Long Deep Grudge: A Story of Big Capital, Radical Labor, and Class War in the American Heartland

The Long Deep Grudge is a 2020 book that chronicles the bitter, deep-rooted conflict between International Harvester and the Farm Equipment Workers union, providing up-close-and-personal and long-view perspectives from both sides of the battle lines. It explores pivotal moments and movements such as the Haymarket riot, Flint sit-down strikes, Memorial Day Massacre, McCarthy-era anti-communist purges, and America's late 20th-century industrial decline, and offers alternative models from the past for those engaged in radical, working-class struggles today.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 425 pages
Publication date: 12 March 2020
Publisher: Haymarket Books

This comprehensive history delves into the intense and longstanding conflict between International Harvester, a colossal industrial giant, and the fiercely radical Farm Equipment Workers union. The Long Deep Grudge vividly portrays that class warfare has been a fundamental aspect of American history, offering intimate and comprehensive insights from both sides of the conflict.

International Harvester, led by the McCormick family, gained a notorious reputation for ruthless union-busting tactics in the 1880s. However, in the 20th century, they also pioneered sophisticated strategies to avoid unionization, which have since become standard corporate practices.

On the other hand, the Farm Equipment Workers union, with ties to the Communist Party, fiercely opposed the cooperative spirit that emerged after World War II and defined the American labor movement. This union launched a vocal challenge to the prevailing cooperative ethos, injecting the narrative with biographical sketches of McCormick family members, union officials, and rank-and-file workers, alongside anarchists, jazz musicians, Wall Street financiers, civil rights crusaders, and mob lawyers. The account spans from the nineteenth century to the present, weaving a captivating narrative that reads like a novel.

The book touches upon pivotal moments and movements, including the Haymarket riot, Flint sit-down strikes, the Memorial Day Massacre, the McCarthy-era anti-communist purges, and America's late 20th-century industrial decline. While International Harvester and the FE are no longer in existence, this largely forgotten clash sheds light on the current crisis of widening inequality facing US workers and offers alternative models from the past that can guide and inspire those engaged in radical activism.

Weight: 664g
Dimension: 153 x 229 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781642590333