A Short History Of The International Workers’ Holiday 1886-1986 Philip Foner    1986    192p    5 x 8 A useful introduction to the history of labor struggles, and the birth, and celebration, of May Day, first as an American, soon an international, workers’ holiday. $6-10 Other works involving philip foner, may day

John Steinbeck    1936    274p    MMPB With only a few weeks to pick the apples before their spoil, tensions run high and boil over after migrant workers go on strike right as the apple-picking season begins. $1-5 Other works involving john steinbeck, labor struggles

Ursula K. Le Guin 1978 192p 5 x 8 In Victoria on a former prison colony, two exiled groups–the farmers of Shantih and the City dwellers–live in apparent harmony. All is not as it seems, however. While the peace-loving farmers labor endlessly to provide food for the City, where the City Bosses rule the Shantih … Continue reading The Eye of Heron →

B. Traven     1926     207p     5 x 8 The background of The Cotton-Pickers, set in Mexico in the 1920s, is the struggle of the emerging trade unions to end the exploitation of hungry laborers. Gales, a laconic American drifter, turns his hand to anything for a meal and a flea-bitten … Continue reading The Cotton-Pickers →

Or, Songs for Lucy Parsons The May Day Orchestra   Vinyl   2009 “The ‘Folk Opera’ concerning the labor question” according to its liner notes, this is the debut release from The May Day Orchestra, a group started by Tim Rakel in 2008 to write historically-rooted albums with various musical accompaniment. Words for the songs … Continue reading May Day →

Rose Pesotta 1944 435p 6 x 8 Rose Pesotta was an anarchist, feminist labor organizer and the vice president of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. Born in Ukraine in the 1890s, Pesotta’s interest in Narodnaya Volya eventually lead her to anarchism. Arriving in New York City in 1913, Pessota found work in the garment … Continue reading Bread Upon the Waters →

The Story of the Great San Francisco General Strike of 1934 Mike Quinn 1979 259p 5 x 7 On May 9, 1934, International Labor Association (ILA) leaders called a strike of all dockworkers on the West Coast who were joined a few days later by seamen and teamsters, effectively stopping all shipping from San Diego … Continue reading The Big Strike →

André Breton, Surrealism, Rebel Worker, SDS and the Seven Cities of Cibola Penelope Rosemont 2008 250p 5.5 x 8 Nationwide campus surveys show that students today regard the 1960s as the most attractive, creative, and effective decade of the past century. Above all, the Sixties introduced an inspiring new radicalism—in truth, many new radicalisms, a … Continue reading Dreams and Everyday Life →

Situationists and the Beach, May 1968 Dark Star Collective 2001 120p 8 x 8 An anthology of the three classic Situationist pamphlets—The Poverty of Student Life, Totality for Kids, and The Decline and Fall of the Spectacular Commodity Economy, plus an eyewitness account of the Paris May ’68 events. Much of the Situ creed was … Continue reading Beneath the Paving Stones →

 The Life and Times of A Black Wobbly Ben Fletcher & Peter Cole     2006     149p     5.5 x 8.5 The great African American Wobbly organizer, Benjamin Fletcher (1890-1949), was noted for his brilliant organizing ability and imaginative on-the-job strategies, as well as for his courage, humor, and excellence as a … Continue reading Ben Fletcher →