This book provides a comparative and transnational examination of the
complex and multifaceted experiences of anti-labour mobilisation, from
the bitter social conflicts of the pre-war period, through the epochal
tremors of war and revolution, and the violent spasms of the 1920s and
1930s.
It retraces the formation of an extensive market for corporate policing,
privately contracted security and yellow unionism, as well as processes
of professionalisation in strikebreaking activities, labour espionage
and surveillance. It reconstructs the diverse spectrum of right-wing
patriotic leagues and vigilante corps which, in support or in
competition with law enforcement agencies, sought to counter the dual
dangers of industrial militancy and revolutionary situations. Although
considerable research has been done on the rise of socialist parties and
trade unions the repressive policies of their opponents have been
generally left unexamined. This book fills this gap by reconstructing
the methods and strategies used by state authorities and employers to
counter outbreaks of labour militancy on a global scale. It adopts a
long-term chronology that sheds light on the shocks and strains that
marked industrial societies during their turbulent transition into mass
politics from the bitter social conflicts of the pre-war period, through
the epochal tremors of war and revolution, and the violent spasms of the
1920s and 1930s.
Offering a new angle of vision to examine the violent transition to mass
politics in industrial societies, this is of great interest to scholars
of policing, unionism and striking in the modern era.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http:
//www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429354243, has been made available
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0
license.
