Political Action

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Below are groups and resources (books, articles, websites, etc.) related to this topic. Click on an item’s title to go its resource page with author, publisher, description/abstract and other details, a link to the full text if available, as well as links to related topics in the Subject Index. You can also browse the Title, Author, Subject, Chronological, Dewey, LoC, and Format indexes, or use the Search box.
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Connexions Library

The American Socialist Movement: 1897-1912
Kipnis, Ira
Book
1952
A history of the American Socialist Party, which at its height had over 150,000 dues-paying members, published hundreds of newspapers, and won almost a million votes for its presidential candidate.
Bogus, Misdirected and Effective
Monbiot, George
Article
2010
The Tea Party movement is steeped in misinformation and denial. But it has a lot to teach the left.
The Case for Grassroots Archives
Diemer, Ulli
Article
2012
Grassroots archives play a valuable role in what has been called "the battle of memory". People's history projects such as grassroots archives preserve and share stories of resistance, hidden historie...
Critique of Nonviolent Politics: From Mahatma Gandhi to the Anti-Nuclear Movement
Ryan, Howard
Book
1984
Ryan accepts that sometimes nonviolence can be effective, but says that sometimes it is not: "a principled insistence on nonviolence can in some circumstances be dangerous to progressive social moveme...
The Dangerous Academic is an Extinct Species
Nair, Yasmin
Article
2017
Nair analyzes current academia and the structures in place that prevent academics and students from putting forth ideas that challenge the status quo.
Educating for a Change
Arnold, Rick, Burke, Bev, James, Carl, Martin, D'Arcy, Thomas, Barb
Book
1991
For the authors of Ecuating for a Change, genuine democracy does not happen solely through our political and educational work. Democratic processes and practices are essential elements in achieving a ...
Fighting for Hope: Organizing to Realize Our Dreams
Kuyek, Joan Newman
Book
1990
Detailed information and advice on how to organize a group for social change.
From Dictatorship to Democracy
Sharp, Gene
Book
2002
A short, serious introduction to nonviolent struggle, its applications, and strategic thinking. Based on pragmatic arguments, this piece presents nonviolent struggle as a realistic alternative to war ...
Gandhi's Truth: On the origins of militant nonviolence
Erikson, Erik H.
Book
1969
An examination of the life, vision, and actions of Mohandas Gandhi.
Getting Started on Social Analysis in Canada: Third Edition
Czerny, Michael; Swift, Jamie
Book
1984
See also CX2933.
Global Thoughts, Local Actions
McConkey, David
Book
1984
A wealth of information for those seeking ways to link global problems to everyday life.
How People Get Power: Organizing Oppressed Communities for Action
Kahn, Si
Book
1970
A book about community organizing, written for organizers.
How to Light a Prairie Fire: The Spell Can be Broken
Rovics, David
Article
2010
If there's one thing I think many people need to understand, it is this: sustained mass movements rarely happen unless many of the participants believe they might win.
Is that an archive in your basement... or are you just hoarding?: Sources News Release
Article
2012
Are you an 'accidental archivist'? Have you been saving the publications and documents produced by the social justice projects you've been involved in? Then Connexions would like to hear from you.
Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution: Volume II: The Politics of Social Classes
Draper, Hal
Book
1978
Draper ranges through the development of the thought of Marx and Engels on the role of classes in society.
Long Way From Home: The story of the Sixties generation in Canada
Kostash, Myrna
Book
1980
An account of the upheavals and transformations experienced by those who came of age in the 1960s, a time when international currents of change intersected with specifically Canadian events and circum...
Mayhem, Murder and Manipulation - Mexico in Turmoil: Against The Current vol. 123
La Botz, Dan
Article
2006
Mexican police attacked activists and residents in the town of San Salvador Atenco in the State of Mexico in early May, killing one, injuring scores, and jailing over 200. The police attack on Atenco ...
Nader, Greens and Socialists: Against The Current vol. 91
Hawkins, Howie
Article
2001
Blaming Ralph Nader for Bush is like blaming the abolitionists for slavery. The Greens ran Nader to end corporate oligarchy, not to support one wing of the oligarchy as a lesser evil against the other...
New group urges progressives to build 'One Big Campaign' to take on Harper: Sources News Release
Article
2012
A campaign urging Canadian social activist groups to work together under one massive umbrella to take on the Harper regime and his right-wing supporters was officially launched today.
No Cheers For Anarchism
Berman, Sheri
Article
2015
A successful movement requires compromise, organization, and yes, even leadership, to actually get things done, none of which appeal to anarchists.
Organising Things: A Guide to Successful Political Action
Ward, Sue
Book
1984
A comprehensive guide to practical political action, packed with information and handy checklists.
Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - January 15, 2015: Workers' Health and Safety
Diemer, Ulli (editor); Khan, Tahmid (production)
Serial Publication (Periodical)
2015
The topic of the week is Workers' Health and Safety. Articles on why environmentalists should support working class struggles; whistleblowers; the appalling death rate from U.S. drone strikes; the mur...
Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - January 30, 2016: Conflict of interest
Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
Serial Publication (Periodical)
2016
This issue of Other Voices shines a light on the murky world of conflict of interest, the hidden reality that often underlies appearances of neutrality, objectivity, and due process. Conflicts of inte...
Our Generation: Volume 5 Number 1
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1967
Political Indifferentism
Marx, Karl
Article
1873
The Politics of Nonviolent Action: Part Two: The Methods of Nonviolent Action
Sharp, Gene
Book
1973
An encyclopedic treatment of the theory and practice of nonviolence, with a detailed examination of 198 specific methods of the technique — illustrated with actual cases — within the broad classes of ...
Pragmatics of Community Organization: First Edition
Lee, Bill
Book
1986
Information on how to plan action, how to organize meetings, how to train participants for action, how to negotiate, and how to end a particular exercise in community organization.
Rosa Luxemburg: Selected Political Writings
Luxemburg, Rosa (edited with an introduction by Robert Looker)
Book
1972
A selection of Rosa Luxemburg's writings which highlight her outstanding contributions to the theory and practice of revolutionary socialism.
SDS
Sale, Kirkpatrick
Book
1973
The rise and development of the Students for a Democratic Society, the organization that became the major expression of the American left in the 1960s -- its passage from student protest to institutio...
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
Gitlin, Todd
Book
1987
One of the best books on the Sixties in the U.S., bringing to life the political and cultural currents, including especially the music, which raged during that decade, and setting them in historical c...
Slumming It At the Rodeo: The Cultural Roots of Canada's Right-Wing Revolution
Laird, Gordon
Book
1998
Are the Federal Reform Party's Manning, Ontario's Harris and Alberta's Klein the struttin' cowboy champions of direct democracy? Or just sell- outs to the private sector? Laird tackles these question...
Socialism and Revolution
Gorz, Andre
Book
1967
Representative democracy in every industrially advanced country is in a state of profound crisis. But we have been accustomed for so long to accept democracy in the form of its outward appearances and...
The Socialist Register 1975: Volume 12: A Survey of Movements & Ideas
Miliband, Ralph; Saville, John (eds.)
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1975
Traite du Savoir-Vivre for the Occupy Wall Street Generations
Giordano, Al
Article
2011
Once upon a time, twenty thousand people descended on Wall Street, the capitol of capital, occupied it nonviolently, and won exactly what they demanded. This is not a fairy tale. It really happened. T...
Uncovering the Sixties: Life and Times of the Undergound Press
Peck, Abe
Book
1985
A book about the Sixties and how they were recorded by radical participants. It traces how movements and communities convinced that their news did not fit into the agenda of mainstream media covered t...
The Unknown Dimension: European Marxism Since Lenin
Howard, Dick, Klare, Karl E.
Book
1972
The radical intellectual tradition of European post-Leninist Marxism, so different from the dogma of the orthodox leftist parties, is an unknowwn dimension. This anthology sets out to recover this Mar...

Connexions Directory of Groups & Websites

Against the Current
Bi-monthly magazine oriented toward movements for social and economic justice; radical, socialist and feminist in orientation.
Connexions Archive & Library
The Connexions Archive & Library is Toronto-based project dedicated to keeping alive the rich history of grassroots movements for social justice. Connexions preserves 'alternative' histories that r...
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
OCAP is a direct-action anti-poverty organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We mount grassroots political campaigns against regressive government policies as they affect poor and working peop...

Sources Experts & Spokespersons

From the Connexions Archives

Against the Current
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1986
Bi-monthly magazine oriented toward movements for social and economic justice; radical, socialist and feminist in orientation.
Marxists Internet Archive
Website
Large archive of the writings of Marx and Engels and of others in the Marxist tradition. Searchable.