Economic-union Books

The skeleton of this publication could be positioned under the Labour Relations, Organizing "minorities", Immigrants penetration and Job market in the U.S.

Even though the main body of this textbook was made based on empirical research based it is enjoyable and readable. The most of the contributors of the title give descriptions of the situation under the social science conceptualisation; nevertheless they denude in awareness manner the human situation of this "minority" population.

Matters as the consideration of the immigrants as a group who should be trait in a cultural sensitive way, under my point of view is worthwhile. The topic is product in it -self of a sociological (with the effects and repercussion in the economic, diplomatic and legal facets) problem in the whole world. Migration it is an issues reflex of the actual anthropoid circumstances. It urges responses from governments, trade unions, humanitarian organizations, community groups and civil society in general terms.

Organizing Immigrants is an advantageous and worthwhile textbook that presents a series of case studies (successful and unsuccessful campaign, traditional and innovative tactics) about the impact in social and economic context in California. The chapters in the book provide a sensitive, perceptive and scientific account of the backgrounds: the problems and the prospect involved in the task of foreign-born workers organizing.

The volume describes and analyses three important victories in organizing Immigrants:
1. Justice for Janitors (JfJ).
2. Drywaller's campaign.
3. The American Racing Employment. (ARE)

In California, immigrants make up a quarter of the population and hold many of the manual jobs that were once key strongholds of organized labour. The new immigrants, in a big percentage, had been arriving to the very bottom in the job market and in the society.
The book inquiries critically Issues as comparison between the receptiveness to unionisation in native-born and foreign-born; the preponderances in undocumented immigrants job market sector; the influence of the political, cultural, social, economic and ethnic background and conditions impact the likelihood to organizing.

Under the frame of reference of these matters, the social scientific contributors to this book analyse in nine chapters the task involving Immigrants organizing and the impact on the future of organized labour.

With valuable empirical data support the authors show that immigrants are less inclined than natives to hold union jobs. Parts of the reasons are that unions have poor participation with the social issues that difference Immigrants from Natives.

The situation for immigrants are not radically different in comparison of discriminates minority groups. For this reason campaigns from unions respect on with Immigrants may demand cultural sensitive. Innovative organizing tactics depend on new levels of participation, organizing and commitment. It supposes Education to the members about importance of organizing, and it requires a change in the old mentality.

The Authors were stressed in ethical standards reporting their interest in the research in favour of organizing immigrants and to evidence its impacts in the cultural, political, social, economic, legal and ethnic scopes.

I consider the experiences elucidated in the book could be to provide to the academia (postgraduate and researchers), organized labour sector (trade unions, employee associations) and as well to groups in defence for the minorities rights data and background for the struggle of organizing the bad known as "unorganizable".

This is one of a kind. A must buy book.

In an original new work of social history on the early Stalinist era, Lynne Viola examines an aspect of Soviet collectivization hitherto unconsidered, namely that of intense peasant resistance to the policy. Historians traditionally conceived of Stalin's policies in the countryside in purely totalitarian terms. These focused primarily or even entirely on an overbearing regime whose subjects were simply regarded as victims. Viola, in a superb example of historical revisionism, allows for the possibility of resistance by those once thought to have played little if any role during these years. In Viola's countryside the traditional victims of collectivization, the peasants of Ukraine, the Russian Volga, the Northern Caucasus, and other regions were just as influential in the events as those making and enforcing collectivization policies.

Viola focuses on nearly all aspects of peasant revolt during the years of collectivization, from the seemingly irrational mass destruction of livestock to apocalyptic rumor mongering to the more everyday forms of rebellion like undermining Soviet grain collection efforts. Very few segments of rural society are left untreated, and perhaps the most thoroughly considered are women. Women were the agents of much peasant resistance precisely because Soviet authorities gave them more leeway due to their perceived political ignorance and naivete. In other words, those who are traditionally seen as the most vulnerable were in many ways among the most influential.

For those wishing to strengthen their traditional conceptions of Stalinist society, Viola's landmark study will prove to be a serious disappointment, for it confirms very little of what was previously thought about the process of collectivization. Instead, her work challenges us with an entirely new vision. Viola meticulously utilizes an impressive collection of archival materials to fashion her arguments, and at the same time she remains open to the worthiest contributions in the fields of peasant, gender, and religious studies. Those interested in these fields as well as in Soviet history in general will gain an important perspective from one of the twentieth century's most important episodes. Viola, a leader among Western scholars of the early Soviet era, has made a most invaluable contribution to its literature.

A unique book, written as the events unfolded in the USSR. Sam Marcy, Marxist thinker and organizer analyzed the events before the fall of the Soviet Union.

Marcy argues that Gorbachev's economic reforms, known as perestroika, were hurting the Soviet workers, breeding greater inequality and increasing antagonisms among the many nationalities in the USSR.

"...must reading for all who wish to understand the phenomenon of perestroika." William Kunstler

"Marcy's treatise is courageous and a valuable resource..." Elombe Brath, Patrice Lumumba Coalition

EU and Russia relations are needed more follow-up attentions. Both are also needed to change and to build more confidence and cooperation not just for business, but for real area and global peace. Democracy, human rights and even counterterrorism could not be played as dirty tricks anynmore. That's enought! (Pora) We've had enough! EU will be the United States of Europe someday, and Russia would not be alone forever. So, how to build up long-termed peaceful and friendly relations and not to be split, "Satanized" by the third one (outside of Europe) will be the most important mission. The "Perspectives" is the key point of EU-Russia relations from now on. I'd like to call this book a cornerstone, and strongly recommend to my friends in universities, institutes, academic centers, governments and business chambers, and so on.

I had a chance to read this book, for the very first time, couple of years ago. I was very impressed by both, the writing style of the author and well justified lines of argument. Having a retrospective view on this book, I decided to have another look at it few days ago... Although the book is a bit aged, most of the parts are still remarkably fresh and the critique still finds the target. Well, no need to mention, that I am hooked =) Hanna Ojanen is the goddess of political literatery =)

Gregory has worked tirelessly with Russian and Western scholars to use the new information available in the archives to explore alternative hypotheses about the Soviet system's history, practice, and collapse.

Scholars on the left have argued that the Soviet system's failures were a consequence of the misfortune of certain leaders: if only Trotsky had defeated Stalin, or if only Nikolai Bukharin had been in charge, then socialist democracy and rational planning would have been realized. On the right, writers have focused on the roles that Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan played in loosening the socialist stranglehold in the Soviet Union and throughout the East Bloc. Academics in the middle have often entertained the hypothesis that the social collapse sprang from a technology gap that finally reached crisis dimensions in the 1980s.

Whatever merits these alternative hypotheses might have, they must yield to the more fundamental hypotheses that rational economic planning is impossible under a system of collective ownership of the means of production and that the organizational structure of the administrative command system has its own logic and consequences that are detrimental to justice and individual freedom.

Rather than describing a workable system that might have operated efficiently if only the workers and managers had tried harder and stayed on task, the archives reveal individuals striving to cope and to better themselves within an inherently unworkable system. Rent-seeking political actors, shirking workers, opportunistic managers--such was the reality of Homo sovieticus.

Gregory deserves credit as the first economic historian of the Soviet system with both the analytical tools and the access to the archives required to expose this reality and to present it clearly to readers in economics, history, and political science.

This brief volume succintly describes the background and current state of the Argentine labor movement, along with providing valuable analysis of the Argentine economic situation. Recommended for all serious investors in Argentina.

My title is used by the author to describe the outcome of the conflict between tobacco buying monopolies and tobacco farmers in Kentucky and Tennessee in the early 1900s. The so-called Black Patch War and related attempts in central Kentucky's burley region to resist monopoly began with the creation, in 1889, of the American Tobacco Company by James B. Duke. Competition ended, prices fell below the cost of production, and recalcitrant farmers responded by attempting to "out organize the organizers." The more well known sensational aspects of this saga ensued with the Night Riders or "Silent Brigade" of farmers belonging to the Planters Protective Association coercing independent farmers or "hillbillies." The most spectacular raid occurred on Hopkinsville, KY in 1907 in which 500 masked men wreaked havoc, causing $200,000 damage and spurring reluctant government officials into action.

Tracy Campbell's book recounts the end of small farmer republicanism and the rise of agribusiness. He clearly sympathizes with the farmers, with the book's central focus pitting the forces of monopoly against the ability of tobacco producers to organize and maintain unanimity. He identifies with the farmers' emphasis on the common good and assails private accumulation. This book successfully broadens the scope of earlier Night Rider interpretation from simply the violence to the rise and fall of the "movement culture." The Black Patch War is placed in the tradition of American agrarian unrest and insurgency. This book is well written, researched, and organized. Some disagreement regarding his conclusions by historians inevitably resulted, but it warrants reading by anyone interested in rural or agricultural history or the more salacious aspects of business-labor unrest. The violence of the War and the region in general are also expertly related and analyzed in Suzanne Marshall's Violence in the Black Patch of Kentucky and Tennessee. Campbell's work stresses the harm to society created by sanctioned monopoly and claims that the entire episode previews "ominous things to come." In the words of Night Rider organizer Dr. David Amoss, "It is a fight between the working classes and the plutocracy, those who labor, and those who exploit labor,... a fight to the finish."

'St. Clair Blob' rekindled in new book

review written BY CALE COWAN Courier Press staff

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This is Environment Week. What better time to revisit the 10-year-old controversy that came floating down the St. Clair River? The issue of the infamous 'St. Clair Blob' that focused the country's environmental ire on the region came to a head in 1985 when Dow Chemical spilled 40,000 litres of dry-cleaning solvent into the river. The resulting 'blob' demonstrated just how poorly the St. Clair had been treated.

It's a decade later and things are better but not as good as they could be, according to some of the players who were around in the day. Adding to the nostalgia of the event is a book published earlier this spring by PhD Laurie E. Adkin that has a chapter dealing with the 'blob', along with the industry, government and media reaction. Some of the conclusions drawn in Chapter 11 of 'Politics of Sustainable Development -- Citizens, Unions and the Corporations' are less than flattering. An excerpt: "The story of the blob uncovered not only the extent of long-term chemical dumping in the river but also the degree of collusion between officials of the (Ministry of Environment) and the chemical industry."

Publicly revealed in 1984, Adkin said the blob was actually known to MOE officials since 1976. Adkin, who did extensive research in the area during the fallout of the discovery, also recounts how citizen groups and unions dealt with the environmental impact and how they dealt with industry in their desire to clean up the river and preserve jobs. Adkin writes: "Dow had undertaken a campaign to woo over to its point of view the citizen 'thought leaders' in communities downstream of the Chemical Valley. Shortly after the blob incident had broken in the media and had resulted in the shutdown of the water purification plants in downstream communities like Wallaceburg, Dow scientists and managers we! nt to Wallaceburg to reassure citizens that everything was under control. "They found that their audience was not prepared, this time, to accept either their assurances or their authority." Kris Lee, a member of the Wallaceburg Clean Water Committee at the time, has read Adkin's book and feels it's an accurate depiction of what happened here.

"It's a credit to Wallaceburg," she said of the book and the recollection of how citizens here stood up to protect a natural resource. Lee said interest in the problem has faded since spills have become less of a media event but also concedes that "Sarnia has really cleaned up" since the problems they had in the 1980s. Part of that has been due in no small part to a downsizing in the petro-chemical industry, but is also partly due to self-policing in the industry and a greater appreciation for protecting the environment, said Lee, who is a teacher at Wallaceburg District Secondary School.

There are still concerns today, however, like ICI Canada, which recently got permission from the environment ministry to discharge treated waste water into the St. Clair. And with cuts in all government agencies, Lee says it's just as important today for residents to remain diligent in keeping an eye on what's happening. "We can't stop them from discharging ... but we can make sure they monitor it and speak with ICI and find out what's going on. "People say that today there are not as many spills but you have to remember that every day tons of contaminants are allowed into that river. People seem to forget." Things are better now, Lee says, but there are signs that indicate a watch dog approach is necessary. With Wallaceburg's former town council taking an "arm's length" approach to the ICI issue and accepting a $1.5 million compensation package, more than ever it seems that environmental concerns are in the realm of the individual.

"We have to have people more aware of what's going on," Lee ! said.