The German Working Class in New York City, 1870-1900
Dorothee Schneider| Pub Date: | 1994 |
| Pages: | 296 pages |
In Trade Unions and Community Dorothee Schneider argues that German unions played a vital role in building community for German immigrants in North America. More than other organizations such as churches or regional groups, Schneider maintains, trade unions were in the best positions to build community in a new, rapidly changing industrial society.
Examining bakers, brewery workers, and cigar makers, she highlights the origins of the political culture of the American immigrant working class in a new way. Schneider argues that, in spite of the contradictory interests of traditionalists, political progressives, and assimilationists, German-American workers favored a centralized craft unionism and thus became backers of Samuel Gompers's American Federation of Labor.
Series:
The Working Class in American History
Subjects:
Labor Studies / German / History, Am.: 19th C. / History, Immigration / Labor Studies