Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: All people who work with their hands are partly invisible, and the more important the work they do, the less visible they are.Still, a white skin is always very conspicuous.In northern Europe, when you see a labourer ploughing a field, you probably give him a second glance.In a hot country, anywhere south of Gibraltar or east of Suez, the chances are that you don't even see him.I have noticed this again and again. 1 Since the start of the new millennium, Global Labour History (GLH) has attracted a growing group of adherents on different continents in South and North alike.Especially young scholars derive inspiration from the broad perspective, the effort to perceive the connections between trends everywhere in the world over the centuries in work, workers, and labour relations, incorporating slaves, indentured labourers and sharecroppers, as well as housewives and domestic servants.Strategically-minded trade unionists are taking an interest in the new field of research as well.Reiner Hoffmann, the President of the German trade-union confederation (DGB), recently described GLH as being immensely important for understanding the challenges that the present labour movement faces. 2 Dissenting reactions to GLH's popularity were to be expected.The reactions come from two angles.Some believe that GLH marks a rift with Marxism, expressing a populist desire "to recruit virtually everyone into a broad anticapitalist movement". 3 Others maintain that GLH in fact reflects far too many Marxist influences and should be purged of them.Peter Ackers pertains to the second group.He is, to my knowledge, the first to undertake an explicit anti-Marxist critique, for which I am grateful.When Ackers was preparing his article against me, I willingly helped him gather materials.It is good that he has put his ideas in writing, as advocates and opponents need to engage in debate.Unfortunately, his contribution also smacks of the Cold War and of nationalism.
Author: Marcel van der Linden
Institution: International Institute of Social History
Language: English
Topic: Labor Movements and Unions
Subfield: Public Administration
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2612846709