Red State Revolt

The Teachers' Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics

By: Eric Blanc

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

Thirteen months after Trump allegedly captured the allegiance of "the white working class", a strike wave - the first in over four decades - rocked the United States. Inspired by the wildcat victory in West Virginia, teachers in Oklahoma, Arizona, and across the country walked off their jobs and shut down their schools to demand better pay for educators, more funding for students, and an end to years of austerity.

Confounding all expectations, these working-class rebellions erupted in regions with Republican electorates, weak unions, and bans on public sector strikes. By mobilizing to take their destinies into their own hands, red state school workers posed a clear alternative to politics as usual. And with similar actions now gaining steam in Los Angeles, Oakland, Denver, and Virginia, there is no sign that this upsurge will be short-lived.

Red State Revolt is a compelling analysis of the emergence and development of this historic strike wave, with an eye to extracting its main strategic lessons for educators, labor organizer, and radicals across the country. A former high school teacher and longtime activist, Eric Blanc embedded himself into the rank-and-file leaderships of the walkouts, where he was given access to internal organizing meetings and secret Facebook groups inaccessible to most journalists.

©2019 Eric Blanc (P)2019 Tantor

A guide to make congresspeople help workers

This book made me pay attention. It's a fascinating story, told well, and it's instructive. I hope every employed person in the country reads this book (or listens to the delightful narrator).

Must Read

This is a must read for any new Organizer, and for anyone in the movement.

Reader is SO BAD

I’m still interested in the book, but I had to return this one because the reader is SO BAD. He takes an exaggerated breath in and out after every phrase like that sorta-goth fedora-wearing gamer guy who says “idunno” and can’t talk to girls in that viral video from the early 2010’s (just YouTube “E3 weird gamer guy”).

I just can’t take him seriously. It’s literally unlistenable.