The Quest for “Just and Pure Law”

Download or read book The Quest for “Just and Pure Law” written by John Paul Enyeart and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the political culture forged by Rocky Mountain workers from the 1870s through the 1920s, this book shows how the unique working-class politics of the region led to remarkable successes in securing progressive labor legislation. These successes--especially in improving workers' hours, wages, and safety--in turn played a central role in transforming the nation's attitudes toward workers' rights. Examining political culture in the everyday lives of workers (from shop floors to union halls to recreation), the author uncovers a labor movement based as much on pragmatism as on ideology, and he traces how its members productively focused their efforts on political action at the local and state levels. In the process, they developed a genuinely social-democratic political culture.