Working-Class Internationalism and the Appeal of National Identity: Historicalites and Current Perspectives on Western Europe - Hardcover

Bloomsbury

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 185973281X ISBN 13: 9781859732816

Publisher: Berg Publishers, 1998

Synopsis

Internationalism is generally considered to be a major feature of the labour movement, and to hold a far more powerful appeal for workers' organizations than national identity. However, this revisionist book argues that, in fact, it is the national dimension which is of utmost importance to workers' organizations, and that national questions have often compelled workers to engage in struggles on different levels. Through detailed case studies of trade union involvement in Northern Ireland, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria and Europe generally, contributors tackle subjects long neglected by labour historians and overturn the accepted wisdom that nationalism and the labour movement are irreconcilably opposed. This analysis of how international agendas are influenced by nationalist politics is unique, and the case-studies offer a dynamic description of the different ways in which nationalist values meet with trade union ideas and practices.The high standard of scholarship and the combination of historical and contemporary material make this book essential reading for students and researchers of labour history, politics, political theory and area studies.

About this title

About the Author

Patrick Pasture is Professor of European and Global History and Director of the Centre for European Studies at KU Leuven, Belgium. He is the author of Imagining European Unity since 1000 AD (2015) and Christian Trade Unionism in Europe since 1968 (1994). He is also the co-editor, along with Jan Art and Thomas Buerman, of Gender and Christianity in Modern Europe (2012).

Edition details

• Publisher: Berg Publishers
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 185973281X
• ISBN 13: 9781859732816
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224