About

 

Update

Dear friends and comrades,

Thank you so much for your support for General Baker Institute, League of Revolutionary Black Workers Education and Media Project! It means a lot to us.

This is a great beginning. Your donations have provided us with the resources to complete the first phase of the Project. We organized all of the interviews according to the core themes of Longevity in the Struggle, Workers in the Struggle, Women in the Struggle, Importance of Political Education, and Lessons for a New Generation of Revolutionaries. Now we are moving to the second phase of developing short political education videos and materials around these themes.

We can’t do this important work without you, and appreciate your generosity and engagement.

We look forward to future collaboration around the educational work of the Project. Be in touch and together we’ll make it happen!

In struggle,
The Board of the General Baker Institute

General Baker Institute
PO Box 31042
Highland Park, Michigan 48203

—

About the project:

This project tells the story of the LRBW from the perspective of those who lived it and participated in the process, including the conditions that gave rise to the League and the changing conditions over five decades of social struggle that many have continued to be involved in. Books have been written about the LRBW, but few by League members. This project documents the voices of League members and lessons learned for today’s rising social movement.

Videos and interviews will be going up on the website all the time. Stay tuned to the site to see all new content as it is posted.

The League project is organized around answering critical questions.

• How did you get involved with the LRBW and what was your work with the LRBW? Did you fall away from the League or did you stay engaged through the transitions? For those who stayed through the transitions, what kept you in and going forward?
• What is the role of black labor in the industrial working class, in production, and in the revolutionary process post-Civil War to the current moment?
• What is the role of women within these struggles?
• How did the League get to the point of dedicating as much time as we did to political and theoretical study?
• What explains the longevity of LRBW members who went through a period of collective theoretical study?

The history and lessons of this journey will be shared not as nostalgia, but to reach a new generation of movement organizers and activists.

The project will use film and written companion pieces that will take several forms: DVDs, videos, a website, articles, pamphlets, and a book. The film aspect includes using existing material and doing interviews and creative filming of League members today. We will release short stand-alone videos on specific questions or aspects of League history and lessons. We will also combine the short pieces into one longer length film. All media produced by this project is coordinated and owned by the General Baker Institute.