Often considered irredeemably conservative, the US working class actually has a rich history of revolt. Rebel Rank and File uncovers the hidden story of insurgency from below against employers and union bureaucrats in the late 1960s and 1970s. From the mid-1960s to 1981, rank-and-file workers in the United States engaged in a level of sustained militancy not seen since the Great Depression and World War II. Millions participated in one of the largest strike waves in US history. There were 5,716 stoppages in 1970 alone, involving more than 3 million workers. Contract rejections, collective insubordination, sabotage, organized slowdowns, and wildcat strikes were the order of the day. Workers targeted much of their activity at union leaders, forming caucuses to fight for more democratic and combative unions that would forcefully resist the mounting offensive from employers that appeared at the end of the postwar economic boom. It was a remarkable era in the history of US class struggle, one rich in lessons for today's labor movement.

Excerpt from With the Rank and File: Incidents and Anecdotes During the War of the Rebellion, as Remembered by One of the Noncommissioned Officers Sketches of Army Life from the Viewpoint of a non-com missioned Officer During the Rebellion. An Address Delivered at E. B. Wolcott Post, G. A. R Hall, Milwaukee, Wis November 19, 1897, by Thomas J. Ford. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This dissertation investigates the upsurge of working class militancy in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when American union workers engaged in an extraordinary level of rank-and-file activism. An investigation among three groups of workers -- postal workers, communications workers, and teamsters, demonstrates how changes on the job and in the union stimulated and retarded union workers' organization.