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SAVE THE HUMANS?
COMMON PRESERVATION IN ACTION
JEREMY BRECHER
Stone Soup Books
Additional Praise for Save the Humans?
"The most important story of the past half century is that of ordinary people
organizing to transform the way society looked at workers, unjust war, women,
people of color, and the environment. Jeremy Brecher's life and book tell this
story with a passion and comprehensiveness that make this a must-read for fans
of justice."
-John Cavanagh, Director, Institute for Policy Studies
"One of America's most admired activist-scholars shines his light on the path
forward, reminding us that social change is both possible and urgent."
-Mike Davis, University of California-Riverside and
author of City ofQ ptartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles
"It is an amazing piece of work indeed, accomplishing the unimaginable, to
paraphrase the Port Huron Statement. The blend of personal experience, collective
memories, social analysis, and indications of possible ways out of our current
disastrous state is impressive."
-Ferdinando Fasce, University of Genoa and author of An American
Family: The Great War and Corporate Culture in America
"A breath-taking manuscript: I am overwhelmed and beginning to think about
how I can integrate this into my teaching. An enormous contribution to the
advancement of knowhow for common preservation."
-Frieder Otto Wolf, Free University of Berlin and
former Member of the European Parliament for the German Greens
This book is dedicated to the memory of Tim Costello, my friend,
collaborator, and writing partner off orty years.
The author encourages and gives permission to anyone to
reproduce this book in whole or part in any medium.
http://www.jeremybrecher.org/humans/
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brecher, Jeremy.
Save the humans? : common preservation in action/ Jeremy Brecher.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61205-096-6 (hardback: alk. paper)-
ISBN 978-1-61205-097-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Labor movement. 2. Social movements. 3. Social problems. I. Title.
HD4802.B74 2012
361.2-dc23
Designed and Typeset by Straight Creek Bookmakers.
Published by Stone Soup Books, 2018.
Stone Soup Books
P.O. Box 84
West Cornwall, CT 06796
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments viii
Prologue: March Like an Egyptian 1
Introduction 5
Part I : Discovering Social Problems
1 Discovering Social Problems 14
2 Kiss Your Ass Goodbye 16
3 This Way for the Gas 18
4 McCarthyism 20
5 Race Relations 23
6 Quiet Desperation 26
7 The Web of Life 28
8 The Start of a Quest 31
Part 2: Discovering Social Movements
9 Discovering Social Movements 34
10 Doctor Spock Is Worried 36
11 Peace How? 41
12 Social Roots of War 45
13 Solidarity-Ever? 48
14 Eyes on the Prize 52
15 SDS 58
16 Participatory Democracy 63
17 Women's Liberation 68
18 'Nam 71
19 A Realm of New Possibilities 78
v
vi '€> Contents
Part 3: Discovering Workers Power
20 Discovering Workers Power 84
21 Great Upheavals 86
22 If They Can Do It, Why Can't We? 89
23 General Strike Against War? 93
24 Strike! 96
25 Sit-Down 98
26 Interpreting Mass Strikes 102
27 Class and Power: The Keys to the Workshop 106
28 Workers Power 109
29 The Work Group: "A Guerriila Band at War with Management" 111
30 "Whatever Happened to the Unions?" 114
31 "Spreading by Contagion" 117
32 The Challenge to Authority 121
33 Solidarity 123
34 Self-Management 125
35 You Say You Want a Revolution? 128
36 Beyond Reductionism: My Critique of Strike! 131
37 Class and Beyond 136
Part 4: Discovering Globalization from Below
38 Discovering Globalization from Below 140
39 Constructing Wholes: The Race to the Bottom 144
40 The Relativity of Boundaries: Globalization 146
41 Constructing an Account: Patterns, Gaps, Actions, and Effects 149
42 Domination: The Restructuring of Global Governance 154
43 Disorder: Unintended Consequences 156
44 Differentiation and Integration:
The Restructuring of Production and Labor 158
45 Responding to Change: A New Labor Internationalism 160
46 De-Centering: Globalization from Below 162
47 Power and Dependence: The Lilliput Strategy 169
48 Solving Problems: Constructing Alternatives
to Economic Globalization 174
49 Globalization and Its Crisis 179
Part 5: Human Preservation
50 Human Preservation 182
51 Mutual (but Hopefully Not Yet Assured) Destruction 184
Contents ~ vii
52 Doom and Gloom 188
53 An Ecological Shift 190
54 Self-Organization for Common Preservation 193
55 A Human Preservation Movement? 196
56 Emergence and Convergence 200
57 Changing to Survive 203
58 The Power of the Powerless 208
59 Guidelines for Human Preservationists 212
60 A Protracted Struggle in an Era of Turmoil 216
Conclusion: Common Preservation 219
L'Envoy 221
Notes 222
Index 233
About the Author 246
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book reflects what I've learned from innumerable friends and colleagues
over the past half century. I thank them all, especially those who have led me to
question my own ideas. As William Blake said, "Opposition is true friendship."
Jill Cutler has sustained me through the long travails of making this book,
as well as providing me the luxury of an in-house editor. Without Michael
Pertschuk's faith in it this book might never have seen the light of day. Essential
support also came from Anthony Arnove, Nando Fasce, Charles Lindblom,
Michael Ferber, Francis Fox Piven, and Frieder Otto Wolf. My editor Jennifer
Knerr's vision was essential to the realization of this project.
My colleagues Becky Glass, Brendan Smith, and Joe Uehlein at the Labor
Network for Sustainability have provided a context of thought and action that
has informed the final shaping of the book.
Thanks to those who have read part or all of the manuscript at one stage or
another, including Michael Ames, Michael Athay, Jill Cutler, Josh Dubler, Sharon
Hammer, Charles Lindblom, Peter Marris, Brendan Smith, Dan Sofaer, Michael
Pertschuk, and Frieder Otto Wolf.
Many of the ideas in this book were worked out over four decades in collabo
ration with the late Tim Costello.
viii
