Further reading

This page is divided into three sections:

  1. Some further reading suggestions
  2. A copy of the Bibliography of sources and further reading from the book itself. This includes the books, articles and resources referenced in the book, with a short comment about some of the most interesting ones.
  3. A list of all the web links in the book, organised by chapter, with the links to the original source as well as the shortcuts. In a few cases the same link is used in more than one chapter, in which case it appears here under the first chapter heading.

Web links will be updated here if they break, and additional resources will be added from time to time. I am also adding additional content to these sections as I come across useful resources.

1) Further reading

These are a few suggestions for further reading if you read the book.

  • Barker, Colin, Dale, Gareth and Davidson, Neil. eds., 2021. Revolutionary Rehearsals in the Neoliberal Age: 1989-2019. Chicago: Haymarket Books.

A great collection of chapters on key working class struggles around the world.

  • Burns, Joe, 2022. Class Struggle Unionism. Chicago: Haymarket Books.

Burns makes a great argument for a form of trade unionism based on a rejection of the legitimacy of employers, profit and capitalism; a focus on the workplace and workers’ own collective action; taking up workplace issues like workload, not just contractual terms; opposition to oppression; an orientation to the rank and file; defiance of anti-union legislation and hostility to the state.

  • Cliff, Tony and Gluckstein, Donny, 2014 [1986]. Marxism and Trade Union Struggle: the General Strike of 1926. [online] Marxists Internet Archive. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-3

The Cliff and Gluckstein book is far more useful and relevant than its title suggests. It is a great survey of the ways rank-and-file workers attempt to make their unions work for them and the limitations of trade unionism in periods of great conflict.

  • Dobbs, Farrell, 2011 [1972]. Teamster Rebellion. London: Pathfinder.

Teamster Rebellion is a readable participant account of an explosive strike by truck drivers in Minneapolis in 1934 and the repression they overcame. There are many other books on the subject but this is the classic.

  • Hardy, Jane, 2021. Nothing to Lose But Our Chains: Work and Resistance in Twenty-First Century Britain. London: Pluto Press.

Hardy debunks many of the myths about the world of work, past and present, and includes accounts of inspiring struggles from workers who are often low-paid, outsourced, women or migrants.

  • Hinton, James, 1973. The First Shop Stewards’ Movement. London: G. Allen & Unwin.

Hinton’s book is an inspiring history of the explosion of rank-and-file organisation around the first World War.

  • Hyman, Richard, 1975. Industrial Relations: a Marxist Introduction. London: Macmillan Press.
  • Hyman, Richard, 1989. Strikes. 4th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

The two Hyman books above are excellent introductions to many of the key issues in industrial relations, despite being written when the times were very different.

  • Little, Gawain; Sharp, Ellie; Stevenson, Howard; Wilson, David, 2024. Lessons in Organising. What trade unionists can learn from the war on teachers.

Lessons in Organising covers ten years in the National Union of Teachers and the National Education Union. I found the discussions on leadership and the way industrial issues in the public sector connect to political issues valuable.

  • McAlevey, Jane, 2014. Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell): My Decade Fighting for the Labor Movement. London: Verso.
  • McAlevey, Jane, 2016. No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age. New York: Oxford University Press.

Both McAlevey’s books above are very readable accounts of some impressive organising efforts.

Labor Notes, based in the USA, produces lots of good books on aspects of organising. Democracy is Power makes a powerful argument as to why democracy isn’t an optional extra for strong unions – it is vital to high participation.

  • Parker, Mike and Gruelle, Martha, 1999. Democracy is Power: Rebuilding Unions from the Bottom Up. Detroit: Labor Notes.
  • Silver, Beverly, 2003. Forces of Labor: Workers’ Movements and Globalization since 1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Beverly Silver’s book is a fascinating examination of the different types of potential power different groups of workers have and how that shapes their struggles.

  • Tressell, Robert, 2003 [1914]. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. [online] Project Gutenberg. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-20

Tressell’s classic novel tells the tale of a socialist painter and his efforts to win over his workmates. It has sold over a million copies and is often called the builders’ bible.

2) Bibliography of sources and further reading

  • Alinsky, Saul, 1972. Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals. New York: Vintage Books.
  • Allinson, Ian, n.d. Guide to Striking for Climate and the Law. [online] Available at: workers-can-win.info/climate-strike
  • Allinson, Ian, n.d. Organising Conversations Crib Sheet. [online] Available at: workers-can-win.info/conversations
  • Angry Workers, 2020. Class Power on Zero Hours. London: Angry Workers.
  • Armstrong, Peter, Goodman, Jeffrey and Hyman, Jerahn, 1981. Ideology and Shop-floor Industrial Relations. London: Croom Helm.
  • Barker, Colin, Dale, Gareth and Davidson, Neil. eds., 2021. Revolutionary Rehearsals in the Neoliberal Age: 1989-2019. Chicago: Haymarket Books.
  • Batstone, Eric, Boraston, Ian and Frenkel, Stephen, 1978. The Social Organization of Strikes. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Bergfeld, Mark, 2020. Research Skills for Trade Unionists who Want to Build Power. [online]. Available at: workers-can-win.info/ch3-10
  • Bevan, Aneuran, 1952. In Place of Fear. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
  • Bishop, I., 2021. Trade Union Membership, UK 1995-2020: Statistical Bulletin. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-1
  • Bond, Becky and Exley, Zak, 2016. Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing.
  • Bradbury, Alexandra, Brenner, Mark and Slaughter, Jane, 2016. Secrets of a Successful Organizer. Detroit: Labor Notes.

Labor Notes, based in the USA, produces lots of good books on aspects of organising. Their website includes some downloadable handouts for group exercises: labornotes.org/secrets.

  • Brook, Paul., 2013. Emotional Labour and the Living Personality at Work: Labour Power, Materialist Subjectivity and the Dialogical Self. Culture and Organization, 19(4), pp.332–352.
  • Brown, William, 2010. Negotiation and Collective Bargaining. In: Trevor Colling and Mike Terry, eds. Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice, 3rd ed. Chichester: Wiley. pp.255–274.
  • Butcher, Matthew and Edwards, Polly, 2019. Press Officer Handbook: a Guide to Progressive Media Work. [online] NEON. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-2
  • Cliff, Tony and Gluckstein, Donny, 2014 [1986]. Marxism and Trade Union Struggle: the General Strike of 1926. [online] Marxists Internet Archive. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-3

The Cliff and Gluckstein book is far more useful and relevant than its title suggests. It is a great survey of the ways rank-and-file workers attempt to make their unions work for them and the limitations of trade unionism in periods of great conflict.

  • Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2021. What are Human Rights? [online] Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-4
  • Ferguson, Susan, n.d. Social Reproduction: What’s the Big Idea? [online] Pluto Press. Available at: workers-can-win.info/ch2-2
  • Fox, Alan, 1966. Industrial Sociology and Industrial Relations. In: Donovan Commission Research Paper No. 3. London: HMSO. pp.2–14.
  • Fox-Hodess, Katy and Santibáñez Rebolledo, Camilo, 2020. The Social Foundations of Structural Power: Strategic Position, Worker Unity and External Alliances in the Making of the Chilean Dockworker Movement. Global Labour Journal, [online] 11(3). Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-6
  • Freeman, Jo, n.d [1970]. The Tyranny of Structurelessness. [online] Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-7
  • Gahan, Peter and Pekarek, Andreas, 2013. Social Movement Theory, Collective Action Frames and Union Theory: A Critique and Extension. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 51(4), pp.754–776.
  • Gallacher, Will, 1915. Clyde Workers’ Committee: To All Clyde Workers. [online] Marxists Internet Archive. Available at workers-can-win.info/fr-8
  • Garneau, Marianne, 2021. The Problem with Leaders. [online] Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-9
  • Graf, Arnie., 2020. Lessons Learned: Stories from a Lifetime of Organizing. Chicago: ACTA Publications.
  • Hardy, Jane, 2021. Nothing to Lose But Our Chains: Work and Resistance in Twenty-First Century Britain. London: Pluto Press.

Hardy debunks many of the myths about the world of work, past and present, and includes accounts of inspiring struggles from workers who are often low-paid, outsourced, women or migrants.

  • Henaway, Mostafa, 2022. First We Take Staten Island: Lessons from the Unionization of Amazon’s FJK8. [online] Available at: workers-can-win.info/ch6-4
  • Hinton, James, 1973. The First Shop Stewards’ Movement. London: G. Allen & Unwin.

Hinton’s book is an inspiring history of the explosion of rank-and-file organisation around the first World War.

  • Holgate, Jane, 2021. Arise: Power, Strategy and Union Resurgence. London: Pluto Press.
  • Hyman, Richard, 1975. Industrial Relations: a Marxist Introduction. London: Macmillan Press.
  • Hyman, Richard, 1989. Strikes. 4th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

The two Hyman books above are excellent introductions to many of the key issues in industrial relations, despite being written when the times were very different.

  • IWW, 2009. Organizing 101 Trainer’s Manual, version 2.2.
  • Joyce, Simon, 2015. Why are there so few strikes? International Socialism, [online] (145). Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-10
  • Kelly, John., 1998. Rethinking Industrial Relations: Mobilization, Collectivism and Long Waves. London: Routledge.
  • King, Martin Luther Junior, 2010 [1968]. Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Boston: Beacon Press.
  • Lees, M.K., 2019. Pushing: On the U in AEIOU. [online] Organizing work. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-11
  • Levitt, Martin Jay and Conrow, Terry, 1993. Confessions of a Union Buster. 1st ed. New York: Crown Publishers.
  • Luxemburg, Rosa, 1999a [1900]. Reform or Revolution. [online] Marxists Internet Archive. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-12
  • Luxemburg, Rosa, 1999b [1906]. The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions. [online] Marxists Internet Archive. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-13
  • Marx, Karl, 2015 [1867]. Part II, Chapter 6: The Buying and Selling of Labour-Power. In: Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. 1. [online] Marxists Internet Archive. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-14
  • McAlevey, Jane, 2014. Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell): My Decade Fighting for the Labor Movement. London: Verso.
  • McAlevey, Jane, 2016. No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age. New York: Oxford University Press.

Both McAlevey’s books above are very readable accounts of some impressive organising efforts. The article below is a great explanation of big and open bargaining.

  • McAlevey, Jane and Lawlor Abby, 2021. Turning the Tables: Participation and Power in Negotiations. [online] UC Berkley Labor Center. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-15
  • Monbiot, George, 2001. An Activist’s Guide to Exploiting the Media. London: Bookmarks.
  • Moody, Kim, 2015. Precarious Work, ‘Compression’ and Class Struggle ‘Leaps’. [online] rs21. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-16
  • Murphy, John Thomas, 1972 [1934]. Preparing for Power: a Critical Study of the History of the British Working-Class Movement. 2nd ed. London: Pluto Press Ltd.
  • ONS, 2020. Enterprise Employees by Employee Size Band 2008 to 2020. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-17
  • ONS, 2021. Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2021. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-18
  • Popovic, Srdja and Miller, Matthew, 2015. Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World. New York: Spiegel & Grau.
  • Pudd’nhead, Mike, 2020. A-E-I-O-U: Agitate, Educate, Inoculate, Organize, Union / pUsh (from ‘Wages So Low You’ll Freak’ by Mike Pudd’nhead). [online] libcom.org. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-19
  • Silver, Beverly, 2003. Forces of Labor: Workers’ Movements and Globalization since 1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Taylor, Phil, 2013. Performance Management and the New Workplace Tyranny. [online] Available at: workers-can-win.info/ch10-1
  • Tressell, Robert, 2003 [1914]. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. [online] Project Gutenberg. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-20

Tressell’s classic novel tells the tale of a socialist painter and his efforts to win over his workmates. It has sold over a million copies and is often called the builders’ bible.

  • Walton, Richard and McKersie, Robert, 1965. A Behavioural Theory of Labor Negotiations. London: McGraw Hill.
  • Workplace Organising, 2016. Set up a Bank Account Well Before you go on Strike. [online] Available at: workers-can-win.info/ch9-13
  • Wood, Heather, 2018. Women in the Miners’ Strike. [online] Working class history. Available at: workers-can-win.info/ch9-15
  • Wright Mills, Charles, 1948. The New Men Of Power. New York: Harcourt Brace.
  • x362014, 2021. My Thoughts After Attending the “Workers Rising Everywhere” Training. [online] Organizing work. Available at: workers-can-win.info/fr-21

3) Weblinks in the book

Note: most links in the text of the book appear as short URLs which redirect via this website to the original resource. To make it easy for you to search for particular links I have included both the short URL and the resource to which it redirects.

About the authors
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Why organise at work?
Chapter Three: Starting out
Chapter Four: Servicing, advocacy, mobilising and organising
Chapter Five: Choosing and communicating about issues
Chapter Six: How to organise
Chapter Seven: Using your rights
Chapter Eight: Planning action
Chapter Nine: Industrial and direct action
Chapter Ten: Management mischief
Chapter Eleven: Dealing with your union
Chapter Twelve: Overcoming difficulties and limitations
Further Reading