A large part of the urban workers who were Democrats were Irish. They tended to be prols, not craft workers. Many organized around their volunteer firefighting units.
On Wed, Oct 20, 2004 at 06:42:47AM -0700, Devine, James wrote: > LP:> > Good point, generally speaking. But keep in mind that the DP at its > birth did consciously appeal to northern workers. Jacksonian > democracy--so to speak--was a multiclass alliance cobbled together from > workers, slave owners and western farmers. Here's an excerpt from a > wsws.org article that owes much to Harry Frankel's (Braverman) > intrepretation...< > > one comment: Northern workers at the time of Jackson were still in the > process of proletarianization. Many or even most were craft workers who > were sometimes in guild-like craft unions. They were in many ways still > "independent entrepreneurs" or small businesspeople. John C. Calhoun > in many ways was prescient about these workers' proletarian fate, which > was sealed around the time of the Civil War. > > (At Yale, my "college" (i.e., dorm) was named after Calhoun. There was > a stained-glass window of the bastard. Somehow, the parts of the window > that showed his slaves had been replaced by clear glass. You could only > see their feet.) > Jim Devine -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
