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In Defense of the U.S. Working Class
"Without understanding the devastation of the lives of working-class families in regions like West Virginia, and the vast increase in class inequality since the 2008 crisis, you can't understand what's happening in the United States." A giant has begun to stir. Hillary Clinton calls them "deplorables" who inhabit "backward" regions between New York and San Francisco. But tens of thousands of teachers and school employees from West Virginia, Oklahoma, and beyond set an example in 2018 with their victorious strikes. Working people across Florida mobilized and won restoration of voting rights to more than one million former prisoners. Drawing on the best fighting traditions of the oppressed and exploited producers of all skin colors and national origins in the US, they fought for dignity and respect for themselves, their families, and for all working people. "Erudite, thoughtful and thought-provoking, In Defense of the US Working Class is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, and academic library..."--Midwest Book Review.
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
69 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2019
20 people want to read
About the author
Mary-Alice Waters
78 books14 followersSocialist feminist, journalist and activist in the United States.
Waters became involved in Trotskyist politics at a young age, and joined the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the 1960s. She became the editor of their youth paper, Young Socialist, and the national secretary of the Young Socialist Alliance.
In the early 1980s, Waters, along with Jack Barnes and others in the SWP leadership, began to reject the label of "Trotskyism" and the theory of Permanent Revolution, in favour of building links with the Cuban Communist Party and Sandinista National Liberation Front.
Today, Waters is the President of the Pathfinder Press and the editor of New International magazine. She has written a number of books on political topics.
Waters became involved in Trotskyist politics at a young age, and joined the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the 1960s. She became the editor of their youth paper, Young Socialist, and the national secretary of the Young Socialist Alliance.
In the early 1980s, Waters, along with Jack Barnes and others in the SWP leadership, began to reject the label of "Trotskyism" and the theory of Permanent Revolution, in favour of building links with the Cuban Communist Party and Sandinista National Liberation Front.
Today, Waters is the President of the Pathfinder Press and the editor of New International magazine. She has written a number of books on political topics.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 22, 2024
“under capitalism workers are forced to fight for everything they get. it’s either fight or go backward.”
May 3, 2020
Without understanding the devastation of the lives of working-class families in regions like West Virginia, and the vast increase in class inequality since the 2008 crisis, you can’t understand what’s happening in the United States.” A giant has begun to stir. Hillary Clinton calls them “deplorables” who inhabit “backward” regions between New York and San Francisco. But tens of thousands of teachers and school employees from West Virginia, Oklahoma, and beyond set an example in 2018 with their victorious strikes. Working people across Florida mobilized and won restoration of voting rights to more than one million former prisoners. Drawing on the best fighting traditions of the oppressed and exploited producers of all skin colors and national origins in the US, they fought for dignity and respect for themselves, their families, and for all working people. Available from www.pathfinderpress.com
February 19, 2021
This small book is one of my favourites from Pathfinder. It answers two basic questions- Are workers more racist today because Trump was elected in 2017 and almost elected in 2021? Is a socialist revolution possible in the US?
Mary-Alice Waters and a panel of workers and farmers put together for a trade union event in Cuba answers these important questions. This panel exemplifies the kind of mass work that makes the Socialist Workers' Party a truly proletarian party. There are also great pieces that explain the social and political weight of the struggle and the fights won by United Mine Workers historically as well as the teachers' and school staff strike in West Virginia in 2018 that helped inspire other education workers in other states to fight back.
Mary-Alice Waters and a panel of workers and farmers put together for a trade union event in Cuba answers these important questions. This panel exemplifies the kind of mass work that makes the Socialist Workers' Party a truly proletarian party. There are also great pieces that explain the social and political weight of the struggle and the fights won by United Mine Workers historically as well as the teachers' and school staff strike in West Virginia in 2018 that helped inspire other education workers in other states to fight back.
June 29, 2025
Mary-Alice Waters has been a member of the Socialist Workers Party leadership since 1967 and is president of Pathfinder Press. She covered the 1968 student-labor uprising in France for the Militant and edited that working-class newsweekly from 1969 through the early 1970s.
She has edited a series of more than thirty books on the Cuban Revolution, as well as more than a dozen other titles. Many of the Cuba titles are interviews she did with revolutionary leaders. Waters has also spoken widely in the United States and around the world on the Cuban Revolution and its lessons for working people and youth everywhere.
She played a major role in leading the SWPs work in women’s liberation (see ‘Feminism and the Marxist Movement,’ ‘Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women,’ and ‘Communist Continuity and the Fight for Women’s Liberation’).
In 2007 and 2008 she gave two controversial talks in Venezuela on the topic ‘Is Socialist revolution in the US Possible?’ In this book, she takes up that same theme at a talk she gave in Cuba in 2018 at one of the events surrounding May Day, sponsored by the Cuban History Institute and the Central Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC).
In this book she takes up the real meaning of Donald Trump’s election as president as a reflection of the social and economic crisis facing the US working class, and the historic teachers’ strikes starting in West Virginia in February 2018, and spreading to Kentucky and Arizona. As I write this the 24,000 teachers in Los Angeles are on the second day of a strike….
I also recommend ‘Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? ‘The Clintons’ Anti-Working-Class Record’ and The Low Point of Labor Resistance is Behind Us: The Socialist Workers Party Looks Forward.
She has edited a series of more than thirty books on the Cuban Revolution, as well as more than a dozen other titles. Many of the Cuba titles are interviews she did with revolutionary leaders. Waters has also spoken widely in the United States and around the world on the Cuban Revolution and its lessons for working people and youth everywhere.
She played a major role in leading the SWPs work in women’s liberation (see ‘Feminism and the Marxist Movement,’ ‘Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women,’ and ‘Communist Continuity and the Fight for Women’s Liberation’).
In 2007 and 2008 she gave two controversial talks in Venezuela on the topic ‘Is Socialist revolution in the US Possible?’ In this book, she takes up that same theme at a talk she gave in Cuba in 2018 at one of the events surrounding May Day, sponsored by the Cuban History Institute and the Central Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC).
In this book she takes up the real meaning of Donald Trump’s election as president as a reflection of the social and economic crisis facing the US working class, and the historic teachers’ strikes starting in West Virginia in February 2018, and spreading to Kentucky and Arizona. As I write this the 24,000 teachers in Los Angeles are on the second day of a strike….
I also recommend ‘Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? ‘The Clintons’ Anti-Working-Class Record’ and The Low Point of Labor Resistance is Behind Us: The Socialist Workers Party Looks Forward.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews