*The League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW) was an influential radical labor organization founded in June 1969 in Detroit, Michigan. Emerging from earlier labor movements, particularly the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), LRBW aimed to address systemic racism within the auto industry, where African American workers faced harsh working conditions and discrimination. The group argued that both employers and the United Automobile Workers (UAW) perpetuated racial inequities, with black workers often relegated to the most dangerous and least desirable jobs.
LRBW conducted demonstrations and wildcat strikes to challenge these injustices, advocating for the rights of black workers and promoting solidarity among diverse labor groups, including white and Arab workers. The organization’s activities drew both support from leftist factions and criticism from mainstream labor leadership, which labeled their actions as extremist. Despite its impactful voice in the labor movement and its ties to black nationalism and Marxism-Leninism, LRBW experienced internal conflicts that led to its disintegration in the early 1970s. Notably, many former members continued to engage in activism, notably founding the Black Workers Congress to further their cause. The League remains a significant chapter in the history of labor and civil rights activism.
League of Revolutionary Black Workers | EBSCO Research Starters
Note: This blog (with the exception of the introduction and cover media) has been reprinted with the permission of Abdul Akailmat, PhD)
Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Revolutionary_Black_Workers
Archive https://reuther.wayne.edu/node/2463
Finally Got the News (film documentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjBGjYt4-yo
General Baker Institute (interviews with LRBW cadre) https://revolutionaryblackworkers.org/video/
Video Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvishqiOZ4g
Audio Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69yj9xN6U-Y https://tinyurl.com/mr9fzxyb
Our Thing is DRUM https://riseupdetroit.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Our-Thing-Is-DRUM.pdf
Book: Detroit: I Do Mind Dying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipOnR-Cmlyk
Book: Class, Race, and Worker Insurgency: The League of Revolutionary Black Workers https://archive.org/details/classraceworkeri0000gesc
Book: Motown and the Making of Working-Class Revolutionaries: The Story of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers https://ugapress.org/author/jerome-scott/
General Baker ARCHIVE: https://reuther.wayne.edu/node/12263 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Baker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQyExw9Nmp8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCkMz70QP8Q
General Baker Tributes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjniI4pdl4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yyZz8k3k4E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXTH4Y9UZ84 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS194z1JmtQ
Mike Hamlin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x_v7fwpOJQ https://www.amazon.com/Black-Revolutionarys-Life-Labor-Workers/dp/0615718132 https://www.detroithistorical.org/learn/online-research/collection/archive/document-digital-mike-hamlin-december-22nd-2015 https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/1960-1970/bwc-hamlin.htm Archive: https://reuther.wayne.edu/node/8884
Kenneth Cockrel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv9VoNBdOM0 https://www.tiktok.com/@donsarchives/video/7174855796742769963 https://policing.umhistorylabs.lsa.umich.edu/s/detroitunderfire/item/6246 archive: https://reuther.wayne.edu/node/1556
John Watson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Watson_(activist)
John Williams and Luke Tripp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrvQ46znsLY
Daryl Waistline Mitchell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-C0jEEHWZg https://www.amazon.com/Marxist-Glossary-Expanded-American-Narrative/dp/1499145500 https://daily.jstor.org/league-revolutionary-black-workers/
Muhammad Ahmad https://web.archive.org/web/20091027141742/http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/2379/lrbw.htm
Martin Glaberman https://www.marxists.org/archive/glaberman/1969/04/drum.htm
Analysis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UueScAvxY4Q https://usabroad.unibo.it/article/view/9817/10374
Black Workers Congress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iox300c7ac
Attachments areaPreview YouTube video Finally Got the News (1970)📷📷Finally Got the News (1970)
#DRUM #GeneralBaker #BlackLabor