Dynamite!: Storie di violenza di classe in America (Quinto tipo)

by Louis Adamic, Andrea Olivieri (translator)

Rivolta nello stile, non solo nel contenuto.
Scrivendo di sabotaggi e scioperi selvaggi, delle sommosse di un proletariato multietnico e reietto, di repressione, uccisioni e racket, di cinquant’anni di guerra di classe negli Usa, Louis Adamic (1898-1951) non poteva adottare il punto di vista «obiettivo» del mitico «giornalismo anglosassone». Il punto di vista, disse Tom Wolfe, del «galantuomo letterato in tribuna».Adamic non stava in tribuna ma in campo. Quelle storie le aveva vissute, le aveva in corpo. Il suo Dynamite è un classico e una pietra miliare perché lo scrisse con ogni mezzo necessario, in un mélange di stili idiosincratico, all’epoca azzardato, alternando ricostruzione storica e racconto epico, inchiesta puntigliosa e memoir travisato.
Soprattutto, abitando la lingua inglese da straniero – nato a Grosuplje, in Slovenia – ma cercando di possederne ogni registro, dallo slang più marginale ai tecnicismi dell’economia e delle scienze sociali.
Di Dynamite pubblichiamo, alla buon’ora (da qui il punto esclamativo che ci permettiamo di aggiungere!), la prima edizione critica e integrale in lingua italiana.
Traduzione e curatela di Andrea Olivieri. Non solo uno tra i pochi al mondo ad aver consultato l’archivio Adamic a Minneapolis, ma anche autore di un libro scintillante, Una cosa oscura, senza pregio (Alegre, 2019), in cui la vicenda biografica di Adamic si intreccia a storie di lotte operaie e guerra partigiana tra Italia e Jugoslavia.
È anche la prima volta in cui una casa editrice pubblica un libro simultaneamente in due collane. Da qui il particolare oggetto double-face che vi trovate tra le mani.
Che altro dire? Buone rivolte.
Wu Ming 1

Un’opera fondamentale per la costruzione di un immaginario conflittuale e antagonista per la nuova working class. Tra saggio ed esposizione narrativa di fatti reali con tecniche letterarie, un racconto sulla classe operaia scritto dentro la condizione così Dynamite storicizza in maniera partigiana il conflitto tra capitale e lavoro, raccontando le storie della violenta lotta di classe nordamericana in tutta la sua brutalità, per togliere ogni velo di agiografia alla rappresentazione stereotipa della classe lavoratrice.
L’autore, Louis Adamic, è un emigrato sloveno che vive i suoi primi anni negli Stati Uniti durante la Prima guerra mondiale, passando da un cantiere a una fabbrica, prima di costruirsi da autodidatta un percorso nel giornalismo e nella letteratura. Precursore del new journalism ma anche della letteratura working class, comincia a concepire Dynamite rubando il tempo della scrittura al padrone, quando si ritaglia qualche minuto per scrivere nelle pieghe del lavoro morto, espropriando valore da tradurre in parole; continua la stesura del manoscritto mentre scoppia la crisi finanziaria del 1929, provando a sabotare con la penna le condizioni del conflitto di classe dell’epoca in cui vive; infine trova finalmente un editore quando è di nuovo disoccupato, affamato e a stomaco vuoto.
Punto di vista interno, fame, espropriazione e sabotaggio, con la ci sono tutti gli elementi-chiave della migliore letteratura working class, pronti a esplodere. Giù la testa.
Alberto Prunetti

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, American History, Economics, Labor, American

557 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1931

About the author

Slovenian-born, he came to US at the age of 14. Socialist, he supported Tito and was friends with Rex Stout and Robinson Jeffers.

Reviews

[Jon Zelazny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a union member, but have walked picket lines as a volunteer in five local strikes: SAG 2000, WGA 2007, UTLA 2019, SEIU/UTLA 2023, and WGA/SAG 2023. And at no point did I feel I was in harm's way, which sadly hasn't been the case for hundreds of thousands of striking Americans dating back to the 1820's.

Educated white folks seem highly aware of the historic institutional violence inflicted upon Native Americans and African-Americans, but for some reason the record of brutality on labor has fallen through the cracks of collective memory. Which is why even a ninety-year-old survey like DYNAMITE still ought to be as widely read as BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE. Adamic's writing is focused, clear, well-researched, and dynamic; his barbed opinions rendered with a dry wit. This is a "forgotten history" book that Puts It All Together, and should be required reading for every high school senior.

[Asa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in a journalistic flowing style that makes it very easy to read. Despite the title, the perpetrators of the class violence become quite clear with Adamic: Most of the violence in the class struggle in the US was by organized capitalist interests, acting largely through their agents in the government, employer-organized vigilantes and gun thugs.

It however does not have perfect arguments. This book's weaknesses:

-There is too much emphasis on leadership. Adamic urged industrialists and union leaders to create the new society that he dreamed of. He was too cynical about American workers' capacities. Also African Americans are pretty much ignored.

-His emphasis on violence for publicity is exagerrated. Peaceful protests can also attract attention. Violence is only one of the methods that can be used.
But his endscript says it well: an organized working class has no need of violence.


But in this edition, the weaknesses are well-exposed in the foreword by Jon Bekken, who also suggests a plethora of other books to expand the reader's knowledge and understanding.

This book taught me so much important information that I didn't know before, that can no doubt not be found in typical history books. Yes, you'll find coverage of more well-know events such as the Sacco-Vanzetti frame-up and Haymarket Affair, but also many other labor-oriented issues up to 1934. My understanding of American labor history has exploded. This is an excellent introduction to the subject, and not only a little inspiring.

[Blane · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In brief, on the one hand, extreme want and misery for the millions; on the other, riotous wealth and luxury for a few. A lunatic system." If I had read this quote yesterday, I would think it was written by someone on the left, most likely part of the "99%" Occupy Movement. Instead, it was written by Louis Adamic nearly 82 years ago...it still rings true today. Adamic, in this forgotten classic on the American labor movement, traces the history of that movement from the late 1800s through the start of the New Deal, and it is not always pretty. Surprisingly written in a highly accessible style, it becomes clear that the violence perpetrated during labor disputes is often (but not always) the result of management and not the workers fighting for reasonable work days, wages, and benefits.

While my reading of this book, the UC Davis Occupy pepper spray disaster had occurred. That incident alone rammed home that things must change in this country where everyone supposedly has an equal opportunity at success. Adamic equally rams this concept home. Nearly a century later, we still have a long way to go. The title term "Dynamite", by the way, is both metaphorical & quite literal.

[Rod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philip Roth mentioned it very briefly in Portnoy’s Complaint, and it sounded interesting, so I procured a copy (mine was printed in 1935). I’m very glad I did, because this was a blast to read (eh? eh?). It’s an absorbing, very accessible study of class violence in America over roughly a hundred-year period from the 1820s to 1930, focusing on disputes between workers and capital, and the rise of labor unions and racketeering. Adamic’s sympathies clearly lie on the side of labor as he shows the callousness with which the money men fought tooth and nail to prevent workers from improving their lot even to the slightest degree.

Although things have changed a lot since the book was written, in some ways they’ve stayed the same. At some point in the book Adamic mentions “the rich getting rich and the poor getting poorer”—that is a trend that seems to have continued unabated, and I have a feeling that Adamic would not be surprised in the slightest.

[gabriel morales · Rating 4 out of 5]

good but really uneven. the last third of the book was strange almost like adamic started interviewing himself disguised as a labor or business leader. not that he actually did, but i do imagine him dressing up, eddie murphy style, and conducting interviews with himself.

[Matt Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic history of class violence. Read this if you think unions are hell-spawn swarms of lazy, overpaid workers.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Capitalism and the labor movement, two great tastes that taste great together. Ever since the end of the cold war the whole labor/capital struggle has been put on the back burner. Pity, that. Is there any story line that more embodies "modern" times and its impact on indivduals?

I could bore you to death with support for my argument, but will just say that I have an active interest in the history of the ameican labor between 1870 and 1918 and leave it that. So much that is interesting about the United States happened during that time, and almost NONE of it had to do with national politics. If you think the study of history requires a focus on national policial events, you know little of history.


I picked up Louis adamic's "Dynamite: the history of class violence in america", after learning about its existence while reading about the history of the Los Angeles Times.

This book specifically examines episodes of violence by organized labor against the owning class. I think recent concern over "terrorism" gives this subject heightened interest. The labor movement were "domestic terrorists" way before the term was in vogue.

This book also points to the fondness for violence that lies in the heart of America. America, always violence. Any doubt that a proposensity for violence is "As american as apple pie?" This is a trait that extends from our gun wielding criminals, to our culture taste, to our justice system all the way on up to our deal old President. And mind you, I'm not saying "good" or "bad" about this particular cultural characterstic- it is just fact.

Dynamite! was originally published in 1933 and then republished in 1968. I found a paperback version of the '68 reprint on amazon. It runs about 420 pages. This length is mitigated by the fact that the writing style is "journalistic" and the format of the narrative is anecodtal (I.e. "the next struggle between capital and labor came in 1908 when miners in Wyoming... Etc). Though the language is a tad dated, the journalistic style keeps eveything moving along quickly. Your reference point should be one of those books that is based on a New Yorker article- Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point", for one example.

[Medicinefckdream]

this was a cool book written in '33 about when the american labor movement actually wasnt rotten and pathetic and used to blow up mines and 'slug' steelworks owners and when businesses had to hire private detective agencies to beat up and arrest and murder protesters, instead of nowadays when the militarized police force does it pro bono. it tells of the good old days when business trust owners used to do whatever they wanted like install a cannon on the hood of their car to threaten strikers, and like wobbly unionists families would be starved and wander the streets in rags. the author is some slav prole so is prose is kind of hokey in parts but he does talk about how overproduction and competetion in labor will cause lower wages and less pruchasing power, and this necessitates the opening of further markets, predicting late capitalist imperialism ftw. my fave part is when he talks about the af of l degenerating into bourgeois respectablility, the part where he says "talkies and other mechanical amusements", the part where the old anarchist guy writes a love poem to dynamite, and how when he writes about something sarcastically he uses a lot of quotes. also im listening to let it be and man phil spector really made a mess of this what a dork

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A history of the American labor movement colored by a Marxist analysis. It provides a catalog of violence used against, and by, working men and women in their struggle to obtain basic rights, like an 8-hour day.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and well written overview of the use of violence by the state and defensively by labor during the first 60-70 years of the US organized labor movement. Adamic's writing is more journalistic than the sort of detached lens so many other labor histories take. This helps make his narrative really breeze along, taking you from outrage to outrage, always compelling. The one drawback I'd see is that he only provides a bibliography rather than specific citations, which makes it hard to track some of the book's biggest claims. Overall though I definitely recommend this piece, somewhat dated in perspective now but taking a direct look at the use of violence in the class struggle in America, where it hurt the cause of labor but also the moments where it was really the only choice. An important contribution to understanding the rise of labor in the early days before the NLRA.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those forgotten gems of the Old Left. ("Mellon's Millions," which I read some time ago, is another example.) Adamic's history of the use of violence in the class struggle came out in the early 1930s. By no means does it cover everything, because it is focused on the struggle of workers and capitalists, and ends up touching only lightly on the racial complexities of the class struggle in the United States. Aptheker's "American Negro Slave Revolts" was to come out roughly a decade later, and begin to paint a fuller picture of the use of violence in the class struggle in the South. Adamic's book would be a good introduction to the topic for those who are not that familiar with some of the stories. For those who are familiar, here are Adamic's verdicts on some of the high-profile martyrs of the left in the US in the fifty or so years bracketing the turn of the last century:

* The Molly Maguires: Adamic says that they definitely did a lot of killing, and that they only evaded repression for as long as they did because they controlled or influenced numerous local governments in the Pennsylvania anthracite fields.

* The Haymarket Martyrs: Adamic doesn't pretend to know who threw the bomb into the police lines, and argues (correctly) that we never will. He believes it unlikely that any of the accused were actually involved in it, but he does quote at length from their often violent calls to action, especially those of Louis Lingg (who avoided execution by committing suicide).

* Haywood, Moyer, and Pettibone: Adamic's account leaves little room for doubt that they probably did arrange for the bomb that killed the former governor of Idaho, and that they also targeted other mine bosses. Bill Haywood, in particular, was a brawler and a product of the frontier culture of the West, and his approach to violence was unsentimental to say the least.

* The McNamara Brothers: It is an unambiguous fact that they bombed the Los Angeles Times building, and they eventually admitted as much. Of all the people on this list, these were not exactly "men of the left," though the left defended them. Haywood, even after the confessions and the verdict, said that "You can't see the class struggle through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral," and supported them to the end. Right through to his own death in Russia and burial in the Kremlin, in fact.

* Joe Hill: Adamic doesn't spend much time on him, but says it is likely he had never even heard of the grocer he was accused of killing.

* Tom Mooney and Warren Billings: Adamic argues that they were innocent of the bombing of the San Francisco Preparedness Day parade; he thinks it equally possible that a provocateur or an anonymous labor radical carried out the bombing.

* Wesley Everest: The IWW fired on the American Legion in self-defense, and Everest was lynched in a bloody reprisal.

* Sacco and Vanzetti: Adamic argues that they would not have carried out the payroll robbery of which they were accused.


Adamic does not dwell on the violence of the employers; he points out that capitalists and the state were many times more violent than the workers, but the book seems to deliberately avoid casting workers as helpless victims. To the extent that workers use violence, Adamic argues that it is inevitable and understandable, and in some cases at least strongly implies that workers who fight back are to be commended. That said, he does see violence as a corrosive force even when it is sadly inevitable, and he locates the origins of "labor racketeering" with the trade unions' need to hire "muscle" to protect their hard-won piece of the pie in the 1920s.

The book breaks off at a critical point in history; reading it the whole way through at the time it was written must have been depressing. Only in hindsight do we know that Adamic's last revision on it (1934) came right before the most sweeping upsurge in US labor history, with the birth of the CIO.

[Fred Dameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about labor relations and the establishment of Unions. Before I go further a disclaimer. All my life growing up my father worked for the company, first Stauffer Chemical and then Microdot, not the computer guys but an electrical connector and fiber optic company. While at Stauffer two bombs were sent to our apartment. Both intercepted by the New Brunswick N.J. P.D.. SO you would think I was very anti-labor, but I'm extremely pro-labor. My father once said that "If I had my way they would all work for a buck a day and if they didn't like that starve." I believe that labor, all labor should be paid what they are worth. An old friend, who was a sheet metal troop once said to me, "If you can't read a micrometer then you don't deserve $15.00 and hour. I responded that if you could read that micrometer then you should get $22.00 an hour. That wanting a better life and that takes more money is something we all want. He thought for a moment and agreed that the Sheet metal skill set was worth more than $15.00 which was what starter sheet metal guys in western P.A. were getting. My father and I did NOT get along.

So now the book. This work is 92 years old. Adamic had access to primary sources that we don't have today, later I will quote one in the review. These men who threw punches in Chicago, L.A., Boston , Toledo, the coal fields of Appalachia and the gold mines of Colorado, Adamic talked to or their mates and proteges. Lots of prime source material. The Union movement was and is one of our great achievement's for this nation. Labor statistics prove that when around 30% of the U.S. work force is unionized all labor gets more pay, benefits, and time off. Also this struggle has been violent. Many people were killed or maimed by Big Business and in retaliation by labor. Mostly labor stayed peaceful until scabs, private police, and politically sent law enforcement came to break up peaceful labor meetings, break picket lines, or attack workers. Then labor fought back. Yes, dynamite was used, yes scabs died in bomb blasts, but many more Union men died or were maimed, with impunity, by the forces of business and the business bought politicians ordering in police, sheriffs, National Guard, and even regular troops. These forces were on top of private corporate thugs and armies. Also since the politicians controlled the courts the law was slanted, and in cases such as Sacco and Vanzetti, already a predetermined verdict. Labor has always gone into the fight with one hand behind their back. And through out labors history until violence happens the workers never get heard. After violence it is labors retaliation against attacks by police, scabs, or private armies that makes the front page of the corporate controlled news papers. Newspapers owners were friends with the mill, coal mine steel mill, and factory owners. The paper was never going to say that the corporate thugs had started the violence, but by bystander and others, including the thugs later in life almost always it was the members of or workers for the corporation that started the violence. Always in an attempt to squash union resistance. After the violence those that had been injured were arrested, the dead were sometimes withheld from their families, and the forces of "Law and Order were paid bonuses and promoted. Eventually in some cases unions did win and we now have the eight hour day, mostly no child labor, minimum wages that can feed the worker, a family man or women is still screwed, and in many places skill is rewarded with higher pay. All of these are a result of the battles mostly peaceful that labor fought from the Molly McQuires to post WWII.

This work only goes to 1934 when it was published, but many of the same themes ring true today. Six months after the stock market crash of 1929, President Hoover signed a tariff bill. This discussion, between Adamic and an unnamed friend , I quote as it applies to the Trump administration as much as Hoover. The discussion was about rackets and how the unions had been infiltrated or taken over by and as protection rackets. " Talk about rackets! I've been reading in The Nation and New Republic about the new tariff bill--- well, if that isn't a racket I'd like to know what is. Behind it is the force of the state, but force just the same; and who is the state but the gangsters known as Big Business or the GOP? The omnly difference between them and the "protection racket" in the Bronx that you mention is that the tariff is a billion dollar proposition while the Bronx racket takes in only ten grand a month. As a matter of fact, the average 'Protection racket" is only a miniature tariff stunt -- only it's signed by Herbert Hoover with a gold pen." Said in 1930 and just as applicable today in 2026. And the same GOP overreach, just look at Minnesota today and last week to see the same attacks by the forces of "Law and order" up to and may soon include Federal Troops to suppress Constitutional rights to assembly and free speech or just the right to go to and from work or grocery store with out being accosted by Federal forces. The same thing happened in the coal fields of Pennsylvania and West Virginia and the gold and silver mines of Colorado and Nevada. The use of force, by the GOP, is not new and has a history that goes back to 1865 and the Molly McQuires all in the support of Business and against the worker. Today the worker is any one who does NOT carry the GOP line or upsets The Government

On the last page of this work is a line that I quote that is very apt for me " American society is ripe for revolution while American mind is not." I feel that one line 11 words long sums up our situation today. So which side are you on?

[Erica]

Recommended by Sinclair Lewis, "“That this should not have a huge sale is a disgrace to the entire country. No book has so well explained why the American labor movement has been so violent, why in so many ways it has been so futile, and why racketeering in general has arisen.” http://neglectedbooks.com/?page_id=340

[Subarashi · Rating 4 out of 5]

important history for anyone who thinks the us is dumb, dull, passive, ignorant, and compliant - especially for americans who think this.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in the 1934, this is one of the earliest books on the American labor movement. The author a WWI vet who worked various jobs across the country (and at sea) was an astute observer of labor-relations of his day. Although not a union member, he makes no bones about where his sympathies lie and what needs to be done for workers to obtain power to deal with their employers.

The books starts in the early 19th century with coming of European immigrants. Then moves to the post-civil war Pennsylvania coalfields and the exploits of the Molly Maguires. It then covers the major strikes with particular emphasis on the violence between the workers and company hired guards, local police, and state militia.

Incidents that occurred in the 1920s and 30s are covered from the author's first-hand accounts and his apt commentary. They are colorful. He gives a thorough explanation of the differences among the anarchists, communists, socialists, and Wobblies as well as tracing the evolution home grown violence conducted by the workers themselves to the hiring of "goons" to perform the dirty worker to the eventual linking with organized crime.

[Letha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was halfway through this book when the author began speaking directly to the reader saying, “The worker has certain political rights and may quit his job whenever he has the humor to starve, but otherwise his lot is no dazzling improvement upon that of the old chattel slave. In some obvious respects, it is worse" (page 140).

I do not like to leave books unfinished. Even if they are awful, I try my best to finish them to at least be able to say I can give a complete and informed opinion. However, after this statement I had no interest in reading anything else Louis Adamic had to say. This statement came completely out of no where. The book was all names and dates with short descriptions of historical event until this bizarre turn. Although this is besides the point, and I am glad the author did not elaborate on this heinous statement, he then does not say what the "obvious" is but launches back into the writing style of the first half of the book. It is really disappointing this book came from AK Press, whose catalog I had previously trusted.

[Doug Brunell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adamic's "Dynamite . . ." should be read by everyone who has a job, anyone interested in classism and economics, and anyone curious about the history they rarely teach in school. It is an even-handed account of the labor movement in America and the violence committed against it and by it. It covers the period of the late 1800s to the early 1900s, when all of this was a cornerstone of American life. It's also one of the clearest examples of how and why organized crime became involved in unions.

I got this as a Friend of AK Press, and it's the type of book that makes me glad I take part in that service.

[Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting made me want to read more about the IWW

[Alassane Sow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disheartening but important read

[Harrycorbiniv]

Read excerpts for class.

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't actually finish it from cover to cover but I counted it as "finished" by my standard because I was borrowing it and couldn't let it stay on my nightstand unfinished! This book was cool, sometimes hard to believe it was written in the 1930s, except when it characterized people's faces (then it was obvious lol). It showed a lot more of the seams that tied many of these famous labor movements together, which I really appreciated.