Volume 40 part 2 (1995)
Bibliography
General Issues
Continents and Countries
- Africa
Mozambique | South Africa - America
Argentina | Brazil | Canada | Chile | Colombia | Cuba | United States of America - Asia
Bangladesh | India | Turkey - Australia and Oceania
Australia - Europe
France | Germany | Great Britain | The Netherlands | Poland | Russia - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics | Spain
Book descriptions consist of: author, title, publisher, place and year of publication, number of pages, original price; followed by a brief summary of the contents.
All listed books are available in the IISH library.
General Issues
SOCIAL THEORY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Booth, Alison L. The economics of the trade union. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1995. xvi, 295 pp. £35.00. $59.95. (Paper: £14.95; $19.95.)
The economic theory of the trade union is the subject of this textbook, which is intended for undergraduate and masters students. Professor Booth offers a structural overview of the wealth of literature concerning the impact of trade unions on the labour market that has appeared over the past two decades and links theoretical predictions to widely observed outcomes. Focusing on Great Britain and the United States, she uses the collective bargaining agreements of unions as models and contends that the relevance of these arrangements extends to all situations where workers have some bargaining leverage.
Explanation. Ed. by David-Hillel Ruben. [Oxford Readings in Philosophy.] Oxford University Press, Oxford [etc.] 1993. vi, 365 pp. £27.50.
This volume presents samples recent discussions on the nature of explanation. This selection reconstructs the philosophical debate on the concept of explanation, which has been waged since Hempel's original account from 1948. The twelve contributions, which were all published before, cover, inter alia, Carl G. Hempel's "Explanation in Science and in History. Aspects of Scientific Explanation", which appeared in 1962, "Hempel's Ambiguity" (J. Alberto Coffa), "Towards an Aristotelian Theory of Scientific Explanation" (B. Brody), "Causal Explanation" (David Lewis), and "Explaining and Explanation" (Robert J. Matthews).
Haaland, Bonnie. Emma Goldman. Sexuality and the Impurity of the State. Black Rose Books, Montréal [etc.] 1993. xxiii, 201 pp. C$19.95.
In this study of Emma Goldman (1869-1940), Dr Haaland focuses on Goldman's ideas on the essentiality of sexuality and reproduction. Contrary to some current feminist theorists, Goldman viewed sexuality and reproduction as emancipatory opportunities for women. Dr Haaland argues that Goldman's ideas are significant for contemporary feminism and social reform because of their relevance in the debates on sexuality, in the issue of difference versus equality, and in the question of the public versus the private sphere. She concludes that Goldman affirmed women's specificity while seeking freedom for women to achieve their full potential as human beings.
Kitching, Gavin. Marxism and Science. Analysis of an Obsession. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park (Penn.) 1994. xii, 258 pp. $35.00. (Paper: $15.95.)
This study offers a philosophical analysis of the claim that Marxism is a "hard" natural science able to identify laws of social development and to provide a scientific guide to revolutionary activity. According to Dr Kitching, Marxists are obsessed with their objectivist outlook on language and the real world, which arises from a psychological and emotional need for a set of absolute truths to compensate for the overwhelming existential domination of capitalism in the world. The author presents a Wittgensteinian analysis of Marxism as an ideology to construct an alternative conception of Marxism as a "point of view".
Levine, Andrew. The general will. Rousseau, Marx, communism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1993. xiii, 222 pp. £30.00; $49.95.
Applying the techniques of analytical philosophy, Dr Levine advances the thesis that Marx's notion of communism is a defensible, normative ideal. Starting with Rousseau's notion of the "general will" the author defends the feasibility of a community of equals who share some vision of a common good that may be achieved and maintained through cooperation and coordination that is both voluntary and authoritative. Next he provides a comparative analysis of Rousseauean-Marxian political theory and liberal theory.
Milner, Henry. Social Democracy and Rational Choice. The Scandinavian experience and beyond. Routledge, London [etc.] 1994. xii, 304 pp. £40.00.
Using the rational choice theory as an analytical framework, this study examines possibilities for reconciling distributive justice and economic efficiency in the modern welfare state on the basis of an analysis of social democracy in the Nordic countries during the 1990s. Professor Milner argues that these dual objectives of social-democratic policy can be compatible, provided that inherent opportunities for individuals to free-ride are curtailed wherever possible.
Mohl, Alexa. Die neuen sozialen Bewegungen. Eine Formanalyse ihrer emanzipatorischen Praxis. [Campus Forschung, Band 679.] Campus Verlag, Frankfurt/M. [etc.] 1992. 356 pp. DM 68.00.
This analysis of new social movements (women's movement, youth protest groups, countercultural lifestyles, and environmental and peace movements) derives its theoretical base from an unorthodox interpretation of Karl Marx. The author advocates retaining the gist of Marx's theory, even if the working class is no longer considered the subject of social transformation. Dr Mohl uses her version of marxism to interpret the emancipatory individual, the emancipatory socialization process, and the emancipatory struggle and objectives within the new social movements.
HISTORY
Arbeiterbewegung und nationale Identität. Labour Movement and National Identity. Hrsg. von Winfried R. Garscha und Christine Schindler. [ITH-Tagungsberichte, Band 30.] ITH, Wien 1994. 173 pp.
This volume contains eight of the papers presented at the 29th International Conference of Labour Historians, held at Linz, September 1993. That year, the theme of this annual conference was labour movement and national identity. The contributors included in this volume are, inter alia, Richard Georg Plaschka (on socialism and nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe), John Schwarzmantel (on Marxist theories on nation building and the collapse of communism), Pieter van Duin (on the impact of ethnic and racial antagonism on working-class organization, 1830-1930), and Mira Bogdanovich (on new nationalism in former Yugoslavia).
Barkey, Karen. Bandits and Bureaucrats. The Ottoman Route to State Centralization. [The Wilder House Series in Politics, History, and Culture.] Cornell University Press, Ithaca [etc.] 1994. xiv, 282 pp. $38.50.
To analyze the mechanisms by which imperial states retain and strengthen their control over extended territories, Professor Barkey examines state-society relations in the Ottoman Empire during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The central challenge facing the Ottoman Empire during this period came not from rebellions among the peasants or the elite, but from banditry. The author contends that the government's ability to control and manipulate bandits through deals, bargains, and patronage suggests imperial strength rather than weakness (as maintained by conventional views).
Caunce, Stephen. Oral History and the Local Historian. [Approaches to Local History.] Longman, London [etc.] 1994. ix, 227 pp. Ill. £29.99. (Paper: £11.99.)
In this introductory textbook, Dr Caunce draws on experiences from his research for Amongst Farm Horses: the Horselads of East Yorkshire (1991) to illustrate the potential of the oral history approach and to offer practical advice to amateur and professional local historians who wish to use oral history for their research. Suggestions for further reading are appended.
Challenges to Labour History. Ed. by Terry Irving. [The Modern History Series.] UNSW (University of New South Wales) Press, Sydney 1994. ix, 217 pp. A$24.95.
Facing the profound challenges of a declining labour movement and the rise of postmodernism (which devalues attempts by labour historians to grasp social reality as an entity), labour history is generally believed to be in the midst of a severe crisis. The eleven articles in this volume deal with this presumed crisis. Andrew Wells, Ross McKibbin, and Stephen Garton contribute historiographical essays. Peter Beilharz, Marilyn Lake, Andrew Metcalfe, and Ben Maddison grapple with the challenges of post-modern themes and cultural theory. New directions for labour history are presented by Desley Deacon (the state), Joy Damousi (gender), Greg Patmore (community), and Ray Frances, Bruce Scates, and Ann McGrath (race).
Consumption and the World of Goods. Ed. by John Brewer and Roy Porter. Routledge, London [etc.] 1993. xix, 564 pp. Ill. £75.00.
See Victoria de Grazia's review in this volume, pp. 295-298.
Eckhardt, Wolfgang. Michail A. Bakunin (1814-1876). Bibliographie der Primär- und Sekundärliteratur in deutscher Sprache. [Archiv für Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte, Band 4.] Libertad Verlag, Berlin [etc.] 1994. 127 pp. Ill. DM 28.00.
This bibliography of German language publications by and on Mikhail Bakunin provides a comprehensive list of all his publications of ten pages or more, as well as a selection of contributions to books and periodicals and German sections in collections including other languages, and a sample of secondary literature and creative writings (poems, novels, plays). The editor's introduction reviews the editorial history of Bakunin's publications in German. A chronology of his life and work by Max Nettlau and an index on persons, periodicals, and publishers have been appended.
The global ramifications of the French Revolution. Ed. by Joseph Klaits and Michael H. Haltzel. [Woodrow Wilson Center Series.] Woodrow Wilson Center Press, Washington; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1994. ix, 209 pp. £30.00; $54.95.
This collection of essays, based on a conference held on the occasion of the bicentennial of the French Revolution in Washington, D.C. in November 1989, examines the global impact of the French Revolution. Contributors deal with the historical and present-day influence of the French Revolution on American political culture (Lloyd S. Kramer), nationalism and freedom in Eastern Europe (Jerzy W. Borejsza), Russian intellectual life (Dmitry Shlapentokh), colonial bondage (Robert Forster, Christopher L. Miller), Middle East politics (Elbaki Hermassi, Nikki R. Keddie), the Mexican Revolution (Charles A. Hale), and Chinese socialism (Maurice J. Meisner).
Labour Market Evolution. The economic history of market integration, wage flexibility and the employment relation. Ed. by George Grantham and Mary MacKinnon. Routledge, London [etc.] 1994. xiv, 322 pp. £45.00.
The authors use the thirteen contributions in this volume, which originate from a conference held in Montreal in February 1991, to examine the operation and development of labour markets in Western Europe and North America since 1500. The contributions include "Economic History and the History of Labour Markets" (George Grantham), "How Did Pre-industrial Labour Markets Function?" (Jan de Vries), "Regional Labour Market Integration in England and Wales, 1850-1913" (George R. Boyer and Timothy J. Hatton), "The Decline in Hours of Work in US Labour Markets, 1890-1903" (Joshua L. Rosenbloom and William A. Sundstrom), "Wage Woes in Weimar? A Partial Investigation" (David Corbett), and "Race, Human Capital, and Labour Markets in American History" (Warren Whatley and Gavin Wright).
Migration and the International Labor Market, 1850-1939. Ed. by Timothy J. Hatton and Jeffrey G. Williamson. Routledge, London [etc.] 1994. xiii, 295 pp. £50.00. (Paper: £15.99.)
The twelve contributions in this volume focus on the forces that caused international labour migration and on the economic impact of this process in the period 1850-1939. Subjects covered include "European Labour Markets, Emigration and International Migration, 1850-1913" (Dudley Baines), "Italian Emigration in the Pre-war Period" (Riccardo Faini and Alessandra Venturini), "Foreign Immigration and the French Labor Force, 1896-1926" (Pierre Sicsic), "Immigrants and Emigrants: International Migration and the US Labor Market in the Great Depression" (Henry A. Gemery), and "Mass Migration, Commodity Market Integration and Real Wage Convergence: The Late-Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy" (Kevin O'Rourke and the editors).
COMPARATIVE HISTORY
Kirk, Neville. Labour and Society in Britain and the USA. Vol. 1. Capitalism, Custom and Protest, 1780-1850. Vol. 2. challenge annd Accomodation, 1850-1939. Scolar Press, Aldershot 1994. viii, 226 pp.; ix, 424 pp. £39.50; £49.50.
See David Englander's review in this volume, pp. 300-303.
Welskopp, Thomas. Arbeit und Macht im Hüttenwerk. Arbeits- und industrielle Beziehungen in der deutschen und amerikanischen Eisen- und Stahlindustrie von den 1860er bis zu den 1930er Jahren. [Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Sozialgeschichte e.V., Braunschweig, Bonn.] Verlag J.H.W. Dietz Nachfolger, Bonn 1994. 797 pp. DM 138.00; S.fr. 138.00; S 1076.00
This dissertation (Freie Universität Berlin, 1992) offers a comprehensive comparative analysis of social, labour, and industrial relations within the iron and steel industry in the Ruhr region and in the American steel industry around Pittsburgh and Chicago from 1860 until the 1930s. The author concludes that, despite all kinds of differences in the development of the organization of labour and management and in the influence of the government on this branch of industry, basic forms of labour and industrial relations in the Ruhr region and the American steel industry reveal striking similarities throughout this period. Consequently, the book also provides a sociohistorical context for the development of highly industry-oriented unions in this sector. CONTINENTS AND COUNTRIES
AFRICA
Mozambique
Harries, Patrick. Work, Culture, and Identity. Migrant Laborers in Mozambique and South Africa, c. 1860-1910. [Social History of Africa.] Heinemann, Portsmouth; Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg; James Currey, London 1994. xxiii, 305 pp. Ill. £35.00. (Paper: £14.95.)
In the period 1860-1910, Mozambican labourers migrated to South Africa to work in the sugar plantations, diamond fields, and gold mines. This book deals with the new culture that emerged from their encounters with other blacks, Europeans, and settlers. Focusing on the causes and consequences of migrant labour, the social history of the migrants, and their changing relationships with employers and the state, the author aims to reveal the cultural creativity of Mozambican workers in dealing with exploitative situations.
South Africa
Lazerson, Joshua N. Against the Tide. Whites in the Struggle Against Apartheid. Westview Press, Boulder [etc.]; Mayibuye Books, Belville 1994. xvii, 289 pp. $39.95.
Throughout much of the twentieth century, small numbers of white South Africans have identified with African aspirations and the anti-apartheid struggle. Dr Lazerson provides a collective biographical analysis of these self-designated "white democrats" and examines their role in the formative years of the national liberation movement led by the ANC. The author argues that the often prominent white presence engendered conflicts within the national liberation movement and made it more difficult to describe the nature of the struggle against white domination, as it appeared to contradict the common definition of the anti-apartheid struggle as a strictly black-against-white conflict.
Van der Merwe, P.J. the Migrant Farmer in the History of the Cape Colony 1657-1842. Transl. by Roger B. Beck. Ohio University Press, Athens 1995. xvi, 315 pp. $60.00
This is the first translation of Die Trekboer in die Geskiedenis van die Kaapkolonie, 1657-1842 (1938), a classic study of Cape colonial history. P.J. van der Merwe (1912-1979), who received a doctorate from the famous Dutch historian Huizinga in 1937, was unique among South-African historians, according to the translator. In addition to focusing on the event known as the Great Trek, Dr van der Merwe covered the greater migration wave that spanned nearly three centuries, with people arriving in Cape Town from 1657 onward. Influenced by Huizinga, Van der Merwe ignored political subjects in favour of the daily social, economic, cultural, and religious lives of the migrants.
AMERICA
Argentina
Brennan, James P. The Labor Wars in Córdoba, 1955-1976. Ideology, Work, and Labor Politics in an Argentine Industrial City. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) [etc.] 1994. xv, 440 pp. $71.95; £47.95.
The 1969 Cordobazo went down in history as one of the greatest working class protests in postwar Latin America. This study of labour politics in the Argentine industrial city of Córdoba between 1955 and 1976 analyzes the dominant role of the automobile industry in the local economy and the prominence of the automobile workers' unions in local labour movements. Professor Brennan aims to demonstrate that the pronounced militancy and political radicalism of the Cordoban working class may be attributed in part to the dynamic relationship between the factory and society during this period and to the specific shop floor conditions and workplace culture created by automotive production in a semi-industrialized country such as Argentina.
Brazil
Keck, Margaret E. The Workers' Party and Democratization in Brazil. Yale University Press, New Haven [etc.] 1992. xv, 315 pp. $40.00.
This study describes the origins and formative years of the Workers' Party in Brazil, which resulted from an alliance of unions (especially in São Paulo), Ecclesiastical Base Communities, and other pre-existing networks, arising between the late 1970s and the early 1980s. The birth of this party is presented in the context of rising opposition to the military rule that arose in the 1970s and the subsequent process of democratization. Professor Keck highlights the Workers' Party's areas of divergence from other political parties, its relation to the labour movement and new social movements (such as women's groups and environmental groups), and its internal structure, which she considers more democratic than all other parties.
Canada
Darroch, Gordon and Lee Soltow. Property and Inequality in Victorian Ontario: Structural Patterns and Cultural Communities in the 1871 Census. [Social History of Canada, 51.] University of Toronto Press, Toronto [etc.] 1994. xvi, 280 pp. Ill. $45.00; £29.00. (Paper: $19.95; £13.00.)
Real property was the most important form of wealth in nineteenth-century Canada. The 1871 census of Ontario is a particularly rich source and enables the authors of this study to examine inequalities in socio-economic well-being in nineteenth-century Ontario. Focusing on the opportunities for immigrants, Dr Darroch and Dr Soltow conclude that there was a broad base of smallholders, which was subordinate to a small, distinct group of very wealthy inhabitants, and that this base excluded the large group with virtually no property at all. According to the authors, there were few limitations on simple ownership. Instead, persistent and significant differences characterized the opportunities for accumulating real estate wealth.
Chile
Barahona Leal, Graciela. Luis Emilio Recabarren (1876-1924). Publizist, Gewerkschafter und Politiker. Gründer der chilenischen Gewerkschaftspublizistik. [Kommunikation: Forschung und Lehre, Band 4.] Lit, Münster [etc.] 1993. xxiii, 260 pp. DM 48.80.
In this biographical study of Luis Emilio Recabarren (1876-1924), founder of the Chilean labour press, the author places his life and works in the political, economic, and social context of early twentieth-century Chile. Dr Barahona Leal focuses on Recabarren's role in establishing the Chilean labour movement, on the influence of European ideas on his work, and on his cultural legacy.
Colombia
Sowell, David. The Early Colombian Labor Movement. Artisans and Politics in Bogotá, 1832-1919. Temple University Press, Philadelphia 1992. xvi, 269 pp. $44.95.
Whereas Latin-American labour history has hitherto mainly focused on twentieth-century industrial or agricultural labour, this study examines the long-term political activity of Colombian artisans and the development of their organizations in the period 1832-1919. Professor Sowell maintains that the development of artisan class political activity coincided with Colombia's integration into the world market, and that this transformation had a largely negative effect on the economic position of this class. Thus, by the end of the nineteenth century, the artisans had lost their leading position within the Colombian labour movement to industrial, transport, and agricultural labourers.
Cuba
Eckstein, Susan Eva. Back From the Future. Cuba Under Castro. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1994. xxi, 286 pp. $29.95; £25.00.
In this study of policy implementation under the Communist regime from 1959 to the present day, Professor Eckstein writes that after its initial effort to realize Marx's utopian communist society, Castro's Cuba "retreated" to a cradle-to-grave welfare state socialism after 1970. She argues that the Cuban government's global options in this period have been determined by Cold War geopolitics and both U.S. and Soviet national policies, and that its domestic possibilities are the result of bureaucratic institutions and informal social dynamics. These circumstances have forced the government to modify its initiatives, despite the Marxist-Leninist rhetoric. The author pleads for a modification of U.S. policy regarding Cuba.
United States of America
Barger, W.K. and Ernesto M. Reza. The Farm Labor Movement in the Midwest. Social Change and Adaptation among Migrant Farmworkers. Foreword by Baldemar Velásquez. The University of Texas Press, Austin 1994. xix, 235 pp. Ill. $35.00. (Paper: $15.95.)
In 1967, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) was founded by Baldemar Velásquez as a sister organization of the United Farm Workers (UFW) in California to challenge the poverty and powerlessness confronting migrant farmworkers in the Midwest of the United States. This study documents FLOC's rise over the last twenty-five years and analyzes its effectiveness in achieving social reform. It focuses on the struggle for three-way contracts between farm workers, growers, and food companies in the Midwest for improved working conditions.
Draper, Alan. Conflict of Interests. Organized Labor and the Civil Rights Movement in the South, 1954-1968. [Cornell Studies in Industrial and Labor Relations, Nr 29.] ILR Press, Ithaca 1994. ix, 234 pp. $39.00. (Paper: $17.95.)
In this study Dr Draper examines the role of American organized labour in the civil rights movement in the period 1954-1968. According to the author, the AFL-CIO leadership and its southern state councils gave substantial support to the struggle for black equality because they recognized the potential of newly enfranchised blacks to challenge conservative southern Democrats. An explosive tension then developed between labour's political leadership and the white rank and file, who were more interested in defending their racial privileges than in forming alliances with blacks. Dr Draper argues that the Democrats forfeited much of their white labour support in the South as a result.
Foner, Philip S. U.S. Labor and the Vietnam War. International Publishers, New York 1988. x, 180 pp. Ill. $7.95.
The present study documents the course of trade union opposition in the United States to the Vietnam war from the early 1960s to the end of the war in 1973. After the initial support for United States policy in Vietnam from the AFL-CIO leadership, a growing number of unions started to oppose the war from 1965 onward. This opposition also changed labour's relationship to the student movement and the peace movement. The author submits that labour eventually became a major force in ending this war.
Frank, Dana. Purchasing Power. Consumer Organizing, Gender, and the Seattle Labor Movement, 1919-1929. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1994. xi, 349 pp. £14.95; $18.95.
This book examines the Seattle American Federation of Labor (AFL) in the decade 1919-1929 as a case study of the nationwide decline of the American labour movement in the 1920s. Professor Frank's study is distinctive in its focus on the use of consumer tactics, such as boycotts, cooperatives, labour-owned businesses, and the promotion of the union label by Seattle's AFL. The author argues that both gender and race dynamics were central to this strategy.
Gartman, David. Auto Opium. A social history of American automobile design. Routledge, London [etc.] 1994. xvi, 264 pp. Ill. £40.00. (Paper: £13.99.)
This is a comprehensive history of the professional and aesthetic aspects of American automobile design. Professor Gartman traces the development of automobile design from the first utilitarian cars around the turn of the century to the most modern of symbolic cultural icons. Connecting the social conflicts of America to the organizational struggles of designers and the marketplace disagreements of firms, the author contends that the aesthetic qualities of vehicles were reflected in the social conflicts [labour disputes] generated by the mass production process.
Leiman, Melvin M. Political Economy of Racism. Pluto Press, London [etc.] 1993. x, 421 pp. £35.00. (Paper: £14.95.)
Using a Marxist analysis, this study examines the relationship between race and class within the capitalist system in the United States over the past century. Professor Leiman argues that rather than espousing a monolithic and unchanging interest in a particular form of racial discrimination, the class of capitalists adapts its expression of racism to the economic and political needs of different groups of capitalists. He concludes that monopoly capital regarded gross racial discrimination as dysfunctional in the period following World War II and that the ensuing economic incentive to lessen racism was lost during the 1970s and the 1980s.
Levesque, George A. Black Boston. African American Life and Culture in Urban America, 1750-1860. [Studies in African American History and Culture.] Garland Publishing, Inc., New York [etc.] 1994. xviii, 537 pp. Ill. $95.00.
This study of the formation of black community life in Boston in the century preceding the Civil War, which is largely based on earlier articles by the same author, gives a comprehensive analysis of the community's demography, economy, and culture. The author argues that the dualist framework for understanding African American culture, which divides the community into forces of integration and of separation, is too simplistic to explain the ambivalence among the black community in coping with its situation.
Lorence, James J. Gerald J. Boileau and the Progressive-Farmer-Labor Alliance. Politics of the New Deal. University of Missouri Press, Columbia [etc.] 1994. xvii, 324 pp. Ill. £39.95.
Gerald Boileau (1900-1981) was a prominent Wisconsin Progressive who became known as an independent liberal in the House of Representatives between 1930 and 1938. In this study, Professor Lorence examines Boileau's political career, aiming to show the influence of midwestern farmer-labourism on the national political developments of the New Deal era. According to the author, Boileau's ideas and actions were rooted in a fierce individualism that found expression in support for farmers, workers, and owners of small businesses.
Paulsson, Martin. The Social Anxieties of Progressive Reform. Atlantic City, 1854-1920. New York University Press, New York [etc.] 1994. xvi, 245 pp. Ill. $37.50.
This revised dissertation (Rutgers University, 1994) examines the evolution of Atlantic City from a small fishing town in 1854 to the most popular seaside resort in the United States in 1910 in relation to the Progressive reform movement that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century. This reform movement was pervaded by two conflicting currents. According to the author, these movements mirrored the chasm in American society between religion and popular culture as exemplified by indifference to the sanctity of the Sabbath. The result was a policy of strategic censorship, which permitted Sunday drinking, gambling, and prostitution, while restricting resort entertainment on Sundays.
Richter, Irving. Labor's Struggles, 1945-1950. A Participant's View. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1994. xxii, 151 pp. £29.95; $54.95.
Irving Richter was the national legislative representative for the United Automobile Workers from 1947 to 1943. In this book, which he completed shortly before his death in 1989, Richter presents his "participant's view" of the decisive period 1945-1950 for American trade unions. Disunity within the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and sharp disagreement between the CIO and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) weakened the trade unions. At this very moment, the actors in the Cold War launched an anti-labour offensive that culminated in the restrictive Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. In his foreword, David Montgomery considers Richter's account more representative of a study of policy making in union headquarters and in Washington than of a social history text or personal narrative.
Scherzer, Kenneth A. The Unbounded Community. Neighborhood Life and Social Structure in New York City, 1830-1875. Duke University Press, Durham [etc.] 1992. xviii, 356 pp. Ill. £33.20.
In this analysis of neighbourhood life in New York City between 1835 and 1870, Dr Scherzer counters the monotonous image of nostalgia that often characterizes such descriptions. Focusing on ecological, symbolic, and social aspects of nineteenth-century community life in New York City, the author aims to show that the complex composition of neighbourhoods defies simple categorization according to class or ethnicity. The fluid geography and heterogeneity of the neighbourhoods, along with their rapid residential turnover, diminished their community function.
Schultz, Ronald. The Republic of Labor. Philadelphia Artisans and the Politics of Class, 1720-1830. Oxford University Press, Oxford [etc.] 1993. xv, 298 pp. Ill. £35.00.
In this study of the emergence of the working class in Philadelphia in the period 1720-1830, Professor Schultz argues that the origins of the American working class date back much further than generally assumed. Contrary to the prevailing view, which places the birth of this group in the middle of the nineteenth century with ideological roots in the Revolutionary and Jacksonian eras, the author submits that Philadelphia's working class arose out of the dramatic social changes that transformed eighteenth-century artisan life, and that it derived its ideological basis from an indigenous small-producer tradition stemming from early modern England.
Taylor, Quintard. The Forging of a Black Community. Seattle's Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era. Foreword by Norm Rice. [The Emil and Kathleen Sick Lecture-Book Series in Western History and Biography.] University of Washington Press, Seattle [etc.] 1994. xiii, 330 pp. Ill. Maps. $30.00. (Paper: $14.95.)
The black community in Seattle's Central District evolved from its first few residents in 1870 to a population of nearly forty thousand by 1970. This study reviews the process by examining the similarities and differences between Seattle and the national urban experience in this period. Professor Taylor concludes that many of the problems considered endemic to northern black communities prior to the Second World War were less rampant in Seattle than in other major cities. The influx of rural African Americans during and after the Second World War, however, profoundly transformed black Seattle according to national trends.
The "Underclass" Debate. Views from History. Ed. by Michael B. Katz. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1993. viii, 507 pp. Ill. $59.50; £40.00. (Paper: $16.95; £11.50.)
The contributions in this volume convey the historical context of the "underclass" debate in American society, which emerged in the late 1970s and became topical again after the eruption of violence in Los Angeles in 1992. Main issues in the debate featured in this volume include the extent to which individuals are responsible for their own poverty, the role of culture, the role of family structure and organization and modes of child rearing, the influence of the surrounding environment (housing, neighbourhood, etc.), and the influence of institutions and public policy.
ASIA
Heuzé, Gérard, Lajpat Rai Jagga et Max Zins. Les conflits du travail en Inde et au Sri Lanka. ["Hommes et Sociétés"]. Éditions Karthala, Paris 1993. 340 pp. F.fr. 160.00.
The five contributions to this collection focus on the development of the modern working class and labour relations and labour conflicts in different economic sectors of India and Sri Lanka over the past five decades. Contributions deal with the Bombay textile industry in the period 1981-1983 (Gérard Heuzé, who edited a collection on labour in India, see IRSH, XXXVII (1992), p. 428), the role of the multinationals in the emergence of social conflict in Bombay in the period 1960-1984 (Jairus Banaji and Rohini Hensman), the relationship between the Indian state and the railroad employees in the period 1968-1981 (Lajpat Rai Jagga), construction projects and workers in New Delhi in recent decades (Lajpat Rai Jagga and Sharda Grover), and plantation labour in Sri Lanka since its independence (Rachel Kurian).
Bangladesh
Roy, Beth. Some Trouble with Cows. Making Sense of Social Conflict. University of California Press, Berkeley [etc.] 1994. xviii, 231 pp. Maps. $40.00. (Paper: $25.00.)
Constructed from first-person accounts by Hindus and Muslims, this sociological study describes and analyzes a large-scale riot in the Bangladeshi village of Panipur during the 1950s, for which no official record or press report exists. Dr Roy touches on broader issues of communities in conflicts, such as the changing meaning of community and the influence of the state. She concludes that the conflict enabled the villagers to participate in current disputes about the distribution of power and rights in their community, and that it redefined identities to reflect a new reality.
India
Breman, Jan. Wage Hunters and Gatherers. Search for Work in the Urban and Rural Economy of South Gujarat. Oxford University Press, Delhi [etc.] 1994. xi, 422 pp. Rs 495. (Also obtainable from Centre for Asian Studies, Amsterdam: D.fl. 35.00.)
This book contains writings by Professor Breman on rural and urban labour in western India, all published between 1976 and 1991. The essays deal with unskilled labour at the bottom of the urban economy, with the causes and mechanisms of labour migration, with the government's role in protecting rural labour, and with the methodology of the research the author has conducted over a thirty-year period.
Heehs, Peter. The Bomb in Bengal. The Rise of Revolutionary Terrorism in India 1900-1910. Oxford University Press, Delhi [etc.] 1993. xii, 324 pp. Ill. Rs 350; £17.50.
This is a narrative history of the revolutionary movement in Bengal from its origins around 1900 through the end of its first phase in 1910. With this nationalist perspective on primary sources, Mr Heehs argues that while the Bengal revolutionaries using violent methods in this period had a considerable impact on the course of the freedom movement, their motives differed significantly from those of today's terrorists, who are, according to the author, driven by criminal rather than ideological or political forces.
Mehta, B.L. Trade Union Movement in India. Kanishka Publishing House, Delhi 1991. vii, 224 pp. Rs. 200.
This is an introductory textbook on the history of the trade-union movement in India from its origins, through the formation of the All Indian Trade Union Congress (AITUC) in 1920, until the split within the AITUC in 1929. Dr Mehta dates the origins of the Indian trade-union movement back to the second half of the 1890s. He focuses on the relations between the AITUC and the Indian National Congress, on the role of the communists in these relations, and on the ideological circumstances that contributed to the breakdown into the communist-oriented All Indian Trade Union Federation and the "old" AITUC.
Turkey
Zürcher, Erik Jan. "Gelukkig is hij die zich 'Turk' noemt". Nationale identiteit en persoonlijkheidscultus in Turkije. (Inaugurele rede Universiteit van Amsterdam.) Stichting beheer IISG, Amsterdam 1994. 38 pp. Ill. D.fl. 14.90.
"Happy is the person who calls himself a Turk": this quotation from Mustafa Kemal Pasha Atatürk symbolizes the desire among the Kemalist reformers in the 1920s for a new Turkish national identity. This booklet, an inaugural speech, deals with the origins and the character of that Turkish national identity and the related personality cult that arose around Atatürk and that continues to dominate modern-day public life in Turkey.
AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA
Australia
May, Dawn. Aboriginal Labour and the Cattle Industry. Queensland from White Settlement to the Present. [Studies in Australian History.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1994. xii, 242 pp. Ill. £35.00; $59.95.
This study examines the role of Aboriginal labour in the Queensland cattle industry, which still generates a substantial part of the Australian meat export. Covering the period from the first contact between Aboriginals and white settlers around 1850 until the present day, Dr May deals with Aboriginal land use before the colonization, the origins of the cattle industry, and the importance of Aboriginal skill in the development of the industry, in the use of Aboriginal labour, in relation to state intervention, and in the expropriation of Aboriginal land.
EUROPE
Building European society. Occupational change and social mobility in Europe 1840-1940. Ed. by Andrew Miles and David Vincent. Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 1993; distr. excl. in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press, New York. xi, 244 pp. £40.00.
The eleven contributions in this volume deal with occupational change in Britain, Sweden, Germany, Poland, and France from the start of the industrial revolution to the beginning of twentieth-century Europe. In addition to covering new methodological techniques, they reveal work histories from different places and periods. The scope of the contributions includes social mobility and equality of occupation in Britain, 1839-1914 (Andrew Miles), social mobility and class structure in early-industrial France (Ivan K. Fukumoto and David B. Grusky), social mobility in nineteenth-century Poznan (Krzyszatof Makowski), and stability and instability among shopkeepers and master artisans in Germany and France at the turn of the century (Heinz-Gerhard Haupt).
Canny, Nicholas [Ed.] Europeans on the Move. Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1994. xii, 329 pp. Maps. £35.00.
This collection of ten essays considers European migration over the three centuries following Columbus's first voyage to America. Seymour Phillips's contribution reviews the medieval background of the migration. The other contributions deal with Spanish migration to the New World, 1493-1810 (Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz), English (Nicholas Canny), Scottish (T.C. Smout, N.C. Landsman, and T.M. Devine), and Irish migration (L.M. Cullen) in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Dutch long-distance migration (Jan Lucassen), and trans-atlantic migration from German-speaking areas of Central Europe (Georg Fertig) and France (Peter Moogk).
Delamont, Sara. Appetites and identities. An introduction to the social anthropology of Western Europe. Routledge, London [etc.] 1995. xi, 254 pp. £40.00. (Paper: £13.99.)
This introductory textbook sets out the modern anthropological literature on the diversity of dialects, cultures, and every day lives of Western Europeans. Dr Delamont offers insight into regional and communal differences within an integrated Europe. Themes covered include food, migration, politics, urban and country life, magic, religion, sex, and language.
European Religion in the Age of Great Cities 1830-1930. Ed. by Hugh McLeod. [Christianity and Society in the Modern World.] Routledge, London [etc.] 1995. x, 308 pp. £40.00.
Cities in nineteenth-century Europe expanded spectacularly in size and number as well as in their share of the total population. Many contemporaries thought this urbanization would dramatically affect religious life. The ten contributions to this volume examine the responses of the churches to urbanization, urban religious cultures, and the religious consequences of urbanization in cities in Spain, Belgium, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, and France.
Herrmann, Karl Georg. Die Geschichte des internationalen Bergarbeiterverbandes 1890-1939. [Quellen und Studien zur Sozialgeschichte, Band 12.] Campus Verlag, Frankfurt [etc.] 1994. 510 pp. DM 98.00; S.fr. 99.00; S 765.00.
This study, based on a dissertation (Munich, 1986), chronicles the development of the International Miners' Federation from its beginnings in 1889 until 1939. Dr Herrmann focuses on the congress activities and on the role of international cooperation in mitigating the negative impact of the Depression of the 1930s on the working conditions of miners. These final efforts by the Federation portended postwar European economic integration. The book highlights the relationship between the British and Continental-European miners' organizations.
Jütte, Robert. Poverty and Deviance in Early Modern Europe. [New Approaches to European History.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1994. xv, 239 pp. Ill. £27.95; $49.95. (Paper: £9.95; $14.95.)
This textbook offers an overview of the history of poverty and deviance in Europe in the period 1500-1800. Professor Jütte focuses on the way the poor managed their lives and on the complex social and communal networks they established. He describes the culmination of contemporary ideas on poverty and deviance in the systematic programmes for social welfare of the nineteenth century and examines survival strategies within certain communities among recipients of poor relief and individuals who had to find other ways to stay alive. A chronology, short biographies of key figures, and a selected bibliography are appended.
McFarland, E.W. Ireland and Scotland in the Age of Revolution. Planting the Green Bough. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1994. xii, 272 pp. £35.00.
The central focus of this book involves the interaction of Ireland's crisis in the decades preceding and following the United Irishmen's Rebellion of 1798 with political developments in Scotland during the same period. Dr McFarland explores the evolution of the links between the Society of the United Irishmen and the Scottish radicals and places these contacts and related radical ideas prior to the Rebellion of 1798 in the European context of the French Revolution. She then examines the impact of the Rebellion in Scotland and the fate of refugees of the Irish crisis in the political and industrial turmoil in early nineteenth-century Scotland.
Parties, Trade Unions and Society in East-Central Europe. Ed. by Michael Waller and Martin Myant. Frank Cass, Ilford [etc.] 1994. v, 184 pp. £25.00.
This volume presents an analysis of the relationship between political parties and trade unions throughout the changes that have occurred over the past few decades in Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Four contributions provide a general overview of the distinctive role of trade unions and political parties in the democratization process in East-Central Europe, while the other six analyze the status of trade unions in the various countries. Contributors include Paul Lewis, Curt Sørensen, András Tóth, John Thirkell, Boyko Atanasov, Grigor Gradev, Radzis awa Gortat, Kazimierz Kloc, and Simon Clarke.
Pasture, Patrick. Christian Trade Unionism in Europe Since 1968. Tensions between identity and practice. Avebury, Aldershot [etc.] 1994. xi, 185 pp. £32.50.
This study surveys the development of Christian trade unionism in Western, Central, and Eastern Europe (excluding the former Soviet Union) since 1968, examining national membership, developments within the international Christian trade union movement, and international trade action. The author concludes that, despite vast national variations and differences, the general trend is univocal: Christian trade unionism has tended to merge with the free trade union movement as a result of the progressive secularization and diminishing political power of Christian Democracy.
Rösener, Werner. The Peasantry of Europe. Transl. by Thomas M. Barker. [The Making of Europe.] Blackwell, Oxford [etc.] 1994. xiv, 235 pp. Ill. Maps. $24.95. (Paper: £19.99.)
This is a review history of the peasant societies of Europe from the fourteenth century to the present. Professor Rösener examines the forms and evolution of peasant cultures and economies, considers their impact on society at large, and describes the great peasant movements and uprisings of this period. In his concluding discussion of the status quo of peasant societies and the problems with decollectivization in Eastern Europe and the Common Agricultural Policy in Western Europe, the author argues that peasants have remained key forces in European history.
France
Baczko, Bronislaw. Ending the Terror. The French Revolution after Robespierre. Transl. by Michel Petheram. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1994; Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris. xii, 269 pp. £37.50; $59.95.
This is the English translation of Comment sortir de la terreur (1989), in which Baczko reviews an important period in the history of the French Revolution: the months that followed the fall of Robespierre in July 1794, known as the "Thermidor". In these months, the Convention grappled with the problem of dismantling the Terror without repudiating the aims of the Revolution. According to the author, "Thermidor" has become an metaphor for the crucial point in every subsequent revolution in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when the revolutionary forces are forced to admit that they will not fulfil all their initial promises.
Cent ans de catholicisme social en Alsace. De l'encyclique Rerum Novarum (1891) à la fin du XXe siècle. Sous la dir. de Raymond Mengus. Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg 1991. 180 pp. F.fr. 100.00.
In November 1990, a colloquium was held at the University of Strasbourg to celebrate the centennial of the papal encyclic Rerum Novarum (1891). The ten contributions in this volume, which were presented at this colloquium, deal with the reception to this encyclic among Alsatian Catholics, social democrats, and employers, as well as with its influence on the emergence of a Catholic social movement in the Alsace from the appearance of Rerum Novarum to the present. In his concluding contribution, Raymond Mengus explores the present-day significance of Catholic social movements.
La France ouvrière. Histoire de la classe ouvrière et du mouvement ouvrier français. Sous la dir. de Claude Willard. Tome 1. Des origines à 1920. Éditions sociales, Paris 1993. 493 pp. Maps. F.fr. 180.00.
This is the first of a two-volume textbook on the history of the French working class and labour movement. This volume covers the period from the origins of the labour movement in the eighteenth century until 1920, the year of the historic rift between socialists and communists at the Congress of Tours. Maurice Moissonier deals with the first period, which ended in 1871. The second period (1871-1914) is described by Rolande Trempé and the third (1914-1920) by Jean-Louis Robert. Madeleine Rebérioux has devoted a separate chapter to workers in visual art and literature during this period. A chronological table has been appended.
Jaurès et les intellectuels. Sous la dir. de Madeleine Rebérioux et Gilles Candar. Avec le concours du Centre National du Livre. Les Editions de l'Atelier/Editions Ouvrières, Paris 1994. 326 pp. F.fr. 150.00.
Based on an international colloquium held in Paris in January 1988, this collection presents sixteen contributions on the relationship between Jean Jaurès, the French intellectuals, and socialism in the decades around the turn of the century. Themes addressed include the intellectual elites and the social question (Madeleine Rebérioux), the new labour elites, such as the prolétaires positivistes (Françoise Birck), Jaurès and the salons (Gérard Baal), marxism and the intellectuals around 1900 (Shlomo Sand), and Jaurès and the Catholics committed to social issues (Philippe Levillain). A special section has been devoted to Jaurès's influence on intellectuals in Italy, Belgium, and Germany. A bibliography of relevant French and international literature is appended.
Lejeune-Resnick, Evelyne. Femmes et associations (1830/1880). Vraies démocrates ou dames patronnesses? Publisud, Paris 1991. 262 pp. Ill. F.fr. 204.00.
According to the author of this study, women's struggle for liberation in nineteenth-century France primarily found expression in various forms of charity organizations. Dr Lejeune-Resnick describes the development of such women's organizations in the period 1830-1880 and distinguishes three consecutive types of women's groups. First came the Saint-Simoniennes, who were active in groups founded by men. The Revolution of 1848 marked the beginning of organizations established by women that defended the proletarians. From the Third Republic onward, conservative, bourgeois women's organizations prevailed. A selection of related archival documents is appended.
Lepetit, Bernard. The pre-industrial urban system: France, 1740-1840. Transl. by Godfrey Rogers. [Themes in International Urban History.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994; Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris. xix, 483 pp. £50.00; $79.95.
This is the English translation of Les villes dans la France moderne (1988), a widely acclaimed study that provides a synoptic view of the evolution of the French urban system between 1740 and 1840. Professor Lepetit, co-editor of Annales, aims to unravel the complex spatial dimensions of urbanization and analyzes the different aspects of urban society, including finance, building, trade, images, and innovation. He concludes that the urban network was transformed by two movements: the development of a road network and administrative reform, which resulted in a new framework of local government.
Liu, Tessie P. The Weaver's Knot. The Contradictions of Class Struggle and Family Solidarity in Western France, 1750-1914. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1994. xiv, 279 pp. $46.75. (Paper: $19.75.)
In this detailed history of the linen weavers of the Pays des Mauges from the mid-eighteenth century until 1914, Professor Liu focuses on the weavers' campaign for independence as small producers, and the consequences of their struggle for their regional economy as well as for their family structure. She argues that industrialization had a very different impact on women than on men: whereas men were able to preserve their identity as artisans, their wives and daughters became exploited workers in mechanized industries.
Michelin, les hommes du pneu. Les ouvriers Michelin, à Clermont-Ferrand, de 1889 à 1940. [Par] Lionel Dumond, Christian Lamy, André Gueslin [et] Pierre Mazataud. Sous la dir. de André Gueslin. Les Editions de l'Atelier/Les Editions Ouvrières, Paris 1993. 269 pp. Maps. F.fr. 130.00.
Michelin, the world's oldest tyre company, became famous for its unique system of social benefits. This volume examines the different features of this social system, which was called "le paternalisme Michelin", from the company's establishment in 1889 until 1940. Lionel Dumond outlines the technical and commercial background of Michelin, André Gueslin deals with the company's social policy and the course of relations between employers and employees, and Pierre Mazataud provides a sociological analysis of the workforce. Christian Lamy uses oral history research to portray the culture and outlook of the Michelin workers.
Germany
Albrecht, Willy. Der Sozialistische Deutsche Studentenbund (SDS). Vom parteikonformen Studentenverband zum Repräsentanten der Neuen Linken. [Reihe Politik- und Gesellschaftsgeschichte, Band 35.] Verlag J.H.W. Dietz Nachfolger, Bonn 1994. 539 pp. DM 48.00; S.fr. 49.00; S 375.00.
This examination of the origins and development of the Sozialistische Deutsche Studentenbund (SDS) ties in with the work by Jürgen Briem, Der SDS. Die Geschichte des bedeutendsten Studentenverbandes der BRD seit 1945 (1976), which was noticed in IRSH, XXIV (1979), pp. 143f., and Tilman Fichter, SDS und SPD. Parteilichkeit jenseits der Partei (1988), which was noticed in IRSH, XXXIII (1988), p. 384. Dr Albrecht, who is on the staff of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, examines the relationship between the SPS and the SDS throughout the period 1946-1961 and focuses on the various factors responsible for the rift between the SDS and the SPD that eventually led the leadership of the SPD to declare membership of the SDS incompatible with affiliation with the SPD.
Augustine, Dolores L. Patricians and Parvenus. Wealth and High Society in Wilhelmine Germany. Berg, Oxford [etc.] 1994. xii, 303 pp. £44.95.
See W.D. Rubinstein's review in this volume, pp. 303-306.
Bismarcks Sozialstaat. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sozialpolitik und zur sozialpolitischen Geschichtsschreibung. In Zusammenarb. mit der Hamburger Stiftung für Sozialgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts hrsg. von Lothar Machtan. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt [etc.] 1994. 474 pp. DM 98.00; S.fr. 99.00; S 765.00.
Based on a colloquium in Hamburg in April 1992, organized by the Hamburger Stiftung für Sozialgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts, this volume addresses the origins of the German welfare state and its historiography. Six of the eleven contributions deal with topics relating to the history of the foundation of the German welfare state, such as the role of the major industrialists in the conceptualization of Bismarck's social legislation (Monika Breger), and leftist-liberal and social-democratic criticism of Bismarck's social reforms (Gustav Seeber and Gerhard Fesser). The five other contributions cover the ideological history and include an essay by Karl Heinz Roth on the national-socialist efforts to appropriate Bismarck's legacy for its social policy.
Fischer, Ilse. August Bebel und der Verband Deutscher Arbeitervereine 1867/68. Brieftagebuch und Dokumente. [Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, Beiheft 14.] J.H.W. Dietz Nachf., Bonn 1994. c, 411 pp. DM 98.00.
In 1867, the election of August Bebel as president of the Verband Deutscher Arbeitervereine (VDAV), a confederative cooperation of individual labour unions signified the completion of a political purge that led to the foundation of the Sozialdemokratischen Arbeiterpartei in Eisenach in 1869. This source publication contains 490 documents from this decisive phase in the history of the German labour movement from October 1867 until the Nürnberger Vereinstag in September 1868, when the VDAV joined the International Workingmen's Association. Dr Fischer provides a comprehensive account of the historical context in the introduction and biographical information about the leading persons in the annotation.
Haffert, Claus. Die katholischen Arbeitervereine Westdeutschlands in der Weimarer Republik. [Düsseldorfer Schriften zur Neueren Landesgeschichte und zur Geschichte Nordrhein-Westfalens, Band 38.] Klartext, Essen 1994. 274 pp. DM 32.60; S.fr. 33.60; S 254.00.
The German Catholic unions for workers, founded in the second half of the nineteenth century, were largely concentrated in the Ruhr region and in the industrialized parts of the Rhineland. In this dissertation (Bochum, 1992), Dr Haffert analyzes the organization and programme of these unions, which had political representatives in the Zentrumpartei, during the Weimar years. After examining the importance of these unions for the stability of the Christian Zentrumpartei and consequently also for the security of the Weimar democracy, he concludes that from the second half of the 1920s, the forces that gained the upper hand (with support from the Catholic Church) within the unions disapproved of the parliamentary democracy in the Weimar Republic.
Protestantismus und Antisemitismus in der Weimarer Republik. Hrsg. von Kurt Nowak [und] Gérard Raulet. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt [etc.] 1994; Editions de la Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris. 228 pp. DM 58.00; S.fr. 58.00; S 453.00.
This collection of eleven essays, the outcome of a cooperative effort between French and German scholars in the "Groupe de recherche sur la culture de Weimar", deals with the perspective of German Protestant theology on the Jewish Question. According to the editors, this confrontation sheds light on protestant contributions to the Weimar culture. Reinhard Bendix opens this collection with recollections of his childhood in Weimar Germany as an assimilated Jew. The other contributors deal with, inter alia, various theologists, such as Leo Baeck (Dominique Bourel) and Ernst Troeltsch (Annette Disselkamp), and various other subjects, such as anti-semitism among rural and middle-class Protestants (Alfred Wahl).
Röhl, Klaus Rainer. Nähe zum Gegner. Kommunisten und Nationalsozialisten im Berliner BVG-Streik von 1932. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt [etc.] 1994. 285 pp. DM 58.00; S.fr. 59.00; S 453.
On 3 December 1932, immediately before the last Reichstag elections in the Weimar Republic, a wildcat strike broke out at the public transport authority in Berlin. Throughout this five-day strike, SA activists joined forces with militants of the communist Rotfront with approval from their respective party leaderships. This dissertation from the school of Professor Erich Nolte (Freie Universität Berlin, 1993) investigates the course, causes, backgrounds, and consequences of this extraordinary cooperation. Dr Röhl concludes that this arrangement derived its main impetus from the younger generation of workers, who were characterized on all ends of the political spectrum by their abhorrence concerning the existing political order; their collaboration came at an opportune moment for the political leaders.
Great Britain
Benson, John. The Rise of Consumer Society in Britain, 1880-1980. [Themes in British Social History.] Longman, London [etc.] 1994. viii, 245 pp. £32.00. (Paper: £11.99.)
In this textbook, which examines the causes, course, and consequences of the changes in consumption that have taken place in Britain over the past hundred years, Professor Benson aims to determine whether a consumer revolution has actually taken place and, if it has, the nature of this transformation. He surveys general changes in supply and demand of goods and services since 1880 and then undertakes a detailed exploration of shopping, tourism, and sports (three major economic sectors) to measure the influence of changing consumer behaviour on key aspects of modern British society: the consolidation of national identity, the creation of youth culture, the emancipation of women, and the defusion of class tension.
Bourke, Joanna. Working-Class Cultures in Britain 1890-1960. Gender, class and ethnicity. Routledge, London [etc.] 1994. xii, 275 pp. £37.50. (Paper: £12.99.)
This textbook, designed for undergraduate students, aims to integrate various historiographical approaches and methodologies that are used to interpret the relationship between working class and gender and ethnicity in Britain between 1890 and 1960. Arguing that class identity is essentially a social and cultural rather than an institutional or political phenomenon, Dr Bourke examines the construction of class within the context of the body, the home, the marketplace, the locality, and the nation to assess the persistence of subjective identity among the working class in Britain over seventy years of radical social, cultural, and economic change. Chronologies and recommendations for further reading have been appended.
Clapson, Mark. A bit of a flutter. Popular gambling and English society, c. 1823-1961. [International studies in the history of sport.] Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 1992; distr. excl. in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press, New York. viii, 232 pp. £35.00.
Covering the period from the early Victorian era to the mid-twentieth century, this study of popular gambling examines the expansion of mass betting in the context of its wider cultural significance, focusing on its extraordinary resilience against government prohibition and moral campaigning. Dr Clapson concludes that gambling was an expression of self-regulation rather than ruination for the vast majority, and that this general moderation gradually undermined attempts to marginalize popular gambling and led to the step-by-step acknowledgment of its legitimacy in both the family and the national economies.
Devine, T.M. Clanship to Crofters' War. The social transformation of the Scottish Highlands. Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 1994; distr. excl. in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press, New York. xiv, 258 pp. Ill. £40.00. (Paper: £14.99.)
Beginning with the decline of clanship before and after Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, Professor Devine, who has already written about the Great Highland Famine of the mid-nineteenth century (see IRSH, 38 (1993), p. 282) and is in the process of publishing a book on social transformation in the eighteenth-century Scottish lowlands (see above), explores the wholesale social transformation of the Scottish Highlands in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He deals with the development of the crofting economy, the clearances, the transatlantic emigration, the Great Highland Famine, and the emergence of a new Highland landed class. He also examines the uprising of the 1880s, known as the Crofters' War.
Devine, T.M. The Transformation of Rural Scotland. Social Change and the Agrarian Economy, 1660-1815. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1994. xiii, 275 pp. Maps. £45.00.
In the eighteenth century, the old peasant society of lowland Scotland was replaced by a new order of capitalist farmers and landless labourers. According to Professor Devine, who is currently also publishing a study on social transformation in the Scottish Highlands in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (see above), this trend was one of the most fundamental changes in modern Scottish history and a social revolution that was unparalleled in Western Europe in its speed and scale. The author compares developments in the lowlands of Scotland and in agrarian England and addresses issues such as landlordism and improvement, the evolution of tenant farming, and the dispossession of the cottar class.
Elliott, Gregory. Labourism and the English Genius. The Strange Death of Labour England? Verso, London [etc.] 1993. xvii, 233 pp. £11.95.
In this polemic political analysis of the Labour Party's history and recent political course, the author denies that the presence or absence of traditional socialism underlies the present problems of Labour in Britain. Rather, "Labourism" itself is responsible. Mr Elliott defines Labourism as a combination of electoralism and parliamentarism with the illusion that Labour can eventually attain a form of democratic socialism by "dutiful observance of the customs and practices of the British Constitution" and asserts that the future for Labour lies in reorientation to the democratization of the English ancien régime and the emerging European political order.
Erickson, Charlotte. Leaving England. Essays on British Emigration in the Nineteenth Century. Cornell University Press, Ithaca [etc.] 1994. xv, 272 pp. $42.35.
This collection contains seven essays, of which five were published previously, on British emigration in the nineteenth century. The author (Professor Erickson) is a specialist on this field and has also written Invisible Immigrants. The Adaption of English and Scottish Immigrants in Nineteenth-Century America (1972). In these new essays, she contrasts the English immigrants to the United States in 1841 with those who travelled to Canada and Australia, discusses the experiences of English emigrant women, and examines the occupational careers and migrations of a sample group, drawn from histories of emigrants from the County of Lancashire.
Fishman, Nina. The British Communist Party and the Trade Unions 1933-45. Scolar Press, Aldershot 1994; Ashgate Publishing Company, Vermont. xiv, 380 pp. £45.00.
According to the author of this study, which is based on her dissertation, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was far more crucial in trade union organization during the Depression and the Second World War than is generally acknowledged by leaders of the trade union movement and historians alike. Dr Fishman analyzes Communist activity in key sectors of the British economy and the role of the Communists in the British war economy, with Harry Pollitt and John Campbell as the main protagonists.
Hopkins, Eric. Childhood transformed. Working-class children in nineteenth-century England. Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 1994; distr. excl. in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press, New York. viii, 343 pp. £40.00. (Paper: £12.99.)
This book describes the shift in the nature of working-class childhood in nineteenth-century Britain from existence dominated by work to life centred around school. This transformation was characterized by the Factory Act and the Workshops Act, both passed in 1867. Professor Hopkins uses mostly secondary sources to examine a wide range of aspects of childhood in the Victorian period and devotes a section to the treatment of deprived children. He argues that the changes in patterns of childhood coincided with substantial improvements for many in the home environment, as well as in health, nutrition, and leisure opportunities.
Jump, Harriet Devine. Mary Wollstonecraft: Writer. Harvester Wheatsheaf, New York [etc.] 1994. xii, 172 pp. $20.00.
This book introduces the work of Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), best known for her Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). The author covers all of Wollstonecraft's writings in chronological order, placing her work in the context of her life and times. According to the author, the importance of Wollstonecraft's work extends beyond her theory on the position of women in society, and her work is central to the history of ideas of her period.
Lawrence, Elizabeth. Gender and Trade Unions. [Gender & Society: Feminist Perspectives on The Past and Present.] Taylor & Francis, London [etc.] 1994. xii, 175 pp. £11.95.
This book, which is based on a study of male and female shop stewards in a local branch of the National and Local Government Officers Association (NALGO) in England conducted between 1987 and 1990, explores the impact of work and gender roles on union activism and aims to identify factors that support or impede women's representation in trade unions. Dr Lawrence concludes that to increase women's representation within trade unions, unions should pay more attention to the operation of union facility agreements and to affirmative action in employment.
MacDonald, Robert H. The language of empire. Myths and metaphors of popular imperialism, 1880-1918. [Studies in Imperialism.] Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 1994; distr. excl. in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press, New York. xii, 268 pp. Ill. £40.00.
In this study of the manifestation and significance of the British Empire to its contemporaries between 1880 and 1918, Professor MacDonald distinguishes two angles of imperialism: the actual acquisition of territory and the imperialist propaganda campaign. Focusing on both the image of the Empire presented to the public and the lives of individual imperial soldiers or adventurers, the author examines the construction of the Empire through the huge body of popular literature (fiction, poetry, children's stories, biography, and popular history) to explore the ways that the Empire attributed ideological meaning to the actions of its participants.
Midwinter, Eric. The development of social welfare in Britain. Open University Press, Buckingham [etc.] 1994. vii, 194 pp. £37.95. (Paper: £10.99.)
This textbook, designed for undergraduate students, offers a very general review of the development and present state of social and public services in Britain from medieval times to the present day. A concise, selected bibliography and a glossary of terms are appended.
Rose, Sonya O. Limited Livelihoods. Gender and Class in Nineteenth-Century England. Routledge, London [etc.] 1992. xi, 292 pp. £30.00.
By analyzing a range of industries, Professor Rose reviews the influence of gender distinctions and gender relations on the development of capitalism in nineteenth-century England. Integrating analytical tools from feminist theory, cultural studies, and sociology with detailed archival research, the author argues that gender was a central organizing principle of industrial transformation and working-class responses to industrialization in England in this period.
The Netherlands
Brinkman, Maarten. Honderd jaar sociaal-democratie in boek en tijdschrift. Bibliografie van de geschiedenis van de SDAP en de PvdA 1894-1994. Stichting beheer IISG, Amsterdam 1994. 90 pp. D.fl. 19.50.
This is the third, greatly expanded edition of a comprehensive bibliography on Dutch social democracy, containing books and articles on the history of the pre-war Labour Party, the Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiders Partij (SDAP), the post-war Labour Party, the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA), and a variety of affiliated organizations, such as the social-democratic women's organization, youth movement, and broadcasting organization. Previous editions appeared in 1984 and 1989. The bibliography now contains 682 items, more than double the number in the first edition. A list of addresses of the most important Dutch archives, documentation centres, and libraries in this field, as well as an index, are appended.
Campfens, Mies en Gerrit Voerman. Archieven van de Rode Familie. Stichting beheer IISG, Amsterdam 1994. 168 pp. Ill. D.fl. 29.50.
This guide gives a comprehensive overview of the available archival material on the Dutch "Red Family", the conglomerate of various political and societal organizations, which forms the social-democratic column in the Netherlands. In addition to the material on the Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiders Partij (SDAP), the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) and a variety of affiliated organizations (including the social-democratic trade union organization), this overview provides information about political parties that seceded from or merged with the mainstream political organization and about relevant political figures. Organizational, personal, and geographical indexes, as well as a comprehensive list of all relevant archives and documentation centres, are appended.
Egmond, Florike. Underworlds. Organized Crime in the Netherlands 1650-1800. Polity Press, Oxford 1993. x, 256 pp. £39.50.
See Robert Shoemaker's review in this volume, pp. 298-300.
Heerma van Voss, Lex. De doodsklok voor den goeden ouden tijd. De achturendag in de jaren twintig. [IISG: Studies + Essays, 22.] Stichting beheer IISG, Amsterdam 1994. 360 pp. Ill. D.fl. 48.00.
In 1919, the eight-hour working day was introduced in the Netherlands, along with the forty-five hour working week. This revised version of a dissertation (Utrecht, 1991) examines the struggle over extending working hours that was waged between the employers, the trade unions, and the government in the 1920s. Employers justified and obtained this increase on the basis of international competition: in 1922 the Netherlands instituted the forty-eight hour working week. Dr Heerma van Voss uses a counterfactual analysis of eight branches of industry to hypothesize on the consequences of retaining a shorter working week.
Poland
Kubik, Jan. The Power of Symbols Against the Symbols of Power. The Rise of Solidarity and the Fall of State Socialism in Poland. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park 1994. xiv, 322 pp. Ill. $42.50; £38.00. (Paper: $14.95; £13.95.)
Dr Kubik submits that the Polish Communists, after seizing power in 1944/1945, set out to produce credible claims to authority and legitimacy for their power by reshaping the nation's culture and traditions. Dr Kubik demonstrates that this strategy for remodelling the national culture involved extensive public ceremonies and displays of symbols by the Gierek regime (1970-1980). He uses modern anthropological theory to reconstruct the viable counter-hegemonic subcultures of the Catholic Church and the organized opposition, whose growing strength paved the way for the delegitimization and eventual collapse of the communist regime.
Russia - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Ball, Alan M. And Now my Soul is Hardened. Abandoned Children in Soviet Russia, 1918-1930. University of California Press, Berkeley [etc.] 1994. xxv, 335 pp. Ill. $50.00.
Several millions of homeless, abandoned children roamed the streets of the larger cities of the Soviet Union in the 1920s. In this study, Professor Ball describes the lives of these juveniles on the street and examines the government's response to this poignant social issue. The author concludes that although the problem developed largely after 1917, blame for its emergence does not necessarily rest entirely with the Soviet Government, but may also be attributable to the circumstances of the Civil War. The Soviet leadership was, however, fully responsible for exacerbating the problem after 1930.
Brovkin, Vladimir N. Behind the Front Lines of the Civil War. Political Parties and Social Movements in Russia, 1918-1922. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1994. xiii, 455 pp. $55.00; £40.00.
In this study of the Russian Civil War, 1919-1922, Professor Brovkin, author of The Mensheviks after October. Socialist Opposition and the Rise of Bolshevik Dictatorship (1987), counters the common interpretation that the civil war was largely waged between the "Whites" and the "Reds". Focusing on the interaction of state institutions, political parties, and social movements, the author views the struggle as a multi-faceted social and political process, in which neither the "Reds" nor the "Whites" enjoyed popular support. He holds the early Bolsheviks responsible for crimes similar to those later committed by Stalin, and depicts a situation in which various forces - Cossacks, Ukrainians, peasant rebels ("Greens"), Mensheviks, and Social Revolutionaries - eventually brought victory to a party that was not supported by a majority of the people.
Cultures in Flux. Lower-Class Values, Practices, and Resistance in Late Imperial Russia. Ed. by Stephen P. Frank and Mark D. Steinberg. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1994. ix, 214 pp. $49.50; £40.00. (Paper: $14.95; £11.95.)
Lower-class cultures in Russia form an emerging field of historical research. This collection of ten essays examines the dynamic cultural world of Russia's lower classes during the last decades of the pre-revolutionary order. The topics of the contributions include death rituals among Russian and Ukrainian peasants (Christine D. Worobec), peasant popular culture and the origins of Soviet authoritarianism (Boris N. Mironov), Russian folk songs (Robert A. Rothstein), public amusement parks in nineteenth-century St. Petersburg (Al'bin M. Konechnyi), the Russian penny press (Daniel R. Brower), and hooliganism and futurism (Joan Neuberger).
Engel, Barbara Alpern. Between the fields and the city. Women, work, and family in Russia, 1861-1914. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1994. xi, 254 pp. Ill. £35.00; $59.95.
In the period following the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, thousands of peasant women left their villages to earn wages in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The subject of this book concerns the significance and consequences of this migration by peasant women. Professor Engel examines both the impact of migration on the peasantry that remained in the villages and the experiences of the migrants. After analyzing case studies to explore the effects of industrialization and urbanization on family life and personal relations, the author concludes that the consequences of migration were ambiguous: while some women found new and better opportunities, many more experienced increased hardship and risk.
Rapports secrets soviétiques. La société russe dans les documents confidentiels 1921-1991. Receuil de pièces d'archives provenant du Centre de conservation de la documentation contemporaine, des Archives d'État de la Fédération de Russie. Textes réunis, trad. et prés. par Nicolas Werth et Gaël Moullec. Gallimard, Paris 1994. 699 pp. F.fr. 190.00.
See Andrea Graziosi's review in this volume, pp. 309-314.
Steinberg, Mark D. Moral Communities. The Culture of Class Relations in the Russian Printing Industry 1867-1907. [Studies on the History of Society and Culture.] University of California Press, Berkeley [etc.] 1992. x, 289 pp. Ill. $35.00.
The evolution of the Russian printing industry from a state-run handicraft to a technologically developed capitalist industry, changed the conduct and structure of class relations and added meaning to the values, norms, and perceptions that guided these relations. To explore these developments, this study focuses on the exercise of authority and the varieties of resistance and rebellion. Professor Steinberg aims to show that while workers and employers shared ideas of community and morality, they differed in their methods of interpretation and application. These shared ideas resulted in a persistent element of ambiguity in the evolving class struggle.
Women in Russia. A New Era in Russian Feminism. Ed. by Anastasia Posadskaya and Others at the Moscow Gender Centre. Transl. by Kate Clark. Originated by Ruth Steele. Verso, London [etc.] 1994. xiii, 203 pp. £39.95. (Paper: £13.95.)
In 1989, the Moscow Centre for Gender Studies was founded as a result of the growing desire among a group of female researchers to deal with the women's issue in the USSR. This collection presents translations of twelve recent articles by Russian feminist authors, all employed at or closely affiliated with the Centre. Subjects range from the myth of women's equality in the socialist society, through women's rights under perestroika and in post-Soviet Russia, the emergence of an independent women's movement in Russia, women and the labour market, to the history of feminism in Russia.
Spain
Alpert, Michael. A New International History of the Spanish Civil War. Macmillan, Basingstoke [etc.] 1994. ix, 209 pp. £14.99.
Appearing more than twenty years after F. Schwartz's La internacionalización de la Guerra civil Española (1971), the present book is intended to offer a new synthesis on the international aspects of the Spanish Civil War. Using newly accessible archival sources, Dr Alpert examines the development of the Non-Intervention Agreement between France and Great Britain (which marked the beginning of Chamberlain's policy of appeasement), the role of Hitler and Mussolini in supporting Franco, and the conduct of Stalin in the Spanish war.
Carroll, Peter N. The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Americans in the Spanish Civil War. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1994. xvi, 440 pp. Ill. (Outside N.America available from Cambridge University Press.) £37.50. (Paper: £12.95.)
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade consisted of 2,800 young American volunteers with the Republicans against Franco's rebellion. One third died in Spain. This book aims to give a comprehensive account of the ordeals of the brigade in Spain and the experiences of the survivors after returning to the United States. Mr Carroll explores previously unused sources (including recently opened Russian archives and over a hundred oral histories) to focus on the role of the Communist Party and to investigate the alleged racial problems within the brigade.
Ruiz, David (Dirección). Historia de Comisiones Obreras (1958-1988). Siglo Veintiuno editores, Madrid [etc.] 1994. xx, 543 pp. Ptas 4000.
See Justin Byrne's review in this volume, pp. 306-309.