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A reminder: How quickly things can change when movements forge a radical solidarity in action (‘Radical Seattle’ reviewed in ‘Labor History”)

Seattle’s working class and its ‘intense localism’ as ‘unparalleled’ allowing these workers to form a ‘radical consensus’ with fluid political lines ‘left, right and center’ positioning the IWW, the Socialist, and the craft union’s Central Labor Council (CLC) leaders ‘on the same stage, in the same demonstrations, and on the same street corners’…. | more…

WATCH! MR Conversations: The Labor Guide to Retirement Plans

When I was still in a 401(k)-like plan and approaching age sixty-five after thirty-seven years of university teaching, I took stock of my future retirement income. I wanted to know what it would look like in terms of achieving the 70 percent of pre-retirement income that retirement experts state is necessary to maintain one’s standard of living… | more…

The Local Journalism Initiative (LJI): A proposal from MR author Robert W. McChesney

“In short, the principle is that journalistic organizations will be paid in advance, and what they produce primarily with public monies will be instantly put in the public domain and made available to all for free. The best check on abuses will be popular voting to determine the recipients. The process will be overseen by the U.S. Postal Service, with elections taking place online and with print ballots available at or through the Postal Service. This is a renewal of the Postal Service’s historic mission of sustaining independent and competitive journalism…” | more…

No Factchecking for Right-Wing Migration Myths (David Wilson, in ‘Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting’)

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked a bizarre question at President Joe Biden’s November 3 press briefing. The president seemed to misunderstand the question, which referred to potential settlements of a lawsuit stemming from the Trump administration’s notorious 2017–18 family separation policy. Biden bungled his response, apparently calling reports about the settlement “garbage.” Not surprisingly, the media ran with the story of Biden’s blunder. Doocy’s question, on the other hand, was mostly ignored or played down…. | more…

Her Majesty’s African-American Allies: A review by Gerald Horne

It is well-established that African-Americans have sought allies abroad as a way to weaken opposition at home. Often, scholars have tackled this important topic as it manifested during the Cold War. The work at hand emulates previous scholarship in detailing this trend during the antebellum and early postbellum era… | more…

Brings homes the seemingly Sisyphean task of a collective revolutionary project, “with theoretical and stylistic aplomb” (Marx & Philosophy Review of Books on “Marx, Dead and Alive”)

“Marx, Dead and Alive” packs an extraordinary amount into its 184 pages, both historical detail and in contemporizing Marx with multifarious global contexts and examples…. it would make an excellent introduction for someone just starting to grasp Marx and wanting clear definitions of alienation, capital, class, commodity fetishism, value and wage labour – amongst other key concepts…. | more…

Some ways forward after the devastating decline in union membership (Shaun Richman reviewed for Organizing Upgrade)

The ongoing debate about reviving the U.S. labor movement tries to grapple with the devastating decline in the union membership rate from one-third of the workforce in the 1950s to less than 11% today. In this discussion, occasionally a book comes along that is a great combination of labor history, thoughtful analysis of union organizing, and suggestions for ways forward. Shaun Richman’s “Tell the Bosses We’re Coming: A New Action Plan for Workers in the Twenty-First Century” is such a book. | more…

Watch! Deutscher Prize 2020 discussion: “The Return of the Dialectics of Nature”

Friday, Nov 12th, join John Bellamy Foster and his colleagues Helena Sheehan (Dublin City University, Ireland), and Stefano B. Longo (North Carolina State University, Lund University, Sweden), as they engage in a discussion — chaired by Alfredo Saad Filho — of some of the themes that arise in the 2020 Deutscher Prize Winner, “The Return of Nature.” | more…

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