Over the past decade American labor has faced a tidal wave of wage cuts, plant closures and broken strikes. In this first comprehensive history of the labor movement from Truman to Reagan, Kim Moody shows how the AFL-CIO&rsquo;s conservative ideology of &ldquo;business unionism&rdquo; effectively disarmed unions in the face of a domestic right turn and an epochal shift to globalized production. Eschewing alliances with new social forces in favor of its old Cold War liaisons and illusory compacts with big business, the AFL-CIO under George Meany and Lane Kirkland has been forced to surrender many of its post-war gains.With extraordinary attention to the viewpoints of rank-and-file workers, Moody chronicles the major, but largely unreported, efforts of labor&rsquo;s grassroots to find its way out of the crisis. In case studies of auto, steel, meatpacking and trucking, he traces the rise of &ldquo;anti-concession&rdquo; movements and in other case studies describes the formidable obstacles to the &ldquo;organization of the unorganized&rdquo; in the service sector. A detailed analysis of the Rainbow Coalition&rsquo;s potential to unite labor with other progressive groups follows, together with a pathbreaking consideration of the possibilities of a new &ldquo;labor internationalism.&rdquo;

An injury to all: The decline of American unionism (The Haymarket series)

Politics & Social Sciences

Moody, Kim

Politics & Government

Verso

Over the past decade American labor has faced a tidal wave of wage cuts, plant closures and broken strikes. In this first comprehensive history of the labor movement from Truman to Reagan, Kim Moody shows how the AFL-CIO’s conservative ideology of “business unionism” effectively disarmed unions in the face of a domestic right turn and an epochal shift to globalized production. Eschewing alliances with new social forces in favor of its old Cold War liaisons and illusory compacts with big business, the AFL-CIO under George Meany and Lane Kirkland has been forced to surrender many of its post-war gains. With extraordinary attention to the viewpoints of rank-and-file workers, Moody chronicles the major, but largely unreported, efforts of labor’s grassroots to find its way out of the crisis. In case studies of auto, steel, meatpacking and trucking, he traces the rise of “anti-concession” movements and in other case studies describes the formidable obstacles to the “organization of the unorganized” in the service sector. A detailed analysis of the Rainbow Coalition’s potential to unite labor with other progressive groups follows, together with a pathbreaking consideration of the possibilities of a new “labor internationalism.”

An Injury to All: The Decline of American Unionism (Haymarket)

Business & Money

Economics

City of Quartz meets Gotham—the dark side of the glittering metropolis. New York is a city of outlandish wealth and extreme deprivation, where the abundance of high-rise office space and luxury housing belies a poverty rate of nearly twice the national average. In From Welfare State to Real Estate, prominent labor activist Kim Moody argues that the city's business elite has tilted the political structure toward an agenda that puts real estate development ahead of human needs. The result is a new Gilded Age in America's first city, overseen by the nation's first billionaire mayor. Tracing this trend to its roots in 1975, when New York's once-generous welfare state was abandoned during a time of financial crisis, Moody shows how business leaders managed to seize an unprecedented degree of influence in local politics. From Koch to Bloomberg, the developmental bulldozer has extended its reach, placing more pressure on the city's beleaguered and divided working class. From Welfare State to Real Estate offers the first historical narrative of the key turning points in this process, from the redevelopment of Times Square to the current fight over Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards. It looks beneath the skyline to analyze the power struggles that have shaped this global city in the twenty-first century.

From Welfare State to Real Estate: Regime Change in New York City, 1974 to the Present

Sociology

New Press, The

In this thorough collection of inspiring and informed essays, Kim Moody, one of the world's most authoritative and recognized labor writers, analyzes the past, present, and future of unions in the United States. With a sharp understanding of Marxist theory and labor history, Moody charts a well-reasoned course for the future of rank-and-file struggle.
Kim Moody was a founder of Labor Notes and is a member of the National Union of Journalists and a senior research fellow at the Work and Employment Unit of the University of Hertfordshire.

In Solidarity: Essays on Working-Class Organization and Strategy in the United States

Haymarket Books

Tramps and Trade Union Travelers: Internal Migration and Organized Labor in Gilded Age America, 1870–1900

Why has there been no viable, independent labor party in the United States? Many people assert “American exceptionalist” arguments, which state a lack of class-consciousness and union tradition among American workers is to blame. While the racial, ethnic, and gender divisions within the American working class have created organizational challenges for the working class, Moody uses archival research to argue that despite their divisions, workers of all ethnic and racial groups in the Gilded Age often displayed high levels of class consciousness and political radicalism. In place of “American exceptionalism,” Moody contends that high levels of internal migration during the late 1800’s created instability in the union and political organizations of workers. Because of the tumultuous conditions brought on by the uneven industrialization of early American capitalism, millions of workers became migrants, moving from state to state and city to city. The organizational weakness that resulted undermined efforts by American workers to build independent labor-based parties in the 1880s and 1890s. Using detailed research and primary sources; Moody traces how it was that ‘pure-and-simple’ unionism would triumph by the end of the century despite the existence of a significant socialist minority in organized labor at that time.
Kim Moody was a founder of Labor Notes and is the author of On New Terrain .

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

“Kim Moody is one of the leading intellectuals of the labor movement.”―Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Race Rebels: Culture, Politics and the Black Working Class 
In his latest book, Kim Moody analyzes how recent changes in capitalism have altered both the composition of the working class and the economic and political ground on which it struggles. 
On New Terrain challenges conventional wisdom about a disappearing working class and the inevitability of a two-party political structure as the only framework for struggle. Through in-depth study of the economic and political shifts at the top of society, Moody shows how recent developments in capitalist production impact the working class and its power to resist the status quo. He argues that this transformed industrial terrain offers new possibilities for organization in the workplace and opens doors for grassroots, independent political action strengthened by reemerging labor and social movements. 
From the logistics revolution to the unprecedented concentration of business and wealth in the hands of the one percent, On New Terrain examines the impact of the current economic terrain on the working class in the United States. Looking beyond the clichés of precarity and the gig economy, Moody shows that the working class and its own self-activity are essential in the global battle against austerity.
Kim Moody is author of In Solidarity: Essays on Working-Class Organization in the United States and U.S. Labor in Trouble and Transition.

On New Terrain: How Capital is Reshaping the Battleground of Class War

Breaking the Impasse: Electoral Politics, Mass Action, and the New Socialist Movement in the United States

Review\n“Kim Moody’s latest book promises to be a major contribution to the renewed debates on socialist strategy in the US. Moody expertly demolishes the analytic and historical arguments for strategies to either transform the Democratic Party into a social-democratic party or use its ‘ballot-line’ to prepare for an independent working class party in an undefined future. He demonstrates that it has always been mass, disruptive working class movements, in workplaces and in the streets, that are the source of popular power and radicalism—the key to winning concessions from capital and the state and creating the conditions for working class political independence and power.” —Charles Post, editor, Spectre 
“Kim Moody breaks new ground in his brilliant, readable, breathtakingly comprehensive analysis that upends conventional thinking about this fraught moment in history. He draws on encyclopedic knowledge of labor, movements for social justice, politics, electoral activity, and debates about the Democratic Party, making an inspiring, persuasive case about how to build a mass social upsurge to break the stranglehold of billionaires over our daily existence.” —Lois Weiner, author of The Future of Our Schools: Teachers Unions and Social Justice\n“Essential reading for those interested in understanding and joining the mass upsurge of workers and others oppressed by the predatory, global, capitalist system. In addition to his usual detailed, empirically rich, and wide-ranging documentation of labor struggles and the changing structure of capitalist employment, Kim Moody's analysis of the constraining structure of the Democratic Party, and its role as a graveyard for democratic and radical politics, is nuanced, detailed, and breaks new ground.” —Michael Goldfield, author of The Southern Key: Class, Race, and Radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s\nIn his latest book, veteran socialist writer Kim Moody provides a masterful analysis of the political impasse which has shaped the rise of a new socialist movement in the United States: recurring economic and political crises, sharp inequality, state violence, and climate catastrophe proceed apace as the right ascends across the world, while the US political scene remains defined and dominated by two capitalist political parties. Moody situates the historic electoral campaigns of Democratic Socialists such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as the growth of organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America, in this context, and incisively assesses the revived movement's focus on electoral strategies.\nOffering an important account of left attempts to intervene in the American two-party electoral system, Moody provides both a sobering historical corrective and an alternative orientation for the future, arguing that the socialist movement should turn its attention toward a politics of mass action, anti-racism, and independent, working-class organizing.

In his latest book, veteran socialist writer Kim Moody provides a masterful analysis of the political impasse which has shaped the rise of a new socialist movement in the United States: recurring economic and political crises, sharp inequality, state violence, and climate catastrophe proceed apace as the right ascends across the world, while the US political scene remains defined and dominated by two capitalist political parties. Moody situates the historic electoral campaigns of Democratic Socialists such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as the growth of organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America, in this context, and incisively assesses the revived movement's focus on electoral strategies. 
Offering an important account of left attempts to intervene in the American two-party electoral system, Moody provides both a sobering historical corrective and an alternative orientation for the future, arguing that the socialist movement should turn its attention toward a politics of mass action, anti-racism, and independent, working-class organizing.

US Labor in Trouble and Transition tells the story of union decline in America and of the split in the labor movement it led to, following the dismal tale of union mergers and management partnerships that accompanied the retreat from militancy since the 1980s. Looking to the future, Moody shows how the rise of immigrant labor and its efforts at self-organization can re-energize the unions from below. US Labor in Trouble and Transition is a major intervention in the ongoing debate within the US labor movement.

US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, the Promise of Revival from Below

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Moody, Kim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Moody, Kim

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Moody, Kim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

An injury to all: The decline of American unionism (The Haymarket series)

An Injury to All: The Decline of American Unionism (Haymarket)

From Welfare State to Real Estate: Regime Change in New York City, 1974 to the Present

In Solidarity: Essays on Working-Class Organization and Strategy in the United States

Tramps and Trade Union Travelers: Internal Migration and Organized Labor in Gilded Age America, 1870–1900

Tramps and Trade Union Travelers: Internal Migration and Organized Labor in Gilded Age America, 1870–1900

On New Terrain: How Capital is Reshaping the Battleground of Class War

Breaking the Impasse: Electoral Politics, Mass Action, and the New Socialist Movement in the United States

Breaking the Impasse: Electoral Politics, Mass Action, and the New Socialist Movement in the United States

US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, the Promise of Revival from Below