| Book Review | The Michigan Historical Review, 33.1

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| Book Review | The Michigan Historical Review, 33.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Reviews

Jeffrey D. Kleiman. Strike! How the Furniture Workers Strike of 1911 Changed Grand Rapids. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Edwards Brothers, 2006. Pp. 165. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Maps. Notes. Paper, $14.95.

The causes of the 1911 Grand Rapids furniture workers strike are familiar to historians. The four-month strike was a result of the clash between liberty of contract and collective bargaining. Before the strike, the furniture manufacturers cooperated to control and successfully "rationalize" the Grand Rapids marketplace through several "mutually advantageous groups" (p. 1). They influenced politics, controlled the means of production, and even became involved in the city's banking system. Workers sought to bargain collectively for a "say in the terms of their employment" (p. 70). Factory owners took a paternalistic view toward their employees and believed that conceding to the collective demands of the workers would result in a loss of control in the workplace and permit "unwarranted interference by wage earners into the affairs of private business" (p. 70).

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