Call for Papers
International Labor and Working-Class History
Studies on Twentieth Century Trade Unionism
The journal is planning one or more issues on trade unionism. Once the heart of labor history and setting the pace for the rapid growth of labor studies of Europe and North America, the study trade unionism in these areas has fallen into some neglect, although there are signs recently that the pressures of globalization have begun to renew interest in organized labor and class-based social movements in many disciplines. Elsewhere, trade unionism has also been growing: in India, Africa, Latin America and other industrializing regions. We would like the issue(s) to reflect the diversity of current research and we invite paper proposals from all geographical regions. We are especially interested in the following:
1. Biographical essays. There are many major trade union leaders and labor intellectuals about whose lives and careers little or nothing has been written. In other cases only autobiographies exist or biographies written decades ago when the general environment of labor was very different than it is today. We feel it is time to begin reassessing or in some cases examining for the first time these figures in the light of current historiography and changing conceptualizations of the twentieth century.
2. Analyses of union revitalization and structural reform: how unions have attempted to change, to reposition themselves and modernize their structures as economies, corporate structures and management strategies have been reshaped i.e., Moving on from older debates about bureaucracy etc. to the changing organizational cultures of unions: shifts in their values, objectives, definition of purpose, the problems of structural integration etc. Is the present debate about the future of trade unionism within the AFL-CIO mirrored in similar discussions elsewhere? How have union movements perceived their future in different historical contexts and with what success have they adapted their institutional structures as a consequence?
3. The role of trade unions in the evolution of the modern states: for example, their contribution to debates and policy concerning social welfare, taxation, pensions, social security, labor law, etc., As well as their role in the evolution of a supranational governance structure such as the European Union.
4. Studies of deindustrialization, responses to governmental efforts to deregulate social protection, and to the contraction of unions. Also studies of union recruitment and expansion in newly industrializing economies in Latin America, Asia and Africa in the fast-changing context of multinational corporations and globalization. With respect to both of these, studies that take up issues of gender, ethnicity and religion.
5. The politics of internal conflicts within trade unions and broader union federations. The political process inside unions, relations between unions and political parties, and the impact of political parties on union organization.
Proposals:
If you would like to be considered for this forthcoming volume, please send paper proposals of 2-3 pages to:
The Editorial Board, ILWCH
c/o Peter Nekola, Managing Editor
Committee on Historical Studies
New School for Social Research
80 Fifth Avenue, #519
New York, NY 10011
Proposals may also be sent as msword document attachments to: