The Wobblies. Red Cinema.

Share

Ahmed White: Under the Iron Heel: The Wobblies and the Capitalist War on Radical Workers

In 1917, the Industrial Workers of the World was rapidly gaining strength and members. Within a decade, this radical union was effectively destroyed, the victim of the most remarkable campaign of legal repression and vigilantism in American history. Under the Iron Heel is the first comprehensive account of this campaign.

Founded in 1905, the IWW offered to the millions of workers aggrieved by industrial capitalism the promise of a better world. But its growth, coinciding with World War I and the Russian Revolution and driven by uncompromising militancy, was seen by powerful capitalists and government officials as an existential threat that had to be eliminated. In Under the Iron Heel, Ahmed White documents the torrent of legal persecution and extralegal, sometimes lethal violence that shattered the IWW. In so doing, he reveals the remarkable courage of those who faced this campaign, lays bare the origins of the profoundly unequal and conflicted nation we know today, and uncovers disturbing truths about the law, political repression, and the limits of free speech and association in class society.

Ahmed White’s dramatic, deeply researched account of how legal repression and vigilantism brought down the Wobblies—and how the destruction of their union haunts us to this day is an important book. Ahmed is a terrific, informative and considerate guest. He is the Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Erich Schwartzel: Red Carpet – Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy

Erich Schwartzel has written a fascinating book, Red Carpet – Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy. His story-telling reads like the screenplay for a Netflix documentary, designed to binge-watch. If there were such a category, then Schwartzel’s book would come under the heading binge-read. He takes the reader back in time to early Hollywood while filling in the gaps in the movie industry in China. There are generous amounts of anecdotes and tantalizing details all perfectly placed to make Red Carpet a page-turner. Erich’s depiction of dubious characters, American and Chinese who validated a curious relationship between Hollywood and China suggests the narrative is not only about the movie business but the state of our world. Erich Schwartzel is an engaging conversationalist, you won’t want to miss.

 

Show 512

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

The Morning Show Thursday
Player position: