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If You're in My Way, I'm Walking: The Assault on Working People since 1970

Resource type
Author/contributor
Title
If You're in My Way, I'm Walking: The Assault on Working People since 1970
Abstract
“If you’re in my way I’m walking.” This arrogant statement by former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on the occasion of his physical altercation with a protester in Hull, Quebec in the mid-1990s symbolizes the spirit of the relentless drive of capital to rewrite the historical compromise reached with working people after World War II. This early post-war compromise—sometimes referred to as the Fordist Compact—was associated with improving wages and rising living standards for working people. But in recent decades those achievements of the working class are being deliberately rolled back. Workman surveys many features of this experience: changing public perceptions of working life, the deregulation of labour law, the decline in unionization rates, the eclipse of union militancy, the stagnation of real wages, the disproportionate absorption of women into the low-wage sphere and the dismantling of social policy. He demonstrates the unravelling of the post-war compact and its replacement with a far more ex-ploitative relationship between capital and labour. He also points to the decline of the Canadian left and its inability to counter the capitalist onslaught effectively. Nevertheless, there are reasons to be hopeful. Workman calls for a rebuilding of the left through the restoration of left culture. To do this he says that the left must “quit politics,” work to promote the collective memory of working-class achievements, create venues to listen to working people in today’s economy, reject nationalism outright and encourage the labour movement to exploit its disruptive capacity. This revitalized left will form the basis of a deepening social critique, the political lessons of which will prove to be invaluable for working people in the long run. -- Publisher's description
Place
Black Point, N.S
Publisher
Fernwood Pub.
Date
2009
# of Pages
150 pages
Language
English
ISBN
9781552663, 1552663264
Short Title
If you're in my way, I'm walking
Library Catalog
laurentian.concat.ca
Call Number
HD 8106.5 W69 2009
Notes
statement of responsibility: Thom Workman.Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-148) and index.
Citation
Workman, W. T. (2009). If You’re in My Way, I’m Walking: The Assault on Working People since 1970. Fernwood Pub. https://archive.org/details/ifyoureinmywayim0000work