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NEWS & LETTERS,
January-February 2002
Review
Power lies in ranks
Detroit—I have just read the
new booklet put out by News and Letters, THE REVOLUTIONARY JOURNALISM OF FELIX
MARTIN, and I came away impressed with his insights into the problems of working
people and the society in which we live. The book is a compilation of articles
written over a 20-year period. Two of the articles that touched me the most were
his call for unity in fighting the injustices of our society, and the need for
true democracy in our labor unions. I was involved in the Detroit
newspaper strike and can tell you that if we had true unity among all working
people, we would have won that strike decisively. As Felix Martin says, bridges
have to be built to all segments of our society, establishing the unity needed
to change things. The power has been there all along—we just have to organize
ourselves to change things. When Martin talks about
democracy in our labor unions, he's talking about the rank and file deciding for
themselves where they want to go and how they're going to get there, not leaving
these important decisions up to union bureaucrats who many times have a stake in
the status quo. As he points out, if unions do not address the real problems
facing working people at the point of production and in our society, their
relevance will recede even further. What came through to the reader
of these pages is that ordinary working people, if they take the time and if
they join together, can identify their problems and come up with revolutionary
solutions. Felix Martin shows that the future of working people, indeed, all of
humanity, depends upon it. I highly recommend this book to
all of you. I'm sure you will relate to much of what the author has to say. I
know I did. In Solidarity, —Armand Nevers, Detroit
Typographical Union #18s (retired) |
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