Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Revolutionary currents in the labor movement of the United States can be identified in several different ways. One involves strong influences on organized workers flowing from the American Revolution and the Second American Revolution (the Civil War). Another involves self-consciously revolutionary currents – led by various socialist, communist, and anarchist elements – which at times played an essential role in the struggles to advance the interests of the working class in the United States. Yet another involves revolutionary challenges inherent in the nature of the labor movement, which sometimes finds reflection even in some of the more conservative elements of organized labor. There has been much confusion around the terms working class and labor movement. The term working class refers here to those who can make a living, or can hope to make a living, only through the sale of their ability to work and to those dependent on such “breadwinners.” This includes both unemployed and retired workers. The term labor movement refers to various organizations and struggles organized by and for workers to defend and advance their interests as workers. Labor movements can include trade unions that focus on improving wages and working conditions in the workplace, but they can also include reform groups , which seek to bring about improvements, often through new laws that will result ... log in or subscribe to read full text