American Labour and Consensus Capitalism, 1935-1990 (The Contemporary United States)

Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. 'You remember the workingman? You used to write an awful lot about the workingman. He's turning into something called organized labor. You're not going to like that one little bit when you find out it means that your workingman expects something as his right and not your gift. Charlie, when your precious underprivileged really get together -oh, boy, that's going to add up to something bigger than your privilege, and then I don't know what you'll do.' During the Great Depression in the 1930s, American unions used the crisis of capitalism to recover power. Following the argument of British economist J.M.Keynes that capitalism could only be saved by raising aggregate demand, high wages and controlled inflation also became acceptable. Thus, during the Second World War government co-opted labour into running the war economy, and in the postwar years management co- opted unions into disciplining the workforce. This book examines the part unions played in creating the resulting consensus, and explains why both unions and consensus have recently declined. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, American unions used the crisis of capitalism to recover power. Following the argument of British economist J.M. Keynes that capitalism could only be saved by raising aggregate demand, high wages and controlled inflation also became acceptable. Thus, during the Second World War government co-opted labour into running the war economy, and in the postwar years management co- opted unions into disciplining the workforce. This book examines the part unions played in creating the resulting consensus, and explains why both unions and consensus have recently declined Front Matter....Pages i-xxi Labour and the Great Depression....Pages 1-19 New Deal Renaissance....Pages 20-41 The Crucible of War....Pages 42-73 Reconversion and Reaction....Pages 74-99 Purging the Communists....Pages 100-124 The Emergence of Corporate Consensus....Pages 125-151 The Collapse of the Keynesian Economy....Pages 152-183 Conclusion....Pages 184-191 Back Matter....Pages 192-237 The series is designed to take advantage of the growth of specialized research about post-war America in order to foster understanding of the period as a whole as well as to offer a critical assessment of the leading developments of the post-war years.