Reviews of "Stalin over Wisconsin"

"In this book, Stephen Meyer makes an important and original contribution to this ongoing debate [on the character and significance of the industrial union movement]. Meyer emphatically agrees that the CIO represented a major departure from the essentially conservative and elitist traditions of the AFL. But unlike most others who have made this point, he roots his argument in a skillful dissection of the ‘hidden and contested terrain of the workplace' .... "

"... Meyer has written a fascinating case study that will be of real value to students of industrial relations, labor, the Left, and New Deal and Cold War politics."

Bruce Nelson, American Historical Review, V. (October 1993)

"... we still know very little about the creation and decline of left unionism, and Meyer contributes a great deal to our understanding with a classic workplace study set in a broad historical context. "Meyer begins with his forte– a careful analysis of the technological, corporate, and occupational structures in the plant.... Meyer is at his best delineating the political significance of this story...."

"... But the book's many strengths, including our best discussion thus far of shop steward and grievance procedures– their mechanics as well as their meaning fro rank-and-file workers– far outweigh any weaknesses. "Meyer has brought and extremely important story firmly down to earth and, in the process restored much of its natural drama."

James R. Barrett, Journal of American History, V. 80 (September 1993)

"In this important and provocative book, Stephen Meyer examines the origins and development of one of Wisconsin's most militant CIO unions, Allis-Chalmers' UAW UAW Local 248, and the nationally significant story of its 'unmaking' at the hands of corporate, political, and UAW anti-communists. While the somewhat obscure title of the book suggests a narrative driven by the issue of Local 248's relationship to the Communist party, a narrative that has dominated virtually all accounts of this episode, Meyer has managed effectively to construct a persuasive alternative story.... Meyer, whose previous book examined labor relations in the early auto industry is a particularly astute observer of shopfloor contestation...."

"'Stalin Over Wisconsin, despite its title, recasts the history of post-World War II labor relations to emphasize the ongoing contestation over workers' rights and union power in the area of the shopfloor. Without denying the impact of the Communist issue and the politically salient imagery that it fostered, Stephen Meyer shows it to have been decidedly scondary, if not in fact a 'red herring.' In doing so he has made an important contribution to the history of postwar unionism and politics, in Wisconsin and beyond."

Shelton Stromquist, Wisconsin Magazine of History (Summer 1995)

"... this book shares certain similarities with his fine earlier monograph, The Five Dollar Day. It is a workplace study, and like its predecessor, it examines workers' resistance to technological change and managerial assertions of unilateral power. This time, however, Meyer concentrates on the decades of the 1930s and 1940s. Maintaining a dialectical edge through out, "Stalin Over Wisconsin" also explores the political and social consequences of ideological and industrial conflicts, consequences shared by both workers and managers though mediated in significant ways by state power."

"Meyer makes some solid contributions to our understanding of the roots of CIO unionism, and to our appreciation of the place Local 248 in the rise of McCarthyism and in UAW factional struggles. But perhaps the most compelling contribution of this book lies in chapter 5, "Challenging Management Rights: Workers, Shop Stewards, and Grievances, 1935-1945." Here, Meyer emphasizes the qualitative differences between left-wing CIO unions and company and AFL craft-based unions.... The central argument of this chapter also fleshes out in substantive terms Meyer's response to corporate and Cold War liberal critics of left -wing unions...."

"Still, where Meyer is strong, he is superb ... "Challenging Management Rights" will most certainly find its way onto my syllabus. Meyer's careful examination of the origins, workings, and demise of Local 248's unique shop steward structure and grievance practices furthers our understanding of just what price was extracted from American workers in the course of labor's domestic Cold War."

Gerald Zahavi, Labor History, V. 34 (Spring Summer 1993)

"Stephen Meyer's fine book should be of special interest to readers of Technology and Culture interested in a closer engagement between the fields of labor history and the history of technology. His study of the huge Allis-Chalmers complex ... closely links technology and production methods with the composition of the workforce, and resultant patterns in union formation and workplace conflict...."

Roger Horowitz, Technology and Culture, V. 35 (July 1994)

"... Stephen Meyer ... has written an account worthy of Local 248's remarkable history."

"... By failing to establish to what extent Local 248's history was typical of the CIO's, Meyer fall short of these lofty aims. This hardly matters, however, for these shortcomings to not detract from the compelling story that Meyer tells of the rise and fall of the militant unionism of Local 248."

"In the end the power of this book rests on both the inherent drama and the importance of Local 248's history, and Meyer's scrupulous workmanship. First, the history of Local 248 is as important and poignang as any episode in American labor history. For anyone interested in labor history and in understanding the extent of working-class power achieved by the CIO, the gravity of the attack waged to undo this achievement, and the extent of the subsequent retreat by labor, I could recommend no monograph of the past decade more strongly that this. Meyer has done exceptionally fine scholarly research and analysis and has presented it in a highly readable way. Meyer confronts but does not resolve the most controversial issues, such as whether Christoffel was a Communist and whether the union did commit vote fraud during the strike balloting of 1941. Meyer describes and jusdges with dispassion. He avoids such words as I have employed- words like heroic, servile, betrayal, tragedy, and retribution- confident, I suspect, that the facts speak for themselves."

Roger Keeran, Science & Society, V. 61 (Fall 1997)

revstal.htm, 28-Aug-2003