{"title":"巨大的斗争:1937-1945年静坐罢工后建立美国汽车工人联合会的斗争","authors":"Timothy J. Minchin","doi":"10.1080/0023656x.2023.2258101","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the struggle to build the United Automobile Workers in the years after the sit-down strike of 1936–37 in Flint, Michigan. The strike, which historian Sidney Fine has called ‘the most significant American labor conflict in the twentieth century,’ has secured the lion’s share of scholarly attention. While it was very important, much remained to be done to make the UAW an institution that represented almost all American autoworkers. At the time of the strike, only 10 percent of GM’s 47,000 Flint workers belonged to the UAW, while much of the industry was unorganized. This article changes the focus, examining the struggle to build the union after the strike. In this period, the union faced bitter internal divisions, ongoing corporate opposition, patchy membership levels, and economic instability. It struggled to establish itself, and internal records – especially overlooked executive board minutes that are mined here – reveal considerable vulnerability and instability. While the UAW made progress between 1937 and 1941, it was in World War II that it solidified itself nationally, helped by favorable bargaining conditions. Even then, it faced ongoing leadership divisions and rank and file disaffection. Building the union took time and deserves closer interrogation.","PeriodicalId":45777,"journal":{"name":"Labor History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Gigantic struggles: the battle to build the United Automobile Workers after the sit-down strikes, 1937–1945\",\"authors\":\"Timothy J. Minchin\",\"doi\":\"10.1080/0023656x.2023.2258101\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"This article examines the struggle to build the United Automobile Workers in the years after the sit-down strike of 1936–37 in Flint, Michigan. The strike, which historian Sidney Fine has called ‘the most significant American labor conflict in the twentieth century,’ has secured the lion’s share of scholarly attention. While it was very important, much remained to be done to make the UAW an institution that represented almost all American autoworkers. At the time of the strike, only 10 percent of GM’s 47,000 Flint workers belonged to the UAW, while much of the industry was unorganized. This article changes the focus, examining the struggle to build the union after the strike. In this period, the union faced bitter internal divisions, ongoing corporate opposition, patchy membership levels, and economic instability. It struggled to establish itself, and internal records – especially overlooked executive board minutes that are mined here – reveal considerable vulnerability and instability. While the UAW made progress between 1937 and 1941, it was in World War II that it solidified itself nationally, helped by favorable bargaining conditions. Even then, it faced ongoing leadership divisions and rank and file disaffection. Building the union took time and deserves closer interrogation.\",\"PeriodicalId\":45777,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Labor History\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.7000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-09-25\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Labor History\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656x.2023.2258101\",\"RegionNum\":4,\"RegionCategory\":\"管理学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"HISTORY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Labor History","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656x.2023.2258101","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Gigantic struggles: the battle to build the United Automobile Workers after the sit-down strikes, 1937–1945
This article examines the struggle to build the United Automobile Workers in the years after the sit-down strike of 1936–37 in Flint, Michigan. The strike, which historian Sidney Fine has called ‘the most significant American labor conflict in the twentieth century,’ has secured the lion’s share of scholarly attention. While it was very important, much remained to be done to make the UAW an institution that represented almost all American autoworkers. At the time of the strike, only 10 percent of GM’s 47,000 Flint workers belonged to the UAW, while much of the industry was unorganized. This article changes the focus, examining the struggle to build the union after the strike. In this period, the union faced bitter internal divisions, ongoing corporate opposition, patchy membership levels, and economic instability. It struggled to establish itself, and internal records – especially overlooked executive board minutes that are mined here – reveal considerable vulnerability and instability. While the UAW made progress between 1937 and 1941, it was in World War II that it solidified itself nationally, helped by favorable bargaining conditions. Even then, it faced ongoing leadership divisions and rank and file disaffection. Building the union took time and deserves closer interrogation.
期刊介绍:
Labor History is the pre-eminent journal for historical scholarship on labor. It is thoroughly ecumenical in its approach and showcases the work of labor historians, industrial relations scholars, labor economists, political scientists, sociologists, social movement theorists, business scholars and all others who write about labor issues. Labor History is also committed to geographical and chronological breadth. It publishes work on labor in the US and all other areas of the world. It is concerned with questions of labor in every time period, from the eighteenth century to contemporary events. Labor History provides a forum for all labor scholars, thus helping to bind together a large but fragmented area of study. By embracing all disciplines, time frames and locales, Labor History is the flagship journal of the entire field. All research articles published in the journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and refereeing by at least two anonymous referees.