This is an ever-growing list of text, audio, and video that has suggested (by someone) for possible distribution and discussion via SETI. Each month we’ll choose an item from this list to distribute and discuss. To add an item, post a comment at the bottom of this page and include a link to the text/audio/video and a brief summary of what it’s about.
Summary: “The [1995] struggle in and around the shipyards of Puerto Real, Spain, in both workplace and community, against threatened closure witnessed the anarcho-syndicalist union CNT playing both a prominent and decisive role.”
“Workers’ Control and the Contradictions of the Bolivarian Process” by Gustavo Martinez
Summary: An interview with Gustavo Martinez, a “union leader in the worker-controlled, nationalized coffee company, Fama de América, in Caracas, Venezuela”, conducted on June 10, 2010, by Canadian professors Jeffery Webber and Susan Spronk.
“1956: The Hungarian Revolution” by Peterloo Press
Summary: A day-by-day account of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, told from an anarchist perspective.
“Workers Power and the Spanish Revolution” by Tom Wetzel
Summary: A 36-page history of the anarchosyndicalist movement in the 1936 Spanish Revolution.
“Anarcho-syndicalism” by Rudolph Rocker
Summary: A classic piece on the history, principles and methods of anarchosyndicalism.
“The Labor Party Illusion” by Sam Dolgoff
Summary: A critique of the desire for a Labor Party among leftists in the U.S.
“The Industrial Workers’ Movement” by Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward
Summary: History and analysis of the changing relationships between mass workers’ struggles, unions, and the state in the U.S. during the 1930’s.
“The Unemployed Workers’ Movement” by Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward
Summary: History and analysis of mass movements of the unemployed in the U.S. during the 1930’s.
“Finally Got the News” by the League of Revolutionary Black Workers
Summary: A short film about the struggles of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in the Detroit area during the late 1960’s.
“The Seattle General Strike of 1919” by the History Committee of the General Strike Committee
Summary: An account of the Seattle General Strike, produced by members delegated from the Strike Committee immediately following the strike.
“Zanon: A Factory in the Hands of the Workers” by Wildcat
Summary: A study of the worker takeover and running of the Zanon ceramics factory in Argentina.
“Together we can create a future” by Aufheben
Summary: An analysis of the mass strike movement in the winter of 1995 in France.
“May 1968: Beginning of an Era” by the Situationist International
Summary: Analysis of the French student and worker uprising in May 1968.
“The Class Struggle in Italy: 1960’s to 1970’s” compiled by prole.info
Summary: A collection of brief accounts of class struggles in Italy during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s
“Working-class activity and councils” by Peter Rachleff
Summary: An account of the rise and fall of the working class movement in the German Revolution of 1918-1923
“The power of the Piqueteros”
Summary: Interview by Marina Sitrin with members of Argentina’s “Piquetero” movement of unemployed workers
“Picket and Pot Banger Together – Class recomposition in Argentina?” by Aufheben
Summary: “[Analysis of] the Argentinian uprising of 2001 and its roots in neoliberal economic policies and the history of the region”
Video: “Living Utopia” by Juan Gamero
Summary: 40-min documentary on anarchism in Spain before and during the revolution and civil war of 1936-39
“Driven From Below: A Look at Tenant Organizing and the New Gentrification” by Andrea Gibbons”
Summary: “A detailed look at some of the practical challenges involved in tenant organizing, and the building of long-lived and sustainable structures for horizontal organization and direct democracy”
“Precarious and pissed off: Lessons from the Montpelier Downtown Workers’ Union, 2003-2005” by Sean West
Summary: Brief reflections on the experience of building the Montpelier Downtown Workers Union, plus general lessons for organizing.
We Make The Road By Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change, by Paulo Friere & Myles Horton, Chapter 2: Formative Years
Summary: transcript of conversation between Paulo Friere, Brazilian popular educator and Myles Horton, US popular educator and founder of the Highlander Folk School. Chapter two focuses on their early years.
Tyree Scott and the United Construction Workers Association
Summary: Essay, video oral histories, pictures and more on Seattle activist/organizer Tyree Scott and the work of the United Construction Workers Association.
Kingdome Protest and HUD March, Nov., 1972 & International District Preservation Movement:
http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/aa_kingdome.htm
http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/aa_preservation.htm
Summary: Extensive websites on the organizing of local Asian Americans to preserve affordable housing and prevent gentrification in the International District of Seattle. Includes essays, pictures, video oral histories and news articles from the era.
Seattle General Strike Project
Summary: Extensive website on the 1919 Seattle General Strike.
Basics of Organizing – You Can’t Build A Machine Without Nuts And Bolts, by Shel Trapp
Summary: Short (35 pages) and simple introduction to direct action organizing. It has a staff-based slant, but is applicable to volunteer-only organizations.
Dynamics of Organizing, by Shel Trapp
Summary: Short (23 pages) introduction to principles of organizing relating to power, strategy, and tactics. The last section shows how liberal organizing without clear vision and principles is problematic, but the core organizing ideas are still valuable.
“Workplace Papers”, by the Sojourner Truth Organization
Summary: A collection of documents giving a theoretical analysis of decades of rank and file workplace organizing in factories in the Chicago Area. It goes through step by step what a workplace militant could do to organize her coworkers, it analyzes potentials and pitfalls of different strategies, and how this is part of a broader vision of building a labor movement that can challenge capitalism.
Film: “Salt of the Earth”
Summary: Story of a 1954 strike among mostly Mexican-American miners in New Mexico, the role of miners’ wives in the struggle, and how this role allowed them to challenge their subordinate status within the family.
Chapter 3 of “On Democracy” by Rogers and Cohen
Summary: On Democracy provides a “structural” analysis of capitalist democracy. It puts together a case for why capitalist democracy, because of the way resources are distributed and because the system rewards short-term self-interested behavior, cannot be a true democracy. It also talks about why, given the constraints of the system, reformism is the most “rational” course of behavior for individuals and social movements and the difficulties in building revolutionary movements.
Media How-To Guidebook – from Media Alliance (1999)
Summary: A practical guide to how an activist group can get effective media coverage. In answer to the question, “what’s the minimum it takes to get good coverage?” the book answers “one person six hours a week for a minimum of one month.” The 96 page book walks you though a single event with a schedule of when to do things and then gives a how-to for each component. Largely pre-internet, some of the specifics are dated, but most is still relevant.
Dedication and Leadership Techniques by Douglas Hyde
Summary: A series of lectures by a high-level Communist Party leader and trainer of trainers that defected to the Catholic Church in 1948. He outlines effective party organizing techniques from the 20s-40s, for possible general use, specifically adaptation by the Catholic Church. This is similar material to his longer book which is not available online. Ignore the right-wing foreword.
SETI: The SeaSol Education & Training Institute 
Pingback: SETI discussion blog | SETI: The SeaSol Education & Training Institute
Looks good, glad to see Seasol moving into education 😛
I recommend adding chapters from the book Poor People’s Movements by Piven & Cloward (a couple chapters are on prole.info, the whole book is on gigapedia), something about the Detroit Revolutionary Union Movements such as the film “Finally Got the News,” the Seattle general strike of 1912 such as the report on prole.info, the Wobblies, the recovered factories movement in Argentina (“The Take” or Wildcat’s “A Factory in the Hands of the Workers”), France 1995 (collection translated in Aufheben 5 as “Together we can create a future”) and 1968 (“Beginning of an Era”), Italy 1969 (“Class Struggle in Italy” from prole.info), the Kwangju Uprising and 1987 Ulsan Strike in Korea (articles by Goldner or Katsiaficas), and the workers council movements in Iran (“The working class in Iran” by Mostafa Saber), Germany (“Working-class activity and councils” by Peter Rachleff) and Russia (“Factory Committees in the Russian Revolution” by Rod Jones).
awesome. can you give a link for those articles on korea?
some more recent material would be nice, within the last 10 years… if anything is available.
sounds good – find some recent stuff and propose it!
just some suggestions for future reading.
the first is a chapter from cohen and rogers “on democracy.” the chapter is structural analysis of capitalist democracy – really great analysis of what were up against and why “reformism” is perpetually popular.
next, a chapter from chomsky’s book – power and ideology. the final chapter on “the domestic scene” again provides a great, concise overview of key features of american society.
both of these are general sort of over views, rather than lessens from specific fights.
finally, that youtube film about anarchists in the spanish civil war. maybe to show in a public forum? — (it looks like it was deleted from youtube – but perhaps we could find a copy somewhere.)
cheers,
-m
looks like you’re finding some good stuff online…
…here’s a couple other suggestions…
http://www.anarchist-studies.org/node/321
– somewhat interesting article on housing
Click to access perspective.pdf
– somewhat interesting theory on current US class composition
Apologies for the delay in getting this out. The topic for next months’ SETI group (SeaSol Education & Training Institute – https://seticabal.wordpress.com/ ) will be the Piqueteros, unemployed Argentine workers who blocked roads in large groups to get the government to meet their demands.
It was hard to find any one piece that covered the Piqueteros satisfactorily, so I chose two short articles:
1) This interview with members of Piquetero groups – http://artactivism.gn.apc.org/allpdfs/472-The%20Power%20of%20the.pdf
2) this more analytically minded piece from Aufheben, specifically Part 6 (“The Piqueteros”) here: http://libcom.org/library/argentina-aufheben-11
Also, I started a discussion here http://libcom.org/forums/theory/piqueteros-17092010 where I asked these questions, which might be useful for next month’s discussion, although please do come up with your own questions too…
What were the main tactics used by the Piqueteros aside from blocking motorways?
What are the reasons the Piqueteros tactics succeeded in Argentina to some extent in the late 90s/early 00s?
What did those tactics achieve?
What factors made it possible to win?
Why did it stop?
What is the current state of the Piqueteros?
How did they start, how did they come to use the methods they did?
Could they be reproduced in other countries now?
Please feel free to contribute to that forum thread…
Another one I’d like to recommend, although it’s not online, is Charles Payne’s “I’ve Got the Light of Freedom.” It about the bottom up method of organizing that SNCC employed in Mississippi in the early sixties. Really excellent book. Maybe we could read sections.
ok michael, i did find that spanish anarchism video online and added it to the list above. for the rest, since i can’t get it online, i can’t write a summary. would you like to submit quick summaries of them, like i’ve done above with the others?
I second the Charles Payne book!!
just get it online and submit a link & summary, and on the list it goes
An account and analysis of the Vermont Workers’ Center’s innovative but ultimately failed attempt to set up a geographically-based union in the state’s capital.
http://libcom.org/library/precarious-pissed-lessons-montpelier-downtown-workers-union-2003-2005
By the way, I second Matt’s suggestion of the Vermont Downtown Workers’ Union article. I think that would be a good one for discussion.
We Make The Road By Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change
Paulo Friere & Myles Horton
Chapter 2: Formative Years
http://books.google.com/books?id=zU8uFA4hlY0C&printsec=frontcover&output=html_text
Summary: transcript of conversation between Paulo Friere, Brazillian popular educator and Myles Horton, US popular educator and founder of the Highlander Folk School, both radical legends in their own right. Chapter two focuses on their early years,’and they both share insights that are well worth us discussing! I can copy and share my copy of this book with others!
Oh we are doing short summaries!
Summary: transcript of Paulo Friere and Myles Horton discussing their formative years and sharing their insights on radical education and organizing with working people.
Tyree Scott and the United Construction Workers Association
http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/ucwa_history.htm
Essay, video oral histories, pictures and more on Seattle hero Tyree Scott and the work of the United Construction Workers Association.
Kingdome Protest and HUD March, Nov., 1972 & International District Preservation Movement
http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/aa_kingdome.htm
http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/aa_preservation.htm
Extensive websites on the organizing of local Asian Americans to preserve affordable housing and prevent gentrification in the International District. Includes essays, pictures, video oral histories and news articles from the era.
Seattle General Strike Project
http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/strike/
Extensive website on the 1919 Seattle General Strike. There is countless stuff here that would be worth reading and discussing…
I’ve been reading some books on community organizing recently, and I think any/all of these would be good reads both for practical nuts and bolts and the principles behind them. Any discussion would need to address the fact that while the information is valuable, much of it assumes reformist staff-based organizing, often with electoral goals. Still, I really haven’t seen the valuable bits in any anarchist literature.
Saul Alinsky
Rules for Radicals
Reveille for Radicals
Alinsky is problematic in a lot of ways, but these books are useful for a couple reasons. First, he gives a good overview of core organizing principles, some of which is “common sense” but common sense that’s rarely talked about and rarely put into practice in volunteer-only activist groups. Second, Alinsky has been a huge influence in liberal staff-based organizing. Reading his ideas directly and looking at current liberal activist organizations gives good insight into the current playfield we’re in and how we need to borrow useful principles but steer our own course.
Shel Trapp
Basics of Organizing – You Can’t Build A Machine Without Nuts And Bolts
Click to access Basics%20of%20Organizing.pdf
Short (35 pages) and simple introduction to direct action organizing. It has a staff-based slant, but is applicable to volunteer-only organizations.
Shel Trapp
Dynamics of Organizing
Click to access Dynamics%20of%20Organizing.pdf
Short (23 pages) introduction to principles of organizing relating to power, strategy, and tactics. The last section shows how liberal organizing without clear vision and principles is problematic, but the core organizing ideas are still valuable.
Kimberley A. Bobo, Steve Max
Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy : Manual for Activists
A large manual (400 pages) based on the Midwest Acadamy’s organizer training program. It’s very staff-centered, and the bits about foundation grants and electoral politics are creepy, but there is a lot of valuable practical information about how to: build/strengthen an organization, find issues, identify targets, create strategies, do actions, evaluate actions, hold public meetings, recruit, mobilize, etc. It’s packed with very practical tips, worksheets and check lists. It’s a long read, but each chapter on individual topics (about 30 pages) can be read by itself. It’s not online, but there are plenty of used copies available from amazon for $10 including shipping. Also a specific chapter could be scanned and copied for one reading.
thanks greg. for now, seti has decided to only choose pieces that are available online, so i’ll just add those two that you linked to the master list. as for the others, if someone were to decide to scan them and post them somewhere…
I’d like to read the best parts of Rules for Radicals and Reveille for Radicals. Can someone help with choosing the best parts?
Hmm… with Rules for Radicals, the last two chapters can be skipped – they’re all about his ideas for getting middle class stock owners to use the power of corporate proxy votes to change society. A nutty idea that corporate America fixed in the 80s by removing any power minority shareholders have. That’s still about 150 pages left, though. Probably the best bits are chapters 5-7: Communication / In the Beginning / Tactics. I’m not sure how many pages that is, but it should be pretty short.
I think those chapters outline his main points – how organizers should communicate with and listen to the community, how to motivate them to build community power, and how to effectively use that power.
For Reveille for Radicals, Part I is all about his justification for a Thomas-Paine style radicalism and can probably be skipped. For Part II, I’m not sure which are most important, but I think the last chapter can be skipped since it’s less meaty and more just a call to action. That leaves chapters 4-10, which might be too many pages.
4. The Program
5. Native Leadership
6. Community Traditions and Organizations
7. Organizational Tactics
8. Conflict Tactics
9. Popular Education
10. Psychological Observations on Mass Organization
I’d probably have to re-read it all to see which of those are least important. 🙂
btw, rules for radicals is available by bit torrent if you google:
“rules for radicles”
(note the misspelling)
Media How-To Guidebook – from Media Alliance (1999)
Click to access Howtoguide-1.pdf
A straightforward and practical guide about how an activist group can get effective media coverage. In answer to the question, “what’s the minimum it takes to get good coverage?” the book answers “one person six hours a week for a minimum of one month.” The 96 page book walks you though a single event with a schedule of when to do things and then gives a how-to for each component. Largely pre-internet, some of the specifics are dated, but most is still relevant.
My favorite book about Myles Horton and the Highlander Folk School is Myles’s autobiography: The Long Haul. It reveals the roots of the highlander school – Myles’s own family’s experience with Depresson era unions, Danish Folk Schools, the CIO, and the Civil Rights Movement. This will give folks a better sense of Highlander as the crucial link between 2 successful movements – the CIO and the Civil Rights Movement.
Another book about Highlander – Seeds of Fire was written by one of Myles’s partners. It’s more ideological in orientation (communist)- and talks about why Highlander is\was great.
We make the Road By Walking is a conversation between two ‘experts’ in popular education comparing experiences. It is more about the theory of popular education and does not cover the history of Highlander’s role in US social movements as much as the other books.
Dedication and Leadership Techniques by Douglas Hyde
Click to access Hyde.pdf
A series of lectures by a high-level Communist Party leader and trainer of trainers that defected to the Catholic Church in 1948. He outlines effective party organizing techniques from the 20s-40s, for possible general use, specifically adaptation by the Catholic Church. This is similar material to his longer book which is not available online. Ignore the right-wing foreword.