“There is Power in a Union”: Revolutionary Trade Unionism - History and Praxis
Trade unions and workers’ organizations have always played an important role in socialist revolutions and in building the Communist movement throughout the world. In this class, we will explore the history of the trade union movement and its connection to revolutionary movements. While international movements and history will be touched upon, we will focus our study on the context of the United States in thinking about how to apply our analysis. Why is worker organization necessary to forwarding the revolutionary moment? How can we identify and struggle against forces which attempt to use trade unions for reactionary means? How do we organize a new union or organize within our existing trade unions to advance mass democratic struggle?
COURSE MATERIALS
READING PACKETS
SUGGESTED
Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists and the Great Depression by Robin D.G. Kelley
The Rebel Girl: An Autobiography by Elizabeth G. Flynn
ASSIGNED READING PACKET SOURCES
A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution by Steve Cushion
A People’s Art History of the United States by Nicholas Lampert
An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman by Claudia Jones
Confessions of a Union Buster by Martin J. Levitt and Terry Conrow Toczynski
Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor by Kim Kelly
Labor’s Untold Story by Richard Boyer
Marxist-Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism by Frank Chapman
No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey