1968/2008

The University of Chicago Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS) and the Platypus Affiliated Society present a film
screening-discussion on political tasks of labor and community
organizing today in light of problems inherited from the 1960s:

Finally Got the News: the Detroit League of Revolutionary
Black Workers/Revolutionary Union Movement (1970)

Thursday, April 10 7PM
University of Chicago
Stuart Hall room 101
http://platypus.uchicago.edu

FINALLY GOT THE NEWS is a forceful, unique documentary that
reveals the activities of the League of Revolutionary Black
Workers inside and outside the auto factories of Detroit.
Through interviews with the members of the movement, footage
shot in the auto plants, and footage of leafleting and
picketing actions, the film documents their efforts to build
an independent black labor organization that, unlike the UAW,
will respond to worker’s problems, such as the assembly line
speed-up and inadequate wages faced by both black and white
workers in the industry.

Beginning with a historical montage, from the early days of
slavery through the subsequent growth and organization of the
working class, FINALLY GOT THE NEWS focuses on the crucial
role played by the black worker in the American economy. Also
explored is the educational ‘tracking’ system for both white
and black youth, the role of African American women in the
labor force, and relations between white and black workers.

“Although most histories of the Civil Rights and Black Power
movements give greater attention to [other groups]… the
League [of Revolutionary Black Workers] was in many respects
the most significant expression of black radical thought and
activism in the 1960s. The League took the impetus for Black
Power and translated it into a fighting program focusing
on industrial workers.”
– Manning Marable, Director, Institute for Research in
African-American Studies, Professor of History, Columbia
University

“A classic! Rather than the lock-stepped, black-bereted,
leather-jacketed Panther units of other films, FINALLY shows
rather ordinary people becoming very angry with the system.
Ideological in the best sense: it is a film about ideas [and]
presents a serious strategy for mass working class action…
It speaks of a specific time and specific experiences in
terms that will remain relevant as long as working people are
not able to control their own lives.”
– Dan Georgakas, for Cineaste

“[The League of Revolutionary Black Workers]… was 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.”
– Professor Robin D.G. Kelley, New York University

http://www.frif.com/new2003/fin.html

http://www.platypus1917.com

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