A huge brouhaha is being made over the courageous stance of 49’er quarter back Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the US National Anthem. Maybe those making this fuss should consider the […]
oaklandsocialist
The administrator of this blog site, I am a lifelong socialist and a retired carpenter and the former recording secretary and an expelled member of Carpenters Local 713. I was expelled for my leading role in the 1999 SF Bay Area carpenters wildcat strike as well as for his opposition to the union bureaucracy in general. I was one of the founding members of a small group called Labor Militant, which was the forerunner to Socialist Alternative. Along with a small group of others, I was expelled when that group started to adapt to the union bureaucracy. I have also visited the workers' movement internationally, including in Pakistan, Egypt (during the Arab Spring), Britain, Mexico and Chile (during the uprising there in 2020). Unless otherwise specified, I am the author of the articles that appear here. Although I am the main author, Oaklandsocialist welcomes articles on any issue that relates to the working class. Contact us at Oaklandsocialist@gmail.com.
Wildcat! The 1999 SF Bay Area Carpenters Wildcat Strike: A Video Documentary
In the late ’90s, construction was booming in northern California. That’s why carpenters were pissed off when their union leadership settled a cut-rate contract that the members didn’t even have the right […]
Harassment & Racism at Jack London Square
We were walking along Jack London Square when we saw a cop interviewing two guys who obviously were not the yuppies that the authorities want here. We stopped and asked what was […]
“Capitalism’s Perfect Storm”
This pamphlet, written in 2008, just as capitalism’s economic crisis was really setting in, shows how “human” caused global warming is a misnomer; it is capitalist-caused, it flows directly from the very mode of functioning […]
Stein-Baraka Reset
Today, anger is sweeping the country. I watched a video of a group of black youth in Milwaukee confronting the police. “Don’t touch one woman,” they said. “None. Not a one.” Eventually […]
Green Party Meeting
I went to a Green Party meeting in Oakland, CA last night. My main reason was to see if a layer of radicalized Sanders supporters were getting involved in the Greens. One meeting […]
1999 Carpenters Wildcat Strike & Follow-up Conference
In 1999, some 2,000 union carpenters went on a wildcat strike against their own union leadership, who had signed a poor contract that the members didn’t even have the right to vote […]
The Future International
THE FUTURE INTERNATIONAL Socialists and the movement against capitalism by Roger Silverman This discussion document is an attempt to suggest how socialists should best approach the current worldwide movement against capitalism. It […]
Oaklandsocialist debates Brexit
On Aug. 6, the Peace and Freedom Party held a debate about the EU and Brexit. Oaklandsocialist was one of the panelists. A key moment in the debate was in the discussion […]
Facts don’t matter… Or do they?
Many sociologists have conducted studies which show that factual accuracy doesn’t matter to most people, that facts themselves don’t really matter in determining people’s social/political views. What matters is images. That is […]