"Such contented workers": Mine-mill organizers in the Ely, Nevada copper district, 1920--1943
This thesis historically examines CIO union organizers in the Ely, Nevada copper district from 1941 to 1943, when three International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (Mine-Mill) affiliates won National Labor Relations Board certification elections. Through their educational function of mobilizing working-class support for the union and of filtering the international union's progressive program to its locals, the Mine-Mill organizers fulfilled Antonio Gramsci's concept of the "organic intellectual." Although conditions favorable for unionization were apparent by the mid-1930s, Mine-Mill was initially frustrated as the union's left-wing and moderate leaders clashed over tactics, allowing several AFL craft unions to gain a foothold in the district. Mine-Mill's ultimate victory in 1943 ended the informal mediation of industrial relations that had developed after 1919 when employers instituted antiunion strategies such as welfare capitalism and the open shop.
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