Too often struggles for jobs and economic justice have been divided from social goals such as peace or protecting the environment. How do we create an economy where both the process and product of work serve life-sustaining goals? Coalitions across the Class Divide argues that the seeds of this new society are being sown by those who learn to bridge working and middle-class movements and cultures. A new generation of activists is seizing a historic opportunity to organize coalitions across the labor, peace, environmental, and other movements that have previously worked in isolation or at odds. Fred Rose brings the challenges and potential of coalition organizing to life through an in-depth look at cases of conflict and cooperation. From the timber wars in the Pacific Northwest to military conversion coalitions emerging with the end of the Cold War, these cases teach practical lessons about the processes and pitfalls of organizing across movements and classes.
Fred Rose is a research professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy at Tufts University and Lead Organizer with the Pioneer Valley Project, a religious and labor coalition in Springfield, Massachusetts.
What People are Saying About This
Bruce A. Williams
Coalitions Across the Class Divide is essential reading for scholars and political activists interested in the connections among class, class culture, political action, and social change. Fred Rose brings together a number of important strands of the academic literature on interest groups and class, and applies them to a set of issues that are of central importance-an excellent and influential book.
Ralph Nader
Fred Rose provides the practical experience and conceptual framework to counteract the major democracy-suppressing strategy of Big Business—which is to divide and rule the people. For activistswould-be activists, and other citizens looking for civic motivation, Coalitions Across the Class Divide is an uplift with its feet on the ground.
