On Stayin Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class

Stayin Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class is written by Jefferson Cowie. The book chronicles the power of unions and collective bargaining through historical fact and cultural relevance. Cowie began by providing context for previous union power during the 30s, under the post-war union boom where they became "immense and effective bulwarks" in the political process (p.36). This membership is what I typically thinks of as unions- coal workers, mine workers, hard industry, generally white and male. What this book explained is that, yes, those individuals are the backbone of American unions. But as industry is outsourced, the backbone of America is increasingly immigrants, non-white individuals, and farm workers who did not achieve the same political potency as their white male counterparts. This is important because still today we see ramifications of the way politicians in the 70s saw the political significance of white male workers as a voting bloc. I hate to see this in a purely political sense, as I much prefer policy, but it is interesting to see the way messaging then and now has stayed consistent and left certain "blocs" out of the narrative. 

This book provided excellent context for me, as a young person, to understand current union relations in the US of A. Missing out on the real life experience of the 30s boom and the 70s bust of union power, this book provided tremendous insight. Another interesting aspect of this book is the inspirational and aspirational nature of various union's most popular (but not always most effective) leaders. Those who were young, outspoken, with a new vision, and willing to "stand up to the man" were those who won and were subsequently targeted and even killed by union leadership. In a powerful example of union asks Gary Bryner, leader of a strike in Lordstown, OH, said "They just want to be treated with dignity...That's not asking a hell of a lot," (p.61). Bryner is right. Unfortunately it seems like so many Americans fundamentally want to believe in the system we have; they want to have hope. But they just keep getting let down.

Documenting the booms and busts of union power, Cowie moves to the Table Grape Industry Strike in Delano, California. After five years of strikes, "the union now had contracts with nearly the entire California table grape industry," (p.62).  While this success was fantastic, union workers then had to understand "how to function as a union rather than a social movement" (p.62). This distinction is important because we still see disappointing failures and conflations of movements with actual policy movement. In demonstrating the solidarity for table grape workers seen nationally, one Chicana describes an experience in which she asked two young white men to support the boycott who turned around to show "giant United Auto Workers emblems" on their jackets and said "We're all for you. We're all for you." (p.64). This solidarity gave me chills. But, of course, the biggest challenge and failure, was "finding stability and lasting institutional presence for the insurgent power of the social movement," (p.64).

Relevant to today's social movements is the quote, "We all knew how to go out there and raise all kinds of hell and all that, but administration? We didn't have that kind of experience," (p.65). I think this is where the delicate balance between revolutionary/novel and jaded/experienced must be struck. Consistently, our social movements with great potential fail due to poor administration. 

As George Wallace began dividing and attracting white male union workers who were losing their social standing, the breakaway from the Democratic Party began. "Wallace drew together the segregationist South with anti-liberal northerners fearful of blacks moving into their neighborhoods, questioning the protests and the urban riots, and feeling, above all, simply forgotten," (p.100).

Nixon capitalized on this division, explaining that his team knew that they did not and would not deliver for the actual working class. So they targeted their emotions. "It was in workers and the labor leadership- the traditional backbone of New Deal politics-  that new faith and renewal could be found for the Republican Party," (p.157). "There may not even be consensus on what 'moral and spiritual values ought to be,' Nixon confessed, 'but they agree that you ought to have some,'" (p.158). On the same note, "the appearance of action...was at least as important, if not more so, than the reality of it...Nixon said 'everybody here now [needs] to start thinking politically, instead of worrying about running things well," (p.181). "In many ways, the blue-collar strategy offered the worst type of identity politics- place of pride but place without economic substance," (p.201). Fundamentally, people's emotions and feelings of being forgotten dictated their voting patterns: "The blue collar worker will be progressive as long as it is not progress for everyone but himself," (p.101).

Moving into the cultural analysis of this book, Nixon co-opted Merle Haggard and country music for his politics. The politics of the masculine man are foundational in country music. "Country music...had become valuable cultural territory in the decade's national political wars," (p.211). "Few have adequately explored the failure of the Left to create an alternative cultural synthesis that could appeal to the white working class," (p.225). I really loved the emphasis on music and cinema this book. It builds a really holistic cultural analysis. This is funny because musicians from Jerry Garcia to Merle Haggard listened to each other's music and seemed to like it. Which makes sense because I love both. The interesting theme in this as well is the prevailing conviction that the 70s hippie protests had the right idea - no one really wanted to go to war - but "the protestors' methods were wrong," (p.225). The political and financial implications of what was popular impacted Merle Haggard's musical liberty to make songs he liked. Many artists in the subgenre "outlaw country" from Willie Nelson to Johnny Cash distinguished between 'real country' and 'Nashville country.' This was an interesting overlap between my personal love of country music and the political-financial exploitation of it

On the note of the “right” way to protest, "animal metaphors served to separate 'the behavior of the discontented poor (striking, rioting, looting, boycotting) from the conditions that shape their discontent'" to invalidate their methods of expression. "History teaches us that a thin line connects the orderly and the disorderly, but the animal metaphor transmutes that thin line into...a crevice that separates 'us' from 'them'" (p276). This tactic has been used in recent Black Lives Matter protests as well.

Back to music - As the war raged on and the hippie generation lost hope, rock and roll diverged from its folky and blues roots into cultural liberation with psychedelic and progressive rock. Music was no longer grounded in tradition or hard work but escapism with drugs or into the woods. The 1970s was, frankly, a morally bankrupt time for all. Young people moved to disco and hard drugs and working class identity was at an all time low as racial and religious identity moved further and further apart. The drugs, street racing, and crime were "merely an escape from the dreary existential suicide of the work-a-day world," (p.426).

This part of the book was interesting too because we know history repeats itself as it pertains especially to political messaging on young, idealistic, educated, “liberal elite”. After all, Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan was directly taken from Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. Today, people in my generation are riddled with mental health disorders and want to escape. As we face a war in Ukraine and climate change reports getting worse and worse, I can't blame them. Additionally, there was an interesting, very personal reason to hate the 'liberated woman' - "it threatens the basis on which their own marital bargains are built," (p.312). The family values reaction wasn't always religious, it was personal. For context, "This happened all while the nation was facing both an energy criss and debating national labor law reform legislation" while 'limousine liberals' were asking for rights that everyone felt they already had. (p.324). 

Further, moving into the economic strife struck by stagflation, workers lost any real power to negotiate with businesses as they symbolically gained political clout with Republicans, while losing roots to class. As the idea of the welfare state became an evil but also a social safety net, the New Deal coalition was really lost. In 1978, "business achieved virtual domination of the legislative process by the end of the decade" (p.286). Another sad quote, "the side which attempts to play fair and follow the rules is going to end up the loser," (p.292). Racially, the "burden of integration would fall disproportionately on the poor of both races," and "class is America's dirty little secret, pervasive and persistent, yet rarely confronted in public policy," (p.306). In addition to the cultural changes, racial strife, economic insecurity, struck the country at all classes. "Working class women suffered a double dose of the hidden injuries. 'As white people who haven't made it, we are living proof of the American lie and we hate ourselves for it," (p.309). And black and queer women feel this triple and quadruple. And then, feminism was dominated by white middle class women, disconnected from the poor women of color in union. 

Again on the culture, the cinema of this time is shockingly violent with those portrayed as white working class saying they want to and are killing hippies. They talk about acting "black and the money rolls in. Set fire to the cities, burn a few buildings..you get money and jobs...fourty-two percent of all liberals are queer," (p.239). Frankly, I almost didn't want to include this quote because it was so shocking. Everyone hates the counter culture. Again shocking, Nixon literally said "'strong societies,' like Russia, 'Goddamn, they root em' out," (p.248). Also had an interesting analysis about the characters in Jaws - the educated scientist who came in from out of town, the working class old-timer who failed, and the prevailing working class father, "the patriarchal strong man who has finally risen to the occasion," (p.259). As a result of all of this cultural change, McGovern, who was undeniably providing material gains for labor, lost the election. Nixon was right. And, of course, the PATCO strike and Reagan's response was the nail in the coffin for labor. 

We had come to a point where business had so much power that employers knew "that if that day of reckoning eventually arrives, the price of settling up will be cheap," (p.362). United Auto Workers Union President Douglas Fraser said, "I would rather sit with the rural poor, the desperate children of urban blight, the victims of racism, and working people seeking a better life tan with those whose religion is the status quo, whose goal is profit, and whose hearts are cold," (p.372). "What is called sound finance is very often what mirrors the needs of the respectably affluent," (p.377). 

Quoting Ted Kennedy at the 1980 Democratic Convention, one of my favorite speakers in one of my favorite speeches, "Our cause has been, since the days of Thomas Jefferson, the cause of the common man and the common woman," (p.386). Of course, having framed this speech with the context provided by the book, I can see now why the 1980 election was a miserable failure for Democrats. 

In closing the book, "whatever working-class identity might emerge from the postmodern, global age… will have to be less abut consumption and more about democracy...it will have to be more inclusive in conception… than previous incarnations," (461). Reflecting on the political implications of the complete breakdown of a temporary yet salient moment of class solidarity, America's greatness has always been fueled by the working class and their zeal for a better life.  Hope is a fundamentally human characteristic. Politics hurts- Nixon and Reagan exploited this while Democrats failed in messaging (again). Anyway, this book was a fantastic and holistic exploration of political clout in the 70s and I loved it. 

Big thanks to my brother, Jeremy, for recommending this excellent book.