History 174. Capitalism, Socialism, and Crisis in the Twentieth-Century Americas

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1 Fall 2017 Professor Amy C. Offner TR 10:30-12:00 College Hall 313 Claire Fagin Hall 116 Office Hours: Tuesday 1-4 Grader: Geoffrey Durham / History 174 Capitalism, Socialism, and Crisis in the Twentieth-Century Americas From the crisis of the Great Depression through the 1970s, the United States and Latin America produced remarkable efforts to remake society and political economy. This course analyzes the Cuban and Guatemalan revolutions, as well as social movements that transformed the United States: the black freedom movement, the labor movement, and changing forms of Latino politics. In all three countries, Americans looked for ways to reform capitalism or build socialism; address entrenched patterns of racism; define and realize democracy; and achieve national independence. They conceived of these challenges in dramatically different ways. Together, we ll compare national histories and analyze the relationships between national upheavals. In studying the US and Latin America together, the class allows students to explore central questions in both regions histories. What did capitalism, socialism, and communism amount to? What did democracy mean? What were the roots of racial inequality and how did Americans address it? Why were Americans so enticed by economic growth, and how did they pursue it? How did the Cold War shape social movements? What purposes did unions serve? How did Christianity inform movements for and against social change? Studying these regions together also allows us to explore international interactions. How did the black freedom movement in the US relate to the Cuban revolution? How did Latin American immigration shape the US labor movement? How did US Cold War policy influence Latin American revolutionary movements? The goal of this class is for you to interpret the readings and decide what you think. What you learn in this class, and the quality of our experience together, depends on your reading closely, coming to class with informed ideas and questions, and being prepared to help your classmates answer theirs. We will read approximately 100 pages per week. No background is required. This course fulfills the History and Tradition sector requirement. History and Tradition courses explore continuity and change in human thought, belief and action. They offer students the opportunity to interpret primary sources, understand the contexts in which the sources were created, and use them to write original, persuasive essays about the past. Required Readings: All readings on the syllabus are required. The following four books are available for purchase at the Penn Bookstore, 3601 Walnut Street, and on reserve in Van Pelt Library (Rosengarten Reserve). If you want to borrow books from 1

2 the library for more than a few hours, try EZBorrow or Borrow Direct, which deliver books within five days from nearby libraries and let you keep them for a few weeks. Links to these services are at library.upenn.edu. Jefferson Cowie, Capital Moves (2001) Piero Gleijeses, Shattered Hope (1992) Lillian Guerra, Visions of Power in Cuba (2012) [also an ebook] Michael K. Honey, Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights (1993) All other readings are on Canvas or, where noted in the syllabus, available as ebooks in the Penn library system. To access an ebook, go to library.upenn.edu and search for the title in Franklin. Required Work 1. Weekly Canvas posts and informed, responsive class participation. (20%) Canvas posts Each student must post a one-paragraph response to the week s readings by Tuesday at 9 a.m. During the first week of classes, posts are due Thursday, August 31 at 10 a.m. Posts are not graded, but are required to pass the class. Each week, I ll post a few questions on Canvas under Discussions. Read them before you dive into the books, and when you ve finished, choose one question to answer in your post. At the end of the post, pose one question of your own that the reading raised for you. To complete the Canvas post, you must do all the week s reading by Tuesday. On the syllabus, the division of readings between Tuesdays and Thursdays simply indicates when we will discuss each reading in class. Informed, Responsive Class Participation Our class is an opportunity to get to know your classmates intellectually, ask each other questions, help others answer theirs, and finally decide what you think. Everyone must complete the readings before class and participate in discussion throughout the semester in an informed, responsive way. By informed, I mean informed by a close reading of our texts, and by responsive, I mean responsive to each other, taking one other seriously enough to respond to each others observations, analyses, and questions. If speaking in class makes you nervous, consider the Canvas post an opportunity to prepare an idea that you can share with the group. 2. A three-page paper analyzing primary sources, due in hard copy at the beginning of class on Thursday, September 21. (15%) 3. An in-class midterm on October 24. (20%) 4. A seven-page final paper due in hard copy at the beginning of class on Thursday, November 30. (20%) 2

3 5. A final exam on Wednesday, December 20, 9-11 a.m. (25%) Attendance and Participation: Attendance is required, and students must complete the assigned reading before class. We will discuss the readings in every class, so please bring them with you. Laptops: Educational research shows that people learn more when they take notes by hand. Laptop use is not permitted in class for note-taking. You may open a laptop when we are analyzing a reading in electronic format. Required Film Screening: To be scheduled outside class time, we will watch Memories of Underdevelopment, a great film about the Cuban revolution by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Students who can not attend the screening are expected to watch the film on their own and submit a oneparagraph reflection. The film is available in Van Pelt and on youtube. Communication: The great pleasure of teaching is getting to know students. Come by my office hours or make an appointment to discuss any of the course material. For brief, procedural questions about the class, is fine. Disability: If you have a documented disability that requires accommodation, please let me know at the beginning of the semester. Academic integrity: Plagiarism and other violations of academic honesty can result in suspension and expulsion from Penn. Please review the university s guide on academic integrity ( Come and talk with me if you have any questions about the definition of plagiarism and academic honesty. Class Schedule Aug. 29 Introduction Part 1: A US Story Aug. 31 Sept. 5 The 1930s and the Crisis of Capitalism This week only, Canvas posts are due Thursday at 10 a.m. Michael Honey, Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights, pp [This portion of the book is on Canvas to help those who can not obtain a hard copy in time. The rest of the book must be read in hard copy.] Industrial Unionism Michael Honey, Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights, pp Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!, pp Declaration of Independence by United Steel Workers of America FDR, Speech to the Democratic National Convention,

4 Sept. 7 Sept. 12 Sept. 14 Sept. 19 Sept. 21 Sept. 26 Sept. 28 The Popular Front I Michael Honey, Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights, Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!, pp Howard Johnson, A Communist in Harlem David Friedman, A New York City Schoolteacher in the Party The Popular Front II Discussion session Robin D. G. Kelley, Hammer and Hoe, chapter 5 Pauli Murray, Pauli Murray: The Autobiography of a Black Activist, chapters 9-10 Labor and Civil Rights in Wartime Michael Honey, Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights, chapters 6-7 Walter Reuther, More Airplanes for Defense, 1940 A. Philip Randolph, The Call to Negro America to March on Washington, 1941 Competing Visions of Postwar Prosperity Joshua Freeman, American Empire, chapters 1-4 Walter Reuther, radio broadcast, Toledo, February 22, 1946 Postwar Growth and Inequality: The Rise of the Sunbelt Images from Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise First paper due in hard copy at the start of class Postwar Growth and Inequality: Suburbanization Discussion session Thomas J. Sugrue, Sweet Land of Liberty, chapter 7 Richard Nixon, What Freedom Means to Us HOLC materials from Philadelphia, 1937 Greed of Real Estate Interests Reason for Racial Covenants, New World, 2/5/48 Cold War Civil Rights Nancy MacLean, Freedom is Not Enough, chapter 2 President s Commission on Civil Rights, To Secure These Rights Waldo E. Martin, Brown v. Board of Education, pp. 199, , 214 Part 2: A Guatemalan Story Oct. 3 Oct 5. Oct. 10 Oct. 12 The Democratic Spring Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, Prologue and Chapters 1-2 A New Guatemala, in Greg Grandin et. al., Guatemala Reader (2011), [ebook: go to library.upenn.edu and search for the book title.] If That Is Communism, Then They Are Communists, in Greg Grandin et. al., Guatemala Reader (2011), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Fall Break: No Class Guatemalan Communism Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, chapters 4-7 A Mexican Bolshevik in Central America, in Greg Grandin et. al., eds., Guatemala Reader (2011), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Land Reform 4

5 Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, chapters 8-9 Most Precious Fruit of the Revolution, in Greg Grandin et. al., Guatemala Reader (2011), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Oct. 17 Oct. 19 Oct. 24 The Guatemalan Opposition Discussion session Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, chapter 10 Arevalista to Counterrevolutionary, in Greg Grandin et. al., eds., Guatemala Reader (2011), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Archbishop Mariano Rossell y Arrellano, Enemies of Christ, in Greg Grandin et. al., eds., Guatemala Reader (2011), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Coup and Counterrevolution Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, chapters 11, 13-epilogue Sabotage for Liberty, in Greg Grandin et. al., Guatemala Reader (2011), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] A Plan for Assassination, in Greg Grandin et. al., Guatemala Reader (2011), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Midterm Part 3: A Cuban Story Oct. 26 Oct. 31 Nov. 2 Cuba Before the Revolution: Sugar and its Discontents Skidmore, Modern Latin America, pp Life at the Mill, in The Cuba Reader, ed. Aviva Chomsky et. al. (2003), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Migrant Workers in the Sugar Industry, in The Cuba Reader, ed. Aviva Chomsky et. al. (2003), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Sugar Mills and Soviets, in The Cuba Reader, ed. Aviva Chomsky et. al. (2003), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Why A Revolution in Cuba? Louis A. Perez, Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution, pp Fidel Castro, History Will Absolve Me, in The Cuba Reader, ed. Aviva Chomsky et. al. (2003), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Turning to Socialism Discussion session Louis A. Perez, Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution, pp Fish à la Grande Jardinère, in The Cuba Reader, ed. Aviva Chomsky et. al. (2003), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Women in the Swamps, in The Cuba Reader, ed. Aviva Chomsky et. al. (2003), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] 1961: The Year of Education, in The Cuba Reader, ed. Aviva Chomsky et. al. (2003), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Film screening to be scheduled: Memories of Underdevelopment Nov. 7 The Search for a Socialist Economic Strategy 5

6 Nov. 9 Nov. 14 Nov. 16 Louis A. Perez, Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution, Lee Lockwood, Castro s Cuba, Cuba s Fidel (1967), pp Racism and Anti-Racism in the Cuban Revolution Alejandro de la Fuente, A Nation for All, chapter 7 Antonio Benítez Rojo, Heaven and Earth (1984) The Cuban Revolution on a World Stage: Debating Guerrilla Warfare Piero Gleijeses, The View from Havana: Lessons from Cuba s African Journey, , in Gilbert M. Joseph and Daniela Spenser, eds., In from the Cold [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Alma Guillermoprieto, The Harsh Angel From Democracy to Grassroots Dictatorship Discussion session Lillian Guerra, Visions of Power in Cuba, chapters 1, 2, 4 Che Guevara, Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, in The Cuba Reader, ed. Aviva Chomsky et. al. (2003), [ebook at library.upenn.edu] Part 4: Connections and Reverberations Nov. 21 Nov. 23 Nov. 28 Nov. 30 Dec. 5 Dec. 7 Capital Mobility and Precarious Work: From Cuba to Florida Discussion session Cindy Hahamovitch, The Worst Job in the World : Reform, Revolution, and the Secret Rebellion in Florida s Cane Fields, Journal of Peasant Studies 35, no. 4 (October 2008), Thanksgiving: No Class Capital Mobility and Precarious Work: From the US to Mexico (I) Jefferson Cowie, Capital Moves, Introduction and chapters 1, 3 Capital Mobility and Precarious Work: From the US to Mexico (II) Final paper due in hard copy at the beginning of class Jefferson Cowie, Capital Moves, chapter 4 Chinese Textile Mills Are Now Hiring in Places Where Cotton Was King, New York Times, August 2, 2015 Fruits of Cold War Movements: Latino Politics and Conservative Color-Blindness Nancy MacLean, Freedom is Not Enough, chapters 5, 7 Conclusion 6