Podcast #109: Radical Unionism in the Midwest
It's September 7th, 2009. On this episode, we celebrate Labor Day by playing a portion of our recent interview with labor historian and activist Rosemary Feurer, author of the groundbreaking book Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950.
Obama Needs a Little Help From his Friends
I read too many analysts these days that say that the passage of real health care reform rests largely on President Obama’s shoulders.
Class Struggle in St. Louis, an Interview with Rosemary Feurer
When I found this story, it seemed almost the opposite of everything that my father had ever told me when I was growing up, and that in itself was compelling as well. It was the really the flip side, the hidden side of American history, especially of St. Louis history.
Fighting for Change: The Great Depression, the New Deal and the CPUSA
Communists were not the only ones calling for socialism or fighting for practical reforms to alleviate the crisis, but Communists were by far the most important and successful in their efforts. They created a new, more cohesive left, both more militant and more flexible in strategy and tactics.
Book Review: Anticommunism and the African American Freedom Movement
As Robbie Lieberman and Clarence Lang, editors of the valuable new collection of essays Anticommunism and the African American Freedom Struggle, note, two pitfalls particularly afflict scholarship on post World War II struggles for African American freedom and equality.
The Impossible is Now Possible: Assessing the Obama Presidency
Considering all of the political complexities of the new era we have entered, President Obama has done a remarkable job in his short time in office. Those of us on the left need to look ahead and refuse to let differences with some of the President’s decisions keep us from seeing the historic and positive changes that are happening.
What’s Wrong with Rite Aid is What’s Wrong with America
As the debate rages for President Barack Obama’s sweeping health care reform bill, Americans are gaining quite an education. The public now knows, for example, that health related industries, including insurance companies, do not operate for profit in other industrialized countries, and that accounts for the much higher cost of health care here.
