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UAW President Shawn Fain greeting striking Ford workers.

The Ghost of Reuther Past

The new UAW faces new challenges, but bears some distinct resemblances to the old.
by Harold Meyerson via The American Prospect on November 6, 2023
African American factory worker assembling an automobile engine.

How the UAW Broke Ford’s Stranglehold Over Black Detroit

The UAW's patient organizing cemented an alliance that would bear fruit for decades.
by Paul Prescod via Jacobin on October 23, 2023

Eight and Skate

The age of optimism that lasted in the US from the 1940s to the 1970s looked, basically, like a car.
by Gabriel Winant via New York Review of Books on September 23, 2023
United Auto Workers members at a rally.

UAW Strikes Built the American Middle Class

Today’s strikers are seeking to renew the broadly shared prosperity that earlier UAW work stoppages created.
by Harold Meyerson via The American Prospect on September 18, 2023
Woman strikers marching past vandalized factory building.

The Autoworker Strikes That Changed America

The first UAW strike was in the 1930s. Over the next century, the union amassed significant power while demanding higher wages, better benefits and protections.
by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff via Washington Post on September 16, 2023
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain shaking hands with union members.

Can the UAW Transform America Again?

By thinking big, Shawn Fain is summoning memories of Walter Reuther and the autoworkers’ union’s finest hour.
by Timothy Noah via The New Republic on September 15, 2023
UAW members during a sit-down strike in 1937

Remembering the First Clash Between UAW and GM

The GM strike recalls the Flint sit-down strikes of 1936-7: a profit-hungry corporation, a fed-up workforce, and workers' willingness to take militant action.
by Meagan Day via Jacobin on October 1, 2019

Shawn Fain Is Channeling the Best of the UAW’s Past

The ongoing UAW strike is reminiscent of early UAW leader Walter Reuther — before the union and Reuther himself downsized their ambitions.
by Barry Eidlin via Jacobin on October 16, 1923
Bishop Desmond Tutu speaks at an International Conference Against Apartheid held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1986.

US Worker Movements and Direct Links Against Apartheid

Today's pro-Palestinian activists are utilizing anti-apartheid tactics from thirty years ago.
by Mattie Christine Webb via Black Perspectives on April 26, 2024
Bayard Rustin speaks from the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.

Bayard Rustin Showed the Promise and Pitfalls of Coalition Politics

Bayard Rustin tried to forge a mass coalition to deliver progressive change. His failure to do so in the 1960s tells us much about building one today.
by Chris Maisano via Jacobin on December 9, 2023
British trade unionists blockade a weapons factory on November 10th, 2023.

The Problem of the Unionized War Machine

Union workers in the US weapons industry present a paradox for anti-war labor activists, but a history of “conversion” campaigns offers a route.
by Jeff Schuhrke via Jewish Currents on November 22, 2023
UAW workers at a strike event.

Revaluing the Strike

Rather than viewing strikes as a last-resort bargaining tactic, the labor movement must embrace them as engines of political transformation.
by Erik Baker via Jewish Currents on September 27, 2023
Striking workers at General Motors in 1970.

Nelson Lichtenstein on a Half-Century of American Class Struggle

The esteemed labor historian reflects on his life and career, including Berkeley in the 1960s, Walter Reuther, the early UAW, Walmart, Bill Clinton, and more.
by Nelson Lichtenstein, Micah Uetricht via Jacobin on July 10, 2023
The Detroit Renewable Power waste incinerator

Dire Straits

A new history of Detroit’s struggles for clean air and water argues that municipal debt and austerity have furthered an ongoing environmental catastrophe.
by Scott Wasserman Stern via New York Review of Books on June 2, 2022
Picket line march of auto workers.

Detroit Autoworkers’ Elusive Postwar Boom

The men who made the cars could not afford to buy them.
by Daniel Clark via The Metropole on January 30, 2020
Flint, Michigan sit-down strike.

The 1936 Sit-Down Strike That Shook the Auto Industry

Over 136,000 GM workers participated in the strike in Flint, Michigan that became known as 'the strike heard round the world.'
by Erin Blakemore via HISTORY on September 17, 2019
A broken key with a fist

The Road Not Taken

The shuttering of the GM works in Lordstown will also bury a lost chapter in the fight for workers’ control.
by Sarah Jaffe via The New Republic on June 24, 2019
Autoworkers in Janesville's GM plant

Labor Day Used to Be a Grand Celebration in This Storied Factory Town

Then the factory closed and the union crumbled.
by Amy Goldstein via The Nation on August 23, 2017
AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland stands behind a podium speaking into an array of microphones.

When US Labor Backed US Imperialism

After the successful purges of leftists from unions, US labor leaders were enlisted by government officials to join in their global imperialist operations.
by Micah Uetricht, Jeff Schuhrke via Jacobin on May 26, 2025
Eugene V. Debs delivers an antiwar speech in Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918.

The Unsung History of Heartland Socialism

The spirit of socialism has coursed through the American Midwest ever since the movement emerged, continuing to animate the political landscape today.
by Miles Kampf-Lassin via In These Times on August 30, 2024
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain wears a shirt reading ‘Trump is a Scab’ at the Democratic National Convention.

How Organized Labor Shames Its Traitors − The Story of the ‘Scab’

It’s important to understand why some workers might be motivated to weather scorn, rejection and even violence from their peers.
by Ian Afflerbach via The Conversation on August 23, 2024
Angela Davis standing at podium, speaking at Communist Party USA event.

How and Why American Communism Failed

Plus: One historian’s about-face on the Communist record.
by Ronald Radosh via The Bulwark on August 2, 2024
People seated at town hall meeting.

What We Get Wrong About White Workers

Deindustrialization has helped create a right-wing turn in many Midwestern towns. Long traditions of labor militancy can explain why it hasn’t in others.
by Chris Maisano, Stephanie Ternullo via Jacobin on July 9, 2024
Sections of the US Constitution torn to be used as pennants.

Is the United States Too Devoted to the Constitution?

A new book argues that worship of the Constitution has distorted our politics.
by John Fabian Witt via The New Republic on June 24, 2024
Volunteers at Big Creek Missions in Leslie County, Kentucky

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood

I’ve been going back to eastern Kentucky for over a decade. Since 2016, something there has changed.
by Bradley Devlin via The American Conservative on April 22, 2024
Starbucks workers on strike.

The Paradox of the American Labor Movement

It’s a great time to be in a union—but a terrible time to try to start a new one.
by Michael Podhorzer via The Atlantic on April 18, 2024
A newspaper article from the Inner City Voice in Detroit with the headline, "Black Workers Uprising."

Acid Rhythms

A look at the psychedlic-inspired music scene of Detroit.
by William Harris via n+1 on April 10, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court building.
partner

Why History Supports the EPA's 'Good Neighbor' Rules

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments about the rule, but Congress originally intended to prioritize public health.
by Warren Dennis via Made By History on February 21, 2024
At center: organized labor leader John L. Lewis surrounded by crowds of male workers of all races.

Fragile Juggernaut

Introducing a project on US labor history, exploring what we can learn from 1930s-1950s industrial struggles.
by Andrew Yamakawa Elrod via n+1 on January 24, 2024
Collage of George Romney giving a speech, the Baileys, their house, and riot police.

In 1967, a Black Man and a White Woman Bought a Home. American Politics Would Never Be the Same.

What happened to the Bailey family in the Detroit suburb of Warren became a flashpoint in the national battle over integration.
by Zack Stanton via Politico Magazine on December 22, 2023
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