the availability and quality of maternal and child health services in 2017 and had indirect economic effects due to households paying for services in the private sector. Participants felt it was the poor, particularly poor women, who were most affected since they were more likely to rely on public services, while CHVs highlighted their own poor working conditions in response to strikes by physicians and nurses. Strikes strained relationships and trust between communities and the health system that were identified as essential to maternal and child health care.ConclusionWe found that the impacts of strikes by health care workers in 2017 extended beyond negative health and economic effects and exacerbated fundamental inequities in the health system. While this study was conducted in one County, our findings suggest several potential avenues for strengthening maternal and child health care in Kenya that were highlighted by nationwide strikes in 2017.

A retrospective study of the impact of health worker strikes on maternal and child health care utilization in western Kenya

BackgroundThere have been dozens of strikes by health workers in Kenya in the past decade, but there are few studies of their impact on maternal and child health services and outcomes. We conducted a retrospective survey study to assess the impact of nationwide strikes by health workers in 2017 on utilization of maternal and child health services in western Kenya.MethodsWe utilized a parent study to enroll women who were pregnant in 2017 when there were prolonged strikes by health workers (“strike group”) and women who were pregnant in 2018 when there were no major strikes (“control group”). Trained research assistants administered a close-ended survey to retrospectively collect demographic and pregnancy-related health utilization and outcomes data. Data were collected between March and July 2019. The primary outcomes of interest were antenatal care (ANC) visits, delivery location, and early child immunizations. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate risk ratios between the strike and control groups, adjusting for socioeconomic status, health insurance status, and clustering. Adjusted risk ratios (ARR) were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).ResultsOf 1341 women recruited in the parent study in 2017 (strike group), we re-consented 843 women (63%) to participate. Of 924 women recruited in the control arm of the parent study in 2018 (control group), we re-consented 728 women (79%). Women in the strike group were 17% less likely to attend at least four ANC visits during their pregnancy (ARR 0.83, 95%CI 0.74, 0.94) and 16% less likely to deliver in a health facility (ARR 0.84, 95%CI 0.76, 0.92) compared to women in the control group. Whether a child received their first oral polio vaccine did not differ significantly between groups, but children of women in the strike group received their vaccine significantly longer after birth (13 days versus 7 days, p = 0.002).ConclusionWe found that women who were pregnant during nationwide strikes by health workers in 2017 were less likely to receive WHO-recommended maternal child health services. Strategies to maintain these services during strikes are urgently needed.

Changes in Emergency Department Performance during Strike of Junior Physicians in Korea.

Objective A nationwide strike that took place from August 21 to September 7, 2020, which was led by young doctors represented by residents and interns, resulted in shortages of manpower at almost all university and training hospitals. This study aimed to identify differences in the process and outcomes of emergency department (ED) patient care by comparing the performance over about 2 weeks of the strike with that during the usual ED operations. Methods This retrospective observational study evaluated ED flow and performance during the junior doctors' strike and compared it with the usual period in a single tertiary-care academic hospital. The outcome variables were defined as ED length of stay, crude mortality, and hospital mortality and adjusted for demographic and clinical parameters. The effect of the doctors' strike on hospital mortality adjusted for demographic and clinical variables was investigated using logistic regression. Results A total of 1,121 and 1,496 patients visited the ED during the strike and control periods (both 17 days), respectively. The care usually provided by four or six physicians, including one specialist, was replaced with that by one or two specialists at any one time. During the trainee doctors' strike, EM specialists managed patients with fewer consultations. However, the proportion of patients who underwent laboratory and radiologic tests did not change significantly. The median ED length of stay significantly decreased from 359 minutes (interquartile range, IQR: 147–391) in the control period to 326 minutes (IQR: 123–318) during the strike period (P < 0.001). The doctors' strike was not found to have a significant effect on mortality after adjustments with other variables. Conclusion During the junior doctors' strike in 2020 in Korea, EM specialists efficiently managed the care of emergency patients with higher levels of acuity without compromising the survival rate, through fewer consultations and faster disposition.

Front and Back Covers, Volume 37, Number 2. April 2021

Front and back cover caption, volume 37 issue 2Front coverTHE CAPITOL INSURRECTIONThousands of people marched toward the US Capitol building on 6 January 2021. The rally that day was part of an attempt to overturn the outcome of the presidential election. The attempted coup was carried out by multiple means. While the violent attack on the Capitol building that day has captured the world's attention, attempts to undermine democratic processes in the United States have a longer, more insidious history, including multiple forms of voter suppression, some of which are built into the system.The US has never been a direct democracy. In fact, in 2000 and 2016, candidates who lost the popular vote ‘won’ the election. The 2020 presidential election was perhaps outstanding because the unabashed attempts to disenfranchise voters – primarily minority voters – were suddenly on full display. The losing candidate tried to strong‐arm state election officials into fraudulently changing the vote count and pressured the vice president to overturn the lawful outcome of the elections – all of which happened in full view of the public.When it became clear that the vice president would not undermine the election result, the losing candidate called on his supporters to come to Washington, DC to demonstrate their belief that the election had been stolen from him and from them. The ensuing violent attack on the Capitol building was a spectacular display of a larger failed attempt at a coup.In this issue, Gregory Starrett and Joyce Dalsheim narrate their eye witness fieldwork accounts of the ‘March to save America’ rally earlier on that fateful day.Back coverTHE MYANMAR COUPOn 2 March 2021, police shot Kyal Sin, a 19‐year‐old protester, in the head from behind with live ammunition while she was engaged in peaceful civil disobedience in Mandalay against the Myanmar military, which seized control through a violent coup on 1 February. The artwork depicts Kyal Sin, whose name means ‘pure star’, as one of the martyrs of the democracy movement. Prior to attending the rally, Kyal Sin had posted on Facebook her wish for her organs to be donated should she die during the protest.Since the coup, millions of civilians across Myanmar have taken to the streets in protest. Civil servants, along with the general public, have participated in a nationwide strike. In response, the military have fired weapons into crowds of peaceful protesters, engaged in extrajudicial killings, raided civilian homes and businesses, kidnapped and illegally detained protesters, strikers, political and civil society leaders, tortured detainees and terrorized countless other civilians.In this issue, Seinenu M. Thein‐Lemelson reviews the history of violence and persecution perpetrated by the Myanmar military against participants in the Burmese democracy movement. The persecution of activists has included repression of their cultural and ritual life. The democracy movement possesses its own list of saints, martyrs (azarni) and heroes (thuyegaung). Between 1988 and 2012, keeping photographs or artistic depictions of these martyrs and heroes constituted an illegal act. During that time, owning or publishing this artwork of Kyal Sin could have resulted in imprisonment and torture. Indeed, even now the Myanmar military is so concerned about her martyrdom that they exhumed her body and filled her grave with cement.When Kyal Sin was shot, she was wearing a black T‐shirt emblazoned with the words: ‘Everything will be OK’, revealing a youthful hope and innocence. This sense of child‐like purity has deepened the poignancy and loss felt by all those who mourn her death. Kyal Sin's nickname was ‘Angel’ and a halo hovers above her head. She holds the Myanmar flag, shredded with bullet holes, in her left hand. Behind her are the outlines of other protesters or perhaps past martyrs of the movement, giving the three‐fingered salute, in approval and solidarity.

Petrodocumentary and the Remaking of New Deal Culture

Petrodocumentary and the Remaking of New Deal Culture Molly Geidel (bio) In 1942 Assistant Attorney General Thurman W. Arnold launched an investigation into Standard Oil of New Jersey (SONJ)'s relationship with the German petrochemical company IG Farben. Not only had SONJ profited from their association, he argued, but the corporations' agreements were depriving the United States of badly needed synthetic rubber during the war. Arnold appeared before the Senate Committee on National Defense, after which then senator Harry Truman told a reporter "I think this approaches treason." As the war progressed, new revelations piled up indicating that SONJ had allowed Germany to gain a wartime advantage.1 Opinion polls reflected this scandal, showing, among other things, that Standard Oil was the US public's least favorite corporation.2 It was not just government scrutiny and national sentiment that seemed to be damaging US oil companies' reputations: in both the United States and oil-producing Latin American countries, workers and governments were pushing back against foreign corporations in more concrete ways. The Bolivian and Mexican governments had nationalized their oil industries in 1937 and 1938, and even in friendlier Venezuela, workers pressed a newly responsive government to allow workers and citizens a greater share of oil profits, recognizing, as Fernando Coronil writes, "that the subsoil was national property and that the role of the state was to safeguard this property on behalf of the collectivity."3 The United States, for its part, witnessed its first nationwide oil-worker strike in September 1945, beginning with Michigan refinery workers and ultimately encompassing forty-three thousand workers in twenty states.4 US oil companies may have been large, but in that moment they seemed neither stable nor popular. By the end of the decade, however, things looked different. The US government quickly backed down from prosecuting SONJ for its collaboration with IG Farben and in 1945 called in the military to break the nationwide strike. In the late 1940s, under the auspices of Cold War security, the US government consolidated a foreign policy that, as David Painter argues, entailed unwavering "public support for and nonintervention in the private [End Page 797] operations of the major oil companies," along with sometimes-covert intervention abroad to secure those companies' ongoing access to the world's oil.5 Domestically, as New Deal drilling controls and housing and highway construction policies took effect, "petromodernity" reached its classic form within the built environment, and the United States entered what Matthew Huber calls "the postwar period of naïve petro-capitalism."6 Beyond these infrastructural changes, in Frederick Buell's evocative description, "wartime petrochemistry was reworked into the chemical equivalent of ploughshares." Oil, Buell explains, "changed into what people dressed in, evacuated into, viewed, and even ate, not just what they put into their power machinery. … Bodies became literally oily, in what they ate, and in the cosmetics and clothes they put on; pharmaceuticals began doing the same thing for minds."7 This essay contends that this exculpation and expansion of the petroleum industries, which looks like a smooth process only in retrospect, was helped along by a series of photography and film campaigns on behalf of the US oil and transportation industries. Rather than directly promote themselves or particular petroleum products, oil corporations undertook the more ambitious project of creating "symbols of ideal life," in John Dewey's evocative phrase.8 They did this by enlisting celebrated documentary administrators and artists to produce visions of oil extraction as both good work and harmonious nature–machine integration, imagining a postwar America characterized by cleanliness and abundance while promising Latin American countries a similar future. Working for Nelson Rockefeller's Office of the Coordinator of American Affairs (OCIAA) and SONJ, as well as for auto barons such as Alfred and Harold Sloan, these 1940s documentary cultural workers drew on the frontier-nostalgic, sociological, and even workerist social protest sensibilities honed in the milieu of New Deal agencies and the 1930s Left, brightening and simplifying these sensibilities to produce lively, hopeful visions of an oilpowered world. Directed deliberately at an educated professional class, these images and narratives not only countered critics' charges that oil extraction was dirty, dangerous, and (for US...

Becoming a Movement Society? Patterns in the Public Acceptance of Protest, 1985–2006

ABSTRACTA social movement society refers to a society in which protest is a standard, institutionalized feature of the political landscape. Is the United States steadily becoming such a society? Whereas other empirical tests of the movement society thesis have focused on political tactics and individual participation in protest, we point to the public’s attitudes as another indicator of the movement society. Using the General Social Survey (GSS) data, we find that the public has grown more accepting of protest with time. In addition, using indicators of social location, social engagement, and political engagement as predictors, we find that while these factors help explain support for the protest, their effects vary depending on the type of protest in question. Age, education, gender, income, employment status, and political interest all affect the acceptance of public meetings and demonstrations; however, the effect of income is reversed when it comes to the acceptance of a nationwide strike. Lastly, an age-period-cohort analysis finds evidence that a period effect is greater than a cohort effect in changing attitudes over time. Taken together, these findings support the claim that broad, societal-level influences have contributed to the public acceptance of protest, which is suggestive of a social movement society. Yet while the United States may constitute a social movement society, it is one with clear boundaries: Individuals do support protest but only to the extent that it does not disrupt the material advantages associated with their social location.

The highly controversial payment reform of dentists in France: Seeking a new compromise after the 2017 strike

France possesses a mixed public-private oral health system with no out of pocket payments for most routine dental treatments. The "Convention" regulates tariffs between the elected dental trade unions, the National Health Insurance and Complimentary Health Insurers. It is periodically revised and negotiated by the three parties in order to introduce new procedures, improve the access to dental care of the population and to adjust procedure costs for inflation. At the beginning of the last negotiations in September 2016 health minister Marisol Touraine introduced a new legal procedure, the Arbitrary Judgment, which came into force if the Dentists failed to agree to the NHI’s propositions. These propositions included setting caps on most of the previously unregulated dental prosthetics and a global price ceiling on the whole dental market. This sparked a nationwide strike of the profession, a blockade of all 16 Dental Schools and several national protests. This movement raised nationwide debates regarding the access to dental treatments, preventive care and out of pocket payments for patients. The political tensions generated between the stakeholders, as well as the lack of both robust epidemiological and economic data challenges the ability of this policy making process to produce comprehensive, evidence based and economically sustainable reforms.

Trade unions and austerity in Central and Eastern Europe

Austerity measures in the wake of the recent world financial crisis often translated into large cuts in public employment and spending, and tax increases. Trade unions throughout Central and Eastern Europe had a disillusioning record of protecting their members against the previous wave of market-making reforms that swept through the entire region in the 1990s. Would unions perform better this time? As the article shows, in three of the four countries discussed below (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania) trade unions were able to launch protests and nationwide strikes, arguably a sign of their growing capacity to mobilize discontent and of their willingness to risk their relationship with the government.

Cross‐class Coalitions and the Making of the Arab Revolts of 2011

Theorists of social movements and revolutions have given great attention to the factors creating vulnerability for the state – including elite divisions, loss of foreign support, and economic problems. Substantial attention has also been given to factors facilitating the mobilization of protest actors, including framing, prior network ties, social and public media, and political openings. Somewhat less evident has been the role of cross-class coalitions, which play a vital role in affecting both the strength of the state and mobilization, and in shaping the outcomes of protest and revolutionary change. If a protest draws support mainly from just one class or group (peasants, workers, students, urban shopkeepers, professionals), the state can confront that group as a disruptive force, and seek to unify elites from other sectors against that threat. However, if protestors represent many different groups, it is much harder for the state to find allies against them. Moreover, while a state can claim to be preserving society by acting against isolated disruptive elements, it is far more difficult to maintain legitimacy when acting against a broad cross-class coalition. Elites are more likely to desert the state, creating crippling elite divisions, if protestors represent a broad spectrum of society. In addition, a broad cross-class coalition facilitates further mobilization by creating ‘meganetworks’ linking prior, tightly-linked within-group networks to each other. The impact of public media in favor of the protestors is also greater if media representation shows protestors as representative of the whole society, rather than as one particular group seeking partisan advantages for itself. For these reasons, virtually all successful revolutions were forged by cross-class coalitions that bridged the diverse goals and interests of different groups, thus pitting society as a whole against the regime and its loyalist supporters. Conversely, revolts rooted in the needs and organization of one particular class or group – peasant revolts, urban uprisings, student protests, regional rebellions – have usually been effectively repressed by regimes able to draw on other groups for support. The three successful revolutions in the Arab world in 2011, in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, all demonstrate the crucial role of cross-class coalitions.

Lecturers join nationwide strike

Lecturers join nationwide strike

Les raisons de l’action collective : retour sur la mobilisation improbable des salariés d’hypermarchés

For the first time on 1 February 2008, three French labor unions (Force Ouvrière, Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail and Confédération Générale du Travail) called for a nationwide strike in hypermarket chains. Although the unions did not prolong the action on February 2, the wage earners of Hypermag Grand Large in Marseille went on strike for 16 days, demanding a special bonus of € 250, the recruitment of employees forced to work part-time into full-time positions and an increase in the employer's share in meal tickets (from € 3,05 to € 5,00). To explain why this movement occurred at that time and place, these employees’ objective interests and available resources are examined. This pair of concepts (as used in Marxism and then in the thought of Pierre Bourdieu, on the one hand, and, on the other, in utilitarian versions) suggests that labor actions by wage earners holding insecure jobs and having limited resources are improbable. Redefining the concept of the “interest” for a collective action in terms of subjective criteria helps us understand how what used to be tolerable ceases to be so, thus shedding light on the material processes that lead to forming the opinion “It's not fair”.

The Populist Appeal of Deregulation: Independent Truckers and the Politics of Free Enterprise, 1935–1980

After spending a decade as an independent trucker hauling milk, watermelons, and paper across the United States, Mike Parkhurst sold his tractor-trailer in 1961 and used the proceeds to establishOverdrivemagazine—the “Voice of the American Trucker.” Believing “truckers were ready for a magazine that would pull no punches,” Parkhurst launched a decades-long editorial assault on transportation regulations that he believed bound American enterprise in the chains of corporate control, government malfeasance, and brutish boss unionism. By the mid-1970s, Parkhurst became one of the nation's most outspoken advocates of transportation deregulation. As he told a reporter forTimein 1975, he hoped “to wake the truckers up to the fact that they're slaves to a monopoly”—a monopoly on freight transportation maintained by corporate trucking firms, abetted by the Teamsters Union, and sanctioned by corrupt government officials. In the summer of 1979, Parkhurst helped to orchestrate a nationwide strike by tens of thousands of independent truckers, in which drivers demanded, according to William Scheffer of theOverdrive-sponsored Independent Truckers Association, “the dismantling of a giant Federal bureaucracy that has grown to govern the trucking industry since the mid-1930's.”

The Populist Appeal of Deregulation: Independent Truckers and the Politics of Free Enterprise, 1935–1980

After spending a decade as an independent trucker hauling milk, watermelons, and paper across the United States, Mike Parkhurst sold his tractor-trailer in 1961 and used the proceeds to establishOverdrivemagazine—the “Voice of the American Trucker.” Believing “truckers were ready for a magazine that would pull no punches,” Parkhurst launched a decades-long editorial assault on transportation regulations that he believed bound American enterprise in the chains of corporate control, government malfeasance, and brutish boss unionism. By the mid-1970s, Parkhurst became one of the nation's most outspoken advocates of transportation deregulation. As he told a reporter forTimein 1975, he hoped “to wake the truckers up to the fact that they're slaves to a monopoly”—a monopoly on freight transportation maintained by corporate trucking firms, abetted by the Teamsters Union, and sanctioned by corrupt government officials. In the summer of 1979, Parkhurst helped to orchestrate a nationwide strike by tens of thousands of independent truckers, in which drivers demanded, according to William Scheffer of theOverdrive-sponsored Independent Truckers Association, “the dismantling of a giant Federal bureaucracy that has grown to govern the trucking industry since the mid-1930's.”