Ruth Milkman teaches at the CUNY Graduate Center and the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. She is the author of, most recently, Immigrant Labor and the New Precariat.
After his tragic death earlier this month, Marxist sociologist Michael Burawoy left behind not only a formidable body of scholarship but also a model of how to pursue a form of sociology informed by and informing efforts for social change.
A common view of the two major US labor federations of the 20th century is that the AFL was top-down while the CIO was bottom-up. In truth, the CIO’s success was owed to a potent mix of rank-and-file militancy and strategic leadership.
Rosalyn Fraad Baxandall, who died last Tuesday, was a pioneering figure of socialist feminism in the United States.
Its critics may disagree, but Occupy Wall Street’s legacy has been an enduring one.