Motown and the Making of Working-Class Revolutionaries: The Story of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers

by Walda Katz-Fishman, Jerome Scott

Motown and the Making of Working-Class Revolutionaries offers a fresh perspective on class, race, and revolution in the United States. Drawing on more than forty hours of interviews with former members of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, Scott and Katz-Fishman share the rich story of the League, including the women and students. That story includes the history of the automotive industry in Detroit, the 1967 Detroit Rebellion, and the wildcat strike that sparked the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM). The authors describe the rise of the League from 1968 to 1971. They explore the centrality of struggle and political education as the League split and a section of League comrades moved into revolutionary organizations and social movement spaces, many of which remain active today. League comrades share their analysis of the current moment and staying the course of revolutionary struggle.

Genres: History

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2025

Reviews

[Jnoub101 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is very hard to rate this book. The book is less of a unified history book and more of a set of recollections of former members of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers (and other peripheral groups) interspersed with the historical and theoretical analysis of the authors. As one may expect from such a collection, the recollections are uneven, occasionally disjointed, and sometimes contradictory.

Uneven might be the best word to describe this book. It is trying to wear many hats and does not quite wear any of them well. As a history it is frustrating. The writers offer vignettes of revolutionary activism, but they are rarely deep enough. One pernicious example is the books rendition of the interactions between the LRBW and the Black Panthers. What could be a chapter in and of itself is boiled down to a 4 page discussion. Those 4 pages may have been the best in the book, but they left me wanting more. On the other hand, the book offers page after page of testimony of its interviewees repeating themselves.

However, this book does provide an interesting insight into an criminally understudied period and location in American Working Class history.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved learning from the history of the LBRW and the reflections of League members. It’s inspiring to hear how many people who were drawn into the struggle are still in it