Community Studies - Winter 1999

Instructor: David Brundage

Office: 206 College Eight
Phone: 459-4645
E-mail: brundage@ucsc.edu
Office Hours: Tues., 4-5; Thurs., 10-12.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

We are at a turning point in the history of labor in this country. On the one hand, working people and their unions are facing the most profound challenges that they have faced in half a century: global competition, the migration of jobs out of the country, a declining standard of living, speed-ups, and sharply declining union membership. At the same time, the labor movement is undergoing a dramatic set of internal changes, becoming more activist, more democratic, and more attuned to the needs of women workers and workers of color. Many labor activists and leaders are now struggling to put labor at the center of a broad progressive movement that would shift the balance of power in American society, moving it away from the corporate boardroom and intothe offices, workshops, and communities of American working people.

The goal of Community Studies 100H, "Theory and Practice of U.S. Labor," is to provide students with an introduction to these issues and trends. The course will explore various analytical approaches to the American working class, the history of the labor movement, and some of the main problems facing working people today as a way of understanding current directions in labor and working-class activism.

The course will be divided into three parts.

(1) In the first four weeks, we will examine the evolution of the American class structure in the 20th century, focusing in particular on the transformation of work and the changing gender, ethnic and racial composition of the work force. We'll also examine of the history of the American labor movement, focusing especially on its rapid growth in the 1930s and 1940s.

(2) In the next three weeks of the class, we'll explore some the most pressing issues facing American working people in the contemporary period, including globalization and deindustrialization, the changingrole of the government in labor relations, changes in welfare policy, and the problems posed by the decline of the labor movement.

(3) In the final three weeks of the course, we'll examine some of the new trends in labor activism, including labor-community alliances, new efforts to organize immigrants and undocumented workers, and strategies to build cross-border labor links.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Since this course will be run as a seminar, the overriding requirement is that you attend every class, having completed all the reading assignments and being prepared for discussion. This is your class and its quality, what you get out of it, will depend entirely on the quality of your individual and collective input.

Beyond this, you will be evaluated on the basis of a take-home midterm exam based on the lectures, class readings, and films from the first part of the course (Weeks 1-4); and a research paper of approximately 15 pages that critically examines a contemporary labor campaign or program in light of the larger theoretical concerns developed in the course. The midterm exam will be due in class, Thursday, February 11. The research paper will be due on the last day of class, Tuesday, March 17.

REQUIRED TEXTS

The following are available at Bay Tree Bookstore and are on two-hour reserve at McHenry Library.

Teresa Amott, CAUGHT IN THE CRISIS: WOMEN AND THE U.S. ECONOMY TODAY (1993)

Steven Fraser and Joshua B Freeman (eds.), AUDACIOUS DEMOCRACY: LABOR, INTELLECTUALS, AND THE SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION OF AMERICA (1997)

Thomas Geoghegan, WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? TRYING TO BE FOR LABOR WHEN IT'S FLAT ON ITS BACK (1991)

Louise Lamphere, Alex Stepick, and Guillermo Grenier (eds.), NEWCOMERS IN THE WORKPLACE: IMMIGRANTS AND THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE U.S. ECONOMY (1994)

Eileen Boris and Nelson Lichtenstein (eds.), MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS: DOCUMENTS AND ESSAYS (1991)

COURSE SCHEDULE

Thurs., Jan. 8: Introduction to the course

Tues., Jan. 13: Cultures of work
READING: Boris and Lichtenstein (eds.), MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS, ch. 7.

Thurs., Jan. 15: Managing workers
READING: Boris and Lichtenstein (eds.),MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS, ch. 8.
FILM: "Clockwork"

Tues., Jan. 20: Industrial recruits
READING: Boris and Lichtenstein (eds.), MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS, ch. 5.

Thurs., Jan. 22: The American labor movement, 1900-1930
READING: Boris and Lichtenstein (eds.), MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS, ch. 6.

Tues., Jan. 27: Industrial unionism in the 1930s
READING: Boris and Lichtenstein (eds.), MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS,

Thurs., Jan. 29: The workers' war
READING: Boris and Lichtenstein (eds.), MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS, ch. 11.
FILM: "The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter"

Tues., Feb. 3: Labor divided: the post-war era
READING: Boris and Lichtenstein (eds.), MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS, ch. 12.

Thurs., Feb. 5: Workers in the "age of affluence," 1950-74
READING: Boris and Lichtenstein (eds.), MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS, ch. 13; Amott, CAUGHT IN THE CRISIS, ch 1.

Tues., Feb. 10: Workers in hard times, 1974-present
READING: Amott, CAUGHT IN THE CRISIS, ch. 2; Fraser and Freeman (eds.), AUDACIOUS DEMOCRACY, ch. 3; Lamphere, et al. (eds.), NEWCOMERS IN THE WORKPLACE, chs. 10-11.

Thurs., Feb. 12: Restructuring work
Boris and Lichtenstein (eds.), MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS,ch. 15; Amott, CAUGHT IN THE CRISIS, chs. 3-5.
Mid-term due

Tues., Feb. 17: Exchange day, no class.

Thurs., Feb. 19: Immigrants in the workplace
READING: Lamphere, et al. (eds.), NEWCOMERS IN THE WORKPLACE, chs. 2-9.

Tues., Feb. 24: The collapse of the labor movement
READING: Boris and Lichtenstein (eds.),MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WORKERS, ch. 14; Geoghegan, WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?, entire.

Thurs., Feb. 26: Attend Sweat Shop Teach-in, Oakes Learning Center.

Tues., March 3: Labor's resurgence?: New tactics
READING: Fraser and Freeman (eds.), AUDACIOUS DEMOCRACY, chs. 8, 9..sp
FILM: "Chicano: The Struggle in the Fields"

Thurs., March 5: Labor's resurgence?: Organzing the unorganized
READING:Fraser and Freeman (eds.), AUDACIOUS DEMOCRACY, chs. 10-12, 15-18.

Tues., March 10: A "New Voice" in the AFL-CIO
READING: Fraser and Freeman (eds.), AUDACIOUS DEMOCRACY, chs. 1, 7.

Thurs., March 12: The UPS strike and the Teamsters Union
READING: To be assigned.

Tues., March 17: What lies ahead?
READING:Fraser and Freeman (eds.), AUDACIOUS DEMOCRACY, chs. 2, 6, 20-21. 

Instructor: Mike Rotkin, UCSC

I. INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE AND EACH OTHER

A. People's backgrounds, interests, and conception of Marxism

B. Structure of the class, projects, or work groups, expectations, etc.

"Leading a Discussion for Class" (in Reader)

"Some Comments and Ideas on Group Dynamics and Facilitating Discussions" (in Reader)

"Combat Liberalism" (in Reader)

Paulo Freire, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" (in Reader)

C. Recommended: David McLellan, "The Life of Karl Marx" (in Reader)

Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 1

Priscilla Robertson, Revolutions of 1848 (on Reserve)

II. DIALECTICAL-HISTORICAL MATERIALISM (Marx's Method)

A. Lecture on Hegel and Feuerbach

Recommended: Howard Sherman, "Dialectics as a Method" (in Reader)

Richard Lichtman, "Notes on the Dialectic in Hegel and Marx" (in Reader)

John Judis, "The Personal and the Political" (on Reserve)

B. [The material under II.B. is broken up into logical little chunks for reading and to assign

responsibility for facilitating discussions. Start by reading: "Notes on Reading the Theses on

Feuerback" (in Reader)]

1) Theses on Feuerbach I through IV in K.M. pp. 156-7. (4 different people)

2) "Introduction to the Critique of Hegel's Philosopy of Right," in K.M. pp. 63-4 (up to "...the

following exposition.") Read this in relationship to the 4th Thesis on Feuerbach.

3) Theses on Feuerbach V through VIII and XI in K.M. pp. 157-8. (5 diff. people)

4) "Historical Materialism" (in Reader). Don't discuss this unless people have questions but read

it as preparation for the German Ideology readings.

5) Preface to the German Ideology\ in K.M. pp. 159-160 and (the following section originally

followed the three dots on p. 160 and was exerpted by McLellan, but we should read it, so it

is in the Reader):

"Feuerbach: Opposition of the Materialistic and Idealistic Outlook"

6) p. 160 ("The Premises of the Materialist Method") to p. 161 ("The relations of the different

nations...")

7) from where 6) ends to p. 161 ("The various stages of development..."

8) from where 7) ends to the bottom of p. 163. (Remember in leading this discussion to get out the

basic idea of the relationship between ownership and the division of labor and not get lost in

details about each of the three "stages" Marx and Engels are discussing.)

9) from the top of p. 164 to the double space in the page on p. 165.

10) Read to prepare for the following section, but do not discuss in class: O'Connor, "The Need for

Production and the Production of Needs" (in the Reader).

11) from where 9) ends (on p. 165) to the break in the page on p. 168.

Recommended: The Capitalist System, Chapter 2, (on Reserve)

K.M., pp. 171-176 and other selections from Part II

Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, & 14

III. ALIENATION

A. Alienation and Labor" (in Reader)

Mandel, "The Causes of Alienation" (in Reader)

Alienated Labor in K.M., pp. 77-87

Barbara Garson, All the Livelong Day

B. The German Ideology in K.M., pp. 168-171 and 179-182

"On Free Human Production" (in Reader)

Recommended: Andre Gorz, selection from Critique of Economic Reason (on Reserve)

Andre Gorz, Strategy for Labor, Chapters 1 and 2 (on Reserve)

The rest of Chapter 4 in The Capitalist System (on Reserve)

The rest of Mandel and Novack, The Marxist Theory of Alienation (on Reserve)

IV. Strongly Recommended for an overview of capitalism as a system

(not for class discussion)

A. "The Capitalist Mode of Production" & "The Essence of Capitalism" (in Reader)

B. "The Historical Tendency of Capitalist Accumulation" in K.M., pp. 485-488.

V. FETISHISM OF COMMODITIES

A. Marx's Capital for Beginners (in Reader)

Capital I, Chapter 1, sections 1 and 2 in K.M., pp. 421-430

B. "How Capitalism is Mystified" (in Reader)

Capital I, Chapter 1, section 4, in K.M., pp. 435-443.

C. Balbus, "Marxism and Domination" (in Reader)

Amin, "In Praise of Socialism" and Response I (in Reader)

VI. EXPLOITATION AND SURPLUS VALUE

A. Paul Sweezy, "Surplus Value and Capitalism" (in Reader)

Capital I, Chapter 4, in K.M., pp. 445-451

B. "Wage Labor and Capital" in K.M., pp. 248-268

Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 7

Recommended: The Capitalist System, Chapter 3 (on Reserve)

Capital I, Chapters 6 and 7 in K.M., pp. 451-470

The Capitalist System, Chapters 9, and 10 (on Reserve)

Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 8

Other selections from Part IV of K.M.

VII. SOCIAL CLASSES

A. The Communist Manifesto in K.M., pp. 221-245 (esp. parts 1 and 2)

"Introduction to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right," in K.M., pp. 70 (line 3)-73

Lipset and Bendix, "Karl Marx's Theory of Social Classes" (in Reader)

Classes, in K.M., p. 506

B. Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 6

Rotkin, "Expanding the Proletariat" (in Reader)

Michael Lind, "To Have and Have Not" (in Reader)

"Racism" (in Reader)

"Male Dominance" (in Reader)

C. Highly Recommended: David Smith, "The Myth of the Middle Class" (in Reader)

Braverman, "The Structure of the Working Class and Its Reserve Armies"

(in Reader)

"Capital Accumulation and the Capitalist Class" (in Reader)

"The Labor Process and the Working Class" (in Reader)

"Class and Inequality" (in Reader)

Almaguer, "Class, Race, and Chicano Oppression" (in Reader)

Hartman, "Patriarchy and Capitalism" (in Reader)

Hartman, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism" (in Reader)

D. Also Recommended: Gintis, "The New Working Class and Revolutionary Youth" from Socialist Revolution #3 (on Reserve)

Omi and Winant, "Race in the U.S.," in Socialist Review #71 (on

Reserve)

Eisenstein, "Capitalist Patriarchy and Socialist Feminism" (on Reserve)

Pat Walker, Ed., Between Labor and Capital (on Reserve)

Mike Rotkin, "Marx's View of Social Class" (on Reserve)

The Capitalist System, Chapters 3, 4, 6, 7 ,& 8 (on Reserve).

VIII. IDEOLOGICAL HEGEMONY

A. The German Ideology in K.M., p. 176 (first paragraph)

Gitlin, "The Whole World is Watching" (in Reader)

Michael Parenti, Selections from Power and the Powerless (in Reader)

Recommended: Richard Lichtman in Socialist Revolution #23 (on Reserve)

Douglas Kellner in Socialist Review #45 (on Reserve)

Daniel Ben-Horin on TV in Socialist Review #35 (xerox on Reserve)

Herbert Marcuse, One Dimensional Man (on Reserve)

IX. POLITICAL AND CIVIL SOCIETY

A. Jennifer Nedelsky, Private Property & the Limits of American Constitutionalism (in Reader)

A Reading Guide to "On the Jewish Question" by Mike Rotkin (in Reader)

"On the Jewish Question" in K.M., pp. 39-57 (stop at p.57!)

"Theses on Feuerbach" IX and X in K.M., pp. 157-158

Recommended: John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (on Reserve)

Milton Freedman, Capitalism and Freedom (on Reserve)

The rest of Nedelsky, Private Property and the Limits of American Constitutionalism

X. THE STATE

A. "Class Conflict and the State (in Reader)

Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 9

B. Recommended: Lenin, State and Revolution (on Reserve)

The Eighteenth Brumaire and The Civil War in France in K.M., pp. 300-324

Poulantzas, "The State and the Transition to Socialism" (xerox on Reserve)

Fred Block in Socialist Revolution #33 (xerox on Reserve)

Boris Frankel, "The State of the State" (a xerox on Reserve)

Santiago Carrillo, Eurocommunism and the State (on Reserve)

G. William Domhoff, The Power Elite and the State (on Reserve)

Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 10

XI. CONTRADICTIONS

A. "Waste and Irrationality" (in Reader)

Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 15

B. Recommended: Mike Rotkin, "A Three-Part Strategy for Democratic Socialism"(in Reader)

"From Capitalism to Socialism" (in Reader)

"Economic Crises" (xerox on Reserve)

Socialist Visions, edited by Sholom (on Reserve)

"The World After Communism" (xerox on Reserve)

"The Future of Socialism" (xerox on Reserve)

Andre Gorz, selections from Critique of Economic Reason (on Reserve)

James O'Connor, "Preservation First! Toward a Political Economy of a Good

Society." (xerox on Reserve)

Andre Gorz, Paths to Paradise, The Liberation from Work, Pluto Press, 1985

(on Reserve as xerox)

An Anthology of Western Marxism edited by Gottlieb (on Reserve)

Marxism Essential Writings edited by McLellan (on Reserve)

Socialist Review, Vol. 95/3&4 "Explorations in Post Modern Marxism" (on Reserve)

XII. GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION

A. The following should be purchased for the course (available at Bay Tree on campus & at Slug Books)

1) David McLellan, Karl Marx, Selected Writings, Oxford U. Press, 1977 (referred to as K.M.

throughout the syllabus)

2) Barbara Garson, All the Livelong Day, Penguin Books, 1994.

3) Howard Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Johns Hopkins U. Press, 1995

4) A Reader for the course to be sold in class (details on Jan 7)

B. All Reserve readings are located in McHenry Library at the Reserve Desk. If you would like to

purchase your own copy of readings from Socialist Review orSocialist Revolution, see Mike Rotkin.

The above reading list is tentative. We will probably make changes during the quarter and hope that you will suggest appropriate changes as well. Even if you do not have a particular reading to recommend but have a topic-passion-concern-interest that you want to have discussed, mention it and maybe someone else in the class can suggest a good reading.

Some of the topics, particularly toward the end of the quarter, have a lot of recommended reading that is in the Reader. This is so the students facilitating the discussions may select alternative or additional readings for their sections and have them easily accessible to all class members. Remember that

starting with the section on Alienation, student facilitators will often need to select, from among a variety of readings, which ones will actually be read by everyone and discussed in class. Your section facilitators (and/or Mike Rotkin) will help guide you in this process, but choices must me made! If you assign too much reading and don't focus, there is always the danger that students in your section will be

discouraged and tend to read nothing. Think about creative ways to bring insights from the recommended readings into class discussion as well.

BRING THE SYLLABUS AND THE READINGS SCHEDULED FOR THE FOLLOWING MEETING TO CLASS EACH TIME!

The last 10 to 15 minutes of each section meeting will be devoted to criticism/self-criticism. We will have a longer evaluation session after the fifth and tenth weeks. But please do not wait until the end

of the quarter to give each other and the instructor constructive criticism and support. The course will be better if that can be shared regularly.

This course will not work if you approach it passively. The readings are difficult and require energy and a critical approach. The discussions will not be carried by the discussion leaders alone and will work best when people bring in their thoughts and experiences. Small study groups to go over the readings before class are highly encouraged (if not necessary!). An 8-15 page paper is required (the topic of which will be discussed in class). Active class particiption is the most important requirement of

this course.

Lecture Schedule (subject to change)

T Jan 8: Introduction to the Course/Section Selection

T Jan 13: Hegel and Feuerbach/Dialectical Materialism

Th Jan 15: Film: The History Book

Th Jan 22: The French Revolutions of 1789/1848

Th Jan 29: Commodities

Th Feb 5: The Paris Commune

Th Feb 12: Social Classes

Th Feb 19: Social Democracy

Th Feb 26: Ideological Hegemony

Th Mar 5: The Russian Revolution/The State

Th Mar 12: Contradictions/Socialist Strategy

Revised 7/23/04