A History of America in Ten Strikes

By: Erik Loomis

Narrated by: Brian Troxell

A thrilling and timely account of ten moments in history when labor challenged the very nature of power in America, by the author called “a brilliant historian” by The Progressive magazine

Powerful and accessible, A History of America in Ten Strikes challenges all of our contemporary assumptions around labor, unions, and American workers. In this brilliant book, labor historian Erik Loomis recounts ten critical workers’ strikes in American labor history that everyone needs to know about (and then provides an annotated list of the 150 most important moments in American labor history in the appendix). From the Lowell Mill Girls strike in the 1830s to Justice for Janitors in 1990, these labor uprisings do not just reflect the times in which they occurred, but speak directly to the present moment.

For example, we often think that Lincoln ended slavery by proclaiming the slaves emancipated, but Loomis shows that they freed themselves during the Civil War by simply withdrawing their labor. He shows how the hopes and aspirations of a generation were made into demands at a GM plant in Lordstown in 1972. And he takes us to the forests of the Pacific Northwest in the early nineteenth century where the radical organizers known as the Wobblies made their biggest inroads against the power of bosses. But there were also moments when the movement was crushed by corporations and the government; Loomis helps us understand the present perilous condition of American workers and draws lessons from both the victories and defeats of the past.

In crystalline narratives, labor historian Erik Loomis lifts the curtain on workers’ struggles, giving us a fresh perspective on American history from the boots up.

Strikes include:

Lowell Mill Girls Strike (Massachusetts, 1830-40)

Slaves on Strike (The Confederacy, 1861-65)

The Eight-Hour Day Strikes (Chicago, 1886)

The Anthracite Strike (Pennsylvania, 1902)

The Bread and Roses Strike (Massachusetts, 1912)

The Flint Sit-Down Strike (Michigan, 1937)

The Oakland General Strike (California, 1946)

Lordstown (Ohio, 1972)

Air Traffic Controllers (1981)

Justice for Janitors (Los Angeles, 1990)

©2018 Erik Loomis (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc. Published by arrangement with The New Press (www.thenewpress.com).

Indispensible for any worker.

Unfortunately many working people do not understand there position in the world. They have a tendency to fall for the line of personal responsibility, or boot straps, making the mistake of believing either they got where they are by themselves, or that maybe they can win the lottery. This book is revealing to the tactics used by the wealthy class.

Great History, Great Listen

I've been trying to educate myself as much as possible in my newfound covid downtime, and this has been a Great addition. Doesn't sugarcoat or cherry pick to fit a certain narrative, and doesn't try to pretend like unions were perfect saviors of working people. I loved his mention of the different tendencies that went into organizing, and the world historical context of these ideas. Very good get, would recommend.

Should be required reading for all wage earners and voters

And if you’re a wage earner that’s eligible to vote, register and vote every chance you get.

I heard earlier today that wage theft cost American workers $50 Billion a year. We need to strengthen employee protections.

One hundred years ago too many people were working 10 hours a day, six days a week. Things like the weekend, overtime pay, and most importantly workplace safety did not come about from bosses benevolence; people worked, fought and died for them.

If you didn’t learn the history of the labor movement in school, or if you’re fuzzy on the details, this book is an eye opener.

a great intro to Unionism in the US

An expertly narrated, easy to follow and contextualize, overview of the importance of organized labor throughout US history and an indictment of the political and economic system that required these unions to exist in the first place.

brief overview of the labor movement in America

Good stuff. Mill girls, slave revolts, Knights of Labor, the Great Rail Strike, the Wobs, the general strikes (Seattle 1919, West Coast & Minneapolis 1934), Patco, justice for janitors. Book does a good job briefly setting the historical scene of the strikes. A key idea the author explores is the legalization of the labor movement, labor law, NLRA, labor peace, and how American Presidents and Governors respond to militant strikes (illegal, open-ended, escalating, spreading strikes through secondary strikes, etc). The author encourages the labor movement to elect pro-worker politicians who will refuse to send in the army to break strikes (like the Governor of Colorado and FDR for example). Loomis also shows many examples of the changing philosophies of labor leaders (Gomper vs Haywood vs Lane Kirkland vs Sweeney and Trumka). Loomis evidences these characterizations with quotes, decisions labor leaders made, and the interplay between labor leadership and the rank-and-file. One last observation, Loomis makes race, gender, and immigration central topics through which he analyzes & organizes labor history. I would characterize this book as overly charitable to labor misleadership and class-collaboration. It's a book that doesn't wanna ruffle feathers. The conclusion briefly calls for a workers party through realigning the Democratic Party because "it's been done before." The billionaires only allow an FDR is their a credible threat of an October 1917-style workers government knocking at the door. And General Smedley Butler blew the whistle on the many capitalists that moved to kill and coup FDR. As we saw with electing Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Party will not allow even a reformer a fair primary. So the labor movement would be wise to look to the only thing that truly scares the capitalists into surrendering concessions, deeply disciplined international class-struggle with clear class-struggle leadership aiming for world socialism. Workers of the world, unite🤝