Daniel A. Novak. The Wheel of Servitude : Black Forced Labor After Slavery. Pp. 126. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1978. $9.50

• DOI: 10.1177/000271627944100147
• Author: Rayford W. Logan
• Date: 01 January 1979
• Published date: 01 January 1979
• Subject Matter: Articles

226

tives

dissented;

and

the

report

ran

into

a

hornet’s

nest

of

opposition

which

led,

in

May

1978,

to

a

government

White

Paper

(but

no

immediate

legislation)

calling

for

worker

directors

to

be

intro-

duced

gradually,

and

primarily

through

the

process

of

bargaining.

Postponed

for

the

moment,

the

issue

is

far

from

dead.

Besides

describing

the

committee’s

background

and

work,

Elliott

presents

a

reasoned

but

(to

an

American

reader)

unconvincing

case

for

worker

directors.

First,

they

represent

a

logical

extension

of the

British

union-management-gov-

ernment

&dquo;social

contract.&dquo;

Second,

since

unions

already

make

substantial

inputs

at

other

levels,

through

shop-

steward

representation,

industry-wide

bargaining,

and

the

national

social

contract,

the

company

level

is

the

only

one

at

which

union-management

col-

laboration

does

not

occur.

Third,

al-

though

unions

can

bargain

over

wages

and

working

conditions,

they

now

have

no

direct

influence

over

the

key

de-

cisions

made

by

boards

of

directors

re-

garding

investments,

plant

shut

downs,

and

so

forth;

such

decisions

are

critical

for

job

security.

Fourth,

once

given

responsibility

for

running

the

company,

unions

would

adopt

&dquo;more

positive

and

innovative

outlooks,&dquo;

the

&dquo;energies

and

loyalties

of

shop

stewards&dquo;

could

be

en-

listed

for

organizational

purposes,

with

the

net

result

being

better

labor

rela-

tions

and

higher

productivity

and

satis-

faction

all

around.

Fifth

and

finally,

since

British

management

is

so

inefficient

and

British

industry

in

such

a

bad

way,

worker

directors

are

unlikely

to

make

things

worse;

at

least

there

would

be

a

new

start.

On

the

other

hand,

industrial

democ-

racy

might

kill

the

patient.

Elliott

ar-

gues

that

since

codetermination

works

well

in

Germany,

it

should

also

do

well

in

Britain.

But

aside

from

differences

in

the

two

plans,

German

unions

lack

the

British

tradition

of

&dquo;bloodyminded&dquo;

hostility

to

management.

Elliott

seems

to

concede

that

the

worker

director

system

won’t

work

unless

there

is

good

will

on

both

sides,

yet

it

is

hard

to

see

how

a

structural

change,

introduced

over

management’s

objections,

is

likely

to

transform

years

of

antagonism

into

peace.

Some

unions

object

to

industrial

democracy

altogether,

on

the

grounds

that

it

would

blur

the

union’s

essential

adversary

role.

Even

among

those

which

support

the

scheme,

many

perceive

it

as

a

means

of

extending

power

rather

than

calling

a

truce

in

the

class

war.

In

any

case,

few

union

leaders

give

the

issue

high

priority

and

there

is

other

evidence

(not

presented

in

this

book)

suggesting

that

workers

themselves

are

more

interested

in

participation

at

the

shop

floor

level.

To

conclude,

regardless

of

industrial

democracy’s

merits

as

a

solution

to

the

&dquo;British

disease&dquo;

(now

spreading

to

the

U.S.),

it

remains

a

viable

alternative

in

Britain.

For

those

wishing

to

view

this

issue

through

British

eyes,

this

is

a

useful,

though

incomplete

book.

And

for

close

students

of

contemporary

British

industrial

relations

it

represents

an

almost

essential

source

of

data.

For

others,

it

may

tell

them

more

than

they

want

to

know.

GEORGE

STRAUSS

University

of

California

Berkeley

DANIEL

A.

NOVAK.

The

Wheel

of

Ser-

vitude :

Black

Forced

Labor

After

Slavery.

Pp.

126.

Lexington:

Uni-

versity

of Kentucky

Press,

1978.

$9.50.

The

author,

assistant

professor

of polit-

ical

science

at

the

State

University

of

New

York

at

Buffalo,

condemns

the

interpretation

of

Reconstruction

by

Pro-

fessor

William

A.

Dunning

which

&dquo;de-

fended

the

Black

Codes,

grossly

exag-

gerated

black

political

influence

and

cor-

ruption,

and

excused

or

discounted

the

use

of

violence

by

whites&dquo;

(p.

117).

Revisionists

have

generally

limited

their

writings

to

contradictions

of

this

view,

and,

like

other

historians,

have

there-

fore

failed

to

give

adequate

attention

to

peonage,

especially

its

legal

aspects.

_

In

this

scholarly

work,

Professor

Novak

used

as

his

major

sources

the

collected

statutes

and

cases

of the

various

states

involved

to

portray

the

pervasive

and

lingering

patterns

of

involuntary

servi-

tude

of

Negroes

after

Emancipation.

But