Best of
Labor

1981

Life, Work, and Rebellion in the Coal Fields: The Southern West Virginia Miners, 1880-1922


David A. Corbin - 1981
    These events resulted in an untold number of deaths, indictments of over 550 coal miners for insurrection and treason, and four declarations of martial law. Corbin argues that these violent events were collective and militant acts of aggression interconnected and conditioned by decades of oppression. His study will go a long way toward breaking down the old stereotypes of Appalachian and coal-mining culture.

The Prison and the Factory: Origins of the Penitentiary System


Dario Melossi - 1981
    An examination and interpretation of the development of modern prisons in England and Europe from 1550 to 1850, a study of Italian prison development, and of American prisons from colonial times to 1930.

A History of the Guyanese Working People, 1881-1905


Walter Rodney - 1981
    This comprehensive examination encompasses the history of African and Asian immigration into Guyana, the interaction of ethnic groups, the impact of British colonialism, economic and political constraints on the working class, and the social life of the masses.Rodney argues that the social evolution of the Guyanese working people has been guided by specific material constraints and extremely powerful external focuses from Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. He emphasizes the destructive fragmentation of the working class along ethnic, political, and social lines, encouraged by the legacy of slavery, postslavery immigration, legal distinctions between various classes of labor, and the economic bases of the society. in contrast to the well-defined middle and upper classes, the working people appeared divided, disorganized, and leaderless. Rodney's account ends in 1905, when the hardships and frustrations of the masses exploded into violence.A History of the Guyanese Working People, 1881-1905 will stand alone as a landmark study of the profound social upheaval that characterized Guyanese society in the years following emancipation. Anyone interested in the problems of underdeveloped nations, labor control, and the after-effects of colonialism and imperialism will appreciate the significance of this work.