Fighting Times

Auteur

Born into the political and cultural quiescence of the 1950s, Jonathan Melrod grew up in apartheid-like Washington DC. Active in the student movement that opposed the Vietnam War and a supporter of black liberation, Jon embraced the ideology that the working class held the power to radically transform society. He left the campus for the factory in 1973. For thirteen years, he immersed himself in the day-to-day struggles of Milwaukee’s working class, both on the factory floor and in the political arena. Despite FBI surveillance and interference, Jon organized a militant rank-and-file caucus and rose through union ranks to a top leadership position in UAW Local 72. After a mass workforce cutback imposed by AMC’s joint venture partner Renault, he left to attend Hastings college of the law in San Francisco in 1985. Graduating cum laude with a JD, he opened a law firm in San Francisco successfully representing hundreds of political refugees.

Texte du rabat

"Deeply personal, astutely political, Fighting Times: Organizing on the Front Lines of the Class War recounts the thirteen-year journey of Jonathan Melrod to harness working-class militancy and jump start a revolution on the shop floor of American Motors. Melrod faces termination, dodges the FBI, outwits collaborators in the UAW, and becomes the central figure in a lawsuit against the labor newsletter Fighting Times, as he strives to build a class-conscious workers' movement from the bottom up. A radical to the core, Melrod was a key part of campus insurrection at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He left campus for the factory in 1973, hired along with hundreds of youthful job seekers onto the mind-numbing assembly line. Fighting Times paints a portrait of these rebellious and alienated young hires, many of whom were Black Vietnam vets. Containing dozens of archival photographs, Fighting Times captures the journey of a militant antiracist revolutionary who rose to the highest elected ranks of his UAW local without compromising his politics or his dedication to building a class-conscious workers' movement. The book will arm and inspire a new generation of labor organizers with the skills and attitude to challenge the odds and fight the egregious abuses of the exploitative capitalist system"--

Résumé

Deeply personal, astutely political, Fighting Times: Organizing on the Front Lines of the Class War
 recounts the thirteen-year journey of Jonathan Melrod to harness 
working-class militancy and jump start a revolution on the shop floor of
 American Motors. Melrod faces termination, dodges the FBI, outwits 
collaborators in the UAW, and becomes the central figure in a lawsuit 
against the labor newsletter Fighting Times, as he strives to build a class-conscious workers’ movement from the bottom up. 
 A radical to the core, Melrod was a key part of campus insurrection 
at University of Wisconsin–Madison. He left campus for the factory in 
1973, hired along with hundreds of youthful job seekers onto the 
mind-numbing assembly line. Fighting Times paints a portrait of these rebellious and alienated young hires, many of whom were Black Vietnam vets. 
 Containing dozens of archival photographs, Fighting Times 
captures the journey of a militant antiracist revolutionary who rose to 
the highest elected ranks of his UAW local without compromising his 
politics or his dedication to building a class-conscious workers’ 
movement. The book will arm and inspire a new generation of labor 
organizers with the skills and attitude to challenge the odds and fight 
the egregious abuses of the exploitative capitalist system.

Contenu
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Apartheid in My Backyard
i.    Putney School 1964 - My Awakening
Chapter 2: Madison on Fire
i.    ROTC Gets the Boot
ii.    The Black Eagle
iii.    Black People’s Alliance - On Strike Shut it Down!
iv.    Mifflin Street
v.    The Union Makes Us Strong
vi.    Weather Antics Disrupt SDS
vii.    The Murder of Chairman Fred
Chapter 3: United Front Against the War
i.     The Chicago Conspiracy Trial
ii.    Nixon Invades Cambodia - Campuses Erupt - 4 Dead at Kent State
iii.    Intro To BARU - “Someone Took Out Army Math”
iv.    Moving On
Chapter 4: My Introduction to Wage Slavery
Chapter 5: American Motors - Welcome to the Bigs
Chapter 6: Fighting Speed Up
Chapter 7: Campaign to Rehire Jon & Al
Chapter 8: Learning to Take the Heat but Not Miss a Beat
Chapter 9: Life as a Tannery Rat
i.    Welcome to Welding 101/Free Ray Mendoza
ii.    Into the Belly of the Beast -- With the FBI One Step Behind Me
Chapter 10: ‘Thanks, but No Tanks!’
i.    Menominee Warriors Society
ii.     “On Strike! Shut it Down!”
iii.    If the offer’s not right – we’ll keep up the fight!!
Chapter 11: Back on the Trim Line – 1008 Days Later
i.    Workers’ Bicentennial - We’ve Carried the Rich for 200 Years -Let’s Get Them Off Our Backs
ii.    We’ve Carried the Rich for 200 Years -- Let’s Get Them Off Our Backs!
iii.    200 Years Is Long Enough!
iv.    1000 Jobs Out the Door
v.    Protest at AMC Employment Office
vi.    NLRB Rules Against AM on Protest
Chapter 12: Hey Kenosha – Here Comes Tribe Milwaukee
i.    Wage Freeze – No Way!
ii.    76 Contract – Wage Freeze & Takeaways Stopped – BUT!
Chapter 13: The Slow Climb to Union Leadership
Chapter 14: ’78 Contract Draws Battle Lines
Chapter 15: ‘Melrod wears a training bra’
Chapter 16: Revitalizing Department Meetings
Chapter 17: Department Meeting Confronts Racist Chief Steward
Chapter 18: Into the Street to Save Our Jobs
i.    Pre-Contract Showdown with Renault
Chapter 19: 1980 Contract - Renault Looms
Chapter 20: Scab of the Month – ‘What’s a Wohlgemuth?’
Chapter 21: Climbing the Union Ladder
Chapter 22: Mr. Bill Comes to Kenosha
Chapter 23: UWC Crosses the Ocean to France
Chapter 24: Renault Returns for Another Bite of the Apple
Chapter 25: Taking on the International – One Member/One Vote
Chapter 26: Save Fighting Times – Defend Free Speech
i.    But Was it Frivolous, Too?
ii.    The Trial Begins
iii.    No Sympathy for the Devil
iv.    My Turn in the Witness Chair
v.    ‘A Terrible Mess’
vi.    Stronger Than Ever
Chapter 27: Time to Lead Local 72
i.    50th anniversary of Local 72
Chapter 28: Concessions Take Their Toll
Epilogue