Abstract
Doing History from the Bottom Up pays tribute to the underrepresented classes of people who truly made history. Lawyer and historian Staughton Lynd advocates that we not only hear their side of the story but that they also be looked to as interpreters of history. Through a series of essays, Lynd helps the reader see history through a different lens, discovering that what we have come to accept as major victories for workers are were in fact defeats, and perceived defeats were actually accomplishments.
The book is divided into two parts. The first section pays tribute to two of Lynd’s mentors: British historian E. P. Thompson, whose work focuses on nurturing working-class solidarity, and Howard Zinn, renowned for writing A People’s History of the United States. Both were unconventional historians who exemplified doing “bottom up” worker history through the eyes of the workers themselves, rather than through those of union officers or other tiers of official leadership. Neither conformed to the traditional mold of academia, less concerned with tenure than with getting the story right. Lynd himself shared similar experiences in being blackballed as an academic yet continuing to research and publish throughout his work as a Rust Belt labor lawyer in the tumultuous 1970s and 1980s.
The second part of the book is a compilation of Lynd’s own essays, some of which are based on oral histories of steelworkers who participated in forming some of the first industrial local unions. Others are based on his experiences helping workers fight to hold on to the reneged promises throughout the dismantling of the steel industry.
Whether reporting workers’ collective action in the 1930s or the 1970s, Lynd’s essays have three recurring themes:
The top-down centralized hierarchical structure of industrial (CIO) unionism is ineffective in that it takes power away from the local unions that are closest to the source of workers’ problems and direct action, putting too much power in the hands of a distant headquarters.
While the National Labor Relations Act was intended to provide workers with a level playing field to match the economic strength of their employers, unions have diluted any strength the law offers by conceding to broad management rights, establishing formal grievance procedures, and, worse, giving away their only source of economic power through “no-strike” clauses.
Exclusive majority representation is mistakenly viewed as the only means to union representation, ignoring the latitude and opportunities that can come with minority representation and direct worker action.
Lynd calls for alternative forms of union representation, particularly those that depend on solidarity unionism and operate closely within their communities—from the bottom up—for the benefit of all workers with a shared employer, geography or industry. While such forms of unionism can coexist with the traditional national union and AFL-CIO structure, they are more apt to succeed working independently, rather than risking top-down interference because the stakes are higher. “Top down national union structures patterned on the corporation have failed. Local unions and their rank and file members . . . are needed to develop new forms of alternative unionism” (p. 139).
The book closes with some comparisons of past worker movements to those of today, such as the Fight for 15 and OUR Walmart campaigns. As one of the benefits of history is to learn from it, it would have been good to see more examples of putting the historical lessons in a contemporary context. All in all, Lynd makes a compelling case that the future of the labor movement depends on rebuilding from below.