Working Class History Working Class History

First in a double podcast episode about Ben Fletcher, a very important but little-known dock worker and labour organiser in the US with the Industrial Workers of the World union.
In these episodes, we speak with historian Peter Cole, author and editor of Ben Fletcher: The Life And Times Of A Black Wobbly. We also hear words written by Fletcher, voiced by fellow Wobbly, Alki.
In part 1 we learn about his early life, as well as his union branch, Local 8, which in the early 20th-century organised thousands of workers on the Philadelphia docks and was the most powerful multiracial union in the country at the time.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
Full information, acknowledgements, sources and a transcript are on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e73-ben-fletcher/
Acknowledgements
Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands and Jamison D. Saltsman.Words of Ben Fletcher voiced by Alki. Check out his YouTube channel here, or follow him on Twitter here.Episode graphic: Ben Fletcher in 1918, enhanced by WCH. Courtesy US National Archives and Records Administration/Wikimedia Commons.Theme music: “Solidarity (Forever)”, written by Ralph Chaplin, performed by The Nightwatchman, Tom Morello. Buy or stream it here.Edited by Louise Barry

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Podcast episode about anti-fascist youth cultural movements in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. In particular we look at the German Edelweiss Pirates and Swing Kids, and in our patreon bonus episode we also speak about the French Zazous and the Austrian Schlurfs.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
Despite years of indoctrination, young people in fascist Europe in the 1930s and 40s resisted the authoritarianism and conformism of Nazi rule. We hear from former Edelweiss Pirate Walter Mayer, and speak with historian Nick Heath about these little-known movements.
E72.1: Zazous and Schlurfs, bonus episode – available exclusively for our patreon supportersAnti-fascist books and merchandise – Posters, clothing and merchandise using artwork by or inspired by the Edelweiss Pirates and other 1930s anti-fascists in Germany.See sources, more information and a transcript on the webpage for this episode here: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/72-edelweiss-pirates-swing-kids/.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands and Jamison D. Saltsman.Episode graphic, mural of a group of Edelweiss Pirates in Cologne, courtesy wwwuppertal Flickr, CC by 2.0.Edited by Louise BarryThe theme music was Functionizin’, by Fats Waller, courtesy of the Swiss Foundation and Wikimedia Commons.Also featured was Richard Wagner’s Gerechter Gott, performed by Ernestine Schumann-Heink also courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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We chat with Pearson from the Coffee with Comrades podcast about our new web apps: the Working Class History Map and Stories app. This episode has been timed to coincide with the public launch of our web apps on January 31.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
In this episode, we talk about why we started the mapping project, what it’s about, how people can use it, and about different ways of interacting with people’s history. We also talk about how it differs from any other radical history mapping project.
Check out the Map at map.workingclasshistory.comCheck out the Stories app at stories.workingclasshistory.com
There is an additional bonus episode with Pearson speaking about their experiences using the map on a trip to London. Coming later today exclusively for our patreon supporters.If you enjoy it, make sure to check out Coffee with Comrades, who are also supported by patreon. Connect with them here:
Web: https://coffeewithcomrades.com/Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/coffeewithcomradesTwitter: http://twitter.com/coffeewcomradesAcknowledgements
Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible.Episode produced by Coffee with Comrades, additional editingby Jesse FrenchOur theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.

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Concluding part of our double-episode in conversation with author, DD Johnston, about his new novel, Disnaeland.

In this part, Darren discusses the novel’s relationship to the Scots language, the apocalyptic prophecies of radical, pre-Enlightenment Christianity, and his focus on mutual aid as a response to disaster. Darren also performs two further readings from the novel.

Full information, sources, further reading, acknowledgements and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/wcl-5-6-dd-johnstons-proletarian-apocalypse/

Get books mentioned in this episode

Peace, Love and Petrol Bombs: https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9781849350617

Disnaeland: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/disnaeland/9781909954533

Acknowledgments
Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here: http://www.alabianca.it/en/store/bravo-records-en/le-canzoni-di-bella-ciao-aa-vv/

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The first of a two-part episode, Working Class Literature speak to DD Johnston about his new novel, Disnaeland, about a working-class Scottish community's response to societal collapse. We also discuss his previous novels and his participation in McDonald's Workers' Resistance, a radical collective of angry employees at the world's biggest fast food chain.
Darren also reads passages from Disnaeland and his first novel, Peace, Love and Petrol Bombs.
Full information, sources, further reading, acknowledgements and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/wcl-5-6-dd-johnstons-proletarian-apocalypse/
Get books mentioned in this episode
Peace, Love and Petrol Bombs: https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9781849350617
Disnaeland: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/disnaeland/9781909954533
Acknowledgments
Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here: http://www.alabianca.it/en/store/bravo-records-en/le-canzoni-di-bella-ciao-aa-vv/

This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5711490/advertisement

Rerelease of our episode 49 about Anti-Racist Action in Minneapolis, because we are currently trying to co-publish a book, We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Action, which is the definitive history of the group across the US. To fund its publication, we are currently running a Kickstarter campaign so please do check it out here, and support it by pre-ordering your copy at a great discount with lots of other great rewards.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory 
Anti-Racist Action (ARA) started in Minneapolis and is a predecessor to the crews often now called antifa. ARA started in 1987 with a multiracial group of teenage skinheads who fought the rising white power movement. It grew into a network of groups in at least 120 towns and cities across the US and Canada. ARA’s first principle was: “We go where they go. Never let the Nazis have the streets.” They eventually applied that not only to white power organising, but to homophobic and anti-abortion organizing, and to police violence, which they saw as all connected. Producer and host Anna Stitt tells the story of the group in Minneapolis through vivid first-person accounts, archival audio, and music from the era. It starts under the railroad tracks in Uptown, Minneapolis and traces a movement that continues to shape the US to this day. 
Learn about the group across the US in the forthcoming book, We Go Where They Go, which you can preorder from our Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wrkclasshistory/we-go-where-they-go-the-story-of-anti-racist-action
More information about this episode, photos, full acknowledgements and a transcript here on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/2021/01/11/e49-anti-racist-action-in-minneapolis/ 
Listen to our exclusive bonus episode, where we discussed the topic further with Anna, and listen to more tape from participants about their early lives, political backgrounds and more on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/e49-1-anti-bonus-46081746

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