Alt Pullman

08/30/2026

On this day, 30 August 1948, leading Black Panther activist Fred Hampton was born in Summit, Illinois. Hampton was instrumental in forming links between the Panthers and organisations of working class Chinese people, whites, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans in what he dubbed the Rainbow Coalition.
A revolutionary internationalist, he explained: "We're going to fight racism not with racism, but we're going to fight with solidarity. We say we're not going to fight capitalism with Black capitalism, but we're going to fight it with socialism."
Hampton was a central target of the FBI's COINTELPRO programme, which resulted in him being drugged by an FBI operative, then shot in the shoulder while he was asleep, then shot twice more in the head at point-blank range by Chicago police during an FBI raid in 1969. He was only 21 years old.
Learn more about the Panthers in these books by former members: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/black-panthers

08/27/2026

Thank you Dolly...

A song that Dolly Parton wrote for a 1980 movie has become not only a pop hit — it continues to resonate broadly with American workers.

08/22/2026

"Today you would never guess that Pullman was the site of a landmark workers strike..." We have lots of work to do!

08/21/2026

National Parks Conservation Association!

Park advocates will rally nationwide August 25.

07/28/2026

07/27/2026

This is from a post about organizations, organizing, and movements. It is so true and hits so close to home with local organizations...

"Every successful movement in history has attracted people who wanted to steer it away from its principles. Some wanted power. Some wanted attention. Some wanted chaos. Some simply cared more about being “right” than building working-class power. The answer has never been paranoia. The answer has always been democracy.
Healthy movements don’t survive because they magically avoid bad actors. They survive because they build structures that make it difficult for any one person to hijack the organization.
That means:
- Transparent decision-making instead of backroom cliques.
- Shared leadership instead of charismatic personalities.
- Financial accountability instead of blind trust.
- Democratic votes instead of informal power.
- Rotation of responsibilities instead of permanent gatekeepers.
- A culture where criticism and accountability are normal, regardless of someone’s status or popularity.
History teaches the same lesson over and over. When organizations become centered around personalities, secrecy, or unquestioned authority, they become easy to manipulate. When organizations are democratic, transparent, and accountable, bad actors have a much harder time gaining influence because the structure itself limits what any individual can do. The goal isn’t to become suspicious of everyone around you. The goal is to build institutions that don’t depend on trusting individuals in the first place.
Good organizing is not built on loyalty to leaders. It’s built on loyalty to principles, democratic accountability, and the collective power of ordinary people. Strong movements don’t ask, “How do we find perfect people?” They ask, “How do we build organizations where no imperfect person can dominate everyone else?” That’s the difference between a movement that survives and one that becomes another cautionary tale."

07/24/2026

In the decades following the American Civil War, the United States entered an era of great industrial expansion. But not all growth was healthy growth. Some powerful companies used their economic influence to drive out competition and create monopolies in an industry or geographic region. Throughout the 1870s, a series of laws called the Granger Laws were passed to put midwestern railroads into check.

At this time, railroads in the Midwest held a tight grip on the nation’s farmers. In the vast expanse of farmland, a single railroad line could service hundreds of miles with no competition. This gave railroads the absolute power to set and adjust shipping rates. Larger, more powerful shippers were provided secret lower rates while small businesses and farmers were charged high prices for shipping short distances. Additionally, railroads often owned local grain elevators used for grain storage, colluding on fees and prices.

As the railroads continued to gouge prices, cash strapped farmers were increasingly drawn to the Granger Movement. The Patrons of Husbandry, or the Grangers, was a coalition of American farmers originally dedicated to disseminating scientific agricultural practices. Forced into poverty by unfair business practices, infuriated Grangers unified to combat monopolistic railroads through legislative change.

Simplified, the Grangers believed that the public good should outweigh private profit.

The most effective Granger Laws were passed in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Important Supreme Court cases like Munn v. Illinois (1877) upheld Granger Laws, legally justifying government oversight and regulation of businesses deemed essential to the public welfare. For the first time in the United States, government was granted the power to regulate business.

In 1886, the Supreme Court established in Wabash v. Illinois that states could not regulate interstate commerce per the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. In the vacuum of regulation created by this decision, the federal government would step in with the Interstate Commerce Act one year later.

Image: "The Grange Awaking the Sleepers," 1873. A Granger warns the American people of the train of monopoly and vices it brings.

#250