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Peter Cole, Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia.

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Peter Cole, Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia (Urbana-Chicago: University of Illinois Press 2007)

PETER COLE'S Wobblies on the Waterfront explores the rise and fall of Local 8, Philadelphia's predominantly black dockworkers' union from the 1880s to the 1920s. Cole successfully delves into the complicated and at times vexing world of longshoremen, and the bosses who ultimately won the battle against unionization. Wobblies on the Waterfront makes the credible case that as a functioning unit and an interracial union, Philadelphia's Local 8 developed into an anomaly along the Atlantic seaboard but also across the United States. Whereas New Orleans experimented with interracial unionization, internal and external pressures caused Louisiana longshoremen to fall prey to Jim Crow conventions, eventually souring even those most dedicated to interracial union ideals.

But where others buckled, Philadelphians stood their ground. Cole posits that because black longshoremen made up from 40-60% of workers, white workers, whatever their misgivings could neither shut out black workers nor ignore their will. The fact that African Americans climbed their way up the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) leadership, earning the respect of members white and black, helped solidify the voice and strength of unionized black longshoremen. Cole makes the compelling argument that...