Thursday, June 22, 2006
[IWS] ILR Press: SCHOOLS of DEMOCRACY [American Labor Movement Political History]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
ILR Press
Schools of Democracy: A Political History of the American Labor Movement
by Clayton Sinyai
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ilrpress/titles/4472.html
or
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4472
Cloth, 2006 ISBN: 0-8014-4455-1
$ 55.00 £31.50
Paper, 2006 ISBN: 0-8014-7299-7
$ 22.50 £12.95
In this new political history of the labor movement, Clayton Sinyai examines the relationship between labor activism and the American democratic tradition. Sinyai shows how America's working people and union leaders debated the first questions of democratic theory--and in the process educated themselves about the rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship. In tracing the course of the American labor movement from the founding of the Knights of Labor in the 1870s to the 1968 presidential election and its aftermath, Sinyai explores the political dimensions of collective bargaining, the structures of unions and businesses, and labor's relationships with political parties and other social movements. Schools of Democracy analyzes how labor activists wrestled with fundamental aspects of political philosophy and the development of American democracy, including majority rule versus individual liberty, the rule of law, and the qualifications required of citizens of a democracy. Offering a balanced assessment of mainstream leaders of American labor, from Samuel Gompers to George Meany, and their radical critics, including the Socialists and the Industrial Workers of the World, Sinyai provides an unusual and refreshing perspective on American labor history.
About the Author
Clayton Sinyai is a Researcher for the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) and Political Director for Laborers' Local 11.
Reviews
Liberals and conservatives alike should read this book as a useful reminder that true democracy in America depends on the freedom of working people to form independent organizations and have a real voice in decisions about our future. Schools of Democracy documents the fact that Americas promise to value and reward work has been kept only when working families have had strong, democratic unions that can hold corporations and government accountable.Andrew L. Stern, President, Service Employees International Union
Schools of Democracy is a fresh and compelling reinterpretation of U.S. labor history from a political rather than an economic standpoint. Sinyai restores American workers and their unions to their rightful place as key defenders of democratic government and the educated, active citizenry upon which it rests. His book also has the singular merit of treating Samuel Gompers, together with other labor leaders, as the important political figures and public intellectuals that they were.Dorothy Sue Cobble, author of The Other Womens Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America
"Schools of Democracy is lucid, thorough, and written with confidence and humor. It surveys a wide range of labor history. Clayton Sinyai subjects familiar markers in labor historythe Knights of Labor, the rise of the AFL, the emergence of the CIO, and postwar labor historyto a new standard: how unions legitimated themselves according to democratic theory."Alan L. Draper, St. Lawrence University
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
ILR Press
Schools of Democracy: A Political History of the American Labor Movement
by Clayton Sinyai
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ilrpress/titles/4472.html
or
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4472
Cloth, 2006 ISBN: 0-8014-4455-1
$ 55.00 £31.50
Paper, 2006 ISBN: 0-8014-7299-7
$ 22.50 £12.95
In this new political history of the labor movement, Clayton Sinyai examines the relationship between labor activism and the American democratic tradition. Sinyai shows how America's working people and union leaders debated the first questions of democratic theory--and in the process educated themselves about the rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship. In tracing the course of the American labor movement from the founding of the Knights of Labor in the 1870s to the 1968 presidential election and its aftermath, Sinyai explores the political dimensions of collective bargaining, the structures of unions and businesses, and labor's relationships with political parties and other social movements. Schools of Democracy analyzes how labor activists wrestled with fundamental aspects of political philosophy and the development of American democracy, including majority rule versus individual liberty, the rule of law, and the qualifications required of citizens of a democracy. Offering a balanced assessment of mainstream leaders of American labor, from Samuel Gompers to George Meany, and their radical critics, including the Socialists and the Industrial Workers of the World, Sinyai provides an unusual and refreshing perspective on American labor history.
About the Author
Clayton Sinyai is a Researcher for the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) and Political Director for Laborers' Local 11.
Reviews
Liberals and conservatives alike should read this book as a useful reminder that true democracy in America depends on the freedom of working people to form independent organizations and have a real voice in decisions about our future. Schools of Democracy documents the fact that Americas promise to value and reward work has been kept only when working families have had strong, democratic unions that can hold corporations and government accountable.Andrew L. Stern, President, Service Employees International Union
Schools of Democracy is a fresh and compelling reinterpretation of U.S. labor history from a political rather than an economic standpoint. Sinyai restores American workers and their unions to their rightful place as key defenders of democratic government and the educated, active citizenry upon which it rests. His book also has the singular merit of treating Samuel Gompers, together with other labor leaders, as the important political figures and public intellectuals that they were.Dorothy Sue Cobble, author of The Other Womens Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America
"Schools of Democracy is lucid, thorough, and written with confidence and humor. It surveys a wide range of labor history. Clayton Sinyai subjects familiar markers in labor historythe Knights of Labor, the rise of the AFL, the emergence of the CIO, and postwar labor historyto a new standard: how unions legitimated themselves according to democratic theory."Alan L. Draper, St. Lawrence University
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 6:01 AM
