--- Nathan Newman <nathanne at nathannewman.org> wrote:
>> Nationally, workers were divided between the
parties
> and urban workers were
> as attracted to the protectionism of the GOP as
> Populist rhetoric.
>
> The reality is the labor movement is more unified as
> a political entity
> within the Democratic Party TODAY than they ever
> were in the 19th century.
I agree with your arguments about the political divisions and machine politics participation in the past. But what makes you think that the "labor movement" is more unified today? True, unions tend to support Democrats, but first their clout has declines substantially, and second they have little influence over how working class votes.
I'd say that today labor is divided as ever of rural vs urban identities, gender, race, nationalism, and cultural issues. That is why Democrats have been and will be losing to GOP, which is quite good at exploting these identity divisions. In fact, decline of machine politics increased the importance cultural identities and issues in influencing working class votes.
Wojtek
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