Under the Iron Heel

"With a gripping narrative and incisive analysis, Under the Iron Heel shows how federal agencies, state governments, and local police combined to create a state-sanctioned reign of terror against a mostly peaceful union, the Industrial Workers of the World. Ahmed White, a distinguished historian of labor law, demonstrates that the destruction of the Wobblies was a pivotal moment in history of capitalist suppression of unions. Anyone interested in the history and politics of labor in the United States should read this book."--Kathryn S. Olmsted, author of Right Out of California: The 1930s and the Big Business Roots of Modern Conservatism "Deeply researched and movingly written, Under the Iron Heel provides the definitive account of the criminalization of the most significant radical union in American history. Ahmed White's study of the destruction of the IWW reveals a legacy of repression that continues to shape the labor movement to this day."--Gabriel Winant, author of The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America "No American union has come close to approximating the revolutionary potential and dynamism of the IWW. Ahmed White's deeply researched, powerfully written book hammers home a fundamental point too often forgotten: ferocious repression, by the government and businesses, was the primary reason for this revolutionary union's decline. In greater depth than any previous work, White explains systematic efforts by the federal government, dozens of state governments, and businesses across the nation to crush the IWW and all for which it stood."--Peter Cole, author of Ben Fletcher: The Life and Writings of a Black Wobbly "Provocative, extensively researched, and heartbreaking, Ahmed White's Under the Iron Heel tells how the state conspired with powerful business interests to break the IWW while revealing important truths about repression's role in the making of modern America."--Paul Buhle, coeditor of The Encyclopedia of the American Left and Wobblies!