Working Class History

Working Class History

History isn't made by kings and politicians, it's made by all of us. This podcast is about how we, together, have fought for a better world.
Become a paid subscriber, support our work and listen ad-free with early access and exclusive bonus episodes at patreon.com/workingclasshistory.

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E73 Ben Fletcher, part 1
3d ago
E73 Ben Fletcher, part 1
First in a double podcast episode about Ben Fletcher, a very important but little-known dock worker and labour organiser in the US with the Industrial Workers of the World union.In these episodes, we speak with historian Peter Cole, author and editor of Ben Fletcher: The Life And Times Of A Black Wobbly. We also hear words written by Fletcher, voiced by fellow Wobbly, Alki.In part 1 we learn about his early life, as well as his union branch, Local 8, which in the early 20th-century organised thousands of workers on the Philadelphia docks and was the most powerful multiracial union in the country at the time.Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryFull information, acknowledgements, sources and a transcript are on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e73-ben-fletcher/AcknowledgementsThanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands and Jamison D. Saltsman.Words of Ben Fletcher voiced by Alki. Check out his YouTube channel here, or follow him on Twitter here.Episode graphic: Ben Fletcher in 1918, enhanced by WCH. Courtesy US National Archives and Records Administration/Wikimedia Commons.Theme music: “Solidarity (Forever)”, written by Ralph Chaplin, performed by The Nightwatchman, Tom Morello. Buy or stream it here.Edited by Louise BarryThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E72: Swing Kids and Edelweiss Pirates
Apr 3 2023
E72: Swing Kids and Edelweiss Pirates
Podcast episode about anti-fascist youth cultural movements in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. In particular we look at the German Edelweiss Pirates and Swing Kids, and in our patreon bonus episode we also speak about the French Zazous and the Austrian Schlurfs.Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryDespite years of indoctrination, young people in fascist Europe in the 1930s and 40s resisted the authoritarianism and conformism of Nazi rule. We hear from former Edelweiss Pirate Walter Mayer, and speak with historian Nick Heath about these little-known movements.E72.1: Zazous and Schlurfs, bonus episode – available exclusively for our patreon supportersAnti-fascist books and merchandise – Posters, clothing and merchandise using artwork by or inspired by the Edelweiss Pirates and other 1930s anti-fascists in Germany.See sources, more information and a transcript on the webpage for this episode here: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/72-edelweiss-pirates-swing-kids/.AcknowledgementsThanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands and Jamison D. Saltsman.Episode graphic, mural of a group of Edelweiss Pirates in Cologne, courtesy wwwuppertal Flickr, CC by 2.0.Edited by Louise BarryThe theme music was Functionizin’, by Fats Waller, courtesy of the Swiss Foundation and Wikimedia Commons.Also featured was Richard Wagner’s Gerechter Gott, performed by Ernestine Schumann-Heink also courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E71: The Cartography of Struggle, with Coffee with Comrades
Jan 31 2023
E71: The Cartography of Struggle, with Coffee with Comrades
We chat with Pearson from the Coffee with Comrades podcast about our new web apps: the Working Class History Map and Stories app. This episode has been timed to coincide with the public launch of our web apps on January 31.Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryIn this episode, we talk about why we started the mapping project, what it’s about, how people can use it, and about different ways of interacting with people’s history. We also talk about how it differs from any other radical history mapping project.Check out the Map at map.workingclasshistory.comCheck out the Stories app at stories.workingclasshistory.comThere is an additional bonus episode with Pearson speaking about their experiences using the map on a trip to London. Coming later today exclusively for our patreon supporters.If you enjoy it, make sure to check out Coffee with Comrades, who are also supported by patreon. Connect with them here: Web: https://coffeewithcomrades.com/Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/coffeewithcomradesTwitter: http://twitter.com/coffeewcomradesAcknowledgementsThanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible.Episode produced by Coffee with Comrades, additional editingby Jesse FrenchOur theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E49: Anti-Racist Action in Minneapolis
Oct 13 2022
E49: Anti-Racist Action in Minneapolis
Rerelease of our episode 49 about Anti-Racist Action in Minneapolis, because we are currently trying to co-publish a book, We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Action, which is the definitive history of the group across the US. To fund its publication, we are currently running a Kickstarter campaign so please do check it out here, and support it by pre-ordering your copy at a great discount with lots of other great rewards.Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory Anti-Racist Action (ARA) started in Minneapolis and is a predecessor to the crews often now called antifa. ARA started in 1987 with a multiracial group of teenage skinheads who fought the rising white power movement. It grew into a network of groups in at least 120 towns and cities across the US and Canada. ARA’s first principle was: “We go where they go. Never let the Nazis have the streets.” They eventually applied that not only to white power organising, but to homophobic and anti-abortion organizing, and to police violence, which they saw as all connected. Producer and host Anna Stitt tells the story of the group in Minneapolis through vivid first-person accounts, archival audio, and music from the era. It starts under the railroad tracks in Uptown, Minneapolis and traces a movement that continues to shape the US to this day. Learn about the group across the US in the forthcoming book, We Go Where They Go, which you can preorder from our Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wrkclasshistory/we-go-where-they-go-the-story-of-anti-racist-actionMore information about this episode, photos, full acknowledgements and a transcript here on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/2021/01/11/e49-anti-racist-action-in-minneapolis/ Listen to our exclusive bonus episode, where we discussed the topic further with Anna, and listen to more tape from participants about their early lives, political backgrounds and more on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/e49-1-anti-bonus-46081746This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E70: Howard Zinn 100, part 2
Aug 29 2022
E70: Howard Zinn 100, part 2
Second in a double podcast episode about the life and work of Howard Zinn, historian, World War II veteran and activist, in his own words, 100 years since his birth.Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryYou can listen to our podcast on the below links, or on any major podcast app. Links to a few below.Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States and other texts, was one of the most influential historians in the US in the 20th-century, inspiring a generation to study history from below, including us. Born in New York in August 1922, we are releasing these episodes for the centenary of his birth, as part of a series of Howard Zinn 100 events. In these episodes, Zinn tells the story of his life, his activism, his ideas and his work in his own words, in what was one of his last, if not the last, interview before his sudden death in 2010. This little-known interview was conducted by Sasha Lilley, and excerpts from it are used with permission of Lilley and PM Press.A DVD video of the full interview is available here in our online store: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/theory-and-practice-conversations-with-noam-chomsky-and-howard-zinn-dvdGet A People's History of the United States from an independent bookstore here: https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9780062397348Get the rest of the People's History series here from an independent bookstore: https://bookshop.org/lists/people-s-history-seriesFull show notes, sources acknowledgements and a transcript on the webpage for this episode here: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e69-70-howard-zinn-100/This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E69: Howard Zinn 100, part 1
Aug 17 2022
E69: Howard Zinn 100, part 1
First in a double podcast episode about the life and work of Howard Zinn, historian, World War II veteran and activist, in his own words, 100 years since his birth.Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryYou can listen to our podcast on the below links, or on any major podcast app. Links to a few below.Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States and other texts, was one of the most influential historians in the US in the 20th-century, inspiring a generation to study history from below, including us. Born in New York in August 1922, we are releasing these episodes for the centenary of his birth, as part of a series of Howard Zinn 100 events. In these episodes, Zinn tells the story of his life, his activism, his ideas and his work in his own words, in what was one of his last, if not the last, interview before his sudden death in 2010. This little-known interview was conducted by Sasha Lilley, and excerpts from it are used with permission of Lilley and PM Press.A DVD video of the full interview is available here in our online store: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/theory-and-practice-conversations-with-noam-chomsky-and-howard-zinn-dvdGet A People's History of the United States from an independent bookstore here: https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9780062397348Get the rest of the People's History series here from an independent bookstore: https://bookshop.org/lists/people-s-history-seriesFull show notes, sources acknowledgements and a transcript on the webpage for this episode here: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e69-70-howard-zinn-100/This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E64: Mildred Fish-Harnack, part 2
Apr 29 2022
E64: Mildred Fish-Harnack, part 2
Concluding part of our double podcast episode about Mildred Fish-Harnack, the US-born woman at the centre of the underground resistance to Nazism in Berlin during World War II. In conversation with Rebecca Donner, Mildred’s great great niece and author of All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days.Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryIn this part we cover a terrible blunder which transpired, repression, aftermath, the response of Allied powers, and the historical legacy.Get Mildred's book here: https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9780316561693Full acknowledgements, photos, sources, more information and eventually a transcript on the homepage for this double episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e63-64-mildred-fish-harnack/AcknowledgementsThanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Stone Lawson. Episode graphic courtesy of the Donner family. Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here. Or stream it here. This episode was edited by Jesse French.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E63: Mildred Fish-Harnack, part 1
Apr 17 2022
E63: Mildred Fish-Harnack, part 1
First in a double podcast episode about Mildred Fish-Harnack, the US-born woman at the centre of the underground resistance to Nazism in Berlin during World War II. In conversation with Rebecca Donner, Mildred’s great great niece and author of All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days.Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. For example, our supporters can listen to part 2 of this double episode now: https://www.patreon.com/posts/e64-mildred-fish-64573851Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryIn this part we cover the background, Mildred’s early life, the Nazis’ rise to power, the resistance, and the beginnings of her involvement in international espionage.Get Mildred's book here: https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9780316561693Full acknowledgements, photos, sources, more information and eventually a transcript on the homepage for this double episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e63-64-mildred-fish-harnack/Acknowledgements Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Conor Canatsey, Shae, James, Ariel Gioia, Stone Lawson, and Fernando López-Ojeda. Episode graphic courtesy of the Donner family. Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here. Or stream it here. This episode was edited by Jesse French.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E62: League of Revolutionary Black Workers, part 2
Mar 7 2022
E62: League of Revolutionary Black Workers, part 2
Second of a double podcast episode about the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit in the late 60s/early 70s, in conversation with Herb Boyd, author of Black Detroit and former member of the group, and Dan Georgakas, author of Detroit I Do Mind Dying.This podcast is only possible because of support from our listeners on patreon. Join us and get access to exclusive content at https://patreon.com/workingclasshistoryThis is an improved, extended and partially re-recorded version of our podcast episode 12. We have added more audio clips from other members of the League, including General Baker, Mitch and Darryl “Waistline” Mitchell. We have also added narrative for additional detail, context and to tell the story in a more cohesive manner. Whether you listened to the original episode or not, we hope you enjoy it!Get hold of Dan and Herb's books on these links:– Dan Georgakas and Marvin Surkin, Detroit: I Do Mind Dying: A Study in Urban Revolution – https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9781608462216– Herb Boyd, Black Detroit: A People’s History of Self-Determination – https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9780062346636More information, sources, acknowledgements and more on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e61-the-league-of-revolutionary-black-workers-in-detroit/This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E61: The League of Revolutionary Black Workers, part 1
Feb 24 2022
E61: The League of Revolutionary Black Workers, part 1
Double podcast episode about the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit in the late 60s/early 70s, in conversation with Herb Boyd, author of Black Detroit and former member of the group, and Dan Georgakas, author of Detroit I Do Mind Dying.This podcast is only possible because of support from our listeners on patreon. Join us and get access to exclusive content at https://patreon.com/workingclasshistoryThis is an improved, extended and partially re-recorded version of our podcast episode 12. We have added more audio clips from other members of the League, including General Baker, Mitch and Darryl “Waistline” Mitchell. We have also added narrative for additional detail, context and to tell the story in a more cohesive manner. Whether you listened to the original episode or not, we hope you enjoy it!Get hold of Dan and Herb's books on these links:– Dan Georgakas and Marvin Surkin, Detroit: I Do Mind Dying: A Study in Urban Revolution – https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9781608462216– Herb Boyd, Black Detroit: A People’s History of Self-Determination – https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9780062346636More information, sources, acknowledgements and more on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e61-the-league-of-revolutionary-black-workers-in-detroit/This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E60: The Bread Intifada, part 2
Dec 27 2021
E60: The Bread Intifada, part 2
Concluding part of our double podcast episode on the 1977 Bread Intifada in Egypt. We speak with journalist and revolutionary socialist, Hossam el-Hamalawy, about the uprising and its significance today.Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. For example you can listen to part 2 of this double episode now. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryMusic used in this episode under fair use was “Build Your Palaces” by Sheikh Imam. Available to stream here. We attempted to find copyright holders but were unsuccessful; if anyone has any information about this, please email info@workingclasshistory.com.For more information on the Bread Intifada, reading Hossam’s 2001 Master’s thesis on the subject: https://arabawy.org/111742/1977/See also Lafif Lakhdar’s ‘The development of class struggle in Egypt’ in Khamsin: Journal of revolutionary socialists of the Middle-East, issue #5: https://libcom.org/library/development-class-struggle-egyptFull show notes, acknowledgements, sources, more information and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/blog/e59-60-the-bread-intifada/This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement
E59: The Bread Intifada, part 1
Dec 13 2021
E59: The Bread Intifada, part 1
Part 1 of our double episode on the 1977 Bread Intifada in Egypt, in which hundreds of thousands of working-class Egyptians rose up against the government’s termination of food subsidies. We speak to Egyptian journalist and revolutionary socialist, Hossam el-Hamalawy, about the uprising, the decade of worker-student militancy leading up to it, and its relevance today.Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. For example you can listen to part 2 of this double episode now. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryMusic used in this episode under fair use was “Build Your Palaces” by Sheikh Imam. Available to stream here. We attempted to find copyright holders but were unsuccessful; if anyone has any information about this, please email info@workingclasshistory.com.For more information on the Bread Intifada, reading Hossam’s 2001 Master’s thesis on the subject: https://arabawy.org/111742/1977/See also Lafif Lakhdar’s ‘The development of class struggle in Egypt’ in Khamsin: Journal of revolutionary socialists of the Middle-East, issue #5: https://libcom.org/library/development-class-struggle-egyptFull acknowledgements, show notes, photos, sources and more information on the webpage for this episode here: workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e57-w…rs-1902-1922/This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement