Ken Smith recently wrote about how Rosa Parks was successful because “Rosa Parks had this skill set, these allies, this long-term strategy with her people . . .”. To me, this implies organization, or an organization with goals and plans to achieve those goals. In Jacobin Magazine, Clement Petitjohn writes that social movements in the US have typically relied on “professional organizers”, while in France this formal role is scarce. Quote: “This doesn’t mean that no organizing is done in France, of course. It just points to the fact that the various tasks associated with organizing work break down differently in France and in the United States.”. Petitjohn has a new book from Haymarket Press titled “Occupation: Organizer – A Critical History of Community Organizing in America”, based on research he did for his PhD at the University of Chicago. The Guardian newspaper has a recent article on the efforts of the French unions on protest the raising of the national retirement age.

For other looks at organizing, Joe Burns’ recent book Class Struggle Unionism “draws on years of labor activism and study of labor tradition … and outlines the key set of ideas common to class struggle unionism and shows how these ideas can create a more militant, democratic and fighting labor movement. “. Finally, for people trying to figure out where they might participate as an activist, Hillary Rettig’s book The Lifelong Activist “…is based on my many years’ experience as an activist and coach: work in which I learned which personal habits, thoughts and beliefs tend to help people succeed at ambitious goals, and which don’t.”. This book is now available free online.