Uneasy Allies: Working for Labor Reform in Nineteenth Century Boston by David A. Zonderman (review)

David A. Zonderman’s new book will stand for years to come as the definitive work on 19th-century labour reform in Boston. As scholars of New England’s early labour movement well know, this topic has received much attention since the origins of reform efforts, with a rich historical literature emerging as far back as the late 1800s. Zonderman’s work offers the most extensive contribution thus far for one key reason: it is the first to explain the coalition’s development over a sustained period – from the 1830s to 1900 – connecting the dots between these often short-lived leagues and organizations, thus allowing a fuller critique of their successes and shortcomings. The result is a challenging, new articulation of this important aspect of labour activism before the 20th century.

There were two distinct phases that characterized Boston’s labour reform movement in the 19th century. The first period, from the 1830s to 1870, was known for its open meeting structure, forged in town hall meetings and regional conventions that were typical of the region’s political traditions, which emphasized mass participation, literacy and community spirit. Led by well-known figures like Wendell Philips and Ira Steward, the central issue raised in these years was work hours, with organizations such as the New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and other Working Men (nea) and the Labor Reform League of New England (lrlne) dedicated to the implementation of the ten-hour, and later, the eight-hour work day. Reformers’ primary mode of engagement was the petition, crafted out of resolutions passed at regional conventions and delivered to state legislatures. Through the 1870s, such legislative pushes fell short, as petitions failed to get through the commonwealth’s corporately controlled legislative bodies. These failed movements were noteworthy in part for their attempt to bring middle-class reformers into political collaboration with the men and women who toiled in the mills and factories. Although there were some reform leaders – such as Ira Steward and George McNeill – who knew how these machines operated and what it was like to breathe factory air, most did not. Despite the interclass character, middle-class reformers dominated reform conventions, and their vision defined the types of organizations that emerged. As the book’s title makes clear, these class partners were indeed often uneasy about the alliances they created.

The second phase of labour reform movement in Boston, from 1870 to 1900, is the focus of the latter half of Zonderman’s book. While there are many theoretical approaches and individual activists that bridge these two phases, the later period was distinct because of the broadening of the issues addressed by the movement, which went beyond the hours of work crusade to include, among other issues, settlement houses, Christian Socialism, consumer leagues, the work-place conditions of retail employees, and tenement houses, as well as new types of strategies such as unemployment marches and labour churches. Zonderman attributes this shift to two developments. First, labour reformers’ emphasis on shorter working hours lessened after 1874 when the Massachusetts legislature finally passed a ten-hour law covering factory workers. Second, Boston’s most articulate and forceful advocate for the eight-hour day, Ira Steward, left the city in 1878 following the death of his wife Mary, leaving a vacuum that was filled by other voices.

In all sections of his book, Zonderman is careful to note the position women played in Boston’s labour reform narrative, both as individual actors and as the subject of reform impulses. Resolutions against the exploitation of wage earning women were regular features of the city’s labour reform organizations. Women sometimes served as leaders, such as Edith Daniels, vice president of the New England Labor Reform League, and Angela Haywood, wife of Ezra Haywood, who crafted resolutions addressing the conditions of domestic servants in the 1870s. The existence of groups outside Boston, such as the Lowell Female Labor...