Cal Winslow is the author of Radical Seattle: The General Strike of 1919, along with Labor’s Civil War in California. He is editor of E.P. Thompson and the Making of the New Left.
The destruction of California’s once vast and magnificent redwood forests is entwined with American expansion westward, violent dispossession, and the ravenous commodification of nature. The remaining redwoods demand our protection.
The first major general strike in the United States coincided with the last major pandemic. Here’s the full story.
This year marks a century since the First Red Scare, which decimated the ranks of the US left. One of the worst episodes was the Centralia incident — where a reactionary mob tortured and killed a group of IWW members to drive them out of the Washington town.
Mineworkers and their families in Harlan County, Kentucky, have blockaded the railroad tracks of a deadbeat employer. It’s a reminder of the county’s heroic history of struggle and solidarity.
The Seattle General Strike of 1919 is a forgotten and misunderstood part of American history. But it shows that workers have the power to shut down whole cities — and to run them in our interests.
Decades before Amazon dominated the city, Seattle was the fiery site of labor unrest, radical action — and the US's only true general strike.
Picasso's "Guernica" still stands as a searing protest against the brutality of war and fascism.