Part 2 of our double-episode about the Working-Class Literature Festival held every year in Florence, at the former GKN car parts factory, which was taken over by the workers after they were made redundant in 2021.

We're joined again by working-class author and one of the main organisers of the festival, Alberto Prunetti, and former GKN worker, Dario Salvetti. We also talk to another two working-class writers who have participated in the festival: Claudia Durastanti, who helps organise the festivals, and Anthony Cartwright, who has attended the last two.

In this episode, we discuss what went on at the last two festivals and what made them different from conventional literary events: from the attendees and various events and presentations to the participation of GKN workers not just in logistics but in readings and performances. We also discuss the possibilities for the future of the festival - and for the GKN struggle itself.

Full show notes including further reading, photos, a documentary about the GKN struggle, and a full transcript are available on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/wcl10-11-florence-working-class-literature-festival/

Acknowledgements

• Many thanks also to Alberto Prunetti and Edizioni Alegre for giving us permission to reproduce photos from previous years' festivals
• Thanks to all our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jamison D. Saltsman, Jazz Hands, Fernando Lopez Ojeda and Jeremy Cusimano
• Our theme tune for these episodes is ‘Occupiamola’ (or ‘Let’s Occupy It’) as sung on a GKN workers’ demonstration in 2024. Many thanks to Reel News London for letting us use their recording. Watch the documentary it's taken from here
• This episode was edited by Tyler Hill

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

First of a double-episode podcast about the Working-Class Literature Festival held every year in Florence, at the former GKN car parts factory, which was taken over by the workers after they were made redundant in 2021.

In this episode, we talk to working-class author and one of the main organisers of the festival, Alberto Prunetti, as well as former GKN workers Dario Salvetti and Tiziana De Biasio. We discuss the history of the struggle at GKN from the redundancies to the workers' takeover and 'permanent union assembly' at the factory.

We also dive into how the idea for the Working-Class Literature Festival at the factory began, and how the first two events were organised (despite repeated attempts at sabotage).

Full show notes including further reading, photos, a documentary about the GKN struggle, and a full transcript are available on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/wcl10-11-florence-working-class-literature-festival/

Acknowledgements

• Many thanks to Antonella Bundu for doing the voiceover for Tiziana's audio
• Many thanks also to Alberto Prunetti and Edizioni Alegre for giving us permission to reproduce photos from previous years' festivals
• Thanks to all our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jamison D. Saltsman, Jazz Hands, Fernando Lopez Ojeda and Jeremy Cusimano
• Our theme tune for these episodes is ‘Occupiamola’ (or ‘Let’s Occupy It’) as sung on a GKN workers’ demonstration in 2024. Many thanks to Reel News London for letting us use their recording. Watch the documentary it's taken from here
• This episode was edited by Tyler Hill

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

This is a teaser preview of one of our Radical Reads episodes, made exclusively for our supporters on patreon. You can listen to the full 87-minute episode without ads and support our work at https://www.patreon.com/posts/e101-radical-and-120598405

In this episode, we speak to Alex Charnley and Michael Richmond about their excellent book, Fractured: Race, Class, Gender and the Hatred of Identity Politics. The book pushes back against the idea of 'identity politics' as a vaguely defined and universal bogeyman for both left and right-wing politics.

Instead, they show how 'identity' is not just a ‘subjective’ idea in people’s heads, but the result of real, material ways the working class is structured according to race, gender, nationality etc by the various divisions of labour, immigration laws, etc. And, as we discuss in the episode, what often gets called ‘identity politics’ is actually an attempt to think through how class functions, and is acted upon, in the reality through which it’s lived.

Listen to the full episode here:

• E101: Radical Reads – ‘Fractured: Race, Class, Gender and the Hatred of Identity Politics’

More information:

• Buy Fractured: Race, Class, Gender and the Hatred of Identity Politics from an independent bookshop
• 'Aliens at the Border' – a lightly edited version of Chapter Four from Fractured, looking at Jewish immigration to Britain from Eastern Europe in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century
• 'Fascism and the Women's Cause: Gender Critical Feminism, Suffragettes and the Women's KKK' – piece by Alex and Michael looking at the link between contemporary transphobic feminists and the far-right by placing it against reactionary elements within the women's suffrage movement, and trajectories which led some into the Ku Klux Klan and British Union of Fascists
• Listen to an earlier Radical Reads episode with Michael, discussing David Baddiel's hilariously terrible book, Jews Don't Count
• Books and merch related to Black history and struggle
• Books and merch related to women's history and struggle
• Books and merch related to LGBTQ history and struggle
• Webpage for the episode is available here: https://workingclasshistory.com/blog/e101-radical-reads-fractured-race-class-gender-and-the-hatred-of-identity-politics/

Acknowledgements

• Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano, and Nick Williams.
• The episode image of a London Black Lives Matter protest, 2020. Credit: Katie Crampton, Wikimedia UK (with additional design by WCH). CC BY-SA 4.0.
• Edited by Louise Barry
• Our theme tune is Montaigne’s version of the classic labour movement anthem, ‘Bread and Roses’, performed by Montaigne and Nick Harriott, and mixed by Wave Racer. Download the song here, with all proceeds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians. More from Montaigne: website, Instagram, YouTube

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

With the background of the Vietnam war, rising prices and stagnant wages, workers in the US began to ignore calls to support the war effort and keep working, and instead launch a wave of wildcat strikes in key industries, while women homeworkers fought for lower prices. We tell the story of these struggles in this double podcast episode.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory

This is an improved, re-edited version of our original episode 8. In conversation with Jeremy Brecher, author of the excellent book, Strike!, we learn about the support for the war from union officials, the responses from the rank-and-file, and lessons we can learn from them today.
In part 2, we look at strikes by postal workers, Teamsters, hospital workers and auto workers, and protests by women homeworkers 

More information, sources, and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e99-vietnam-war-strike-wave/
Acknowledgements

• Thanks to our Patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano, Nick Williams and Old Norm.
• Edited by Jesse French, with original editing by Emma Courtland.
• Episode graphic: Postal workers on wildcat strike, 1970. Courtesy APWUcommunications/Wikimedia Commons CC SA 3.0
• Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

With the background of the Vietnam war, rising prices and stagnant wages, workers in the US began to ignore calls to support the war effort and keep working, and instead launch a wave of wildcat strikes in key industries, while women homeworkers fought for lower prices. We tell the story of these struggles in this double podcast episode.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory

This is an improved, re-edited version of our original episode 8. In conversation with Jeremy Brecher, author of the excellent book, Strike!, we learn about the support for the war from union officials, the responses from the rank-and-file, and lessons we can learn from them today.
In part 1, we look at the historical background, the positions of the official labour organisations, the growth of the 1960s counterculture, and strikes by mostly Black sanitation workers and bus drivers, and a national wildcat strike of coal miners.


More information, sources, and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e99-vietnam-war-strike-wave/
Acknowledgements

• Thanks to our Patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano, Nick Williams and Old Norm.
• Edited by Jesse French, with original editing by Emma Courtland.
• Episode graphic: Postal workers on wildcat strike, 1970. Courtesy APWUcommunications/Wikimedia Commons CC SA 3.0
• Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

This is a teaser preview of one of our Radical Reads episodes, made exclusively for our supporters on patreon. You can listen to the full 85-minute episode without ads and support our work at https://www.patreon.com/posts/e97-radical-10-116392240

In this episode, we talk to Michael Richmond, a Jewish communist author and anti-racist activist, about David Baddiel's ridiculous book, Jews Don't Count. In this book, Baddiel claims that the key thing about contemporary antisemitism is the left's confusion over it, and how this confusion means that Jews are uniquely excluded from left-wing political discourse and activism.

We discuss (and make fun of) Baddiel's book for about an hour and a half covering every aspect of his shallow understanding of racism, whiteness, Jewishness and antisemitism, and why Baddiel should probably get new friends.

Listen to the full episode here:

• E98: Radical Reads – ‘Jews Don’t Count’ by David Baddiel

More information:

• Read Michael's excellent book (co-authored with Alex Charnley), Fractured: Race, Class, Gender and the Hatred of Identity Politics
• A number of Michael's articles can be found here and here. Some which are particularly relevant to this discussion are:
  • 'Philosemitism: An Instrumental Kind of Love'
  • 'On "Black Antisemitism" and Antiracist Solidarity'
  • 'A long way from Cable Street'
  • 'Playing the Jew'
• Timeline of people's history stories about radical Jewish history
• The webpage for this episode is available here: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e98-radical-reads-jews-dont-count-by-david-baddiel/

Acknowledgements

• Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano, and Nick Williams.
• The episode image of David Baddiel at Soho Theatre, 2020. Credit: Raph PH (with additional design by WCH). CC 2.0.
• Edited by Jesse French
• Our theme tune is Montaigne’s version of the classic labour movement anthem, ‘Bread and Roses’, performed by Montaigne and Nick Harriott, and mixed by Wave Racer. Download the song here, with all proceeds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians. More from Montaigne: website, Instagram, YouTube.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

This is a teaser preview of one of our Radical Reads episodes, made exclusively for our supporters on patreon. You can listen to the full 91-minute episode without ads and support our work at https://www.patreon.com/posts/e97-radical-10-116392240

In this episode, we talk to Elia Ayoub, a Lebanese activist and scholar of Palestinian heritage, about his recent article, 'Hezbollah: 10 Things You Need To Know'. In this article, Elia gives a fantastic insight into Hezbollah's origins and its position within the various conflicts and connections that make up politics in the Middle East.

We discuss how Hezbollah came out of the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, the social and class composition of the organisation, and its relationship to other regimes in the Middle East as well as the Lebanese left and social movements.

Listen to the full episode here:

• E97: Radical Reads – ‘Hezbollah: 10 Things You Need To Know’

More info:

• Read Elia's article: 'Hezbollah: 10 Things You Need To Know'
• Check out Elia's website: hauntalogies.net
• Listen to his fantastic podcast, The Fire These Times
• Full information and show notes at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/e97-radical-10-116392240

Acknowledgements

• Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano, and Nick Williams.
• The episode image depicts Hezbollah fighters at a ceremony. Credit: Ali Khamenei website (with additional design by WCH). Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
• Edited by Jesse French
• Our theme tune is Montaigne’s version of the classic labour movement anthem, ‘Bread and Roses’, performed by Montaigne and Nick Harriott, and mixed by Wave Racer. Download the song here, with all proceeds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians. More from Montaigne: website, Instagram, YouTube.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

During the Great Depression in the US, facing mass job losses and abject poverty, thousands of coal miners in Pennsylvania took direct action and began digging their own mines on company property. We tell their story in this two-part podcast.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
With Mitch Troutman, author of the excellent book, The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners Who Seized an Industry, 1925–1942, we learn how these workers and their families fought against company guards, police, coal bosses and the legal system, formed a union, and organised an entire industry – not for profit, but for meeting human needs. We also hear from the miners themselves, in audio recorded by Michael Kozura, and shared with Mitch by Michael’s widow. Part 2 covers attempts to repress the movement, the development of bootleg mining as a major industry, the involvement of women and children in the movement, and miners’ collaboration with truck drivers.

More information

• The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners Who Seized an Industry, 1925–1942 – Mitch Troutman  – get hold of Mitch’s book here in our online store, with global shipping.
• Full information, show notes and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e95-96-bootleg-miners/

Acknowledgements

• Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano and Nick Williams.
• Produced and edited by Tyler Hill
• Episode graphic: Bootleg miners. Courtesy Jack Delano/Library of Congress
• Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

During the Great Depression in the US, facing mass job losses and abject poverty, thousands of coal miners in Pennsylvania took direct action and began digging their own mines on company property. We tell their story in this two-part podcast.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
With Mitch Troutman, author of the excellent book, The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners Who Seized an Industry, 1925–1942, we learn how these workers and their families fought against company guards, police, coal bosses and the legal system, formed a union, and organised an entire industry – not for profit, but for meeting human needs. We also hear from the miners themselves, in audio recorded by Michael Kozura, and shared with Mitch by Michael’s widow. Part 1 covers the historical background, the Depression, the process of mining, mine workers and struggles, and the beginnings of the bootleg coalmining movement. 
Get an exclusive early listen to part 2, without ads, by supporting us on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/115463700

More information

• The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners Who Seized an Industry, 1925–1942 – Mitch Troutman  – get hold of Mitch’s book here in our online store, with global shipping.
• Full information, show notes and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e95-96-bootleg-miners/

Acknowledgements

• Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano and Nick Williams.
• Produced and edited by Tyler Hill
• Episode graphic: Bootleg miners. Courtesy Jack Delano/Library of Congress
• Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

This is a teaser preview of our first Radical Read, made exclusively for our supporters on patreon. You can listen to the full 68-minute episode without ads and support our work at https://www.patreon.com/posts/e94-radical-w-if-113750155
First of our new series, Radical Reads, in which we team up with Jasper Bernes to discuss Vincent Bevins’ 2023 book, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.
Welcome to ‘Radical Reads’, the second of our two new series of Patreon-only content.In Radical Reads, we hope to discuss political texts – both old and new – that have either influenced us here at WCH, or texts that we generally think that people involved in radical and working-class movements should be engaging with, discussing, and using to inform their activism.
Our Radical Read for this episode is Vincent Bevins’ If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, which we discuss with Jasper Bernes, author of an excellent article in the Brooklyn Rail, ‘What Was To Be Done? Protest and Revolution in the 2010s’. It’s a review and critique book and when we read Jasper’s article we felt that it really put into words some of the thoughts we had about Bevins’ work.In our conversation with Jasper, we covered not only what we see as some of the main issues with Bevins’ book, but also broader questions around social movements, revolution, the threat of cooptation, and what it means to win. And as Jasper says, understanding what we can learn from the movements of the 2010s is one of the most important questions we can be thinking about right now. In that sense, then, If We Burn is a valuable contribution in starting that conversation, even if we have some disagreements with its conclusions.
Listen to the full episode here:

• E94: Radical Reads w/ Jasper Bernes – ‘If We Burn’ – Available exclusively for our Patreon supporters

More information

• Read Jasper’s article: ‘What Was To Be Done? Protest and Revolution in the 2010s’
• Buy Vincent Bevins’ book: If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution

Acknowledgements

• Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda and Jeremy Cusimano.
• Edited by Tyler Hill
• Our theme tune is Montaigne’s version of the classic labour movement anthem, ‘Bread and Roses’, performed by Montaigne and Nick Harriott, and mixed by Wave Racer. Download the song here, with all proceeds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians. More from Montaigne: website, Instagram, YouTube.

Full information and show notes at https://www.patreon.com/posts/e94-radical-w-if-113750155



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

The final episode of our three-part series about migrant worker poetry in China. We speak to Maghiel van Crevel, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Leiden University. Maghiel has travelled extensively in China, meeting with and writing about the work of Chinese migrant worker poets.

In this episode, we look at questions of censorship in China and the importance of unofficial publications for the spread of migrant worker poetry (not to mention the wider Chinese poetry scene as well). We also discuss how some working-class writers come to be left out of what is considered 'working-class writing' with a specific look at the work of gay migrant worker poet, Mu Cao.

Full show notes including sources, further reading, photos, films and eventually a transcript are here on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/wcl-7-9-chinese-migrant-worker-poetry/

Acknowledgements

• As always, huge thanks to our patreon supporters who make this podcast possible. A special thanks to Jamison D. Saltsman, Jazz Hands, Fernando Lopez Ojeda and Jeremy Cusimano.
• Our theme tune for these episodes is ‘A Young Man from the Village’ by the New Labour Art Troupe, from the Migrant Worker Home. Stream it here.
• This episode was produced by Jack Franco and edited by Jesse French.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.