Class Struggle Against the Economic Meltdown: Lessons from History for Fighting Back Today

Economic meltdown? Recession? Depression? What are we to do? How will the working class fare? Where will the catalyst for change come from? What lessons can we learn from the past and what are people already doing to fight back and create solidarity where they live and work? Featuring working class historian Gifford Hartman, who will revisit the Great Depression and how the working class self-organized survival strategies such as eviction resistance, relief office occupations, mass strikes and other direct actions for providing for basic needs and community self-defense -- that were taking off well before the New Deal began. He will also survey the history of class struggle since then, as well as exploring possibilities of applying these ideas for resistance today. Community college professor Robert Ovetz will guide a brainstorming session about how we can respond to and survive the brewing storm and build and expand projects from the bottom up that already envision the “future in the present.”