Acceptable Men: Life in the Largest Steel Mill in the World

by Noel Ignatiev, Dave Ranney (Introduction)

Overview

In the 1960s and '70s, class struggle surged in U.S. industrial cities. Many leftists joined these struggles by going to work in the nation's factories; among them was Noel Ignatiev. He labored in different factories during this period, and this memoir came from his experiences as an electrician in the blast furnace division of U.S. Steel Gary Works. His first-hand account reveals the day-to-day workings of white supremacy, patriarchy, and the exploitation of labor. More so, though, we see the seeds of a new society sown in the workers' on-the-job resistance. The stories Noel tells are gripping and humorous--and at times will bring you to tears.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780882860008
Publisher:	Charles H Kerr
Publication date:	07/20/2021
Pages:	110
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.95(h) x 0.39(d)

About the Author

Noel Ignatiev (1940-2019) was a revolutionary his entire adult life. He worked for 23 years in industry and for 33 years in academia. He was the author of How the Irish Became White; co-editor of Race Traitor, an American Book Award winner; and editor of A New Notion: Two Works by C.L.R. James and The Lesson of the Hour: Wendell Phillips on Abolition & Strategy. He was also the founding editor of Urgent Tasks: Journal of the Revolutionary Left; Race Traitor, Journal of the New Abolitionism; and Hard Crackers: Chronicles of Everyday Life.

Editorial Reviews

Acceptable Men tells a tale neither of regret nor escape. Noel lgnatiev's experiences at U.S. Steel Gary Works are offered as a key to his academic and political commitments. On full display is Noel's skill at letting the details of the daily lives and struggles of working people illuminate broader trends and teach valuable lessons. Acceptable Men is a segment of a larger work left unfinished. We should not dwell on that loss. Our task as readers is to carry Noel's spirit and insights into the struggles of our day.

--John H. Bracey, Professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst


Our comrade Noel lgnatiev died in 2019. He left with us this remarkable 110-page memoir. In it he describes his experience after being hired at the U.S. Steel Gary Works, "the largest works of the largest steel company in the world." At first glance the story is one of hilarious work evasion by fellow workers. In contrast to work on an assembly line, Noel and his family at work spent much of their time playing cards, shooting the breeze over coffee, and catching up on sleep. Two underlying facts pierce this surface impression. The first is the almost total irrelevance of the local union of the United Steelworkers of America to which all hourly employees belonged. As Noel explains, "I have always been skeptical of union reform. In my view the union, at best, is a defensive organization, but something more is needed to free the working class from its subordination to capital."

The second fact is the overwhelming importance of contesting the employer's racial discrimination as the necessary first step in nurturing "our vision of mass organization independent of the unions." Indeed, Noel's growing relationship with a particular black worker, Jackson, is the glue which holds together the entire fabric of work emergencies and off-duty friendship. The memoir ends abruptly and sadly. "One of my comrades in STO [Sojourner Truth Organization], after years in factories, returned to the university.... He urges me to join him .... I take him up on the suggestion.... I manage for a few years to stay in touch with Jackson." Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, Noel and his friend Jackson are smiling at us, in inter-racial solidarity.

--Staughton Lynd, Author of Solidarity Unionism: Rebuilding the Labor Movement from Below




My unforgettable friend Noel lgnatiev left us great evolutionary ideas, wonderfully co-edited journals, and brilliantly rendered historical writing. He left a lived example of uncompromising confrontation with power and with stupidity, along with an endless willingness to debate what constituted the latter. Here he leaves us a vivid memoir of the life of a factory and of a revolutionary within it. Full of humanity and humor, it reflects the belief that struggles at the point of production can transform society, the need for radicals to listen and learn, the incredible knowledge workers possess, and the alternating currents of power and pain present in the lives of labor. lgnatiev's signature insistence on the need to disrupt the commitment to whiteness that unites some workers with their bosses is fully made concrete in this lively and marvelous book.

--David Roediger, author of The Sinking Middle Class: A Political History

From the Publisher