This research derives a theoretical explanation of the development of the labor movement in the United States to the point it has reached in the early 1990s. As a part of this research, the theoretical explanation derived is compared to the labor theories of Karl Marx (1860s in Europe) and Selig Perlman (1920s in the United States). Marx (1852) held that class structures in societies, the political systems in societies, and societal cultures were the product of the ways in which societies produced their goods and services. Within this context, Marx was concerned with the value of labor, its contribution to the creation of wealth, and the proportion of the value of labor received by its creators, the workers (Ekelund and Hebert, 1983). Perlman (1928), by contrast with Marx, was more concerned with organized labor as a representative of workers in the collective bargaining process. Within this context, Perlman was particularly interested in labor's efforts to control the opportunity to work (Reynolds, 1988). The difference in the perspectives from which Marx and Perlman considered labor means that, when comparing the theoretical explanation derived in this research to the theories of Marx and Perlman, it cannot be assumed that an agreement or disagreement with Marx would, of necessity, require either agreement or disagreement with Perlman, because any implied comparison of Marx and Perlman, with respect to labor theory, would be akin to the proverbial comparison of apples and oranges.
EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT:
The labor movement in the United States was slow to develop. A major reason for the failure of the labor movement to become a major force in the American economy in the 1800s and early 1900s was the almost unrestricted flow of immigrants into the country. The almost constant and substantial increase to the labor force through immigration made it difficult for labor to deal with management. A second f...