Archive | May 14, 2020

jan saudek Follow Fire Married Women The Great Depression ( 1929 -1938 ) had devastating effects in both rich and poor countries. There were few women in the labor force in 1929, but those that did work were typically found in light manufacturing work. However, across America, because of an acute shortage of this kind of work, there was a widespread popular movement which sought to limit families to one paid job and to reserve all these jobs for men ( thanks to Jeff Wharton for re enactor photo and Shorpy for background photo )

The 1930s and now: Looking back to move forward

While there are great differences between the crises and political movements and possibilities of the 1930s and now, there are also important lessons that can be learned from the efforts of activists to build mass movements for social transformation during the Great Depression. My aim in this paper is to illuminate the challenges faced and […]

Reserve army—pandemic edition

David Ruccio

In particular, the existence of a reserve army serves to discipline labor, keeping its wage demands in check, since employed workers are forced to compete with unemployed and underemployed workers for the available jobs.