U. S. Labour and Political Action, 1918-1924: A Comparison of Independent Political Action in New York, Chicago and Seattle by Andrew Strouthous

From the Publisher

Between 1918-24 major city centers of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), opposed by the leadership, launched labor parties; yet there is very little published about this most substantial attempt to date, by US labor, to build an independent party. This study of labor's political activity in New York, Chicago, and Seattle not only attempts to rectify this, it also challenges the "exceptionalist" view of the American class system. It accomplishes this by showing that the failure to build a labor party had more to do with opposition from the employers, the main parties, and the AFL leadership than any ideological commitment to the "American Dream."

Booknews

Few discontented with the major US political parties and perhaps flirting with the Reform Party are aware that 1918-24 saw the most concerted effort to date to create a labor party. This comparative study by Strouthous (American history and politics, Anglia Polytechnic U.; comparative history, Open U.) of such efforts by the American Federation of Labor in three cities, in opposition to the national AFL leadership, explains why there is an absence of an American working-class party. Appends the platform adopted by the Chicago Federation of Labor in November 1918. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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