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Detroit: I Do Mind Dying: A Study in Urban Revolution

(co-author: Marvin Surkin with foreword by Manning Marable)

An account of Detroit's dynamic black radical movements of 1950 to the early 1970s.

 

 

A now classic account of the Dodge Revolutionary Union and the subsequent League of Revolutionary Black Workers as they became one of the most vital organizations in the black liberation movement.  The passion and perspectives of the movement's central actors are captured in a highly readable style.

 

 

First-rate and absolutely fascinating. This particular piece of American history has never been covered in such depth…everyone who is concerned about political change will learn a lot from this book

—The New York Times

 

Detroit: I Do Mind Dying is a beautiful, riveting account of one of the most important radical movements of our century—a movement led by black revolutionaries whose vision of emancipation for all is sorely needed today

---Robin D. G. Kelly

 

DRUM's earliest leaflets stated its goals of gaining direct representation of black workers. More like the IWW of an earlier generation of radicals than like a trade union, DRUM had many aspects of a popular revolutionary movement that could go in many directions.

DRUM concentrated its organizing on black workers but it was conscious of the long-term necessity of organizing all workers. Its immediate program was a combination of demands for the elimination of racial discrimination and demands for workers control which would be beneficial to all workers, regardless of race, sex, or age

—JoAnn Wypijewski

 

 

A historical narrative of the single most significant political experience of the 1960s

—Fredric Jameson

 

An important book for those who want to study history and those who want to influence it

—Library Journal

 

One of the hundred best non-fiction books of the twentieth century

—CounterPunch