Author Archives: Katie

This Week in History: The Strike at McKees Rocks

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Katie

by K. Wilson On July 13, 1909, the long-suffering immigrant workers in the riveting department of the Pressed Steel Car Company plant at McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, approached the company offices with a list of grievances. They were rebuffed, so they … Continue reading →

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Shy, Sick – or Suffering?

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Katie

Like coffee and alcohol, prescription psychotropic drugs are becoming a routine part of coping with everyday life. Fifty years ago, when the pharmaceutical industry was still in its infancy and ‘mental health’ newly risen to prominence as a national issue, it must have seemed somewhat remarkable to have a relative or friend undergoing psychiatric treatment. Today it is nearly impossible not to know such a person. Continue reading →

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Are Cooperatives Utopian?

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Katie

Worker cooperatives have never occupied a central place within Marxist theories of class struggle. They have not been regarded as a revolutionary force in society, and still less has their formation been considered a worthwhile or necessary activity for revolutionaries themselves to engage in. If we look more closely, however, we find that this question of cooperatives cannot be dismissed so simply. Continue reading →

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Envisioning the Community of Workers: Alliance to Develop Power

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Katie

We believe that the future of the workers’ movement depends on the creation of new forms of working class community. But this is not just an abstract idea. In fact, it is already happening… Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Practice | 2 Comments

Toward a New Model of Working Class Organizing II: What is the Community of Workers?

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Katie

by K. Wilson and S. Myers In the first article in this series we saw how, during the 20th century, capitalism destroyed the foundations of community in the developed countries. The community institutions through which people once satisfied their needs … Continue reading →

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Tales from the Class Struggle: Christine Ellis

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Katie

Here we present an autobiographical essay in which Christine Ellis describes her upbringing and her experiences as an organizer in the Midwestern United States during the 1930s. This essay is the first chapter of the book Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers, edited by Alice and Staughton Lynd (1973). Continue reading →

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This Week in History: May Day and the Haymarket Affair

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Katie

This week marks the 125th anniversary of the events that turned May 1 into International Workers’ Day. Continue reading →

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Reclaiming “Freedom”

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Katie

What is the appeal of the right wing? How do they get their votes? This is a persistent and puzzling question for liberals, and by now there is a standard answer. Continue reading →

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A Warning to the U.S. Government from Transnational Capital

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Katie

The news is out this morning that the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s is threatening the United States with a credit downgrade, expressing concern that the U.S. government will fail to adopt a sufficiently bold plan to reduce the federal deficit. Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events | 3 Comments

The Student Loan Bubble

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Katie

Rising student debt is far from the only sign that not all is well with the college system in the United States. Continue reading →

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