Overcoming Insider-Outsider Divides in Social Movements: The 1970s Strike Wave in the United States and Canada

Barry Eidlin, McGill University

Social movements must build and maintain unity across multiple axes of difference to succeed. One common axis separates so-called “insiders” from “outsiders.” Entities targeted by social movements often seek to delegitimize them by claiming they are led by “outsiders” meddling where they don’t belong. But movements also create boundaries themselves, often out of legitimate concern that “outsiders” may co-opt or divert the movement in unwanted directions. Movement activists may also face legitimate skepticism or hostility from the groups they seek to help. Divisions between perceived insiders and outsiders can hobble movements, even though research shows that movements can gain advantage from incorporating outsider perspectives. But what does it take to bridge those divides? Under what conditions can they be overcome? These questions are key to understanding social movement success and failure. This paper answers these questions through a study of a key moment in North American working-class history: the strike wave that rocked both Canada and the United States between the late 1960s and late 1970s. One notable aspect of these strikes is that in many cases they were led by a generation of New Left student activists who consciously sought out unionized jobs in the 1970s in order to connect with “organic” rank and file activists they encountered in the workplace—a move known as the “turn to industry.” Using a unique dataset of dozens (and still growing) of oral history interviews with participants in the turn to industry, my initial findings are that divides resulting from educational differences were far less of a barrier than existing theories would predict. Instead, the political orientation of the groups with which the “outsiders” were affiliated was a better predictor of who did and did not bridge divides, and achieve measurable long-term accomplishments.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 61. States, Politics, and Labor