Talking Strategy, Making History

#51 Talking about Seattle's astonishing mayoral election with union organizer Michael Laslett & Prof. Jim Gregory
Seattle's mayoral election was, like the Mamdani victory in NY, an important progressive victory. Veteran community organizer Kate Wilson, defeated the incumbent, liberal mayor. We (Dick Flacks & Daraka Larimore Hall) invited University of Washington labor historian Jim Gregory and  veteran Seattle union leader Michael Laslett to explore how Seattle's class struggle history, and contemporary grassroots battles with Amazon and other corporate giants, led to this outcome--and, why we need to pay attention to Seattle going forward. 
music: Michael Laslett performs "They All Sang Bread & Roses" by Si Kahn.

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#50 Daraka & Dick Talking About the Recent Election
Mamdani's astonishing campaign in NYC along with the Democratic sweep last week inspired us to grab our mics for a conversation. How will Mamdani be able to bring the change his supporters are hoping for? How can the electoral repudiation of MAGA be built on and to what ends? We try to go beyond the horse race patter and cynical tone of media and online chatter. We're pushing instead hope to help fuel the hard work ahead.
Music: "Zohran Mamdani for Mayor" Red Dawn t7

#49: Talking with faculty leaders resisting the Trump assault on the University of California
Prof. Jessica Taft, co-president of the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) and Prof. Charmaine Chua, CUCFA director of campus organizing, talk about the new lawsuits challenging the Trump  coercive actions against UC, sponsored by a historic coalition of university based unions, CUCFA and the national AAUP. We talk about the nature of the assault on higher education, and ways to organize in response, and the episode is a chance to get to know two outstanding leaders of the rising generation of academics dedicated to democracy. 
Jessica Taft teaches Latin American Studies, and directs the Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas at UC Santa Cruz. She's written several books about youth activism.  Charmaine Chua has just joined the Geography Department at UC Berkeley, after several years teaching Global Studies at UCSB. One of her multiple current projects is a book she's co-writing on "how to beat Amazon".  Daraka, who is also of the new generation, was unable, at the last minute, to be on the call. He was missed...but will be back.
Music: "I'm going to say it now" by Phil Ochs
I hope it's possible to correct?

"#48: Talking History and Strategy with David Duhalde
David is a long tme DSA leader. He served as deputy director of DSA  and as director of the DSA Fund. We invited him back to reflect on his recent article which situates DSA today within the long history of American socialist organization. Ww try to draw good lessons from the past that can help going forward.
Music: "Understanding Marx"  by the Economics Rock & Roll Band"

#47 Talking with JW Mason about what Zohran can accomplish
Jpsh Mason is an economics professor at John Jay College, CUNY and a senior fellow at Groundwork, whose recent article in Dissent provides much insight into what Mamdani, if elected,  can do to advance the "democratic socialist"  agenda that helped inspire his grassroots victory in the NY mayoral primary. You may be surprised by his take.
 It's the first of what we hope will be several podcast conversations wth participat-observers aimed at illuminating how the campaign has been organized and what it may mean.
Josh blogs at The Slack Wire. (RSS feed.) You can sign up for his free email newsletter at Substack.
Music: from the original cast album of Fiorello!  "The Bum Won!"

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#46: Talking with Michael Podhorzer about how to understand elections
Michael recently retired as Political  Director of the AFL-CIO.  He's a brilliant analyst of election data and pioneered the use of data for progressive electoral strategy. His Substack site: www.weekendreading.net, where you'll find a bunch of the analysis we talk about.
Subscribe to TALKING STRATEGY MAKING HISTORY AT PATREON.COM/TSMH where you can get a good deal of bonus listening opportunities, including lots of political music. 
The song at the end: 'The Mandate" by Charlie King

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Prof. Nelson Lichtenstein returns to talk with us about his new book, an anthology of writings about the labor movement over the last 75 years from the pages of DISSENT magazine, called LABOR'S PARTISANS, that history illuminates the current scene.

Nelson shares well informed insights' about the potentials and problems for workers organizing in this critical time. 

Music: "Step by Step" performed by Charlie King and 'Annie Patterson. 
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Eric Blanc is sociologiste/labor activist whose new book WE ARE THE UNION documents the spreading efforts by workers to initiate and carry forward union organizing without dependence on professional organizers. We explore some key examples and talk about what this  might promise for empowering the working class.
music: "You are the U in Union" a Si Kahn Song performed by Joe Jencks

#43 Talking about class, race, identity politics & DEI
Daraka and Dick critically examine a lot of the talking points and arguments in Democratic circles about how class, race, sexuality and immigration are intertwined--and offer some thoughts about how a\
 democratic popular working-class majority can be built and sustained.  
music 'Black Brown and  White Blues by Bill Broonzy

After years of legendary success as a labor and community organizer, Harley embarked on a journey to recruit and train organizers and volunteers to reach out to working-class voters in swing states. In this conversation, he reflects on this work, inspired by finding many folk ready to listen and engage.

 
Music: 'Step by Step"  Sung by Sweet Honey in the Rock