The latest book from LabourStart

Publication date: May 2021

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Resistance. Now.

A collection of seven essays by Dan Gallin, the former general secretary of the Geneva-based International Union of Foodworkers (IUF). Often controversial, always interesting, this is essential reading for social change activists, trade unionists and everyone on the left. 92 pages.

LabourStart is delighted to publish this second collection of essays by Dan Gallin, the former general secretary of the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF). In the seven essays collected in this book, written over the course of more than half a century, Gallin takes a close look at the international trade union movement, American labour’s Cold War history, the controversial philanthropist George Soros, the World Federation of Trade Unions, post-Communist Romania, the early African labour movement, and the Algerian Revolution.

Dan Gallin has been a leading figure in the international labour movement for many decades. In this and the previous book, Solidarity, he has made an important contribution to how we understand the labour movement. As I wrote in my preface to the previous volume, “Dan’s criticisms of the labour movement, from a movement insider, are often sharp. I expect that some of you reading this will find parts of this book difficult going. For Dan, there are no sacred cows. He says what he thinks.”

Or to put it in Dan’s own words from an essay in this volume – in fact, the final words in this book: “Our responsibility … is to recognize the facts for what they are, to speak the truth and to take clear positions, regardless of the opposition or controversy we may meet.”

-- From the preface by Eric Lee

About the author

Dan Gallin has been active on the left and in the labour movement for more than 60 years. He is currently Chair of the Global Labour Institute (GLI), a labour service organisation established in 1997 with a secretariat in Geneva . From August 1960 until April 1997 Gallin worked for the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant and Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), since 1968 as General Secretary. He has served as President of the International Federation of Workers' Education Associations (IFWEA) from 1992 to 2003 and has been Director of the Organization and Representation Program (ORP) of WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing) from June 30, 2000 to July 31, 2002. He continues to serve on the Advisory Committee of the ORP.

Contents

1. Book Review: Anthony Carew: American Labour’s Cold War Abroad - From Deep Freeze to Détente 1945 – 1970 [2019]
   
2. ​The Dirty War Against George Soros [2018]
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3. The WFTU – Hydroponic Stalinism [2013]
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4. The Colonization of the International Trade Union Movement [1995]
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5. Romania: Regaining Consciousness in the Emergency Ward [1990]
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6. The Working Class Movement in Tropical Africa [1986]
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7. The Algerian Revolution: Actors and Motives