Lessons From Revolutionary Organizing

Description

The Connecticut People Before Profits campaigns from 1974 to 1982 ran with Joelle Fishman on the Communist Party ticket. The campaigns were bold and unapologetic. They reached out to people where they lived, building a base of activists who continued organizing year-round. They reached out to unions and community groups. They organized around issues of mutual concern and built unity and solidarity with long-lasting effects that continue today.

The People Before Profits campaigns tackled foundational questions like racism, anti-communism, and the military economy. They challenged corporate power locally and nationally. Most of all, the campaigns organized people to act collectively in their own interests, on their own behalf at the voting booth and beyond. The campaigns were an example of grassroots political independence with important lessons for today.

In Lessons from Revolutionary Organizing: On the Campaign Trail and Beyond Joelle Fishman and Lisa Armstrong draw from a wealth of firsthand experience and offer some guidelines for organizing to win workers’ power going forward.