The Southern Key: Class, Race, and Radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s

by Michael Goldfield

The golden key to understanding the last 75 years of American political development, the eminent labor relations scholar Michael Goldfield argues, lies in the contests between labor and capital in the American South during the 1930s and 1940s. Labor agitation and unionization efforts in the
South in the New Deal era were extensive and bitterly fought, and ranged across all of the major industries of the region.

In The Southern Key, Goldfield charts the rise of labor activism in each and then examines how and why labor organizers struggled so mightily in the region. Drawing from meticulous and unprecedented archival material and detailed data on four core industries-textiles, timber, coal mining, and
steel-he argues that much of what is important in American politics and society today was largely shaped by the successes and failures of the labor movements of the 1930s and 1940s. Most notably, Goldfield shows how the broad-based failure to organize the South during this period made it what it is
today. He contends that this early defeat for labor unions not only contributed to the exploitation of race and right-wing demagoguery in the South, but has also led to a decline in unionization, growing economic inequality, and an inability to confront and dismantle white supremacy throughout the
US.

A sweeping account of Southern political economy in the New Deal era, The Southern Key challenges the established historiography to tell a tale of race, radicalism, and betrayal that will reshape our understanding of why America developed so differently from other advanced industrial nations over
the course of the last century.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, Labor, American History

432 pages, Hardcover

First published March 16, 2020

Reviews

[Diana Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I have suggested that the CP did not establish its most important roots by subordinating itself to liberal politicians and moderate labor leaders. There is some evidence that the CP gained its most reliable support when it followed left-wing policies based on a class struggle approach, taking strong stands in struggling against Black oppression and engaging in uncompromising exposure of liberal politicians and reformist labor leaders. It often gained the most credibility when it put forward and defended its own views.” This quote is from the last chapter of the book. The last chapter is devoted to the mistakes of the CPUSA. It’s definitely worth reading and points out many of the oversights and errors in previous accounts of the labor movement. It emphasizes the business union mentality of most mainstream labor leaders and also talks about their willingness to collaborate with the factory owners. It would be nice to see some utopian fiction based on the CPUSA doing everything right.

[Jody Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately the sections on Stalinism call into question the rest of the historiography, as he even goes so far as to cite Robert Conquest (!). Nevertheless, the rest of the book is quite interesting and useful to considering questions of organizing today.