Podcasts about howard mumford jones professor

This final episode of Organize the Unorganized is devoted to key lessons of the CIO moment. All of the guests on this program were asked about this basic question, and we try to represent all of their answers on this episode. The negative lessons, points where guests were keen to note the differences between the 30s and the present moment, focused on the changed economic situation and the issue of labor law. The more positive lessons pertained to union democracy, overcoming divisions in the working class, mass organizing, raising expectations, and seizing the moment. Guests in order of appearance: Dorothy Sue Cobble, Professor Emerita of History and Labor Studies at Rutgers University; David Brody, Professor Emeritus of History at UC-Davis; Ruth Milkman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center; Ahmed White, Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado-Boulder; Lizabeth Cohen, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University; Robert Cherny, Professor Emeritus of History at San Francisco State University; Jeremy Brecher, Labor Historian; Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at UC-Santa Barbara; Bryan Palmer, Professor Emeritus of History at Trent University; William P. Jones, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota; Rick Halpern, Professor of American Studies at the University of Toronto; Peter Cole, Professor of History at Western Illinois University; Erik Loomis, Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island; Steve Fraser, Labor Historian Clips in order of appearance: “David Dubinsky speaks at the 25th anniversary celebration of his ILGWU presidency, Madison Square Garden, New York, 1957, Part 2,” David Dubinsky Audio-visual Recordings, Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library, https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/KCL05780-002av.html (37:32); “Walter Reuther and the UAW,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4n76yNizs8 (38:03); “A Conversation with Harry Bridges,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EFZOj7_1qI (39:31); John L. Lewis, “Industrial Democracy Speech, WEAF,” The John L. Lewis Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society (493A/39) (39:46) Songs in order of appearance: The Union Boys, “Hold the Fort,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj4tNpjr9c4 (12:33); “On the Line,” “Tom Glazer Sings Favorite American Union Songs circa 1948,” United Packinghouse, Food, and Allied Workers Records, 1937-1968, Wisconsin Historical Society (Audio 375A/78), https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;id=navbarbrowselink;cginame=findaid-idx;cc=wiarchives;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=uw-whs-mss00118;focusrgn=C02;byte=412854728 (19:07); “We Shall Not Be Moved,” The Original Talking Union and Other Unions Songs with the Almanac Singers with Pete Seeger and Chorus, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3cJ7GVoOdA (27:56); Tracy Newman, “It Could Be a Wonderful World,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-yIs5GICs8 (42:33) Theme music by Drake Tyler.

This penultimate episode of Organize the Unorganized concludes the story of the CIO. We cover first the communist purge in the late 1940s, as well as Operation Dixie, the failed campaign to organize the south. We then get to merger with the AFL in 1955, and the afterlife of the CIO in the Industrial Union Department and its contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. Guests in order of appearance: Lizabeth Cohen, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University; James Young, Professor Emeritus of History at Edinboro University; Melvyn Dubofsky, Professor Emeritus of History and Sociology at Binghamton University; Erik Loomis, Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island; David Brody, Professor Emeritus of History at UC-Davis; Jeremy Brecher, Labor Historian; William P. Jones, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota; Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at UC-Santa Barbara; Lisa Phillips, Associate Professor of History at Indiana State University; Steve Fraser, Labor Historian; Ruth Milkman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center; Dorothy Sue Cobble, Professor Emerita of History and Labor Studies at Rutgers University Clips in order of appearance: “Bill Strength Congress of Industrial Organizations Program,” Part 11, “Congress of Industrial Organizations and Americanism” (1524A/28), in “Textile Workers Union of America Records, 1915-1994,” Wisconsin Historical Society, https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=uw-whs-us00129a (0:00); “James Matles - 1973, District 10 meeting, Lake Arrowhead, CA,” UE History, https://soundcloud.com/user-141302221/james-matles-1973-district-10-meeting-lake-arrowhead-ca (9:41); “Congress of Industrial Organizations convention debate on the expulsion of the communists, circa 4 November 1949” (1524A/91&92), in “Textile Workers Union of America Records, 1915-1994,” Wisconsin Historical Society, https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=uw-whs-us00129a (19:40, 20:14, 21:49, 22:33, 23:53); “Martin Luther King, AFL-CIO Convention 4 Dec 11, 1961,” AFL-CIO archive at the University of Maryland (35:30); “John F. Kennedy's remarks to a labor group, 24 September, 1963” (375A/41), in “United Packinghouse, Food, and Allied Workers Records, 1937-1968,” Wisconsin Historical Society, https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;id=navbarbrowselink;cginame=findaid-idx;cc=wiarchives;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=uw-whs-mss00118;focusrgn=C02;byte=412854728 (39:50); “UAW Audiovisual Collection: 1955 Documentary on the CIO,” Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University (46:40) Theme music by Drake Tyler.

This episode is devoted to the Little Steel strike in the summer of 1937, a tragic failure for the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and the CIO, and one that illustrated the limits of the New Deal order. It might appear excessive to devote an entire episode of the podcast to one strike, but Little Steel was in many ways a turning point, a key hinge in our story. To capture it well we also need to delve into the more general history of steel organizing in America, a fantastically brutal affair that reveals the soul of American capitalism. Guests in order of appearance: David Brody, Professor Emeritus of History at UC-Davis; Ahmed White, Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado-Boulder; Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at UC-Santa Barbara; Lizabeth Cohen, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University; Daniel Nelson, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Akron; Melvyn Dubofsky, Professor Emeritus of History and Sociology at Binghamton University Clips in order of appearance: Gus Hall, “U.S. Communist Party 75th Anniversary,” October 23, 1994, https://www.c-span.org/video/?61145-1/us-communist-party-75th-anniversary (0:00); “AFL vs. CIO split in 1935,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IsJZAknuIQ (7:47); John L. Lewis, “Industrial Democracy in Steel,” July 6, 1936, The John L. Lewis Papers 493A/39, Wisconsin Historical Society (9:26, 45:29); “UAW Audiovisual Collection: 1955 Documentary on the CIO,” Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University (19:10); Quotes in order of appearance: Mary Heaton Vorse, Labor's New Millions, p. 132, https://ia802602.us.archive.org/3/items/laborsnewmillion00vorsrich/laborsnewmillion00vorsrich.pdf (32:16) Songs in order of appearance: Pete Seeger, “Homestead Strike Song,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xysm_JNnLqw (5:58); Joe Glazer, “Memorial Day Massacre,” Songs of Steel and Struggle, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6KsMlgCokI (20:12); Joe and Esther Zane Gelders, “The Ballad of John Catchings (Part 1),” The Lomax Kentucky Recordings, https://lomaxky.omeka.net/items/show/197 (38:36) Theme music by Drake Tyler. Quote music is Martin Tallstrom's cover of “Freight Train,” used here with permission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9LEUMgBkX8.

How was it that the CIO was finally able to make good on the decades-old dream of industrial unionism? In this episode, we outline four factors that were the keys to the CIO's success. First, there was a political opportunity that the CIO took advantage of. Second, there were militant and disruptive tactics employed that were effective given that political opportunity. Third, there was the great energy and commitment of the Left as channeled toward the stable end of collective bargaining. And finally, there was what podcast guest Lizabeth Cohen has called the “culture of unity” bred by the CIO. The first factor was covered in Episode 2, and the second in Episode 3, and so we won't rehash that material here. This episode is thus focused on the latter two: the influence of the Left and the culture of unity. Guests in order of appearance: Dorothy Sue Cobble, Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Labor Studies at Rutgers University; Steve Fraser, Labor Historian; David Brody, Professor Emeritus of History at UC-Davis; Jeremy Brecher, Labor Historian; Ahmed White, Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado-Boulder; Lizabeth Cohen, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University; Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at UC-Santa Barbara; Erik Loomis, Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island; William P. Jones, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota; Lisa Phillips, Associate Professor of History at Indiana State University; Rick Halpern, Professor of American Studies at the University of Toronto Clips in order of appearance: “David Dubinsky speaks at the 25th anniversary celebration of his ILGWU presidency, Madison Square Garden, New York, 1957, Part 2,” David Dubinsky Audio-visual Recordings, Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library, https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/KCL05780-002av.html (48:15) Songs in order of appearance: Paul Robeson, “Ballad for Americans,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHCQGQdeL68 (0:00); Joe Glazer, “I Ain't No Stranger Now,” Textile Voices, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AePjBRgEuBI (32:40) Theme music by Drake Tyler.

On the second episode of Organized the Unorganized, we kick things off with an account of the institutional formation of the CIO, and then get to the organization's key personalities. John L. Lewis, the founding president of and driving force behind the CIO, unsurprisingly gets a fair amount of time, and we focus in particular on the reasons for his bold leadership at this decisive moment in history. We also introduce Sidney Hillman, the only other real center of power in the organization besides Lewis in the early CIO, as well as some of the key organizers of the CIO, most of whom hailed from the United Mine Workers of America. Guests, in order of appearance: Melvyn Dubofsky, Professor Emeritus of History and Sociology at Binghamton University; Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at UC-Santa Barbara; Jeremy Brecher, Labor Historian; Erik Loomis, Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island; Steve Fraser, Labor Historian; Lisabeth Cohen, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University; Ahmed White, Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado-Boulder; Robert Cherny, Professor Emeritus of History at San Francisco State University; Dorothy Sue Cobble, Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Labor Studies at Rutgers University Clips, in order of appearance: John L Lewis, “The Future of Organized Labor” speech, November 28, 1935, in the “John L. Lewis papers, 1879-1969,” Wisconsin Historical Society, 493A/9 (0:00, 19:42); Mike Wallace, “John L. Lewis,” Biography, https://youtu.be/2fwAr3_oHKg?si=cJwo8qZpFAQ0WX0R (8:01); Sidney Hillman, "America's Town meeting -- WJZ & Network - June 14, 1935 -- Mr. Sidney Hillman," Box 1, Folder 2, Sidney and Bessie Hillman Recording Discs, 1935, Collection Number 6225 AV, https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/KCL06225av.html (26:58); “UAW Audiovisual Collection: 1955 Documentary on the CIO,” Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University Quotes, in order of appearance: William Z. Foster, Misleaders of Labor, p. 133, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b5111691&seq=139; Robert Zieger, The CIO: 1935-1955, p. 25; Melvyn Dubofsky and Warren van Tine, John L. Lewis: A Biography, p. 163; Walter Reuther and James Carey, introduction to John Brophy, A Miner's Life: An Autobiography, https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Miner_s_Life/LD_tAAAAMAAJ?hl=en Songs, in order of appearance: George Jones, “This is what the union has done,” George Korson Bituminous Songs Collection, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200197194/; Sarah Ogan Gunning, “I'm Goin' to Organize, Baby Mine (part 1),” The Lomax Kentucky Recordings, https://lomaxky.omeka.net/items/show/212; Pete Seeger, “Which Side Are You On?”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XEnTxlBuGo Theme music by Drake Tyler. Quote music is Martin Tallstrom's cover of “Freight Train,” used here with permission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9LEUMgBkX8.

The first episode of Organize the Unorganized sets the stage for the story of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, first getting into the history of the organization from which it broke off, the American Federation of Labor, and then describing three developments that raised workers' expectations in the lead-up to the founding of the CIO: the broken promises of welfare capitalism, the National Industrial Recovery Act, and the mass strikes of 1934. Interviewees, in order of appearance: Ruth Milkman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center; Robert Cherny, Professor Emeritus of History at San Francisco State University; Ahmed White, Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado-Boulder; Dorothy Sue Cobble, Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Labor Studies at Rutgers University; Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History at UC-Santa Barbara; Lizabeth Cohen, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University; Bryan Palmer, Professor Emeritus of History at Trent University; Steve Fraser, Labor Historian; David Brody, Professor Emeritus of History at UC-Davis; Erik Loomis, Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island; Jeremy Brecher, Labor Historian Songs, in order of appearance: Aunt Molly Jackson, “CIO Union Song,” https://lomaxky.omeka.net/items/show/1352 (7:28); Joe and Esther Zane Gelders, “The Ballad of John Catchings,” https://lomaxky.omeka.net/items/show/197 (23:50); John Greenway, “The Ballad of Bloody Thursday,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWafvcwXCtc (32:08) Clips, in order of appearance: John L. Lewis speech, from Mike Wallace's Biography, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fwAr3_oHKg&t=384s (0:00); AFL vs. CIO split in 1935, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IsJZAknuIQ (11:51); David Dubinsky speech, from “ILGWU. David Dubinsky Audio-visual Recordings: Collection Number: 5780/002 AV,” Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Box 2, Folder 10, “David Dubinsky—United Auto Worker Convention, Atlantic City, New Jersey, regarding racketeering” (18:49); “1934 United States Labor Disputes and Strikes newsreel archival footage,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIaLk-LKlqI (25:33); “San Francisco General Strike, 1934 - Part 2,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaccCzN7WLc (29:45); “Farrell Dobbs Speaks! Teamster Battles of the 1930s: Part 1,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLr45LwsqGI&t=1462s (41:46) Theme music by Drake Tyler.

America's numerous struggling cities face the unenviable task of addressing crumbling physical and social infrastructure, housing and affordability crises, and unemployment on shoestring budgets (after you account for the massive slices handed to police) and public debt. In the age of neoliberalism, the solution is all too often to turn to the private sector—which usually only results in an upward transfer of public wealth into private hands without substantial improvement to the problems at hand. Urban development, particularly in a city like Baltimore, is especially egregious in this regard. But it didn't have to be this way, and it wasn't always the plan. Urban planners of days gone by such as Edward Logue once advocated and fought for urban development as a project oriented towards public good and managed by government, rather than corporate interests. Historian Lizabeth Cohen joins the hosts of Tax Broke for a look into the origins of 'urban renewal,' how the idealistic visions of progressive urban planners were hijacked in service of private interests, and how we can fight for the cities of the future to really belong to all of us.Lizabeth Cohen is the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies and a Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of History at Harvard University. Her most recent book is Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age.Production: Stephen Janis, Taya GrahamStudio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: Alina NehlichHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The tearing down of I-81 and the rebuilding and redevelopment of its on-the-ground footprint has been called a "once in a generation opportunity" for the city of Syracuse; it also carries risk. On this week's episode of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher speaks with Lizabeth Cohen, the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University and the author of, "Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age."

The tearing down of I-81 and the rebuilding and redevelopment of its on-the-ground footprint has been called a "once in a generation opportunity" for the city of Syracuse; it also carries risk. On this week's episode of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher speaks with Lizabeth Cohen, the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University and the author of, "Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age."

Today's guest is Lizabeth Cohen, the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies in the History Department at Harvard University. We discuss her classic work A Consumers Republic: The Politics of Consumption in Postwar America, which argues that in post-war America, the act of consuming was seen as a virtuous contribution to the public good. But the model had inherent limits in the race, gender, and class dynamics of the era, especially visible in housing, suburbanization, and the market segmentation of advertising, which ultimately limited that model of economic culture by the 1970s. We also briefly touch on her most recent book, Saving America's Cities, which re-examines postwar urban development corporations.*** LINKS ***Cohen's faculty profile: https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/lizabeth-cohenConsume her classic book here: https://www.amazon.com/Consumers-Republic-Politics-Consumption-Postwar/dp/0375707379Or develop an appreciation for her most recent work here: https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Americas-Cities-Struggle-Suburban/dp/0374254087

Note: Bob and Ben start off talking about the Covid-19 outbreak and plans for upcoming episodes of this podcast. We shift to our discussion with Dr. Cohen at about 10:30. The suburbanization of the American landscape after World War II left the country's older urban centers in crisis. Revitalizing cities was no easy task, and many of the most inspiring plans for reconstructing America's urban space went unfulfilled. These visions may have never come to fruition, but Lizabeth Cohen says there is much to learn from the visionaries. In this episode Dr. Cohen joins us for a conversation about post-WWII America, the pros and cons of biography, and her new book Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age, which recently won her a second Bancroft Prize for American History. Dr. Lizabeth Cohen is Lizabeth Cohen is the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies and a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of History at Harvard. Cohen's previous books include Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939, winner of the Bancroft Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer, and A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America. Note: Bob and Ben start off talking about the Covid-19 outbreak and plans for upcoming episodes of this podcast. We shift to our discussion with Dr. Cohen at about 10:30.  The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.  

Lizabeth Cohen‘s Making A New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 was originally published in 1990, and recently re-published in 2014. In this book, Cohen explores how it was that Chicago workers, who could not overcome ethnic and racial divisions during a wave of failed strikes in 1919, came together in the mid to late-1930s across ethnic and racial lines “to make a New Deal” for themselves and their fellow laborers. They made that “New Deal” as members of national labor unions and a national Democratic Party. These successes were possible because of community and cultural changes that took place in the 1920s, Cohen argues. During that decade, ethnic and race-based community organizations, new institutions of mass culture like chain stores and movie theaters, and employers' “welfare capitalist” programs all vied for workers attention and loyalty. Paradoxically, the very programs employers hoped would prevent the growth of unions actually helped break down ethnic and racial barriers, building upon new experiences of shared consumerism. As the Great Depression unfolded, workers managed to form the cross-race and cross-ethnic alliances that had alluded them in 1919 and the early 1920s. Union organizers succeeded in building a new culture of unity and achieving new levels of organization and worker power. Industrial laborers and their unions challenged their employers to live up to the “welfare capitalism” they had promised in the years before the financial crisis. As their level of organization grew, Chicago workers also became New Deal Democrats invested in national politics. The new edition includes an updated preface by the author. Lizabeth Cohen serves as the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University, as well as the Dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Isabell Moore is a PhD Student in the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on social movements in the 20th century and she is involved in activism for racial, gender, economic and queer justice.

Lizabeth Cohen‘s Making A New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 was originally published in 1990, and recently re-published in 2014. In this book, Cohen explores how it was that Chicago workers, who could not overcome ethnic and racial divisions during a wave of failed strikes in 1919, came together in the mid to late-1930s across ethnic and racial lines “to make a New Deal” for themselves and their fellow laborers. They made that “New Deal” as members of national labor unions and a national Democratic Party. These successes were possible because of community and cultural changes that took place in the 1920s, Cohen argues. During that decade, ethnic and race-based community organizations, new institutions of mass culture like chain stores and movie theaters, and employers’ “welfare capitalist” programs all vied for workers attention and loyalty. Paradoxically, the very programs employers hoped would prevent the growth of unions actually helped break down ethnic and racial barriers, building upon new experiences of shared consumerism. As the Great Depression unfolded, workers managed to form the cross-race and cross-ethnic alliances that had alluded them in 1919 and the early 1920s. Union organizers succeeded in building a new culture of unity and achieving new levels of organization and worker power. Industrial laborers and their unions challenged their employers to live up to the “welfare capitalism” they had promised in the years before the financial crisis. As their level of organization grew, Chicago workers also became New Deal Democrats invested in national politics. The new edition includes an updated preface by the author. Lizabeth Cohen serves as the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University, as well as the Dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Isabell Moore is a PhD Student in the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on social movements in the 20th century and she is involved in activism for racial, gender, economic and queer justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lizabeth Cohen‘s Making A New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 was originally published in 1990, and recently re-published in 2014. In this book, Cohen explores how it was that Chicago workers, who could not overcome ethnic and racial divisions during a wave of failed strikes in 1919, came together in the mid to late-1930s across ethnic and racial lines “to make a New Deal” for themselves and their fellow laborers. They made that “New Deal” as members of national labor unions and a national Democratic Party. These successes were possible because of community and cultural changes that took place in the 1920s, Cohen argues. During that decade, ethnic and race-based community organizations, new institutions of mass culture like chain stores and movie theaters, and employers’ “welfare capitalist” programs all vied for workers attention and loyalty. Paradoxically, the very programs employers hoped would prevent the growth of unions actually helped break down ethnic and racial barriers, building upon new experiences of shared consumerism. As the Great Depression unfolded, workers managed to form the cross-race and cross-ethnic alliances that had alluded them in 1919 and the early 1920s. Union organizers succeeded in building a new culture of unity and achieving new levels of organization and worker power. Industrial laborers and their unions challenged their employers to live up to the “welfare capitalism” they had promised in the years before the financial crisis. As their level of organization grew, Chicago workers also became New Deal Democrats invested in national politics. The new edition includes an updated preface by the author. Lizabeth Cohen serves as the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University, as well as the Dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Isabell Moore is a PhD Student in the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on social movements in the 20th century and she is involved in activism for racial, gender, economic and queer justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lizabeth Cohen‘s Making A New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 was originally published in 1990, and recently re-published in 2014. In this book, Cohen explores how it was that Chicago workers, who could not overcome ethnic and racial divisions during a wave of failed strikes in 1919, came together in the mid to late-1930s across ethnic and racial lines “to make a New Deal” for themselves and their fellow laborers. They made that “New Deal” as members of national labor unions and a national Democratic Party. These successes were possible because of community and cultural changes that took place in the 1920s, Cohen argues. During that decade, ethnic and race-based community organizations, new institutions of mass culture like chain stores and movie theaters, and employers’ “welfare capitalist” programs all vied for workers attention and loyalty. Paradoxically, the very programs employers hoped would prevent the growth of unions actually helped break down ethnic and racial barriers, building upon new experiences of shared consumerism. As the Great Depression unfolded, workers managed to form the cross-race and cross-ethnic alliances that had alluded them in 1919 and the early 1920s. Union organizers succeeded in building a new culture of unity and achieving new levels of organization and worker power. Industrial laborers and their unions challenged their employers to live up to the “welfare capitalism” they had promised in the years before the financial crisis. As their level of organization grew, Chicago workers also became New Deal Democrats invested in national politics. The new edition includes an updated preface by the author. Lizabeth Cohen serves as the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University, as well as the Dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Isabell Moore is a PhD Student in the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on social movements in the 20th century and she is involved in activism for racial, gender, economic and queer justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lizabeth Cohen‘s Making A New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 was originally published in 1990, and recently re-published in 2014. In this book, Cohen explores how it was that Chicago workers, who could not overcome ethnic and racial divisions during a wave of failed strikes in 1919, came together in the mid to late-1930s across ethnic and racial lines “to make a New Deal” for themselves and their fellow laborers. They made that “New Deal” as members of national labor unions and a national Democratic Party. These successes were possible because of community and cultural changes that took place in the 1920s, Cohen argues. During that decade, ethnic and race-based community organizations, new institutions of mass culture like chain stores and movie theaters, and employers’ “welfare capitalist” programs all vied for workers attention and loyalty. Paradoxically, the very programs employers hoped would prevent the growth of unions actually helped break down ethnic and racial barriers, building upon new experiences of shared consumerism. As the Great Depression unfolded, workers managed to form the cross-race and cross-ethnic alliances that had alluded them in 1919 and the early 1920s. Union organizers succeeded in building a new culture of unity and achieving new levels of organization and worker power. Industrial laborers and their unions challenged their employers to live up to the “welfare capitalism” they had promised in the years before the financial crisis. As their level of organization grew, Chicago workers also became New Deal Democrats invested in national politics. The new edition includes an updated preface by the author. Lizabeth Cohen serves as the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University, as well as the Dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Isabell Moore is a PhD Student in the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on social movements in the 20th century and she is involved in activism for racial, gender, economic and queer justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lizabeth Cohen‘s Making A New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 was originally published in 1990, and recently re-published in 2014. In this book, Cohen explores how it was that Chicago workers, who could not overcome ethnic and racial divisions during a wave of failed strikes in 1919, came together in the mid to late-1930s across ethnic and racial lines “to make a New Deal” for themselves and their fellow laborers. They made that “New Deal” as members of national labor unions and a national Democratic Party. These successes were possible because of community and cultural changes that took place in the 1920s, Cohen argues. During that decade, ethnic and race-based community organizations, new institutions of mass culture like chain stores and movie theaters, and employers’ “welfare capitalist” programs all vied for workers attention and loyalty. Paradoxically, the very programs employers hoped would prevent the growth of unions actually helped break down ethnic and racial barriers, building upon new experiences of shared consumerism. As the Great Depression unfolded, workers managed to form the cross-race and cross-ethnic alliances that had alluded them in 1919 and the early 1920s. Union organizers succeeded in building a new culture of unity and achieving new levels of organization and worker power. Industrial laborers and their unions challenged their employers to live up to the “welfare capitalism” they had promised in the years before the financial crisis. As their level of organization grew, Chicago workers also became New Deal Democrats invested in national politics. The new edition includes an updated preface by the author. Lizabeth Cohen serves as the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University, as well as the Dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Isabell Moore is a PhD Student in the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on social movements in the 20th century and she is involved in activism for racial, gender, economic and queer justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lizabeth Cohen‘s Making A New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 was originally published in 1990, and recently re-published in 2014. In this book, Cohen explores how it was that Chicago workers, who could not overcome ethnic and racial divisions during a wave of failed strikes in 1919, came together in the mid to late-1930s across ethnic and racial lines “to make a New Deal” for themselves and their fellow laborers. They made that “New Deal” as members of national labor unions and a national Democratic Party. These successes were possible because of community and cultural changes that took place in the 1920s, Cohen argues. During that decade, ethnic and race-based community organizations, new institutions of mass culture like chain stores and movie theaters, and employers’ “welfare capitalist” programs all vied for workers attention and loyalty. Paradoxically, the very programs employers hoped would prevent the growth of unions actually helped break down ethnic and racial barriers, building upon new experiences of shared consumerism. As the Great Depression unfolded, workers managed to form the cross-race and cross-ethnic alliances that had alluded them in 1919 and the early 1920s. Union organizers succeeded in building a new culture of unity and achieving new levels of organization and worker power. Industrial laborers and their unions challenged their employers to live up to the “welfare capitalism” they had promised in the years before the financial crisis. As their level of organization grew, Chicago workers also became New Deal Democrats invested in national politics. The new edition includes an updated preface by the author. Lizabeth Cohen serves as the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University, as well as the Dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Isabell Moore is a PhD Student in the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on social movements in the 20th century and she is involved in activism for racial, gender, economic and queer justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices