E100: Vietnam War strike wave, part 2

E100: Vietnam War strike wave, part 2

Author: Working Class History February 5, 2025 Duration: 38:38
With the background of the Vietnam war, rising prices and stagnant wages, workers in the US began to ignore calls to support the war effort and keep working, and instead launch a wave of wildcat strikes in key industries, while women homeworkers fought for lower prices. We tell the story of these struggles in this double podcast episode.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory

This is an improved, re-edited version of our original episode 8. In conversation with Jeremy Brecher, author of the excellent book, Strike!, we learn about the support for the war from union officials, the responses from the rank-and-file, and lessons we can learn from them today.
In part 2, we look at strikes by postal workers, Teamsters, hospital workers and auto workers, and protests by women homeworkers 

More information, sources, and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e99-vietnam-war-strike-wave/
Acknowledgements
  • Thanks to our Patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano, Nick Williams and Old Norm.
  • Edited by Jesse French, with original editing by Emma Courtland.
  • Episode graphic: Postal workers on wildcat strike, 1970. Courtesy APWUcommunications/Wikimedia Commons CC SA 3.0
  • Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.

Podcast Episodes
E96: Bootleg miners, part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:52
During the Great Depression in the US, facing mass job losses and abject poverty, thousands of coal miners in Pennsylvania took direct action and began digging their own mines on company property. We tell their story in…
E95: Bootleg miners, part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:27
During the Great Depression in the US, facing mass job losses and abject poverty, thousands of coal miners in Pennsylvania took direct action and began digging their own mines on company property. We tell their story in…
WCL9: Chinese migrant worker poetry, part 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:00
The final episode of our three-part series about migrant worker poetry in China. We speak to Maghiel van Crevel, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Leiden University. Maghiel has travelled extensively in Chi…
WCL8: Chinese migrant worker poetry, part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:08
Part 2 of our three-part series about migrant worker poetry in China. We speak to Maghiel van Crevel, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Leiden University. Maghiel has travelled extensively in China, meeting…
WCL7: Chinese migrant worker poetry, part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:33
First of the three-part series on migrant worker poetry in China. In these episodes, we speak to Maghiel van Crevel, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Leiden University. Maghiel has travelled extensively in…
E92: South Korea 1987, part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:20
Second of a double podcast episode about the South Korean movements of 1987 which overthrew the US-backed military dictatorship and won big improvements for workers. In these episodes we speak with Kim Jin-sook and Hong…
E91: South Korea 1987, part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:55
First of a double podcast episode about the South Korean movements of 1987 which overthrew the US-backed military dictatorship and won big improvements for workers. In these episodes we speak with Kim Jin-sook and Hong S…
E90: [TEASER] Fireside Chat - Q&A [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:26
Preview of our first Fireside chat. To celebrate our 10th birthday on 30 July 2024, we launched a new series of discussion podcast episodes exclusively for our supporters on patreon. For the time being, as a trial, we ar…
E89: Indigenous resistance since 1992, part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:57
Following on from his excellent book, 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance, Gord Hill of the Kwakwaka’wakw nation gives us an overview of over three decades of Indigenous resistance in the Americas since 1992. A podcast in…