Labor History Links

This text reinterprets the roots of 20th-century American labour law and politics, claiming that Republicans developed the fundamental principles, not New Deal Democrats. It demonstrates the establishment of procedural rights of workers in Republican-formulated labour legislation of the 1920s.

Shadows in the land of sunshine
The strikes, the partisans, and the press
Arbitration and analysis
"A wildly stirring story": Steinbeck's interpretation
The conversion of Carey McWilliams
Raids and reaction
The trial
Literary repercussions
Following the forgotten Americans
Paul Taylor finds a photographer
The road to The Grapes of Wrath
Voices from the battlements
"Something must be done, and done soon!"
Aftermath

Susan Eisenberg began her electrical apprenticeship in 1978, the year President Jimmy Carter set goals and timetables for the hiring of women on federally assisted construction projects and for the inclusion of women in apprenticeship programs. Eisenberg expected not only a challenging job and the camaraderie of a labor union but also the chance to be part of a historic transformation, social and economic, that would make the construction trades accessible to women