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Organize, Fight, Win: Black Communist Women's Political Writing by Charisse Burden-Stelly, Jodi Dean
the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition
I really enjoyed the premise and individual writings, but I felt it lacked enough narrative or context to connect those individual writings in order to really keep me interested.
seeceeread's review
We are sick and tired of being second-class citizens in this our country which denies us dignity and honor in any of its forty-eight states. —Sojourners for Truth and Justice, Proclamation (1951)
These collected speeches, letters, articles, and essays demonstrate that between 1925 and 1956, "Black Communist women theorized capitalism's investment in dividing workers by race, sex, occupation, skill, and even region."
Unlike a lot of Communist theory, these writers aim to connect with diverse readers. They use brief sentences, clear examples, rhetorical questions, lists and simple headings to organize and clarify ideas.
The book feels best paired with others, a good tool for scholarship. Likewise, I had such wandering thoughts while reading:
- Campbell's "Woman and Child Labor in the Colonies" (1930) draws explicit parallels in material conditions facing women of the diaspora by comparing African and US workers
- These women often centered the US south, and especially its Black residents. Today, I more often see variations on "That's why [state] should secede," treating the region and its inhabitants as disposable.
I also pondered workplace organizing and local wins as international exemplars and self-definitions among the African diaspora and ...
obliviously's review against another edition
- i’m too stupid for this my brain cannot process an essay collection
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