Good, Reliable, White Men: Railroad Brotherhoods, 1877-1917

by Paul Michel Taillon

Overview

This engaging study provides an account of the independent railroad brotherhoods from the period of their formation in the 1860s and '70s to the consolidation of their power on the eve of World War I. By commanding the attention of U.S. presidents and establishing the eight-hour work-day, railroad brotherhoods employed responsible trade unionism to their advantage. Paul Michel Taillon focuses on the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Order of Railway Conductors, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen to investigate the impact of these unions on early twentieth-century politics and society.

Notorious for their conservative bent and exclusiveness based on race and trade, the unions also demonstrated a capacity for change and a particular acumen for negotiating in political and public circles, all but guaranteeing brotherhood survival. In highlighting the successes and failures of these railroad unions, Taillon shows how they employed capitalist principles; how they were influenced by considerations of gender, race, and class; and how they prompted momentous debates about the proper relationships among government, private enterprise, labor, and management.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252076787
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	10/27/2009
Series:	Working Class in American History
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Paul Michel Taillon is a senior lecturer in the History Department at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

List of Abbreviations xiii

Introduction: Reconsidering the Railroad Brotherhoods 1

1 Workplace and Household Life in the Running Trades 13

2 Victorian America and the Brotherhoods' Fraternal Culture 39

3 Free-Labor Ideology and Labor Relations in the Gilded Age 68

4 The Crisis of the 1890s and the Reordering of Railroad Labor Relations 95

5 Progressive Era America and the Culture of the New Unionism 121

6 Craft Industrialism and the Arbitration System 148

7 Political Action, Industrial Action, and the Making of the Liberal State 176

Conclusion 204

Notes 215

Index 259

Editorial Reviews

"Successfully presents a portrait of the contradictory legacy of the railroad unions—ahead of their time in realizing the need for state intervention to protect workers' rights, yet obstructionist in preserving white-skinned privilege for some of the most highly skilled workers of the industrializing era."—Labor Studies Journal
 
"A breakthrough book that integrates gender and race into an understanding of the politics of class consciousness on the American railroads. . . . Should be widely read, not only as first-rate history but also as an object lesson for social reformers."—EH.NET
 
 



"A well-document, lucid account of railway labor organizations during a crucial period. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice



"Engaging, well written, and well researched.  It is a must-read for anyone interested not only in the history of workers and unions in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America but also society, culture, and politics in Gilded Age and Progressive Era America."—The Journal of American History

From the Publisher