Title: Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939

Author: Lizabeth Cohen

Year of Publication: 1990

Thesis:

Shift from dependence on ethnic affiliation/employer (welfare capitalism) to national welfare / national labor unions & federal gov't. Chicago is a good case study for what is going on in the rest of the U.S. Segregation by race/ethnicity / lack of communication / pitting against one another by employers - explains the strikes not working as effectively. Big shift is from welfare capitalism (employer sponsored) to moral capitalism (nationally sponsored) that admits profit but attempts to ensure spoils of labor are more evenly distributed. The Great Depression fuels activism & shapes The New Deal, which is in many ways a way of delivering moral capitalism unevenly.

Time: 1919-1939

Geography: Chicago

Organization:

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

Preface to the Second Edition

Introduction

- In the early 20th century, unions struggled to gain ground as they tended to organize behind ethnicity, geography, and job type. Employers were successful at pitting ethnicities against one another, with African Americans used as strike breakers.

1. Living and Working in Chicago in 1919

2. Ethnicity in the New Era

- Older immigrants still much involved in culture; younger generation exposed to much more. Ethnic communities took on mutual aid, remittances, etc. Shifts from narrower associations to ethnic consolidation in order to deal with new conditions (Affiliation with Italian town/region cedes to Italians in general)

3. Encountering Mass Culture

- Not an immediate takeover by mass culture - comes filtered in slowly through ethnic lenses. More locally controlled, communal experiences (think: radio, movies, etc.)

- However, argues that African American experiences were different. Ex: local store, theater, etc. often owned by non-African Americans.

4. Contested Loyalty at the Workplace

- Welfare capitalism - worker influence, stock options, insurance benefits, social activities. This is a reaction to strikes of early 20s. Sets up expectations, even though companies don't follow through. As production ramps up, ethnic solidarity increases (English as a spoken language begins to increase ability to work in intra-ethnic ways)

5. Adrift in the Great Depression

- Insecurity from Depression renders mutual aid associations broke, and the companies' help is scaled back. Shift to looking to gov't & national union, despite mistrust.

6. Workers Make a New Deal

- People not ashamed to be asking for & receiving help.

- Gov't campaigns to make people feel ashamed.

- Most unionists not Communists - they see moral capitalism

7. Becoming a Union Rank and File

8. Workers' Common Ground

Conclusion

Notes

Index

Gender:

- Male-oriented unios - males seen as heads of household & therefore union voice.

- Union women sidelined into gendered roles (this is b/c men with higher paying jobs lose them quicker - women & children make it up - return to power is a loss for women in some ways

Type:

Social/political history, bottom-up style. Local focus allows for comparison between working at different types of work (steel, packinghouses) and within industry (one steel manufacturer to another)

Methods:

Chronological

Sources:

Newspapers, company communications, MA theses, WPA papers

Historiography:

Very scarce social histories in 20th century; this is a new contribution in that respect.

Keywords:

Welfare capitalism

Moral capitalism (union/workers develop this non-communistic concept out of expectations from welfare capitalism. Instead - Capitalism is considered fine as long as benefits are being distributed equitably)

Themes:

Critiques:

Questions:

Quotes:

Notes:

https://newbooksnetwork.com/lizabeth-cohen-making-a-new-deal-industrial-workers-in-chicago-1919-1939-cambridge-up-2014

Started out as a museum person. Went to UC Berkeley to refine skills. This work turned into her book.