Books and films
Books and films that help us understand collective action.
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L'usine: Névroses d'une grève oubliée / The Factory: Neuroses of a Forgotten Strike
A daily grind of noise and sweat, a relentless pace that crushes both body and mind, the machinations of union power, and the occasional struggle for friendship: this is the working-class experience recounted by the narrator, a former union representative at the Citroën factory in Aulnay-sous-Bois. A witness to and participant in the union struggles and…
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Mondige burger, stille werker? / Outspoken Citizen, Silent Worker? Why Saving Democracy Starts at Work
An inspiring story about support for change, public imagination, the trade union as a political emancipation machine and a driving force for autonomy. At school, you learn to think critically.
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Naar een nieuwe arbeidersbeweging / Towards a New Labor Movement
Marxist theory has been written off, declared dead, and consigned to the dustbin of history. All social democratic parties, all variations of contemporary social popular parties (such as the Labour Party (PvdA), GreenLeft (GroenLinks), and Socialist Party (SP)), have become integrated into modern society and are an inseparable part of it.
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Poésies sociales des ouvriers / Social Poems of the Workers: A Poetic Anthology of Working-Class Commitment Between Social Justice, Popular Voice, and Transformation
The social poetry of the workers will appeal to readers eager to understand 19th-century society, explore socially engaged literature, discover the vitality of popular poetry, and appreciate the power of words on the collective consciousness. This collection, poised between humanism, social commitment, and a celebration of labor, remains an essential…
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Polderen en strijden / Poldering and Struggle Highs and lows of the trade union movement in the 21st century
The first twenty-five years of the 21 and The 20th century was anything but quiet for the FNV. The book "Polderen enstrijden" (Poldering and Struggle) provides an overview of the most important actions and developments in the field of employment conditions and relations during this period.
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Protesteren voor beginners neemt / Protesting for Beginners
Whether it's about climate change, racism, women's rights, or the war in Gaza: all over the world, people are taking to the streets again to demonstrate nonviolently. In "Protesting for Beginners, " Lodewijk van Oord takes the reader through the history of peaceful resistance against war, violence, and injustice.
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Savoir commencer une grève. Résistances ouvrières à la désindustrialisation dans la France contemporaine / Knowing How to Start a Strike: Workers' Resistance to Deindustrialization in Contemporary France
Romain Castellesi offers us an unprecedented history of deindustrialization in France. A history marked by the silences and erasures that affect the working class; a history made up of resistances and struggles waged to defend themselves against the closure of factories and to preserve their dignity; a history still in progress, which continues to…
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Seis de Julho / July 6th: The Oil Workers' Strike of 1983
The book "July 6th: The 1983 Oil Workers' Strike ," by Carlos Lucena, is an analysis of the oil workers' strike that occurred on July 6, 1983, in Paulínia (SP) and Mataripe (BA). The work describes this event as one of the main strike movements of the 1980s.
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Se tenir debout / Standing Tall: A Century of Struggles Against Suffering at Work
Recovering from professional burnout and regaining physical and mental health is a process that can take years. Getting back on your feet and standing tall also means, within the workplace, daring to speak up and resisting deteriorating working conditions.
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The Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman
What would a gay sociologist write about his mother, a former working-class woman? Furthermore, what if that mother, despite being a longtime union member and a leader in strikes and rallies, in her later years despised anything associated with the left and voted for a far-right party?
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Go South": Union Organising in the 21st Century
Are the trade unions back? After the strike wave of 2022 and 2023 the unions are in a better place - more relevant, more active and more popular.
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Strajk. Historia buntów pracowniczych
More than 150 years have passed since the first strike, which took place in 1872 at the Cegielski factory—a symbol and an exceptional site not only on the map of Greater Poland but of the entire country. The Poznań enterprise, which has operated continuously for 178 years, serves for Jarosław Urbański as a point of reference and inspiration for…
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Takový socialismus nechceme!: Kultura protestu průmyslového dělnictva v českých zemích v letech 1945-1968
Did strikes exist during the period of state socialism in Czechoslovakia? Did industrial workers agree with government policy at the time?
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Tapis rouge et lutte des classes / Une autre histoire du Festival de Cannes
The Cannes Film Festival, the red carpet, its parade of stars and the crackle of camera flashes… Who could imagine that behind the glittering façade of the most prestigious event in the world of cinema lies a completely different story? To understand it, we must go back to the very origins of the Festival.
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Klassensolidarität, Autonomie, Selbstorganisation: Erfahrungen und Reflexionen von unten
Striking delivery drivers in Brazil, organized logistics workers in Italy, grassroots groups in Switzerland and Germany, covert protests by Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan, an occupation in Greece resisting touristification, burning construction sites, and collective expropriations in the United States: across the world and in very different ways,…
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हड़ताल कल होगी The Strike Will Be Tomorrow
Mauritian writer Abhimanyu Anat has established a distinct place for himself in modern Hindi fiction, and this novel adds a new dimension to his literary personality. The protagonist of the novel, Amit, is sensitive and contemplative, a leader of workers, deeply disturbed by the internal and external divide between the rich and the poor.
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শতবর্ষে চা-শ্রমিক আন্দোলন ডেডলাইন ২০ মে ১৯২১ A Century of the Tea Workers’ Movement: Deadline 20 May 1921
Shreyasi Gangopadhyay. May 20, 1921 marks the tea workers’ movement in Bangladesh, and the legacy of the struggle of plantation workers and coolies remains just as significant even after a century.
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This Work Is Not Life: Class Struggle in the 21st Century — The GKN Case / Questo lavoro non è vita. La lotta di classe nel XXI secolo. Il caso GKN
On 9 July 2021, the 422 employees of GKN in Campi Bisenzio, Florence, a factory producing drive shafts for the automotive industry, received an email announcing collective-dismissal proceedings due to the closure of the business. The workers refused to remain resigned: they immediately went to the factory gates, guarded by private security, and managed…
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Una alianza que transformó el país / An alliance that transformed the country: The unions and early Peronism
An eruption, a magical and mysterious moment, the emergence of an undercurrent that swept everything away. A leader who interpreted and shaped history to his liking.
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عمّال على طريق يناير: قراءة لثلاث معارك عمّالية مع نشرات الحركة Workers on the Road to January: A Reading of Three Labour Struggles with the Movement’s Bulletins
In his book Workers on the Road to January: A Reading of Three Labour Struggles with the Movement’s Bulletins, published by Dar Al-Maraya, Hisham Fouad offers a panoramic view from inside the workers’ operational room. The book is not a dry academic study; rather, it is a “living documentation” and “close-up observations of three pivotal labour struggles…
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Judul Buku: Berpencar, Bergerak!: Pergolakan Perlawanan Harian Buruh di Delapan Sektor Industri
In the book “Berpencar, Bergerak”, Sudiyanti recounts her experience of resistance in an electronics factory that produces earphones. In great detail, Sudiyanti explains how she, together with several comrades who were members of a factory-level labor union, transformed workers’ complaints about poor working conditions into concrete demands directed at…
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The Labor Movement and Its Role in Society and Politics / ขบวนการแรงงานกับบทบาททางสังคมและการเมือง
This book is a collection of academic articles based on the author’s research work, reflecting her role as a key scholar closely connected to the Thai labor movement over the past three decades. The volume brings together three major articles: The History of the Thai Labor Movement Toward a Decade of Fragmentation (1977–1987) Trade Unions as Social…
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Por qué el obrero vota a la derecha: La deriva suicida de la izquierda / Why the worker votes for the right: The suicidal drift of the left
What's happening to the left today? Why does it seem more concerned with issues like environmentalism (a false environmentalism) or a feminism that is anything but equality, instead of with the problems faced by an increasingly suffocated working class?
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Help Wanted
Every day at 3:55 a.m., members of Team Movement clock in for their shift at big-box store Town Square in a small upstate New York town. Under the eyes of a self-absorbed and barely competent boss, they empty the day’s truck of merchandise, stock the shelves, and scatter before the store opens and customers arrive.
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People, Power, Change: Organizing for Democratic Renewal
At a moment in which our everyday practice of democracy has atrophied, and political, economic, and technological forces have weakened our capacity for collective action, People, Power, Change is a once-in-a-generation book for anyone who wants to create real and lasting change. Marshall Ganz is one of the world’s leading authorities on democratic…
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Jusqu'au bout. Vieillir et résister dans le monde ouvrier
Bruno, Christian, Clairette, Christiane, and Viviane are former Peugeot employees from Sochaux-Montbéliard. Battered by factory work, these retirees place union activism and friendly solidarity at the heart of their lives.
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Building Power to Shape Labor Policy: Unions, Employer Associations, and Reform in Neoliberal Chile
During Chile’s transition to neoliberalism, Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship established a body of pro-business labor legislation that later democratic governments found difficult to reform. Pablo Pérez Ahumada examines why, focusing on collective labor law and on the unequal capacity of workers and employers to influence public policy.
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Sindikati kroz izazove prošlosti i budućnosti / Unions through the Challenges of the Past and Future
The book "Unions through the Challenges of the Past and Future" recording the testimonies of trade unionists about the transition in Serbia, about strikes and bad privatizations, with details that are little known to the public. The authors of the book are journalist Jelena Ranković and long-time leader of the union of the "Zastava Arms" factory and the…
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Community and Change: Practical Trade Union Work that Creates Engagement / Fellesskap og forandring: Praktisk fagforeningsarbeid som skaper engasjement
Active and engaged shop stewards and union staff are the key to a strong labour movement that can achieve results in the workplace, in national negotiations, and in politics. But to create this kind of engagement, the labour movement must devote more effort to building strong communities and good relationships in workplaces—developing what are often…
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Workers and Intellectuals: NGOs, Students, and the Indonesian Labor Movement Buruh dan Intelektual: LSM, Mahasiswa, dan Gerakan Buruh Indonesia
This book examines the resurgence of Indonesia’s independent labor movement in the 1990s after decades of repression, focusing on the contested role played by middle-class activists, particularly students and labor NGOs. As trade unions re-emerged following the fall of the New Order regime in 1998, non-worker intellectuals continued to shape labor…