En Masse

Bringing you stories of struggle and hope from the working class. Hosted by Liz Medina (@LizMedinArt). Member of @LaborRadioNet. Opinions are my own.

[En Masse @EnMassePodcast]

Now that our first Season “Bedrock” has come to an end, you may be wondering, “When will Season 2 be released?” We wish we could give you an exact answer. The truth is we don’t know -- but we would really like to create a second season!

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

On this day in 1865, slaves in Texas were notified by Union Civil War soldiers about the abolition of slavery. This was 2.5 years after the final Emancipation Proclamation which freed all enslaved Black Americans. #Juneteenth 

But Slavery continued…

A THREAD

[B Phinney @phin_sea]

“…delegates to that first UAW convention who had the notion that the best union leaders are those who do not live too high above the scale of the workers they are supposed to serve.” - Labor’s Giant Step, Twenty Years of the CIO, by Art Preis. #ToledoAutoLiteStrike #1u

[Eurydice Aroney @eekiemout]

It’s time again! June 2nd is #Internationalwhoresday when we celebrate the daring tricks and whorestorical delights of the 1975 French #sexworkers strike.

So if you dig a good #whorestory join me as I reach into the archives (if I can get it together).

1/15 Thread

[Workers United @WorkersUnited]

BREAKING: Workers United provides seed money of $1 million to establish a Strike and Defense Fund for Starbucks Workers United Movement. Partners, we've got your backs! #NoMatterWhat! @SBWorkersUnited

[En Masse @EnMassePodcast]

if you want to make it possible for me to spend more time making this show, please consider supporting it via Patreon -- Thanks! https://t.co/fsY1RhXLYR

[En Masse @EnMassePodcast]

I have so much to read on top of this red hot summer of labor organizing (which is totally awesome!), but I haven't forgotten about promised interviews or Season 2! I hope to have some more bonus episodes soon...and (1/2)

[Ken Coleman @HistoryLivesDet]

On this day in 1937:
Labor organizers clash with Ford Motor Company security guards over pay at the River Rouge Plant. It will be known as the Battle of the Overpass. Shown are Walter Reuther and Richard Frankensteen. @ReutherLibrary photo

[Richard D. Wolff @profwolff]

"Conservatives" in ancient villages insisted that their economic system would last forever. Conservatives in slave and feudal economic systems did likewise. So too conservatives and liberals in today's capitalisms. More than a little desperation fuels their insistence.

[UManitoba Labour Studies @UM_Labour]

Call for applications:

Labor: Studies in Working Class History invites proposals for a new editor or co-editors beginning June 2023. For more information, see https://t.co/ptBcEdB3LK.

#labourstudies @LaborOnline @lawcha_org

[En Masse @EnMassePodcast]

What does it take for immigrant women to form a union? In the 20th century? The 21st? In AZ (5% union density)? Listen to my interview with @daisypitkin, author of "On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women's Epic Fight to Build a Union." https://t.co/p1dqqJ1TGz

[En Masse @EnMassePodcast]

Prepping to interview @daisypitkin & came across the remarkable story of Clara Lemlich, a garment worker and a socialist who led the famous "uprising of 20,000" general strike of 1909. Despite this, the male leadership of the ILGWU pushed her out of her own union one year later.

[Nicola Chester @nicolawriting]

A beautifully done-up, yet otherwise ‘standard’ 4 bed detached house, is available to rent in our rural village for

£3,300 pcm.

I mean, who is it for? It’s unnerving, long-term renting in middle-age with our (not inconsiderable) skill set. Rural living: not for rural workers.

[En Masse @EnMassePodcast]

@EduGRChina I think you tagged the wrong podcast, but this looks cool. Congratulations!

[Jacobin @jacobin]

The ruling class never wanted to give workers the right to vote. But early socialists fought them tooth and nail to expand the franchise. https://t.co/9WBZ2RhC0F

[En Masse @EnMassePodcast]

Perhaps an underappreciated response to COVID heard during a recent interview is that it motivated some to start participating in their union -- even if there wasn't a major strike or workplace action going on. Makes one wonder if this anecdote is part a larger trend?

[Kim Kelly @GrimKim]

Today is the anniversary of the 1912 Bread and Roses strike, which saw thousands of immigrant women mill workers, aided by the @IWW, rise up against exploitation... and win. Read more about the strike—and the women who led it—in my book, FIGHT LIKE HELL: https://t.co/FcXPni6xuL

[En Masse @EnMassePodcast]

I'm excited to announce that oral history interviews are currently being conducted for Season 2!

[En Masse @EnMassePodcast]

"The past appears in its immediacy in the present. It is not about collecting or documenting these past struggles, or putting it all down in history books as 'rational knowledge,' but of how they speak in and through present struggles..." Dr. Saroj Giri

[En Masse @EnMassePodcast]

An important lesson I've learned from the late & great David Graeber is that societies that engage in deep self-reflection are freer to choose their own future. This notion is at the heart of this podcast and at the forefront of my mind for Season 2.