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Silk Stockings and Socialism: Philadelphia's Radical Hosiery Workers from the Jazz Age to the New Deal
The 1920s Jazz Age is remembered for flappers and speakeasies, not for the success of a declining labor movement. A more complex story was unfolding among the young women and men in the hosiery mills of Kensington, the working-class heart of Philadelphia. Their product was silk stockings, the iconic fashion item of the flapper culture then sweeping America and the world. Although the young people who flooded into this booming industry were avid participants in Jazz Age culture, they also embraced a surprising, rights-based labor movement, headed by the socialist-led American Federation of Full-Fashioned Hosiery Workers (AFFFHW).
In this first history of this remarkable union, Sharon McConnell-Sidorick reveals how activists ingeniously fused youth culture and radical politics to build a subculture that included dances and parties as well as picket lines and sit-down strikes, while forging a vision for social change. In documenting AFFFHW members and the Kensington community, McConnell-Sidorick shows how labor federations like the Congress of Industrial Organizations and government programs like the New Deal did not spring from the heads of union leaders or policy experts but were instead nurtured by grassroots social movements across America.
In this first history of this remarkable union, Sharon McConnell-Sidorick reveals how activists ingeniously fused youth culture and radical politics to build a subculture that included dances and parties as well as picket lines and sit-down strikes, while forging a vision for social change. In documenting AFFFHW members and the Kensington community, McConnell-Sidorick shows how labor federations like the Congress of Industrial Organizations and government programs like the New Deal did not spring from the heads of union leaders or policy experts but were instead nurtured by grassroots social movements across America.
294 pages, Paperback
Published April 17, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 18, 2018
Silk Stockings and Socialism: Philadelphia's Radical Hosiery Workers from the Jazz Age to the New Deal
by
Sharon McConnell-Sidorick
This book explores the history of the labor socialists in Philadelphia's Kensington hosiery industry, where militant unions dominated the explosive industry. Working class people brought traditions of radicalism, resistance, and deep identification with the unions, especially the AFFFHW (American Federation of Full Fashion Hosiery Workers), a militant craft union. McConnell-Sidorick's work focuses on the 1920s-30s, when Jazz Age youth culture was fused with socialist unionism, where dances, picnics, and sports were on the same vein as picket-lines and sit-down strikes. The vibrant working class neighborhood, often described as the workshop of the world because of its massive consumer goods output, built a "militant youth" counterculture especially amongst working-class women, whose "flapper" image transposes one of a party girl to one of a modern labor feminist. The militant youth refused to back down to injustice in the world, and by the 1930s, the union was very involved with building "fighting funds" to organize across the industry, even in the South. The union's takeover of the notorious Apex plant equalled to a Storming of the Bastille for the militant youths, as it had long been a symbol of anti-union ruthlessness. While much of the leadership of the union was associated with the left-wing of the Socialist Party, the union also contained Communists and independent radicals at the forefront, which later provided leadership of building the CIO's Textile Workers of America.
McConnell-Sidorick's work is an amazing history of youth culture, unionism, labor feminism, and Philadelphia working class history. It is well founded in labor histories and researched thoroughly. Many of the lessons of leftist activists, especially in the labor movement, of the need to fuse mass culture (ie fun) with social justice organizing seems at its center, because at the end, both militant organizers and the communities they organize with are human beings who want to live in a just world and enjoy life with their friends and family.
by
Sharon McConnell-Sidorick
This book explores the history of the labor socialists in Philadelphia's Kensington hosiery industry, where militant unions dominated the explosive industry. Working class people brought traditions of radicalism, resistance, and deep identification with the unions, especially the AFFFHW (American Federation of Full Fashion Hosiery Workers), a militant craft union. McConnell-Sidorick's work focuses on the 1920s-30s, when Jazz Age youth culture was fused with socialist unionism, where dances, picnics, and sports were on the same vein as picket-lines and sit-down strikes. The vibrant working class neighborhood, often described as the workshop of the world because of its massive consumer goods output, built a "militant youth" counterculture especially amongst working-class women, whose "flapper" image transposes one of a party girl to one of a modern labor feminist. The militant youth refused to back down to injustice in the world, and by the 1930s, the union was very involved with building "fighting funds" to organize across the industry, even in the South. The union's takeover of the notorious Apex plant equalled to a Storming of the Bastille for the militant youths, as it had long been a symbol of anti-union ruthlessness. While much of the leadership of the union was associated with the left-wing of the Socialist Party, the union also contained Communists and independent radicals at the forefront, which later provided leadership of building the CIO's Textile Workers of America.
McConnell-Sidorick's work is an amazing history of youth culture, unionism, labor feminism, and Philadelphia working class history. It is well founded in labor histories and researched thoroughly. Many of the lessons of leftist activists, especially in the labor movement, of the need to fuse mass culture (ie fun) with social justice organizing seems at its center, because at the end, both militant organizers and the communities they organize with are human beings who want to live in a just world and enjoy life with their friends and family.
July 15, 2017
A fun read about youth culture in Philadelphia in the 1920s, it is also a well-researched academic study of labor radicalism. It sets the Philadelphia scene in national and international context. One of the more interesting things I found in the book was how it demonstrated Philadelphia textile workers' support for labor organizing in the U.S. South. The book relies upon a variety of sources, with illustrative quotes from oral history interviews and analysis of the public memory of pivotal events in the labor movement.
July 5, 2018
I live in Philadelphia and it can be difficult to find a lot of writing on modern history of the city. This was a fascinating account of the radical politics of labor organizing in a neighborhood of the city that has seemed to be in constant flux of extremes over the last hundred years. McConnell-Sidorick makes a compelling case study of radical hosiery workers in Kensington. She explores how their organizing and debates around industry, community, class, race, and gender shaped and changed US history forever.
My only reason for 4 stars is that the book was not clearly organized. The first half jumped around in decades and subject. The second half stuck to the 1930s but began to drag and collapse into a jumble of acronyms that left me lost.
My only reason for 4 stars is that the book was not clearly organized. The first half jumped around in decades and subject. The second half stuck to the 1930s but began to drag and collapse into a jumble of acronyms that left me lost.
April 14, 2021
I really enjoyed this book, clearly the result of thorough archival research and a deep love of Union histories. I was especially inclined to read it because I love textiles and I have a big gap where my knowledge of 20th century Philadelphia should be. Same with labor history. The book shined in its anecdotes and tying AFFFHW culture/policies to mainstream and mainstream-Union trends. I thought it a bit heavy handed in sections devoted to women’s leadership in the Union (though I enjoyed the content). It was clear that the author was comparing this phenomenon to less progressive unions, but this was never fully flushed out. IMO the book had some issues with structure/organization but they didn’t significantly detract from the text overall.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews