The "Ingredients" in Violent Labour Conflict: Patterns in Four Case Studies

The article endeavours to gain some insights into the dynamics of violent labour conflicts, by examining four case studies and highlighting certain factors deemed significant in all four. The cases studied are the Robin Hood flour mill strike of 1977, the Fleck Manufacturing strike in 1978, the Murray Hill conflict in 1969, and the Artistic Woodwork strike of 1973. In examining these conflicts, four aspects were emphasized as important determinants in their outcomes: the organization and relative power of the strikers, the attitude of their adversaries (how they were perceived), the aims that the workers pursued, their style of collective action, and above all the policies and power of the employers and the authorities. In the concluding portion of the paper the interaction between these factors was examined to see how they influenced the outcome of each incident, this as an empirical preliminary to theory building.