What is Unionism? Building Power From Below

How can workers build power in an economy dominated by giant corporations and monopolies? To explore that question, we turn to the history of unionism and the rise of the American labor movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.In 1905, labor organizers gathered in Chicago to found the Industrial Workers of the World, better known as the Wobblies. Their goal was to unite workers of every trade, skill level, race, nationality, and gender into One Big Union capable of challenging the power of industrial capitalism.In this episode, we trace the origins of that idea through the history of the Knights of Labor, the American Federation of Labor, Eugene Debs, Big Bill Haywood, Lucy Parsons, Samuel Gompers, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Along the way, we explore the central debates that shaped the labor movement: craft versus industrial unionism, reform versus revolution, and the challenge of building working-class power in an economy increasingly dominated by concentrated wealth and corporate power.From Chicago to Spokane, this is the story of revolutionary industrial unionism and the movement that sought to transform not only the workplace, but society itself.This is Season Two—The Age of Anarchism: Chicago and the American Labor RevoltNext: Chicago 1886: The Fight for the Eight-Hour WorkdayWritten and produced by Matt Payne.Support, Subscribe, Read on Substack: https://ismhistorypodcast.substack.com/Original Musical Compositions by Ian Payne: https://www.jamesianpayne.com/Support the Show: PayPalContact: [email protected] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismhistorypodcast.substack.com