Books and films
Books and films that help us understand collective action.
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Shifting Gears: Canadian Autoworkers and the Changing Landscape of Labour Politics
Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage’s book, Shifting Gears, explores these dynamics in the Canadian labour movement by focusing on autoworkers. While it may be tempting to think that a book about autoworkers has little relevance for academic staff associations, there are lessons here for all of us.
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화물연대 20년사 2002~2022 / 20-Year History of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity Union (2002–2022)
The 20-Year History of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity traces the formation and development of Korea’s organized truck drivers’ movement from 2002 to 2022. The book documents how cargo workers, facing neoliberal globalization and precarious employment, united to build a powerful national organization and halt logistics to demand survival rights and labor…
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21세기 노동의 귀환 / The Return of Labor in the 21st Century
The Return of Labor in the 21st Century examines the contemporary crisis of labor in South Korea amid growing polarization between regular and irregular workers, large and small firms, and generations. Cho argues that anti-labor government policies and the collapse of social dialogue have intensified this crisis.
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그리운 5·18투사 김성애·로사리아 / Beloved 5·18 Fighter Kim Sung-Ae (Rosaria): A Pioneer of the Gwangju Women’s Labor Movement and Participant in the May 18 Uprising
Kim Seong-ae was a pioneering labor activist in Gwangju and a key participant in the May 18 Democratic Uprising of 1980. She played an important role in building solidarity between workers and students, including organizing support for protesting university students.
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투쟁의 역사, 성찰의 기록 / A history of struggle, a record of reflection
Reflecting on 40 Years of the Korean Labor Movement: Not Just Victories, But Also Failures and Mistakes This book examines the practical direction of the Korean labor movement and the political and ideological stances it has developed. The ideology and practice of the labor movement have directly shaped its form.
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긴 투쟁, 귀한 삶 / A Long Struggle, a Valuable Life: 50 Years of Women Workers’ Struggle at Dongil Textile
Even in such a Korea, there was undoubtedly a time of labor activism. And paradoxically, it was a time when workers' rights were most brutally trampled.
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걷고 보니 역사였네 / As I walked, I realized it was history.
Author Yang Gyu-heon began his career in local labor unions and grew into a labor activist. He served as chairman of the Korean Federation of Trade Unions (KFTU), and has since dedicated himself to the irregular workers' movement and working-class politics.
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퇴사 대신 노조 만들기 / Don’t Quit — Organize a Union
However, if you were to throw such a book at someone just starting out in a union, they might hesitate to jump right in. High-level resolutions can wait.
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History of Resistance to Discrimination by Koreans Living in Japan: Focusing on the Labor Movement in the 1920s and 1930s / 1920~30년대 일본 거주 조선인의 노동운동과 차별 저항사
This book examines the social movements undertaken by Koreans who migrated to Japan from the Korean Peninsula to seek employment or study before August 1945, resisting discrimination there, focusing on the labor movement of the 1920s and 1930s. In August 1945, just before the end of World War II, the population of Koreans living in Japan¹⁾ was…
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울산 노동운동사 / History of the Ulsan Labor Movement
Volume 1 broadly describes the labor movement before industrialization, including the Japanese colonial period; the labor movement during the industrialization period after liberation and before the 1987 Labor Struggle; the period of the 1987 Labor Struggle; and the labor movement during the neoliberal era of the mid-1990s. Furthermore, separate chapters…
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노가다가 아닌 노동자로 삽니다 / Living as a Worker, Not a Day Laborer
"Strictly crack down on the rule of law until the dry force is completely eradicated." After the remarks at the State Council on February 21, 2023, the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and the conservative media joined forces to push…
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금형사상공 나의 삶 나의 꿈 ‘노동자 정갑득’의 노동운동 역정과 시대의 회고록 / Mold Industry, My Life, My Dream: A Memoir of the Labor Movement and the Times
Former Chairman Jeong joined the mold department of Hyundai Motor Company in 1984, went on a hunger strike to protest dismissal in 1988, was arrested in 1992 for his struggle for profit distribution, led the self-immolation protest in memory of martyr Yang Bong-su in 1995, served as the 6th chairman of the Hyundai Motor Company labor union in 1995, lost…
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사회운동과 역사주기 / Social Movements and Historical Cycles
Social Movements and Historical Cycles is a comprehensive sociological study of Korean social movements from the April 19 Revolution to the present. Drawing on more than 600 pages of analysis, Cho Dae-yeop traces recurring patterns, ruptures, and transformations in collective action.
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노동운동과 지식인: 역사와 현대의 대화 / The Labor Movement and Intellectuals: A Dialogue Between History and the Present
This book explores the complex relationship between the labor movement and intellectuals through a dialogue between historical experience and contemporary realities. It examines how intellectuals have engaged with labor struggles, social movements, and political participation, and reflects on their roles and responsibilities in confronting social…
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만국의 노동자여 글을 쓰자 / Workers of the World, Let’s Write
The book documents the lived experiences of workers through firsthand narratives, showing how labor is shaped by exploitation, precarity, and resistance. It treats writing not as literature in the narrow sense, but as a form of labor and political action.
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작가노동 선언 / Writers’ Labor Declaration
Writers active in various genres, including poetry, novels, web novels, columns and essays, translation, reviews and critiques, humanities and social sciences, children's and youth writing, playwriting, screenplays and screenplays, reportage, comics and webtoons, and drawings and illustrations, have come together to form a "union." Beginning with a small…
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北京工人运动史 / A History of the Beijing Workers' Movement
"A History of the Beijing Workers' Movement" is divided into four parts, totaling more than 390,000 words. It takes history as its axis, combines historical analysis with theoretical discussion, and is rigorous, pragmatic, and richly illustrated.
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工人运动与中国现代文学 / The Workers' Movement and Modern Chinese Literature
This book focuses on the significance and influence of the workers' movement on modern Chinese literature, bringing the extremely important working class and workers' movement in modern Chinese history into the scope of literary studies.
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楊浦工人運動大事記 / Yangpo Artisans Movement Diary
The entire book is over 26,000 characters, and spans time.Started in 1863, entered the Yangshupu area, entered the concession area, and stopped in 2023.Convened the 18th national representative conference of the China Industrial Association. A 160-year history of Changhe's chronology, a chronological and lunar diary.
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Narodziny Solidarności na Dolnym Śląsku / The birth of Solidarity in Lower Silesia
The first volume of the new popular-science series “Solidarity in Lower Silesia,” published by the Wrocław branch of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) and Ossolineum, is devoted to a breakthrough event in Poland’s postwar history—the strikes of August 1980. It was then that genuine solidarity was born, giving rise to a great mass social movement.
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Od aplauza do sindikata: Priručnik o radu u kulturi / From Applause to Unions: A Handbook on Cultural Work
We proudly and joyfully invite you to the presentation of the book From Applause to Unions: A Handbook on Work in Culture . It is intended for all underpaid and precarious cultural workers and artists who need a reminder of labor law issues, but also encouragement to organize together and fight for better working conditions .
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Solidarność cukrowników. Zarys historii NSZZ „Solidarność” pracowników przemysłu cukrowniczego w Polsce w latach 1980–1990 / Sugar Workers' Solidarity: An Outline of the History of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" of
In the history of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity,” sectoral sections played an important role alongside the regional structure, especially those bringing together enterprises of key importance to the economy of the Polish People’s Republic. In the food industry, a particularly significant role was played by workers from 79 sugar…
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U taboru anarhista: Život Ivana Zeppa / In the Camp of the Anarchists: The Life of Ivan Zeppa
Far from anarchist circles and discussions with Swiss comrades, Ivan Zepp (1889–1967) spent his final years on the banks of the Drava River. Describing him as “the last anarchist in Osijek,” for the publicist and chronicler of the labor movement Lavoslav Kraus, Zepp represented an unusual kind of man after World War II.
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Zápotocký: Příliš mnoho životů / Zápotocký: Too Many Lives
Antonín Zápotocký was one of the most prominent figures of the communist movement. He was connected with the party from its very beginnings and remained at the highest levels of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) until his death in 1957.
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Соціалістичний активіст на промисловому підприємстві в умовах української буржуазної демократії / Socialist activist at an industrial enterprise in the conditions of Ukrainian bourgeois democracy
“Socialist Activist at an Industrial Enterprise under Ukrainian Bourgeois Democracy” is a memoir by Oleg Dubrovskyi that highlights the activities of a socialist activist and factory worker in the plants of Dnipropetrovsk between 1998 and 2003. The book describes attempts to organize socialist education and to fight for workers’ rights against delayed…
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La Fabrique des insurgées / The Factory of Insurgent Women — 1869: la première grève d’ouvrières
A black-and-white graphic novel about the first strike by women workers in France. Lyon, 1869: in a silk-spinning mill, the ovalistes work twelve-hour days for miserable wages, live in unhealthy lodgings and are poorly fed.
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The August Uprising, 1924: The Georgian Anti-Soviet Revolt and the Birth of Democratic Socialism
For three years after the Russian Revolution, Georgia was a democratic republic, until Stalin ordered the Red Army to invade and restore Russian rule. Communist attacks on political opponents, trade unions, cooperatives and even the church sparked resistance, culminating in an armed uprising across the country in August 1924.
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Arbeiten um zu leben! / Work to live! On the history and current relevance of the struggle over working hours
Time has always been a contested territory, and its distribution is often understood as a "measure of freedom." How much time is spent on paid and unpaid work, and how much is available for personal use? This edited volume examines the trade union demand for reduced working hours since the 1970s from a sociological and historical perspective, drawing on…
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Arbeitskämpfe an die Hochschulen! / Labor disputes at the universities! Employment conditions and strategies of trade union counter-power
The authors of this book combine academic analyses of working and employment conditions with strategic perspectives for trade union work at universities. More than 70 activists share their experiences in building counter-power in this difficult yet strategically crucial field for the renewal of trade unions, making it clear: labor struggles at…
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Bottroper Kommunistenprozess vot dem Essener Schwurgericht 1919 / Bottrop Communist Trial before the Essen Assize Court 1919
In November 1918, following the Kaiser's abdication, the Weimar Republic and the Soviet Republic were proclaimed in Berlin. Workers' and soldiers' councils also formed in the western Ruhr region.