about the bookMotown and the Making of Working-Class Revolutionaries offers a fresh perspective on class, race, and revolution in the United States. Drawing on more than forty hours of interviews with former members of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, Scott and katz-fishman share the rich story of the League, including the women and students. That story includes the history of the automotive industry in Detroit, the 1967 Detroit Rebellion, and the wildcat strike that sparked the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM). The authors describe the rise of the League from 1968 to 1971. They explore the centrality of struggle and political education as the League split and a section of League comrades moved into revolutionary organizations and social movement spaces, many of which remain active today. League comrades share their analysis of the current moment and staying the course of revolutionary struggle.
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praise
At long last! Here is the story of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, one of the most important working-class movements in U.S. history, as told by the very people who made it and lived it. Reflection on the experience of the League and the lessons we must draw from it and from the revolutionary political organizations that developed out of it could not be more vital at this barbarous time. Every social justice activist and proletarian intellectual must read it and discuss how to apply the lessons of our revolutionary parents, grandparents, and ancestors to the contemporary working-class struggle for an end to capitalist exploitation and to the racism, sexism, and other oppressions that capitalism generates. —William I. Robinson, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara and author of Epochal Crisis: The Exhaustion of Global Capitalism
Motown and the Making of Working-Class Revolutionaries is an essential contribution to the understanding of a transformative period in post-World War II United States capitalism. It reveals, in deeply personal narratives, the formation of a workers’ movement in the automotive industry that challenges both race and class oppression in the factories and within the UAW. It’s a history that few are aware of, but all can learn from. It’s history that matters. Today.
—Gene Bruskin, activist, veteran labor organizer, and playwright
Motown and the Making of Working Class Revolutionaries is an exceptionally powerful analysis of the 1969 formation and history of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. These workers in the Detroit automobile industry developed into working class revolutionaries who studied and struggled for social transformation at the point of production and beyond. They took on the exploitative automobile industry and embedded themselves in the worldwide class struggle against white supremacy and imperialist capitalism. Their voices are clear and incredibly potent with critical lessons for today.
—Rose M. Brewer, Distinguished Teaching Professor, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, 2024-2025
Book Talks
“Thanks again for coming to Southeastern. The response from students and faculty has been overwhelming. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn from you both!” ~Joshua McDermott
”The talk was wonderful, I have never seen so much student engagement! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and passion with all of us.” ~Deirdre Smith
Motown and the Making of Working-Class Revolutionaries is an essential contribution to the understanding of a transformative period in post-World War II United States capitalism. It reveals, in deeply personal narratives, the formation of a workers’ movement in the automotive industry that challenges both race and class oppression in the factories and within the UAW. It’s a history that few are aware of, but all can learn from. It’s history that matters. Today.
—Gene Bruskin, activist, veteran labor organizer, and playwright
Motown and the Making of Working Class Revolutionaries is an exceptionally powerful analysis of the 1969 formation and history of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. These workers in the Detroit automobile industry developed into working class revolutionaries who studied and struggled for social transformation at the point of production and beyond. They took on the exploitative automobile industry and embedded themselves in the worldwide class struggle against white supremacy and imperialist capitalism. Their voices are clear and incredibly potent with critical lessons for today.
—Rose M. Brewer, Distinguished Teaching Professor, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, 2024-2025
Book Talks
“Thanks again for coming to Southeastern. The response from students and faculty has been overwhelming. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn from you both!” ~Joshua McDermott
”The talk was wonderful, I have never seen so much student engagement! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and passion with all of us.” ~Deirdre Smith
about the authors
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Jerome Scott 
a former autoworker, labor organizer in the auto plants of Detroit in the 1960s and 1970s, and member of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, was the founding director of Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide. He is a contributing author and editor of popular education toolkits and books including The United States Social Forum: Perspectives of a Movement, The Roots of Terror, Today's Globalization, and The Critical Classroom. |
walda katz-fishman 
a scholar activist, popular educator and author, and professor of sociology at Howard University. She was a founding member and former board chair of Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide. She is a contributing author and editor of popular education toolkits and books including The United States Social Forum: Perspectives of a Movement, The Roots of Terror,Today's Globalization, and The Critical Classroom. |
Read an Excerpt
We have all read and heard the different analyses by different people in their books
where they summarized the history of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. This
time we wanna set a lot of this stuff straight.
~ Marian Kramer
where they summarized the history of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. This
time we wanna set a lot of this stuff straight.
~ Marian Kramer
How do you become a revolutionary in the 1960s and go through numerous transitions
but remain a revolutionary today? That story being told by the people who lived those
decades can be very significant for some of the critical questions I hear.
~ Jerome Scott
but remain a revolutionary today? That story being told by the people who lived those
decades can be very significant for some of the critical questions I hear.
~ Jerome Scott
General Baker, whose life, analysis, and struggle were central to the formation of the League, summed up the shifts in history and what the times today require of revolutionaries:
We gotta make thinkers into fighters and fighters into thinkers. . . . Today is not like the 1960s. The 1960s left us with people who fought and refused to think, and people who thought and refused to fight. It took us twenty years to try to make thinkers into fighters and fighters into thinkers. We're in a long, difficult battle. We gotta have a protracted outlook.
As part of the League, we began our lifelong process of study. We developed a method that worked well for point-of-production workers and for students. Many had not gone to college or studied Marxism, or any theory, before. Collective reading, discussion, and study were at the center of the process. We read the materials together, so educational level was not a limitation. We learned how to pull out the key concepts presented in the readings, which was critical for grappling with their application in our political work. We discussed the material until everyone
understood and grasped the concepts and the analysis of the revolutionary process. We all became learners and teachers.
For the comrades of the League, the dialectics of theory and practice, of study and
struggle marked the beginning. We all joined the League journey through our personal paths to becoming politicized. Some of us were at the founding of the League and some connected along the way. A thread that runs through the League story comes from our southern roots--living and knowing the state violence of white supremacy, gender oppression, and class exploitation. Another thread comes through our study and our political practice. From the early years, the 1960s rebellion and wildcat strikes, to DRUM and the League, Marxism provided theoretical grounding among the leadership and the Executive Board. Most of the rank-and-file
workers came to Marxism in the period of the split in the League and the months long political study. …
This moment requires the American people to deeply understand today's capitalist crises--the interrelated crises of economy, ecology and climate, politics, and society--and to take the offensive to defeat fascism and win the world we envision, need, and want, to become fighters who think and thinkers who fight. …
Survival of humanity and the earth requires all us to take up this revolutionary work. The revolutionary horizon is within our grasp. Make it happen!
understood and grasped the concepts and the analysis of the revolutionary process. We all became learners and teachers.
For the comrades of the League, the dialectics of theory and practice, of study and
struggle marked the beginning. We all joined the League journey through our personal paths to becoming politicized. Some of us were at the founding of the League and some connected along the way. A thread that runs through the League story comes from our southern roots--living and knowing the state violence of white supremacy, gender oppression, and class exploitation. Another thread comes through our study and our political practice. From the early years, the 1960s rebellion and wildcat strikes, to DRUM and the League, Marxism provided theoretical grounding among the leadership and the Executive Board. Most of the rank-and-file
workers came to Marxism in the period of the split in the League and the months long political study. …
This moment requires the American people to deeply understand today's capitalist crises--the interrelated crises of economy, ecology and climate, politics, and society--and to take the offensive to defeat fascism and win the world we envision, need, and want, to become fighters who think and thinkers who fight. …
Survival of humanity and the earth requires all us to take up this revolutionary work. The revolutionary horizon is within our grasp. Make it happen!
Table of Contents
Part One. Black Workers and Auto – The Beginning
Part Two. From Our Origins to the Split – The League Story
Part Three. The Split and Coming to Revolutionary Consciousness
Part Four. Lessons and Possibilities in Revolutionary Times
Part One. Black Workers and Auto – The Beginning
- Chapter 1. The League Story in Our Own Words
- Chapter 2. Our Southern Roots and Radicalization
- Chapter 3. Workers, Capitalists, and the United Auto Workers in the Auto Industry, Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Centuries
Part Two. From Our Origins to the Split – The League Story
- Chapter 4. Founding Members of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers Meet Up in the Early 1960s
- Chapter 5. Working-Class Rebellions in Detroit and the World – The Working Class Takes the Offensive, 1967 to 1968
- Chapter 6. The League Days, 1968 to 1971
- Chapter 7. League Women and Students – The Woman Question, the 1960s to 1971
- Chapter 8. Class, Race, and Revolution – Understanding the Real World
Part Three. The Split and Coming to Revolutionary Consciousness
- Chapter 9. The Split and the Struggle for Education, 1971
- Chapter 10. Becoming Working-Class Intellectuals and Lifelong Revolutionaries, 1971 and Beyond
- Chapter 11. Other Detroiters Join the Journey and the Study
Part Four. Lessons and Possibilities in Revolutionary Times
- Chapter 12. The Centrality of Education in Revolutionary Struggle
- Chapter 13. Riding the Ebbs and Flows of Class Struggle – Longevity and Lessons for Today's Revolutionaries
- Chapter 14. Revolutionary Possibilities
book tour & Events
more coming soon...
Monday, January 19, 2026
oakland, CA
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Location: Oakstop Manning Creative Suite
1721 Broadway, Oakland, CA 5:00 pm We will connect, enjoy refreshments, a book signing, and hear from revolutionary elders still in the struggle today. This event is co-sponsored by Generation Common Good and League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA), Oakland chapter RSVP through this link Host contact info [email protected] 
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Wednesday, January, 21, 2026
San Francisco, CA
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Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery
3036 24th St, San Francisco, CA, 94110 Book Talk and Signing 7:00 pm 
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Saturday, Dec 6, 2025
Philly, PA
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Wooden Shoe Books: Anarchist & Radical Literature
704 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147 Book Talk & Signing 4 pm - 5:30 pm 
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WEdnesday, Nov 12, 2025
Hammond, LA (Southeastern Louisiana University)
Book discussion and signing!
Sponsored by Southeastern Louisiana University Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice
Events start at 2:00 PM
Book signing at bookstore to follow
Sponsored by Southeastern Louisiana University Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice
Events start at 2:00 PM
Book signing at bookstore to follow
Thursday, Oct 16th and friday, oct 17, 2025
Louisville, KY
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🎉 Excitement is in the air! Get ready to hear directly from the authors! 🎉 There are two opportunities to engage: →Thursday, 10/16, at the Carl Braden Memorial Center - 3208 W Broadway at 6:30pm →Friday, 10/17, at the University of Louisville, Anne Braden Institute, Ekstrom Library at 10am. Register for the event: click here You hosts, Carl Braden Memorial Center Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice (LSURJ) UofL United Campus Workers |
Thursday's Location
Friday's Location
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hybrid book talk: Monday, Oct 29, 2025
decatur,GA & online
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Charis hybrid in-person + virtual event. Book signing and conversation with Jerome Scott + Anne Olson at Charis Books and More and Charis Circle!
7:30 p.m. (Seating begins at 7 pm) You can order the book in advance through Charis Books and More; click here to order For online attendance, please register to receive a link: click here Hosted by Charis Books and More Share the event online with these handles: Instagram: @charisbooksandmore Facebook: @CharisBooksandMore/CharisCircle Other event information:
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Past Events
Thursday, october 2, 2025
chicago, IL
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Discussion and book signing
6 PM - 7 PM Hosted by Barbara's Bookstore Event located at Macy's: 111 N. State Street, Lower Level, Chicago, IL 60602 We kindly request that if you would like your book signed, it must be purchased at Barbara’s Bookstore. To ensure a smooth and efficient signing process, please present your receipt as proof of purchase. |
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book launch: saturday, september 13, 2025
Detroit, MI
Join us as we celebrate the book launch! Panel discussion + book signing.
4 PM - 6 PM
The book will be available to purchase at the event or you can pre-order it here: http://bit.ly/4fJoppb
Hosted by Source Booksellers & General Baker Institute
15798 Livernois, Detroit, MI, 48238
4 PM - 6 PM
The book will be available to purchase at the event or you can pre-order it here: http://bit.ly/4fJoppb
Hosted by Source Booksellers & General Baker Institute
15798 Livernois, Detroit, MI, 48238
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Friday, August 8, 2025
CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Revolutionary Possibilities: Confronting Capitalist Crises and Fascist Forces with Transformative Theory and Practice in the Price Room
Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) at Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel, 17 East Monroe Street, Chicago
Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) at Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel, 17 East Monroe Street, Chicago
Saturday, august 9, 2025
The Fight against Fascism is the Fight against Empire in East Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago on the Concourse Level/Bronze, Randolph 3
American Sociological Association (ASA) at Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 E Wacker Drive
American Sociological Association (ASA) at Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 E Wacker Drive
Saturday, august 9-august 12, 2025
See the book at ASA Book Exhibit
University of Georgia Press at Booth 330
Riverside Center at Hyatt Regency Chicago
University of Georgia Press at Booth 330
Riverside Center at Hyatt Regency Chicago
Sunday, august 10, 2025
CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Sociologists as Workers and Political Actors in Today’s Multiracial and Multigendered Working Class Struggle in the Crystal Room
Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) at Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel, 17 East Monroe Street, Chicago
Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) at Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel, 17 East Monroe Street, Chicago
photos
Flyers, posters, communications, and newspapers from the early days of the Dodge Revolutionary Movement and wildcat strikes in 1968 through the days. Courtesy League Collective.
One advertisement poster for "The DRUM [Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement] Slate." The poster is printed in black ink on pale yellow paper and shows a group picture of ten African Americans at the top. Printed text below the picture shows the names of the individuals in the picture and also lists 16 demands that the labor group was presenting to the UAW leadership at the Chrysler Hamtramck Assembly Plant (Dodge Main). Courtesy of Detroit Historical Society
DRUM (Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement) slate for Dodge Main UAW local election.
Executive Board members, General "Gen" Baker and Mike Hamlin, at a protest in Detroit during League days. Courtesy League Collective.
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League of Revolutionary Black Workers members and family who share our stories from the origins in 1968 to the split in 1971. Courtesy General Baker Institute.
Volunteer crew and videographers--Virginia Leavell, Can Tuzcu, Spence Mann, and Anna Lee-Popham--for the League Education and Media Project. Courtesy General Baker Institute.
Comrades who joined the journey from the League split to our journey to the Communist League, the Communist Labor Party, and the League of Revolutionaries for a New America today. Courtesy General Baker Institute.
Conversation at Darryl Mitchell's house with Russell Jackson, Darryl Mitchell, Alonzo Chandler, Abdul Roberts, and Jerome Scott. Photo by Can Tuzcu, courtesy General Baker Institute.
Jerome Scott and Marian Kramer at planning meeting for the video and book project in 2015. Courtesy General Baker Institute.
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For more information, please also see the General Baker Institute
The General Baker Institute is a 501c3 Non-Profit organization determined to follow the legacy of General Baker and others like him to transform fighters into thinkers and thinkers into fighters. Our approach is focuses on what we consider the pillars of movement building: - Political Education, Arts and Culture, Projects of Survival, and Internationalism.