Books and films
Books and films that help us understand collective action.
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For Marks
The movie portrays events from a time of crisis, where the factory owners solved their problems at the expense of workers who have become impoverished in recent years. The core conflict in the film is between the newly emerged capitalists and Soviet-era working class.The factory workers, realizing that their salaries are being reduced, decide to form an…
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The Mill
A dramatic narrative dedicated to the harsh, joyless lives of young girls working at the Quarry Bank Mill textile factory in Cheshire, in northwest England, from 1833 to 1836. Formally, they are underage apprentices under the care and full provision of the factory owners, the wealthy Greg family.
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Chicago Fire (Season 2, 1-6 series)
Fire Station No. 51 leads a vibrant life: constant responses to accidents and fires, confrontations with criminals, and saving people.
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House of Cards: season 1
Congressman Frank Underwood is charming and terrifying, a genius villain striving to reach to the top of America's power structure.Along the way, he comes across the unions—of teachers and shipbuilders.Woe and despair befall them! An extraordinary storyline, a unique staging, and superb performances, led by Robin Wright (who portrays Claire Underwood)…
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No God, No Master
The film is based on real events that took place in the United States during the 1910s and 1920s. America's wealthy elite begin receiving "gifts" in the mail—bombs.
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Zhanaozen. By Request.
Oil workers gathered in the central square of Zhanaozen (Western Kazakhstan) for a strike that lasted seven months. On December 16, 2011, during the Independence Day celebrations.
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The Snows of Kilimanjaro / Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro
Michel, an experienced dock worker and activist of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), finds himself among the 20 people laid off due to staff cuts. He and his beloved wife, Marie-Claire, live happily, surrounded by the love of their family and colleagues.
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80 Million
A historical drama by Waldemar Krzystek, based on real events during the 1980-1981 revolution in Poland. In December 1981, the Public Security forces were hunting down Solidarity trade unionists.
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Black Thursday
The film tells the story of the workers' strikes that swept the Polish coastline in December 1970, which were brutally suppressed by the country's leadership. The focus is on the fate of the shipyard worker Brunon Drywa, who was killed during the unrest at the railway station on December 17, 1970, in Gdynia.
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The Mole / Kret
Pavel Shitz and his father Zygmunt, an old hero of the labor resistance and a figure in "Solidarity," quietly trade French second-hand goods in the mining region of Silesia, living a peaceful life. However, their quiet existence comes to an end when a newspaper article accuses the father of espionage for the communist secret service.
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Sea Devils 5 season, Dockworkers' Congress Episode
An anti-union film. Stamps upon stamps.
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Three Sides
In June 2009, Prime Minister V.V. Putin visited the small town of Pikalyovo in the Leningrad region to investigate the ongoing dispute between the owners of three factories.
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Kill the Irishman
The film chronicles the rise and fall of Danny Greene. He worked as a longshoreman on the Cleveland docks, until being chosen to serve as interim president of the International Longshoremen's Association in 1961.
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No Contract, No Cookies: The Stella D’Oro Strike
Shy sandwich-maker Mahoma López unites his undocumented immigrant coworkers to fight abusive conditions at a popular New York restaurant chain
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Reagan
A biography of US President Ronald Reagan, one stage of whose life and political career involved many years of leading the American Guild of Movie Actors union. The film examines various opinions about him expressed by colleagues, historians, supporters, and family, combined with archival footage, unseen interview excerpts, and comments from Reagan…
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Ni Dios, ni patrón, ni marido / Neither God, Nor Master, Nor Husband
In 1896, Virginia Bolten, a well-known thirty-year-old anarchist, arrives in Buenos Aires, where she meets her friend Matilde, who, along with other women, works at Genaro Volpon’s textile mill under the harsh conditions of the time. Matilde, Filomena, Rosalía, and other mill workers gather around Virginia to carry out an old project of hers: to publish…
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Europe : Histoire de la classe ouvrière / Europe: History of the Working Class
4 episodes. For 300 years, the working class has been a driving force in the history of European countries, through revolutions, wars, and social progress.
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Les Molex, des gens debout
This documentary follows the workers of the Molex factory in Villemur-sur-Tarn as they fight against the closure of their plant after the 2008 financial crisis. It is a record of a collective struggle for dignity, justice, and the future of work.
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Many Straws Make a Nest: Proletarian Unrest in Delhi’s Industrial Belt / Die Strategie der Strohhalme: Proletarische Unruhe im Industriegürtel von Delhi
Over the past twenty years, Delhi has become one of the world’s largest industrial centers. Four to five million industrial workers in Delhi’s industrial belt, many recruited from poorer rural regions, risk their health for wages that barely support their families.
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Dark Side of the Black Sea
The Black Sea is known with its holiday resorts, pretty fishing boats and people. But, for seafarers, it has not been associated with these beauties for a long time.
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Workers Republic
What would you do if your boss gave you three days’ notice that your workplace was closing, leaving you unemployed in a recession and without the severance pay required by law? In December 2008, 260 laid-off workers at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago occupied their closing factory for six days and refused to leave until the owners and creditors…
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Immigrant Nation!
The film is dedicated to the struggle of American immigrants for their rights between 2006 and 2009. Among other stories, it focuses on Elvira Arellano, a single mother from Chicago who fought against her deportation.
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Made in Dagenham
The film tells the story of the 1968 strike at the Ford factory in Dagenham, near London, where 187 female sewing machinists stopped work in protest against gender discrimination. It was during this time in the UK that the issue of equal pay for men and women was first raised, eventually leading to the Equal Pay Act two years later.
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The Zero Hour / La hora cero
In Caracas in 1996, a medical strike takes place. Parca (Zapata 666), a self-described Grim reaper[1] and regular sicario,[2] brings a pregnant injured woman (Amanda Key) to his gang; the locals are unsympathetic to the doctors' reasons for strike and kidnap a doctor (Erich Wildpret) from the picket line, but the child is born in the back of a car.
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End of Representation: Emmely and the Retail Strike / Ende der Vertretung: Emmely und der Streik im Einzelhandel
The film was made during the longest collective bargaining dispute in German retail up to that point. When employers announced cuts to evening and night-work bonuses despite rising profits, many already precariously employed workers went on strike.
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Hands off! / Hände weg von der Officina!
an impressive documentary about the successful fight against the closure of the workshops. On March 7, 2008, the SBB management announced the closure of the Bellinzona workshops.