Working Class Fightback: Lessons of the Last Great Depression

Toronto, January 25, 2009 – A 10 Minute Production Bryan Palmer, Labour Historian and AuthorCanada Research Chair in Canadian Studies at Trent University. The financial crisis has certainly brought on … Watch video »

Toronto, January 25, 2009 – A 10 Minute Production

Bryan Palmer, Labour Historian and Author
Canada Research Chair in Canadian Studies at Trent University.

The financial crisis has certainly brought on a deepening worldwide slump, with growing mass unemployment and impoverishment. There is also a crisis of working class institutions, in particular the union movement. How can the working class build unity within its ranks and rebuild our capacity to fight back? One thing we can do, is to learn from the experiences of working people during the 1930s, who organized a series of mass fightbacks and built new institutions, such as industrial unions.