Electric streetcars dominated the American urban landscape for only a brief period stretching from the late nineteenth century through the first few decades of the early twentieth century. Yet as Georg Leidenberger compellingly argues, streetcars became a critical issue in shaping cross-class alliances as well as in provoking political divisions along class lines in the heavily unionized city of Chicago during the Progressive era.

Leidenberger begins by exploring the rich diversity of the Chicago labour movement at the turn of the century. The backbone of the Chicago labour movement had historically been the building trades, but in the early twentieth century the newly created Teamsters Union and Chicago Teachers Federation (CTF) began to challenge the building trades for leadership of the local movement. The CTF proved especially important in building alliances with middle-class reformers. The growing clout of the Teamsters and CTF coincided with the election of reformist president John Fitzpatrick as head of the Chicago Federation of Labour (CFL). Fitzpatrick championed organizing efforts among previously non-unionized workers – ranging from cooks and waitresses to packinghouse and streetcar workers – that helped to transform the Chicago labour movement into one of the strongest in the country.

Although some scholars have emphasized that the ridership of streetcars was mostly middle class, in Chicago both the middle and working classes heavily used the streetcars to commute to work. But the average fare was five cents – equal to the hourly wage of unskilled Chicago factory workers – helping to fuel complaints from both the labour movement and middle-class reformers about profiteering and corruption among the streetcar companies. The labour movement also complained about poor service to working-class communities and the dangerous overcrowding that occurred on many inner-city streetcars. A militant streetcar strike in 1903 highlighted the poor wages and working conditions endured by streetcar employees and led the Chicago Federation of Labour to champion the cause of municipal ownership of the streetcars as a way to solve the problems faced by both riders and workers. Some middle-class groups also supported municipal ownership of the streetcars but others favoured more extensive public regulation of private streetcar companies as the best way to ensure high-quality service. The Chicago Federation of Labour appeared to score a political victory when municipal ownership advocate Edward Dunne was elected mayor in 1905, but Dunne proved unable to deliver on his electoral promises and was soon replaced by a Republican candidate who favoured a compromise proposal allowing private companies to retain control of their streetcar franchises in return for more thorough-going municipal regulation of their activities and prices.

Leidenberger argues persuasively that Chicago workers, far from being more apolitical than their British or European counterparts, were at the heart of municipal reform politics during the Progessive era. Ironically, he suggests that US labour's very extensive involvement in urban politics provoked a backlash among middle-class groups that hindered municipal ownership of the streetcars and other utilities. By contrast, in European cities the drive for municipal ownership of streetcars and utilities was often led by elites. Leidenberger's pioneering and well-researched book illuminates the need for future comparative work examining the role of urban labour movements in diverse regional and national contexts in promoting municipal ownership of public utilities and transportation.