David Montgomery - The Fall of the House of Labor: The Workplace, the State, and American Labor Activism, 1865-1925

This book is published as part of the joint publishing agreement established in 1977 between the Fondation de la Maison des Sciences de lHomme and the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. Titles published under this arrangement may appear in any European language or, in the case of volumes of collected essays, in several languages.

New books will appear either as individual titles or in one of the series that the Maison des Sciences de lHomme and the Cambridge University Press have jointly agreed to publish. All books published jointly by the Maison des Sciences de lHomme and the Cambridge University Press will be distributed by the Press throughout the world.

Cet ouvrage est publi dans le cadre de laccord de co-dition pass en 1977 entre la Fondation de la Maison des Sciences de lHomme et le Press Syndicate de lUniversit de Cambridge. Toutes les langues europennes sont admises pour les titres couverts par cet accord, et les ouvrages collectifs peuvent paratre en plusieures langues.

Les ouvrages paraissent soit isolment, soit dans lune des sries que la Maison des Sciences de lHomme et Cambridge Press ont convenu de publier ensemble. La distribution dans le monde entier des titres ainsi publis conjointement par les deux tablissements est assure par Cambridge University Press.

The fall of the house of labor

The fall of the house of labor

The workplace, the state, and American labor activism, 18651925

DAVID MONTGOMERY

YALE UNIVERSITY

EDITIONS DE LA MAISON DES SCIENCES DE LHOMME

Paris

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, So Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo

Cambridge University Press

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

With Editions de la Maison des Sciences de lHomme

54 Boulevard Raspail, 75270 Paris Cedex 06, France

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org

Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521225793

Maison des Sciences de lHomme and Cambridge University Press 1987

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 1987

First paperback edition 1989

Reprinted 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

ISBN 9780-52122579-3 Hardback

ISBN 9780-52137982-3 Paperback

Transferred to digital printing 2010

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables and other factual information given in this work are correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter.

TO DOUGLAS, NICHOLAS, LINDSAY, AND ELIZABETH

Contents

Acknowledgments

The research for this book was made possible by generous grants from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Whitney Humanities Center of Yale University. Typing of the manuscript was assisted by an A. Whitney Griswold Faculty Award at Yale University.

Many people have taken an interest in this research over the years and have suggested ideas or guided me to sources that have contributed significantly to my understanding of the topic. Among them are James Barrett, Neil Basen, John Bennett, Iver Bernstein, Jeremy Brecher, Cecelia Bucki, Paul Buhle, Mark Erlich, Dana Frank, Patrick Fridenson, Carter Goodrich, Andrea Graziosi, Julia Greene, Maurine Weiner Greenwald, Gregory Kealey, Patrick Lynch, Martel W. Montgomery, Priscilla Murolo, Bryan Palmer, George Pearlman, Michelle Perrot, Lewis Perry, Linda Pickard, Gordon E. Sands, Steven Sapolsky, Ronald W. Schatz, Joan W. Scott, Erroll Wayne Stevens, H. Shelton Stromquist, and Paul Worthman. David Brody, Eric Foner, Steven Fraser, Peter Friedlander, Herbert Gutman, James Hinton, and E. P. Thompson all offered valuable criticisms of early drafts of the manuscript. Portions of later drafts benefited from the comments and advice of Barbara J. Fields, Priscilla Murolo, Margaret Nelson, Steve Nelson, and Donald Tormey. The entire manuscript was read critically by David Brody. I am deeply grateful to all of them for their suggestions, even those with which I continue to disagree.

Without the help of able archivists and librarians, no historical research could be brought to a successful completion. Among those who lent special assistance to this effort are Philip Mason, Dione Miles, and George Tselos of the Archives of Labor History and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University; Moreau B. C. Chambers of the Department of Archives and Manuscripts of the Catholic University of America; Sandra Keith, Lynn S. Toscano, and Rudolph Vecoli of the Immigration History Research Center in St. Paul, Minnesota; Joseph Howerton of the National Archives of the United States of America; the staff of the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library; Josephine Harper of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; and Susan Steinberg of Yale Universitys Sterling Memorial Library.

Special thanks are due to Sheila Brewer, Sheila Klein, and Mary Whitney for their able contributions to the typing of the manuscript.

Abbreviations used in text and notes