This piece was so inspiring, especially the tangible example of what it means to actually create a community of care, "Taking care of one another didn’t just mean having your needs met. It meant pitching in. Every sit-downer was responsible for daily chore duties, and there was a judicial system to ensure that workers who shirked their responsibilities were held accountable"
“the strike was an act of love, in the most active sense of the word. Love in the factory meant commitment to one another. Love meant meeting each other’s basic needs. Love meant vigilance and protection. Love meant accountability and collective responsibility. Love meant the recognition that the only way out was together.” Amen! Thanks for a history lesson wrapped up in a sermon (and you know I mean that in the best possible way!).
Maybe it's because I have so little knowledge of Unions and their history; maybe it's because I am dedicated to the idea that community is the solution and we are creating it wrong; maybe it's because every time someone admits out loud that the panthers were a threat because of their free breakfast and literacy programs; maybe it's because it truly is where you shine; this is my favorite type of your writing. I can feel the passion in it. I believe that unions are an answer to a problem we all understand and that, on a larger scale, unions are a successful case study of what community can do and has done. xx
This is the kind of brilliant, attractional storytelling we organizers need to hear as much as anyone else -- to be reminded that solidarity is not powerful enough when rooted in ideology or self-interest alone, rather that care and love are not only beautiful and make life and struggle better, but that are prerequisites of winning and winning in a way where we get tastes of freedom on the road to freedom.
I’ll add it seems to me one of the tragedies of the American organizing tradition that Saul Alinsky (and the larger IAF / broad-based community organizing school of thought that emerged from these union struggles) largely abandoned these lessons and one of the most critical things for this generation of movement leaders to rectify
That's a really good point. I've been thinking a lot, since writing this piece, about the question of "what was different" here that might not be true in a classic by the books IAF model and I think one of the aspects was that, because there was the challenge of how to keep people taken care of in a physical space, it was that much easier to remember that "we hold each other through this campaign" was the goal. I do think that spirit is still transferrable to a campaign where the need to take care of one another isn't obvious, but it obviously takes a great deal of intentionality.
Garrett, this is one of my favorite pieces of yours ever!!! I had never heard of this strike and the story is truly so inspiring. There’s something so heartening about reading these examples that have happened in the past in our country, gives us hope of what could be possible now!
Oh that makes me so happy to read. You articulated so well what I love about studying movement history-- we have all of the examples and inspiration we need!
This is such a wonderful and needed and inspiring piece Garrett, thank you for writing it!
Oh jeez thank you; your pieces on the strike have been just exceptional
This piece was so inspiring, especially the tangible example of what it means to actually create a community of care, "Taking care of one another didn’t just mean having your needs met. It meant pitching in. Every sit-downer was responsible for daily chore duties, and there was a judicial system to ensure that workers who shirked their responsibilities were held accountable"
Thank you, always, for your words.
Oh thanks Sara! That's what I tried to do, so it's so great that came out.
“the strike was an act of love, in the most active sense of the word. Love in the factory meant commitment to one another. Love meant meeting each other’s basic needs. Love meant vigilance and protection. Love meant accountability and collective responsibility. Love meant the recognition that the only way out was together.” Amen! Thanks for a history lesson wrapped up in a sermon (and you know I mean that in the best possible way!).
The best possible compliment I could get from you, Amy :)
Maybe it's because I have so little knowledge of Unions and their history; maybe it's because I am dedicated to the idea that community is the solution and we are creating it wrong; maybe it's because every time someone admits out loud that the panthers were a threat because of their free breakfast and literacy programs; maybe it's because it truly is where you shine; this is my favorite type of your writing. I can feel the passion in it. I believe that unions are an answer to a problem we all understand and that, on a larger scale, unions are a successful case study of what community can do and has done. xx
Oh wow this is so nice LaKay! There is a certain energy to writing about folks who inspire and teach me, so it means a lot that came through.
This is the kind of brilliant, attractional storytelling we organizers need to hear as much as anyone else -- to be reminded that solidarity is not powerful enough when rooted in ideology or self-interest alone, rather that care and love are not only beautiful and make life and struggle better, but that are prerequisites of winning and winning in a way where we get tastes of freedom on the road to freedom.
so well put, Nathan. Thank you!
I’ll add it seems to me one of the tragedies of the American organizing tradition that Saul Alinsky (and the larger IAF / broad-based community organizing school of thought that emerged from these union struggles) largely abandoned these lessons and one of the most critical things for this generation of movement leaders to rectify
That's a really good point. I've been thinking a lot, since writing this piece, about the question of "what was different" here that might not be true in a classic by the books IAF model and I think one of the aspects was that, because there was the challenge of how to keep people taken care of in a physical space, it was that much easier to remember that "we hold each other through this campaign" was the goal. I do think that spirit is still transferrable to a campaign where the need to take care of one another isn't obvious, but it obviously takes a great deal of intentionality.
Garrett, this is one of my favorite pieces of yours ever!!! I had never heard of this strike and the story is truly so inspiring. There’s something so heartening about reading these examples that have happened in the past in our country, gives us hope of what could be possible now!
Oh that makes me so happy to read. You articulated so well what I love about studying movement history-- we have all of the examples and inspiration we need!
Garrett, this is one of my favorite pieces of yours ever!!! I had never heard of this strike and the story is truly so inspiring.