ABSTRACT

G. William Domhoff's contributions to power structure research have evolved over time and increasingly provide a compelling perspective on corporate dominance, political outcomes, and social inequality. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) emerged in 1886 as the Knights of Labor (KoL) rapidly declined in the wake of failure and violence associated with the railroad and general strikes of 1886. World War I represents an important moment in the factional success of union organizing. Again, changing needs of capital allowed for limited incorporation of the moderate-conservative AFL coupled with extreme repression of radical-left unionists. In the past, industrial strikes and picketing were often broken by police and hired thugs who allowed worker replacement with scabs. At the end of World War II, approximately 35.4" of the non-agricultural workforce was unionized, the liberal-labor alliance and moderate corporate elites had forged a form of corporatism exemplified in tripartite negotiations, and labor was enjoying unprecedented power.