Capitalism's Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century by Chad E. Pearson (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Capitalism's Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century by Chad E. Pearson Michael Botson Capitalism's Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century. By Chad E. Pearson. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2022. Pp. 324. Notes, bibliography, index, illustrations.) Chad Pearson's latest book, Capitalism's Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century, is the third book in his trilogy that critically examines the interaction of employers and capitalism with the study of workers' movements. In this third volume he expands his focus of capital's oppression of working-class movements in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries. This study's major strength is Pearson's identification of three specific groups with overlapping interests that collaborated in crushing workers' efforts to organize unions, establish the closed shop, and create a humane workplace. After identifying them, he fiercely takes them to task. Much like in his other books, Pearson's enthusiasm for his subject here nearly jumps off every page. The first part of his triumvirate is made up of "the terrorists," organized [End Page 234] businessmen and industrialists. "The Enablers," those in governmental positions who routinely used the full force of government to suppress working-class activism, come second. The third group consists of "the narrative creators," newspaper editors and novelists who molded public opinion to oppose working-class reforms. Pearson acknowledges that some readers might take exception with his use of the word "terrorists" when referring to businessmen, but he reminds us that Jay Gould was a thuggish "railroad investor responsible for the firing and blacklisting [of] thousands of workers" (9). An important underlying theme throughout the book is the bitter disagreement between employers and workers over the definition of free labor. As defined by employers, the free labor system allowed workers dissatisfied with a company's working conditions and pay to freely quit and find suitable employment elsewhere. On the other hand, workers defined free labor as a basic human right. That included the right to organize unions and use their collective strength to agitate for improved working conditions, and pay without having to quit and seek employment elsewhere. Pearson describes the fallacy of employers' definition of free labor. He points out that, in regions where one industry dominated the economy, workers could not go to a different mine or railroad and expect to find better wages and working conditions. Employers often banded together in establishing uniform wage rates and working conditions that prevented workers from escaping totalitarian control. Pearson offers as an example the mine owners in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. There, mine owners banded together and established the Mine Owners Protective Association (MOPA). Members colluded together in suppressing wages, demanding long hours, and imposing dangerous working conditions. Consequently, miners faced similar conditions in any mine they worked. If a MOPA member dared break with his colleagues and granted concessions to miners, they in turn faced censure, ostracism, and blacklisting from their colleagues. Capitalisms' Terrorists is a comprehensive and wide-ranging study. Pearson's arguments are skillfully presented with abundant supporting documentation. His examination of the Great Southwest Strike of 1886 against the Missouri Pacific Railway System places Texas into the broader context of labor activism, and employer counter-attacks, in that period. Overall, Capitalism's Terrorists is a powerful study. It clearly shows the intersection of employer terrorists, government enablers, and narrative creators, and persuasively debunks their claims of being righteous upholders of law, order, and community interests. It is a timely and thought-provoking book. Its themes are hauntingly similar today as employers enmeshed in the global economy, once again, claim virtuous reasons for their draconian labor policies that reduce all workers to tractable status. [End Page 235] Michael Botson Independent Scholar Copyright © 2022 The Texas State Historical Association