Forging Political Identity

Keith Mann is Associate Professor of Sociology at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He specializes in 19th- and 20th-century French social and labor history. His work has appeared in the International Review of Social History, International Labor and Working Class History, Labor History, and Le mouvement social.

“An exhaustive study [that]…discusses many of the labor issues that would continue to define these relations in the second half of the twentieth century and invites us to reflect on the power of workers whose words and deeds still inform politics in France today.”  ·  French Review“All in all, this is a brilliant work that combines a depth of sophisticated, nuanced analysis with a clear, crisp writing style. New insights are unearthed from its detailed study of Lyon labour that will increase our understanding of the French working class during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Whether one ultimately agrees with the author’s contentions, one must be impressed by the brilliance of his arguments and the firmness of his evidence.”  ·  European History Quarterly“Mann does a masterful job analyzing the social basis of working class political identity in Lyon — and beyond — between 1900 and 1935.”  ·  Against the Current“The approach is a carefully constructed synthesis: on the one hand, it is gendered, open to the insights of poststructuralism and the cultural turn, and rejects base and superstructure; on the other, it embraces the importance of structural patterns of development… Its great methodological virtue is its marriage of the concepts of social movement theory, in particular the political opportunity structure, and the serious archival research that one would expect from labor history.”  ·  American Historical Review“With this book Keith Mann carries forward a vital tradition of North American labor history inspired by the work of Charles and Louise Tilly. Constructed around the dialectics of skill, technological change, and the organization of the labor process in Lyon’s two key industries, while grounded in the distinctiveness of a particular spatial community shaped dynamically through time, it casts the politics of the Popular Front era in a strikingly original light.”  ·  Geoff Eley, University of Michigan“This is an important book of exceptionally-high academic quality. With great skill, Mann documents and analyzes the influence of technology and work organization on the character of labor militancy. This book notably advances our understanding of these issues.”  ·  Michael Hanagan, Vassar College“Keith Mann has written an important book that should be read not only by historians and social scientists but by all interested in movements for social change.”  ·  Gerald Friedman, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• List of TablesAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsChapter I: Introduction: French Labor History and Political Identity The Cultural Turn, Postmodernism, and the Linguistic TurnA gendered labor historyMaterialismPolitics and Labor HistorySocial and Political IdentityPolitical Identity FormationIndustrial Social RelationsPolitical Opportunity StructureDesign of StudyChapter II: Industrial Social Relations in France’s Second Industrial RevolutionProtoindutrializationProtoindustrialization and Class StructureIndustrial Change and LaborLabor MarketsSkillCollective ResistanceConclusionChapter III: The French Labor Movement and Worker Political IdentityTrade UnionsPolitical PartiesWorld War IFounding of the French Communist PartyChapter IV: Political OpportunityStructure from 1875 to 1921The Republic in LyonThe RadicalsThe Alliance in LyonWorld War IConclusionChapter V: Silk Workers in Lyon, 1900-1921: Structure of the Silk Industry World War I and Industrial ChangeApprenticeshipIndustrial Change and SkillRise of Capitalist Labor MarketIndustrial Change and Worker Collective ActionThe 1903 StrikeTextile Workers and PoliticsConclusionChapter VI: Metalworkers in Lyon, 1900-1921Structure of the IndustryGender and MetalworkingWar and Industrial DevelopmentIndustrial Change and SkillIndustrial Change, Metal Worker Resistance, and SolidarityApprenticeshipMetal Workers and PoliticsConclusionChapter VII: Political OpportunityStructure 1921-1935Two CurrentsThe Communist Party in LyonThe SFIO in LyonThe CGTU and the CGTSRThe CGT Programs in Action: Lyon 1919-1935May Day DemonstrationsConclusionChapter VIII: Silk Workers 1921-1935Structure of the Silk IndustryIndustrial Change and DeskillingRise of Capitalist Labor MarketIndustrial Change and Worker ProtestIndustrial Change and Worker SolidaritySilk Workers and PoliticsConclusionChapter IX: Metal Workers in Lyon, 1921-1935Structure of Metallurgy IndustryEmployers' OrganizationsIndustrial Change and Skill Worker ResistanceIndustrial Change and Metal Worker Militancy and SolidarityMetal Workers and Labor StrategyConclusionChapter X: The French Popular Front and Political IdentityOrigin of the Popular FrontThe PCF and the NationAlliances and ElectionsThe 1936 ElectionsThe Imagery of Class and NationIndustrial ConflictGender Inequality and Collective BargainingConclusionConclusion BibliographyIndex