In Dubious Battle- John Steinbeck
Story about two Communists who set out to organise a strike of seasonal fruit pickers in California.
California labor: Total engagement
Submitted by IDP on Oct 23 2012 05:27
This chapter from Carey McWilliams, California: The Great Exception (1949) tells the history of class war in San Francisco, when "all of labor [was] pitted against all of capital." The conditions were unique: "Nowhere in the world has there been a more favorable economic environment, nor more freedom for social and political experiments than in California." The result? Wobbly organizing and near-general strikes on the San Francisco waterfront in 1886, 1893, 1901, and 1916, setting the stage for the 1934 General Strike, followed by the Oakland General Strike in 1946.
You are not Durutti, but we are uncontrollable: beyond a critique of non-violence
Critical reflections in late 2011 on Occupy Oakland and the debate around non-violence and a critique of the Left.
At a recent forum on “non-violence” vs a “diversity of tactics,” an event that was attended by over 400 people for the purpose of discussing the role of violence within Occupy Oakland, the MC of the event, Rahula Janowski, put many things in context. “The occupy movement, the movement of the 99%, has already had a pretty enormous impact.
California cops clamp down on Disneyland dissent
Submitted by Ramona on Aug 1 2012 09:28
An update from Adam Ford on the dissent - and repression - following the fatal shooting of 25 year-old Manuel Diaz by police, in Anaheim, California.
Disneyland in Anaheim is emblematic of 'the American dream' - a make-believe world where 'good' always triumphs over 'evil' in the end, and childhood innocence lasts forever.
The ruling classroom
Submitted by wojtek on Mar 18 2012 06:23
Whilst Ron Jones' The Third Wave has received a lot of attention and been dramatised, George Muldoon's experiments in capitalist democracy involving two groups of seventh graders in Mill Valley, California have seemingly slipped under the political radar...
"I said years and years and years ago that the public school system is like a microcosm for the United States, all of its goods and its bads and its smelly politicians and corruptness can be found in the school system with teachers, administrators and their damn passing the buck from one thing to another."
- George Muldoon, 7th grade social studies teacher.
Porkchops for All! The 100th anniversary of the San Diego Free Speech Fights
"…the American class-struggles are more serious than European ones in that they obtain more results with less ideology.” – Mario Tronti
Californian nurses strike over patient care and pensions
Submitted by working class s... on Feb 2 2012 22:00
Thousands of nurses across California have gone on strike to fight for their pensions which are being slashed by Kaiser Permanente. They have been joined on the picket line in a 'sympathy' strike by nurses from a union with a 'no strike' policy, and by maintainence workers.
An estimated 4,000 nurses employed by Kaiser Permanente in California have gone on strike across eighty of the state’s hospitals and clinics.
Occupy Oakland and general strike call - updates and discussion
Submitted by Juan Conatz on Oct 28 2011 01:37
Following the violent eviction of Occupy Oakland by police in which Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen was left critically injured, and assembly voted to build for a wildcat general strike on 2 November. Updates and discussion in the comments below.
A couple days ago, the Oakland police forcibly evicted Occupy Oakland with tear gas, flash bang grenades and either rubber, beanbag or wooden bullets (or possibly all three). In the process, a number of people were injured, most seriously an Iraq Veterans of the War member who had gone through 2 tours of Iraq.
Political work with women and as women in the present conditions: Interview with Silvia Federici
An interview with Italian Marxist feminist, Silvia Federici which centers around austerity measures in the universities, the response from students in California and women's place and experience within these movements.
Maya Gonzalez and Caitlin Manning1: You have written about university struggles in the context of neo-liberal restructuring. Those struggles responded to attempts to enclose the knowledge commons.
- 1. With contributions from Aaron Benanav, Amanda Armstrong, Chris Chen, and Zhivka Valiavicharska
California dreaming
Subversion on the class elements of the LA riots of 1992.
When Capitalism is confronted by events which rupture the smooth facade of its peaceful order (the peace of slavery) and challenge the grip of its talons on our bodies and on our minds, it responds in a practised manner.
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