Sınıfın Reddi” ve Irkın İnşası: ABD Emek Hareketinde Irkçılık, Milliyetçilik ve Antikomünizm (1886–1955)

Abstract

Bu çalışma, ABD sendikalizminin 1886–1955 döneminde neden bütün işçileri kapsayan kalıcı bir sınıf dayanışması üretemediğini incelemektedir. Makale, bu sonucu ırkçı üyelik ve temsil rejimleri, milliyetçi meşruiyet arayışı ve antikomünist sadakat pratiklerinin birbirini güçlendirdiği bir “sınıfın reddi” mekanizmasıyla açıklamaktadır. Araştırma, emek tarihi ve siyasi tarih yazınını, seçilmiş dönem belgeleriyle desteklenen mekanizma temelli tarihsel-sosyolojik bir yaklaşımla karşılaştırmalı olarak çözümlemektedir. Bulgular, ırksal kapanmanın iş, ücret, kıdem ve sendikal temsile erişimi katmanlaştırdığını; milliyetçiliğin bu seçici temsili ulusal üretkenlik ve sorumlu sendikacılık söylemleriyle meşrulaştırdığını; antikomünizmin ise eşitlikçi ve radikal alternatiflerin örgütsel alanını daralttığını göstermektedir. Sendika yönetimlerinin bu yönelimi, basit bir sınıfa ihanet anlatısından çok kurumsal tanınma, pazarlık yetkisi, üyelik güvencesi ve örgüt içi denetim arayışlarıyla ilişkilidir. IWW, BSCP, CIO ve UPWA gibi karşı örnekler kapsayıcı dayanışmanın mümkün olduğunu, ancak üyelik genişliği, maddi işyeri dönüşümü ve siyasal özerkliğin aynı örgütsel modelde kalıcılaştırılamadığını ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışma, “sınıfın reddi” ve “ırkın inşası” kavramlarıyla Amerikan istisnacılığı tartışmasına örgütsel ve kurumsal bir açıklama sunmaktadır.

Keywords

• Emek Tarihi
• İş Sendikacılığı
• Beyaz İşçi Vatandaşlığı
• Milliyetçilik
• Antikomünizm.

The Rejection of Class” and the Construction of Race: Racism, Nationalism, and Anticommunism in the U.S. Labor Movement (1886–1955)

Abstract

This article examines why U.S. unionism failed to produce durable class solidarity encompassing all workers between 1886 and 1955. It explains this outcome through a “rejection of class” mechanism in which racist membership and representation regimes, the pursuit of nationalist legitimacy, and anticommunist loyalty practices reinforced one another. Methodologically, the study offers a mechanism-centered historical-sociological synthesis of labor-history and political-history scholarship, supported by selected contemporary documents. The findings show that racial closure stratified access to jobs, wages, seniority, and union representation; nationalism legitimized this selective representation through the languages of national productivity and responsible unionism; and anticommunism narrowed the organizational space available to egalitarian and radical alternatives. Union leaders’ choices are therefore interpreted not as a simple betrayal of class, but in relation to institutional recognition, bargaining authority, membership security, and organizational control. Counterexamples such as the IWW, BSCP, CIO, and UPWA demonstrate that inclusive solidarity was historically possible, yet membership expansion, material transformation at the workplace, and political autonomy could not be consolidated within a durable organizational model. By linking the “rejection of class” to the institutional construction of race, the article offers an organizational explanation of American exceptionalism.

Keywords

• Labor history
• Business unionism
• White Worker Citizenship
• Nationalism
• Anticommunism.

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