Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Activism in Baltimore in conversation with MadyGraf Workers

The workers of the MadyGraf factory recently gave a live video presentation for the public at Red Emma’s Coffee Shop. During the event, a fruitful exchange took place between the Buenos Aires-based workers and the Baltimore audience.

Juan C

June 23, 2015
Facebook Twitter Share

Photo: Left Voice

Red Emma’s Bookstore and Coffee Shop is a workers’ cooperative where Marxist scholars, left activists and radicals regularly hold meetings, poetry readings, conferences, and discussion groups. Most Baltimore radicals are familiar with the venue, named after anarchist revolutionary Emma Goldman.

Last Friday, Red Emma’s hosted a video call – projected on a large screen – with the workers of MadyGraf, a worker-managed printing company in Argentina. Some 40 people attended the event, among whom were left political party members, union organizers and community leaders. The event began with an account of the workers’ takeover of the MadyGraf plant on August 11, 2014, and the start of production under worker control. (For more information on the workers’ incredible struggle against multinational corporation, RR Donnelley, click here, here and here.)

During the talk, the workers stressed the importance of the programmatic demands/program adopted from the revolutionary organization, PTS (Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas), in undertaking their incredible path and attaining their victories thus far. Several of the workers have decided to run in the upcoming local and national elections on the PTS-FIT ticket.

With the smoke of the Baltimore rebellion still rising, a black youth from the audience pointedly asked MadGraf workers about their experiences of police repression. The workers gave accounts of the many marches, roadblocks and protests in which they were attacked by the police or other state forces. They described the Lear workers’ struggle, when workers and supporters were violently repressed, time and again; Madygraf workers were frequently among the injured. They showed no trust in state forces and described their own “security team,” which plays a role both during demonstrations as well as for broader protection of the factory against eviction, a constant threat.

The workers emphasized the women’s commission was one of the key determinants in their struggle and achievements; the impact of the women’s courage, support and political activity went beyond MadyGraf’s doors, organizing workers and their families in other factories as well.

Finally, a let motiv of the conversation was the class solidarity among workers. To the solidarity within the plant followed the solidarity with other factories in the area. Wielding a signed that read “Black Lives Matter,” the revolutionary workers from Buenos Aires saluted the audience with their fists raised, sending solidarity to the youth who were rising up against police brutality, and the working class in general, “Because the working class is only one, and has no borders.”

Facebook Twitter Share

United States

A UAW sign is held next to a "Free Palestine" sign

The UAW Has Called for a Ceasefire. It’s Time for All of Labor to Stand Up.

The UAW International union has joined calls for a ceasefire and is exploring how to divest from Israel. This is a step which should inspire union activists to take up the fight to bring their union into the fight against Israel's attack on Gaza and the struggle against imperialism.

Rose Lemlich

December 2, 2023

A Pause in Genocide Is Not Enough: Jewish Voice for Peace Shuts Down the Manhattan Bridge

Amid a pause in Israel’s offensive on Gaza, Jewish Voice for Peace is showing that the movement for Palestine will continue. Civil disobedience must lead to broad protests which bring all sectors of the movement together.

Samuel Karlin

November 26, 2023
Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid, and Tahseen Ahmed wearing Keffiyes. They were shot in Burlington, Vermont, USA.

The Three Palestinians Shot in Burlington Are Victims of Rising Islamophobia

Three Palestinian men were shot in Burlington Vermont while walking down the street. The campaign against Palestine has dehumanized all Palestinians and left them more vulnerable to these types of attacks.

Sybil Davis

November 26, 2023
A rally with people holding signs and a banner reading "Full funding"

Student Workers Stand Up for CUNY and Palestine

Attacks on CUNY and CUNY activists are an attack on all working people and students. Workers and students united can fight back.  

Olivia Wood

November 25, 2023

MOST RECENT

Robert Habeck Wrote a Play Praising a Right-Wing Mass Murderer

Germany's Green vice chancellor strikes many as an idealist who has been struggling with the tough realities of government. Yet before he was a national politician, he wrote a play that opens a window into a dark soul.

Nathaniel Flakin

December 1, 2023

The World Kissinger Built Must Die Too

Henry Kissinger died at 100 years old. But his legacy remains in the brutal world system he built and the future generations of imperialist ghouls he inspired. They all must go.

Samuel Karlin

November 30, 2023

Fact Check: Did German Leftists Try to Bomb West Berlin’s Jewish Community Center in 1969?

Answer: No. The bombing was undertaken by West Germany’s domestic secret service, originally founded by Nazis.

Nathaniel Flakin

November 29, 2023
Protesters in NYC for Palestinian liberation.

Uniting Workers for Palestine Is a Fight for the Future of Labor

The struggle for Palestine shows the potential for the rank and file to push unions to break with imperialism and to build a new, combative, and internationalist unionism.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

November 27, 2023