Strike Wave Research Articles

The Teikovo Cotton Workers' Strike of April 1932: Class, Gender and Identity Politics in Stalin's Russia

April 1932, Nikolai Shvernik, the head of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, informed Stalin and Lazar Kaganovich that Soviet workers were rebelling against starvation rations implemented on the first of the month. Shvernik did not offer details about the most serious episode of unrest-a wave of strikes by over sixteen thousand textile workers in the Ivanovo Industrial Region (IPO)-because Kaganovich himself orchestrated the suppression of the protests. Although Stalin already knew from OGPU (secret police) reports that his policies had alienated the working class, Shvernik emphasized that the recent unrest was marked by political overtones: In all the cases cited, counterrevolutionary and Trotskyite attempted to exploit the temporary difficulties in worker supply.' Although the IPO strikes were never publicized, they served as the subtext of speeches at the national trade union congress that met that month in Moscow. During appearances before delegates, Shvernik ridiculed officials from the towns where the strikes occurred, Ian Rudzutak, the head of the party's Central Control Commission, admitted that workers were steeped in foul moods, and Kaganovich attributed the crisis of morale to the petty-bourgeois attitudes of new workers, the persistence of bourgeois influences among experienced workers, and the subversive work of class-alien elements who allegedly had infiltrated Soviet enterprises.2 Meanwhile, rumors of unrest stoked the flames of opposition within the party. Circulated surreptitiously among Communists in 1932, Riutin's platform argued that the regime

Reclaiming Welfare: The Politics of French Social Protection Reform

Abstract As the 1995 wave of strikes has powerfully shown, the French welfare state is currently the object of a political struggle between sections of the labour movement and the government. In this article, we look at the politics of the current transformation of the French social protection system. First, we describe the key features of welfare institutions; second, we look at the debate on the socio-economic problems that welfare is currently facing. Finally, we focus on how these issues appear in the political debate, through an analysis of interview data of influential political actors and a discussion of the 1995 Juppé plan, which provides the framework for future reforms. Our conclusion is that the current transformation process cannot be interpreted as simply a movement towards the restoration of financial equilibrium. Instead, it affects the very structure of the French model of welfare by promoting a shift from Bismarckian social insurance towards a non-employment based, state-controlled system.

Gastonia 1929: the story of the Loray Mill strike

Of the wave of labor strikes that swept through the South in 1929, the one at the Loray Mill in Gastonia, North Carolina, is perhaps the best remembered. In Gastonia 1929 John Salmond provides the first detailed account of the complex events surrounding the strike at the largest textile mill in the Southeast. His compelling narrative unravels the confusing story of the shooting of the town's police chief, the trials of the alleged killers, the unsolved murder of striker and balladeer Ella May Wiggins, and the strike leaders' conviction and subsequent flight to the Soviet Union.

Can France meet the Maastricht Criteria? slower economic growth poses new challenges to economic policy makers

With its 1996 budget the French government has all but completely abandoned its election promises. At the same time, in economic policy terms it has gained credibility amongst its partners in the EU. Following the announcement of the fiscal consolidation measures the franc initially strengthened and the central bank was able to reduce short-term interest rates slightly for the first time since July 1994. There is still a chance that France will be able to meet the criteria for joining European Economic and Monetary Union if the country proves able to counter the current trend towards a weakening of economic growth in 1996 and 1997. Although the recent wave of strikes indicates that the cutbacks have gone as far as was possible, fiscal policy is not in a position to stimulate demand if it is to avoid undermining the aim of meeting the 3% criterion at the appointed time. This makes a perceptible cut in real interest rates all the more necessary. This in turn requires a substantial stimulus by the monetary authorities, and this is only conceivable within the framework of concerted action at European level.

Brillouin scattering in glass-forming liquids: q-dependent linewidths and the generalized viscosity.

Recently, Gomperts, Variyar, and Kivelson [J. Chem. Phys. 98, 31 (1993)] analyzed Brillouin linewidth data for triphenylphosphite and found a striking wave vector dependence which varied strongly with temperature. We present a simple explanation based on a Debye relaxation model from which results similar to theirs are obtained even though the longitudinal viscosity has no intrinsic wave vector dependence. We also explore the quantitative differences between their results and those obtained with the Debye model, and show that these differences can be explained by the two-step structural realaxation dynamics predicted by mode coupling theory and observed in recent neutron- and light-scattering experiments.

Shanghai's Strike Wave of 1957

In the spring of 1957, a strike wave of monumental proportions rolled across the city of Shanghai. The strikes in Shanghai represented the climax of a national outpouring of labour protest that had been gaining momentum for more than a year. The magnitude of the 1957 strike wave is especially impressive when placed in historical perspective. Major labour disturbances(naoshi)erupted at 587 Shanghai enterprises in the spring of 1957, involving nearly 30,000 workers. More than 200 of these incidents included factory walkouts, while another 100 or so involved organized slowdowns of production. Additionally, more than 700 enterprises experienced less serious forms of labour unrest(maoyari).These figures are extraordinary even by comparison with Republican-period Shanghai when the May Fourth Movement of 1919, the May Thirtieth Movement of 1925, the Shanghai Workers' Three Armed Uprisings of 1926–27 and the protests of the Civil War years gave rise to one of the most aggressive labour movements in world history. In 1919, Shanghai experienced only 56 strikes, 33 of which were connected with May Fourth. In 1925, it saw 175, of which 100 were in conjunction with May Thirtieth. The year of greatest strike activity in Republican-period Shanghai, 1946, saw a total of 280.

Regulating Labor: The State and Industrial Relations Reform in Postwar France.

In May and June of 1968 a dramatic wave of strikes paralyzed France, making industrial relations reform a key item on the government agenda. French trade unions seemed due for a golden age of growth and importance. Today, however, trade unions are weaker in France than in any other advanced capitalist country. How did such exceptional militancy give way to equally remarkable quiescence? To answer this question, Chris Howell examines the reform projects of successive French governments toward trade unions and industrial relations during the postwar era, focusing in particular on the efforts of post-1968 conservative and socialist governments. Howell explains the genesis and fate of these reform efforts by analyzing constraints imposed on the French state by changing economic circumstances and by the organizational weakness of labor. His approach, which links economic, political, and institutional analysis, is broadly that of Regulation Theory. His explicitly comparative goal is to develop a framework for understanding the challenges facing labor movements throughout the advanced capitalist world in light of the exhaustion of the postwar pattern of economic growth, the weakening of the nation-state as an economic actor, and accelerating economic integration, particularly in Europe.

Without Fear of Being Happy: Lula, the Workers Party and Brazil

The Brazilian Workers Party is the most important political formation to emerge in Latin America for many years. Under the charismatic leadership of an ex-metalworker and union official, Luis Inacio da Silva, known simply as Lula by the Brazilian masses, the Workers Party won 31 million votes to come within three per cent of winning the 1989 presidential election on a bold anti-capitalist platform. Taking its title from the Workers Party's slogan in these elections, Without Fear of Being Happy shows how the party's development reflected the increasing social inequalities under Brazil's military dictatorship of 1964 to 1985, and gives an account of the wave of strikes organized by Workers Party leaders which accelerated the collapse of the generals' regime. Since its formation in 1980, the party has brought together trade unionists, landless peasants, shantytown activists, the progressive wing of the Catholic Church and human rights campaigners. Drawing on the experiences and aspirations of this wide coalition, it has attempted to redefine a socialist perspective in a time of triumphant neo-liberalism. In a detailed assessment of the organization, program and electoral prospects of the Workers Party today, Emir Sader and Ken Silverstein highlight the dilemmas it faces as a radical political force in a country who economy--the eighth largest in the West--attracts keen interest from the United States. The Workers Party's success has foreshadowed the emergence of leftwing coalitions in other countries of the region and has been an inspiration for socialists throughout the Third World. The first comprehensive account of this remarkable political phenomenon, Without Fear of Being Happy will be of lasting value to all those interested in Latin American politics and anti-imperialist strategies in the era of the New World Order.

"Pelegos" No More? Labour Historians Confront the 'New Unionism' in Brazil

FROM THE MOMENT THE MILITARY took power in Brazil in 1964 — with negligible working-class opposition — the apparent weakness of Brazilian labour frustrated scholars and activists alike. Brazil was, after all, the most developed nation in Latin America, and Sao Paulo, its industrial epicentre, was a smokestack-ringed metropolis of international dimensions. If a real proletariat existed anywhere south of the Rio Grande, it was in Sâo Paulo's booming automobile plants, metalworking factories, and working-class neighborhoods. Nevertheless, the paulistano labour movement appeared, as late as 1976, incapable of asserting its right to share in the fruits of Brazil's vaunted economic miracle. Not surprisingly, the historiography of Brazilian labour reflected this pessimism, and sought to account for what was seen primarily as a story of failure. In the last decade and a half, however, Brazilian labour has experienced an extraordinary resurgence, particularly in Sâo Paulo. Starting in 1978, a series of major strikes paralyzed auto plants throughout the city's industrial suburbs — the so-called ABC region of Santo Andre, Sâo Bernardo do Campo, and Sâo Caetano do Sul. The President of the Sâo Bernardo metalworkers' union, Luis Inacio da Silva C'Lula), rose to national prominence as the expanding strike wave became a lightning rod of opposition to military rule. These strikes announced the emergence of a different kind of workers' movement, soon dubbed the new unionism, that seemed to overturn years of tradition by taking a stronger stand against

The Dynamics of Cell Death in the Olfactory Epithelium

Adult vertebrate olfactory epithelia are unique in their continual sensory neuron turnover and replacement. This paper describes studies of various aspects of the death of these receptor neurons in unoperated rats and at 12 days and 7 weeks after unilateral ablation of the olfactory bulb, the receptor neuron synaptic target. Particular attention has been focused on the lifespan of the dying cells using tritiated thymidine/autoradiography to examine their "birthdates," We show that in control epithelia 25-30% of the degenerating (pyknotic) cells were located in the basal quarter of the epithelium, the location of the least mature sensory neurons and of neuronal stem cell proliferation. Birthdate analysis shows that 2-5% of the degenerating cells were dying within a day or less of their "birth." Thus, a sizeable proportion of these cells were dying precociously, before achieving full neuronal maturation. A further 65% of the dying cells occured in the middle half and 7% in the apical quarter of the epithelium, Following unilateral olfactory bulbectomy a two- to threefold increase in the number of degenerating cells occurred in ipsilateral versus contralateral tissue. This was maintained through the 7-week experimental period. A shift of 10-15% of the total degenerating cell numbers from the basal to middle region of the epithelium also occurred. Despite the increased degenerative activity ipsilaterally, the proportion of dying cells labeled autoradiographically remained the same on both sides at most labeling periods. However, a striking wave of enhanced cell death of 6- to 7-day-old neurons over the contralateral levels occurred ipsilaterally in both the 12-day and 7-week postbulbectomy animals. This age likely corresponds to initial bulbar target contact by differentiating receptor neurons. Our findings point to the existence of multiple levels of epigenetic regulation of degenerative activity within the olfactory epithelium.

Two Roads to Socialism—Two Blind Alleys?

Now, at the end of the twentieth century, the world socialist movement has come to a turning point in its history. The decline and fall of the USSR is only the final stage in a process that began ten years ago. The events taking place in the socialist countries in the eighties—first the wave of strikes in Poland, then Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet Union, the student disturbances in Peking, and, toward the end of the decade, the fall of the Communist regimes in the countries of Eastern Europe, and now even the dismantling of the Communist system of power in the former Soviet Union following the failed putsch—have changed the world so much that one can even say that one era in the history of socialism, which began in 1917 with the first successful socialist revolution, has come to a close. A new era has begun.

Strikes in the Community: addressing some early questions

In post–1992 Europe, capital will tend to flow to areas of lowest unit output cost. Difference in the quality of labour-management relations, here proxied by strike activity, could be an important component of such costs. The performance of strike models for EC member states is examined, paying particular attention to the evidence for reaction equality to macroeconomic stimuli and for the existence of ‘strike waves’. Both hypotheses are rejected, meaning firstly, that there is no justification for datapooling but, secondly, that member states are free to pursue policies to improve their industrial relations environments without fear they will be undermined by developments elsewhere.

Workers in a Repressive Society of Seductions: Parisian Metallurgists in May-June 1968

Much of the historiography of May-June 1968 has understandably focused on the student movement. After all, it was the student activists who began the chain of events that, many either hoped or feared, would lead to revolution in France. Furthermore, the novelty and energy of the student actions and ideas distinguished 1968 from previous protests and revolutions. Given the fascination with student activists' radical and revolutionary desires, the literature on 1968 has logically taken a political and intellectual orientation. We know much about groupuscules and revolutionary ideologies; in contrast, our knowledge of workers is more limited, even though wage earners were at least as important as students in determining the outcome of the events. An examination of wage earners in metallurgy, where the strike movement was particularly powerful and influential, may help to fill a historiographical gap. Striking blue-collar workers in this sector were uninterested in the global social and political project that student and other revolutionaries were proposing. Instead of supporting revolutionary visions inherited from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, workers fought in favor of bread-and-butter demands. Their actions demonstrated how far they had adjusted to what may be called the repressive society of seductions. Wage earners took advantage of the momentary weakness of state power in the middle of May to initiate the largest strike wave in French history. At the end of the month, the state was able to reassert its authority, and in June state repression and the seductions of

The 1973 Durban strikes: Of local and international significance

The 1973 Durban strike wave was for most people a totally unexpected event. With more than 60 000 black workers involved, it was a major cause for concern among the company owners, state officials and the public. This article evaluates the 1973 Durban strike wave and the events leading up to it. It is argued that the strike wave was the result of a combination of factors, ranging from increased inflationary pressures to a complex chain of political developments. The strike wave should be viewed in the context of the emergence of the black trade union movement and of increased socio-political conflict.

Paradoxes of social consciousness under socialism

The way in which thought evolved under socialism in general, and particularly in Poland, may be described as quite paradoxical. The first paradox is that socialism, with its Marxist ideology focusing so strongly on the historical role of the proletariat, has actually been overthrown by the proletariat. The role of the masses in the Polish transformation was indeed crucial, including the two waves of strikes in 1988 which forced the authorities at the time to accept the idea of the Round Table talks with the democratic opposition. The second paradox is that the prole tariat has accepted the social teachings of the Catholic Church, an institution which has collaborated for centuries with the state and

The Miners' Alternative

When in the summer of last year the mines in Kuzbass, Vorkuta, and Donbass began to stop working one after the other, it seemed to many that this was no more than an outburst of discontent, that the conflict could be diffused and that the wave of strikes would subside. But this did not happen. The movement gained new supporters and became more radical and more aggressive. The miners commemorated its anniversary with a political strike.

Militancy and Pragmatism

SummaryThe militancy of maritime workers led worldwide to strikes of great magnitude, visibility and impact. In many countries these strikes had vast repercussions for the industrial and political development of the labour movement. As this comparative overview of maritime labour and unionism in some ten countries shows, however, after the first wave of strikes two conflicting tendencies arose which became a permanent feature of the maritime scene. The men themselves never lost their potential for militant action and adherence to radical ideologies. By contrast, many union leaders became increasingly pragmatic and even accommodationist. This article investigates the causes of this dichotomy and assesses the resulting tensions and conflicts. In many ports these led to break-away moves, spontaneous action and the replacement of moderate by radical leaders. In others the pragmatic tendency survived in power. This included a strong interest in alliances with adjacent unions and international unions.

1889 And All That: New Views on the New Unionism

SUMMARYThis article reviews the existing literature on the rise of the New Unionism and suggests some revisions of the nature of the phenomenon based on recent research. One finding is that as institutions the unions were not militant but from their inception favoured a moderate stance regarding relations with employers. The causes of the New Unionism and the strike wave of 1889–1890 are analysed within a framework of neoclassical economics and the major operator in the situation is identified as the dwindling supply of rural labour which increased the value and bargaining power of the unskilled toward the end of the nineteenth century.

Daughters of the Shtetl: life and labor in the immigrant generation

In this fascinating portrait of Jewish immigrant wage earners, Susan A. Glenn weaves together several strands of social history to show the emergence of an ethnic version of what early twentieth-century Americans called the New Womanhood. She maintains that during an era when Americans perceived women as temporary workers interested ultimately in marriage and motherhood, these young Jewish women turned the garment industry upside down with a wave of militant strikes and shop-floor activism and helped build the two major clothing workers' unions.

Gaijin kaisha: running a foreign business in Japan

Strikes have been part of American labor relations from colonial days to the present, reflecting the widespread class conflict that has run throughout the nation's history. Against employers and their goons, against the police, the National Guard, local, state, and national officials, against racist vigilantes, against their union leaders, and against each other, American workers have walked off the job for higher wages, better benefits, bargaining rights, legislation, job control, and just plain dignity. At times, their actions have motivated groundbreaking legislation, defining new rights for all citizens at other times they have led to loss of workers' lives. This comprehensive encyclopedia is the first detailed collection of historical research on strikes in America. To provide the analytical tools for understanding strikes, the volume includes two types of essays - those focused on an industry or economic sector, and those focused on a theme. Each industry essay introduces a group of workers and their employers and places them in their economic, political, and community contexts. The essay then describes the industry's various strikes, including the main issues involved and outcomes achieved, and assesses the impact of the strikes on the industry over time. Thematic essays address questions that can only be answered by looking at a variety of strikes across industries, groups of workers, and time, such as, why the number of strikes has declined since the 1970s, or why there was a strike wave in 1946. The contributors include historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and philosophers, as well as current and past activists from unions and other social movement organizations. Photos, a Topic Finder, a bibliography, and name and subject indexes add to the works appeal.