After years of building a fighting organization of welfare recipients, domestic workers, shoe shiners, child care workers, security guards, unemployed workers and other no- and low-wage workers, the organizers and leaders of People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) realized that we couldn't answer some basic questions: What is the nature of the world's political economy? How are our campaigns for racial, economic and gender justice impacted by neo-liberalism and imperialism? What will it take to build a movement in such despondent and challenging times?
In 2004, the members of POWER's Committee for Working Class Leadership and Strategy decided to answer these questions. We wanted to make sure that we had the skills necessary to develop strategy for our own organization and to help to develop strategy for the movement. This book is the result.
Towards Land, Work & Power is a book by conscious organizers for conscious organizers. Rooted in our experiences building a membership organization in San Francisco's working class communities, Towards Land, Work & Powerrepresents four organizers' attempt to assess the racist, sexist, homophobic and inherently exploitative system of imperialism. Ending with an alternative vision for San Francisco and the world, the book attempts to equip us with what we will need to move towards land, work and power for all.