Musical Reflections on Labor Struggles

Class is the thread that ties different systems of oppression together—whether it’s patriarchy, national oppression, racist oppression, reproductive injustice, anti-trans oppression. Although these forms of oppression impact individuals, they operate on systemic levels. These forms of oppression cannot be understood as single, isolated, or parallel struggles—they are all manifestations of class society and can only be abolished with the end of class society. Class is what ties it all together.  

When we understand this, we can begin to appreciate the importance of class-based organizing. We begin to understand why it’s crucial to identify class positions, class interests, and class politics when we talk about organizing workers, organizing tenants, or organizing around any issue within capitalism. 

This is what we’ll be focusing on in today’s episode in this second installment of our “From the Frontlines” series—where, far from simply analyzing these ideas from an armchair, we’ll be talking about them with someone who has spent many years organizing and building worker power—particularly in the Southeast of the United States. 

Cecilia Guerrero is a chair and founding member of A Luta Sigue, an organization based in Nashville, Tennessee which incubates and trains young people and workers within advanced sectors of the working class to build and lead their own class struggle organizations.

In this conversation we explore what it’s like organizing a wide variety of working class people in Nashville, Tennessee—from Uber and Lyft drivers to construction workers—most of whom are refugees and immigrants. We talk about the importance of injecting militancy and radical politics into labor organizing, of the failures of liberalism and the Democratic party, how A Luta Sigue identifies revolutionary classes and individuals and helps to incubate them and coordinate campaigns, organizing under Trump, the need for a communist party in the United States, and much, much more. 

Further Resources

• A Luta Sigue
• Poder Popular
• Tennessee Drivers Union
• Southern Youth Solidarity Network
• Marxist-Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism, Frank Chapman
• "The Tyranny of Structurelessness," Jo Freeman
• The Communist Necessity, J. Moufawad-Paul
• The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism, Torkil Lauesen

Related Episodes:

• What is to Be Done? with Breht O’Shea and Alyson Escalante
• The Sharing Economy? (Documentary)
• The Missing Revolution w/ Vincent Bevins
• Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism w/ Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante
• Historical Materialism w/ Torkil Lauesen
• Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism: An Introduction
• Listen to our ongoing From the Frontline series

Intermission music: "Payday at Coal Creek” by Odetta & Larry

Upstream is a labor of love—we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.