Bill Resnick talks to Jane Slaughter, long time editor of the monthly publication Labor Notes, about the life and work of Mike Parker, who died this past January. Parker worked as an electrician in Detroit’s auto assembly plants, was also a labor organizer and brilliant, but accessible writer, dedicated to a vision of socialism from below, not only as a goal but also as a strategy for organizing. He argued that the self-organization of the working class could only be achieved through deeply democratic forms of collaboration and decision-making. Mike wrote several books on organizing including two with Jane that offered strategies for taking on phony corporate “participation” schemes. His book, Democracy is Power, gave workers a roadmap for creating militant, effective unions.
- KBOO