Explores the efforts of two left labor leaders, Arthur Scargill of the British National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Richard Trumka of the United Mineworkers of America (UMWA), to address the crisis of deindustrialization in 1980s. Role of leadership in determining industrial and political outcomes; Impact of the development of alternative sources of energy on British and U.S. coalfields; Background on the development of the UMWA and the NUM. (EBSCO)

The turn of the millennium generated a spate of reflections on the state of the nation and the ways in which life in Britain had changed during the course of the twentieth century. Affluence and Authority contributes to this debate by providing a wide-ranging, well-informed and accessible interpretation of British social history during a hundred years of profound, and almost certainly unprecedented, economic, political, cultural, demographic and ideological change. This book lays particular emphasis upon material conditions in accounting for the underlying stability of society during the course of this turbulent and troubled century. It argues that despite the fact that many groups shared only haltingly and uncertainly in the benefits of economic growth, it is the long-term improvement in the standard of living that provides the single most important key to understanding the social history of twentieth-century Britain. The balance between economic and social developments is analysed thoroughly. Indeed, one of this book's central purposes is to challenge the view that economic gains were undermined by social losses, that the British people failed to respond as constructively as they should to the economic improvements they enjoyed. John Benson's thought provoking study also suggests that social class should be set alongside categories such as age, gender and ethnicity when attempting to analyse the ways in which British social history developed during the course of the twentieth century.

Research on late nineteenth and early twentieth century German society has concentrated overwhelmingly on life in the cities. By contrast, and despite the fact that almost one third of Germans were still working in agriculture as late as 1914, Germany's rural society remains relatively unexplored. Although historians have begun to correct this imbalance, very few full-length studies of social relations east of the Elba in this period have been published. This book concentrates on social relations in the 1,500 estate villages (Gutsdörfer) of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. 'Social relations' include the chains of command and obedience, the relative legal positions of owner and workers, contractual-relations, economic relations; the mutual economic dependency of estate owners and workforce, as well as the value systems of owners and labourers which informed these relationships. With its focus on both rural elites and workers, this study differs from much other work on rural Germany. For while a number of historians have examined the rural elites, few have chosen to investigate the lower strata of rural society. This book makes use of overlooked autobiographical accounts, statements given by workers at labour exchanges and before military authorities, as well as confiscated letters, jokes and anecdotes to provide greater insight into the perspective of rural workers. (Ashgate Publishing)

Keith Gildart concentrates on the period between the nationalization of the coal industry in 1947 and its privatization in 1994 and, through a detailed study of groups, individuals and communities, demonstrates the complex nature of work and politics during a period of momentous change in British coalfield history. He pays particular attention to the politics of the National Union of Mineworkers, the role of the Labour Party, and the impact of pit closures on miners and their localities. North Wales Miners combines oral history and archival sources to provide a ground-breaking account of social, political and industrial change in post-war Wales. Contents: The Golden Age of Labourism, 1945-1963; Miners, Labour and pit closures, 1964-1971; The Politics of Coal, 1972-1982; The Fragmentation of Unity, 1983-1988; The End of an era, 1989-1996. (University of Wales Press)

The spectre of Stalinism continues to haunt radicals across the world. If revolutions inevitably lead to tyranny, how can the anti-capitalist movement develop a vision for a better world. This timely book reexamines the rise and fall of the Russian revolution, as well as the destructive consequences of market capitalism since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the context of a buoyant anti-capitalist movement. (Amazon)

This volume examines conflicts over food and their implications for European societies in the first half of the Twentieth century. Ranging across Europe, from Scandinavia and Britain to Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union, this volume explores the political, economic and cultural dynamics that shaped conflicts over food and their legacies. (Palgrave Macmillan)