Three Strikes: The Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century

Three renowned historians present stirring tales of labor: Howard Zinn tells the grim tale of the Ludlow Massacre, a drama of beleaguered immigrant workers, Mother Jones, and the politics of corporate power in the age of the robber barons. Dana Frank brings to light the little-known story of a successful sit-in conducted by the "counter girls" at the Detroit Woolworth's during the Great Depression. Robin D. G. Kelley's story of a movie theater musicians' strike in New York asks what defines work in times of changing technology.


"Three Strikes brings to life the heroic men and women who put their jobs, bodies, and lives on the line to win a better life for all working Americans. Zinn, Frank, and Kelley show us that while the country and the union movement have changed greatly in the last hundred years, our struggle to close the divide between rich and poor remains the same."
—John Sweeney, president, AFL-CIO

"Provocative analysis of still relevant issues, as the passionate, sometimes violent demonstrations at international meetings of the global economy demonstrate."
—Mary Carroll, Booklist

"Highly readable, well-researched narratives of dramatic action"
—Leon Fink, Chicago Tribune

Zinn (A People's History of the United States), Frank (Purchasing Power) and Kelley (Yo' Mama's Disfunktional!) each write compellingly about a significant early 20th-century strike, including historical background and reflections on consequences. Zinn depicts the bloody Colorado Coal Strike of 1913-1914 including the notorious Ludlow Massacre, in which National Guard troops killed two women and 11 children pitting an immigrant workforce against John D. Rockefeller II. The strike was lost, but its memory inspired countless later victories. Frank describes the Detroit Woolworth's Strike of 1937 (begun 16 days after the Flint Sitdown Strike ended), in which 108 "working girls," many younger than 18, brought the Wal-Mart of its time to its knees in just seven days, sparking a wave of successful strikes and unionization in department stores across the nation. The strikers adeptly manipulated conventionally demeaning media stereotypes of girlhood frivolity and na‹vet‚ to protect themselves and woo support. Kelley describes a strike that fizzled the New York Musicians Strike of 1936-1937, an attempt to return live musicians to movie theaters. Although it was barely noticed even when it occurred, the challenges involved recognizing creative artists as workers, retaining control as new technologies empower owners, building solidarity and resolving conflicts between artist and audience interests are more important than ever in today's global entertainment industry. All three stories involve memorable characters, internal labor movement relations, threatened or actual state intervention against the strikers, media representations that profoundly influenced strike outcomes, and continuing efforts to reinvent the labor movement and reclaim the dignity of labor.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

When conservatives denounce "radical historians," the authors Zinn (now retired), Dana Frank of the University of California at Santa Cruz, and Robin D. G. Kelley of New York University are probably high on their lists. One mark of such "radicals" is their insistence that history can instruct the present. In this volume, Zinn chronicles the 1913-14 Colorado coal strike, which pitted immigrant miners against robber barons; Frank describes a little-known Depression-era strike by Woolworth's counter girls in Detroit; and Kelley studies a New York musicians' strike against movie theaters. The Colorado strike that produced the Ludlow Massacre is one of the few labor actions mentioned in most American histories, but Zinn offers new insights into the intense class conflict the strike revealed. In the Woolworth strike, young women found surprising ways to fight for their goals and subvert stereotypes. The failed musicians' strike dramatizes technological displacement, solidarity's limits, and conflicting ideas about work itself. Provocative analysis of still relevant issues, as the passionate, sometimes violent demonstrations at international meetings on the global economy demonstrate. Mary Carroll
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