Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area

by Peter Cole

Philip Taft Labor History Book Award, Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA) and the Cornell ILR School, 2019
A Black Perspectives Best Black History Book of 2018 Dockworkers have power. Often missed in commentary on today's globalizing economy, workers in the world's ports can harness their role, at a strategic choke point, to promote their labor rights and social justice causes. Peter Cole brings such overlooked experiences to light in an eye-opening comparative study of Durban, South Africa, and the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Path-breaking research reveals how unions effected lasting change in some of the most far-reaching struggles of modern times. First, dockworkers in each city drew on longstanding radical traditions to promote racial equality. Second, they persevered when a new technology--container ships--sent a shockwave of layoffs through the industry. Finally, their commitment to black internationalism and leftist politics sparked transnational work stoppages to protest apartheid and authoritarianism. Dockworker Power not only brings to light surprising parallels in the experiences of dockers half a world away from each other. It also offers a new perspective on how workers can change their conditions and world.  

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Labor

320 pages, Paperback

Published December 30, 2018

Reviews

[Thierry Drapeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dockworker Power is maritime labor history at his best. It casts a transnational comparative approach to waterfront rank-and-fil activism in Durban, South Africa, and the San Francisco Bay Area, California, during the tumultuous post-WWII decades where port labor shifted to containerized mechanization, threatening thousands of jobs to become obsolete. Resistance to the transformation of work on the docks intersected with political struggles against racial oppression--Apartheid on the Durban waterfront, white supremacy in the San Francisco Bay Area. The last chapter, in particular, shows how black dockworkers from both Durban and the Bay Area engaged in transnational activism to advance their mutual causes at the local level, and in solidarity to one another. Cole's book, therefore, will please to anyone interested not only in maritime labor history, but also in industrial relations, urban history, social movement studies, and black studies.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this highly informative and passionately written book, Cole provides a fascinating comparison between San Francisco Bay Area dockers and those from Durban, South Africa, highlighting their union organizing (when possible), their left-leaning radicality, their strategizing and striking, and their local and international commitments to social, racial, and economic justice. Through careful tacking back and forth between the workers' activities in these two locales, we get a far better understanding of each one, with their similarities and differences become clearer. It is an excellent work on comparative labor history, with a sharp reminder of dockworkers' continued power at one of global trade's (and therefor capitalism's) major chokepoints, the docks.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous and lively history of dockworker solidarity in defense of working people and racial oppression that needed to be told. In mid-2020, as much of the world grapples with questions of racial injustice, globality, and technological change, the example of ILWU Local 10 as told in 'Dockworker Power' is more relevant than ever.

Based on an impressive range of interviews and archival sources both in the United States and South Africa, the book builds on the comparative work on the two countries begun by George Fredrickson and others but takes it in new and exciting directions. More broadly, Dockworker Power makes important contributions to the intersection of race and class, racial capitalism, and helps us move beyond "methodological nationalism."

[miya t · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is key to understanding the anti-racist and internationalist history of dockworker unions and how these workers created programs of political education amongst one another, organized effective solidarity strikes, and maintained good working conditions and a level of worker power in the face of containerization. Through a comparative study of ILWU workers in Oakland, California, and SATAWU workers in Durban, South Africa, Prof. Cole shows how dockworkers were able to identify their labor power as a major "choke point" in the global supply chain and utilize that power to make major demands and shows of solidarity with international causes that went beyond their individual circumstances. Great book for anyone interested in one of the most radical sectors of the labor movement!

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Cole is a brilliant historian with a sharp attention to detail. This was by far my favorite book that I read this entire year. I highly recommend Dockworker Power for anyone interested in radical politics, anti-racism, and labor. My lower division college students have also shown great interest in Dr. Cole's excellent book, so this book is suitable not only for a general audience, but also advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on race, class, history, and even sociology (my discipline). Peter Cole's critical historical analysis is unparalleled and Dockworker Power is a must for your bookshelf.

[Aaron Goings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Cole’s book Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area adds an important piece to the impressive list of histories written about 20th century maritime workers.

In a hopeful analysis, Cole demonstrates the many ways that dockworkers have used their power – to strike or slow down at work – to fight for working-class interests, along with their specific interests as dockworkers.

Cole is a talented historian and this book deserves a wide readership among historians, unionists, and all those interested in using collective working-class power to make change.

[Mayonez Sidorovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative comparison between disparate labor movements in the US West Coast and Durban, South Africa. Highlights the diversity of formation and tactics among international unions while emphasizing the radical role that maritime workers play in the global capital network.