Working the Waterfront: The Ups and Downs of a Rebel Longshoreman

Gilbert Mers

Published by University of Texas Press 1988

Working the Waterfront

The Ups and Downs of a Rebel Longshoreman

Gilbert Mers

https://doi.org/10.7560/760226

Overview
Contents

About this book

"Somebody said, 'History is written by the winners. The losers have nothing to say.' This book is by one of the losers, a bit player, not the star of the drama." So begins Gilbert Mers in these personal recollections of forty-two years on the Texas waterfront as longshoreman and radical union activist. But far from having "nothing to say," Mers reveals himself as a thoughtful philosopher of democratic ideals and eloquent agitator for union reform. He challenges the conventional wisdom that the leader is more valuable than the led. He contends that long tenure in positions of power dulls the union officer's working-class instincts. Always one to row against the current, Mers believes the union exists for the benefit of its members!

This is primary material of the best kind, vivid and evocative, and Mers, in his eighties at the time of writing the book, is an unusually vigorous and articulate spokesman for a democratic and humane unionism.

Whether he is describing the sweaty, dangerous and back-breaking work of loading cotton bales into the hold of an outbound ship or the gut-gripping tension of a face-to-face encounter with Texas Rangers bent on "law and order," Mers writes with the voice and conscience of the rank-and-file worker. He paints the waterfront world as it was, and perhaps still is—full of danger, humor, dignity in demoralizing circumstances, frustration, struggle, and sometimes hope—and tells his story with such wry humanity that even those who disagree with his destination will enjoy the ride.

Author / Editor information

A member of the International Longshoremen's Association since 1929 and the Industrial Workers of the World since 1947, Gilbert Mers (1908-1998) lived in Houston.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction George N. Green Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Gilbert Mers: An Appreciation Eugene Nelson Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xxi
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xxiii
1. The Docks of Corpus Christi, 1929 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Si Borison and Union Politics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
3. Rising Militancy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
4. The Great Longshoremen's Strike, 1935 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	88
5. Dissenters Organize: The Maritime Federation of the Gulf Coast Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
6. Turmoil among the Seamen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
7. Organizing Days in the South and West Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
8. The War Years and Union Growth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
9. Labor on the Defensive Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Afterword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	260
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 308

eBook

Published: March 24, 2014
ISBN: 9780292747951