Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion

by Working Class History (Editor), Noam Chomsky (Foreword)

History is not made by kings, politicians, or a few rich individuals—it is made by all of us. From the temples of ancient Egypt to spacecraft orbiting Earth, workers and ordinary people everywhere have walked out, sat down, risen up, and fought back against exploitation, discrimination, colonization, and oppression.

Working Class History presents a distinct selection of people’s history through hundreds of “on this day in history” anniversaries that are as diverse and international as the working class itself. Women, young people, people of color, workers, migrants, Indigenous peoples, LGBT+ people, disabled people, older people, the unemployed, home workers, and every other part of the working class have organized and taken action that has shaped our world, and improvements in living and working conditions have been won only by years of violent conflict and sacrifice. These everyday acts of resistance and rebellion highlight just some of those who have struggled for a better world and provide lessons and inspiration for those of us fighting in the present. Going day by day, this book paints a picture of how and why the world came to be as it is, how some have tried to change it, and the lengths to which the rich and powerful have gone to maintain and increase their wealth and influence.

This handbook of grassroots movements, curated by the popular Working Class History project, features many hidden histories and untold stories, reinforced with inspiring images, further reading, and a foreword from legendary author and dissident Noam Chomsky.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Labor, Social Justice, Class, Activism

352 pages, Unknown Binding

Published November 1, 2020

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first, I was disappointed by the almanac-style format. Then, after two months' worth of material, I felt intensely grateful for the bird's-eye view: enormous coverage with the ability to swiftly move through traumatic and inspirational memories alike. This is a resource I will return to when I want to Write A Moving Screenplay or look for guidance on the quest of dignified living conditions for all.

(but they should remove the noam chomsky foreword because that guy's an epstein colleague)

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly magnificent book. I learned so much about labor movements across the world and through time. I was especially happy to read about how many of these struggles were led by women, immigrants and people of color. Resist!

[Lakshmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice compilation of everyday individuals fighting for more rights and freedoms. I would not recommend reading this in one go as it can get drab. There are two "acts" of resistance and rebellion for each calendar day and they vary in length, which can limit your engagement. I would have preferred fewer stories, but with more detail and context.

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few years ago I was pretty much hooked on the Working Class History Twitter account sharing the stories of ordinary people who fight back against injustice and oppression. It's something incredibly important to me, that the histories of ordinary people isn't erased, that long traditions of working class people taking action isn't forgotten.

At school and in the media we really only learn official accounts of struggle, often from the perspective of the establishment, or of those in power or the bosses. We rarely get the perspective of those fighting back, and when we do it is often through the lens of a 'trouble maker' or viewed in a 'legal' or 'moral' framework. To an extent social media has been a leveller of sorts, but events of the last few years or so has seen social media companies bought by or aligned to fascists and other versions of corporate and right wing power. That means it's getting harder and harder to share our history.

I really enjoy the Working Class History podcast and when I was on Twitter the daily posts. The posts would be of an 'on this day' type post, summarising the people, and the actions of those fighting back or the losses as those in power commit crimes almost unimaginable against people. the purpose is two fold, one to show that working class people do have capacity to respond to the shit happening in our lives - we are not defenceless or without agency. Secondly, to remind each other that we come from long traditions of fighting back.

This book feels like a 'best of' somewhat of what is shared on the social media accounts. For each day of the year there are two stories about resistance, covering what happened, who was involved, some context and what happened. The entries range from a paragraph to three or four paragraphs so they are short snippets more than in-depth pieces, but they are fully referenced for those wanting to learn more.

The book aims to cover all history and it's kind of cool to see entries from just before the book was published around 2020 going back to the first strike amongst construction workers in Egypt thousands of years ago. Most of the entries coalesce around the 20th century though. The book is global in scope, though the authors recognise that it is skewed towards the United States and Great Britain and to a lesser extent places colonised by the British Empire. This limitation shows the necessity of the book - if these stories are not documented they will be lost.

Some thoughts whilst reading the book was a feeling of disappointment that there were not entries for things which happened in my own local history and then it made me smile because I realised that there were other entries for that day. I suspect that the authors could easily make a book four times it's size with numerous stories of resistance. I was also reading this around International Women's Day and I was thinking about how many inspiring women were featured in the book and how so many corporate entities pay lip service to women's liberation. I mentally read each woman's name twice, in order to give her a little more space in our history. It was miles more inspiring reading about women who had led strikes, hit prime ministers, and led revolutionary militias. One thing I like about the book is that it doesn't slip into personal worship of individuals - many of the entries are along the lines of 'thousands of women walked out of textile factories...' - this book is for the unnamed heroes, the ordinary who became extraordinary through solidarity.

At times the book is incredibly inspiring. There were some sections where I was close to tears feeling so much love for people who made a huge difference (for instance Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners who showed solidarity with striking miners and over came homophobia from some miners to genuinely build love and solidarity). The book is not just about successes though, it is a hard read at times, particularly where the entries are about the murder and torture of working class people. There are entries in here where the murder of thousands is highlighted, and it is sickening to see how often government, police, military, mercenary and corporate forces have resulted to mass murder, torture and sexual violence - and they are supposed to be the 'good ones, the ones in charge'. It's hard to read but again the defeats are part of history - those who did such things must not be forgotten.

At times the book is quirky (the first strike in space anyone?), and other times very funny (South African renters prosecuted for rent arrears quite correctly saying they couldn't pay their rent because they had burnt the rent office down). The book endeavours to be as inclusive as possible, including indigenous struggle, ecological struggle, LGBTQ+ struggles, a strong focus on black liberation, and women's rights as well as class and industrial relations. They even have a couple of school strikes in there. I guess a minor quibble would be there is no disability activism in the book, and similarly animal liberationists are absent. It is a troubling spot in books such as this, since animal liberationists strike at the power relationships that abuse animals and people in equal measure and the targets are often corporate entities who harm the planet.

The book also takes the broadest possible approach to the definition as working class (essentially anyone who sells their labour). I'm often a little uncomfortable with that as the background I had growing up is significantly different from the class of people I work and spend time with now. Taking a really broad sweep of what it means to be working class can often lead to a refusal to acknowledge the significant differences between working and middle class people and even within the working class. Similarly there are a few entries where I wasn't exactly gushing with admiration for the subject focus.

From a political perspective the book is 'leftist' (obviously) but manages to avoid being skewed towards Marxist interpretations of history or anarchists for that matter, though broadly I would suggest most of the entries assume the reader is sympathetic to intersectional socialism (for want of a better term).

There isn't tons of new stuff in here if you've followed the social media accounts for a while but I am really glad I bought this and glad to support the project. Because as the book says, history isn't made by kings and queens, it's made by people like us.

[Adam]

hard to rate because it gives you snippets of history a day at a time. That being said, the mission of the book is something I strongly believe in. History is important and illustrating that it is made by everyday people every day is powerful

[Jacques · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely essential read. Anyone who has any interest in collective/direct action should read this to learn the deep and suppressed history of labor activism.

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-researched day-by-day history of working class and leftist movements from around the world. Excellent work by a dedicated team, and well worth reading, whether day by day or in chunks.

[Jordan Phizacklea-Cullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

"History is not made by kings and queens, military commanders or politicians, it is made by ordinary people engaging in acts of struggle and resistance." This is the ethos that underpins this valuable compendium of largely overlooked everyday acts of courage by people on the bottom rungs of society, the first publication from the online history project Working Class History. Although effectively each of the project's daily social media updates set down in print, and therefore probably best read as an entry per day, this is well worth reading for challenging many assumptions about historical record, including about some of the sacred cows of the left.

[Tavo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reference book for so much of history that has either been ignored, or swept under more "acceptable" narratives for the status quo. It's enlightening in many aspects, but does come with a homework: The snippets (two per day) are relatively short and will definitely require further investigation on the topics/events mentioned. But, yet again, that is the purpose of the book.

[Dec · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction

[Daniel Castle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding book on People's History and an 'on this day' format which makes for easy reading and/or a day by day read.

[Aidan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very sad!! Oh boy

[Mel Stead]

Reviewed in the November 2022 issue of the Socialist Standard:

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blog...

[Lily Morache · Rating 5 out of 5]

everyday you got to read about a historical event in working class history- strikes, notable people’s birthdays/ deaths…etc - i’ve read most of them but still go back periodically

[Everson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wrong book… DNF

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

extremely interesting, if not quite depressing in parts, workers struggles continue!

[Gabriel Sheeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Think of this like a devotional for Socialists. It will teach you about so many events you never knew happened, resistance movements that the ruling powers have tried to expunge from history, and the stories of struggle that serve as an inspiration to this day.