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.
The US Civil War and Reconstruction Presented by Irene Kellogg Irene writes: The Civil War and the Reconstruction Period were the most powerful periods of American history. Four million slaves liberated themselves […]
Are we in an interregnum, a pause before we plunge into the abyss? Is the Joe Biden presidency just a temporary respite, the lull before the storm? In the pre-Trump era such […]
The ending of the Derek Chauvin trial means that this will be the last week where that holds “first place” as a separate category in this week’s news summary. Police, Derek Chauvin […]
Video of April 24 Milk Tea Alliance protest in San Francisco. Also see Oaklandsocialist articles: Myanmar in Struggle: Workers of the World Unite! and: General Strike in Myanmar: Don’t Forget the Rohingya! […]
The conviction of Derek Chauvin is worthy of celebration. It also shows the capitalist class’s desire to rein in police, but that threatens to open up a huge crisis as the cops […]
Crisis looms as capitalists struggle to rein in police. It certainly was a beautiful sight: Derek Chauvin being led away with his hands cuffed behind his back, and millions celebrated it […]
For me, this last week was dominated by watching the Chauvin trial, and working on Burma/Myanmar solidarity and finally getting into shape the interview/discussion with Kieran Knutson and Cheryl Zuur. (See main […]
In the second half of this interview with CWA Local 7250 president Kieran Kieran Frazier Knutson, we focused on labor’s political role. As the Derek Chauvin trial was ongoing at the time, […]
This is the first part of a two part interview with recently elected president of CWA Local 7250, Kieran Frazier Knutson. In this first part, Kieran mainly discusses how he sees his […]
Here are some comments on the Derek Chauvin trial as it was unfolding plus comments on some other news, for the week ending April 11. Where I have included a few comments […]
