the story of an activist who never gave up, never backed down
by Jonathan Melrod
Deeply personal, astutely political, Fighting Times: Organizing on the Front Lines of the Class War recounts the thirteen-year journey of Jonathan Melrod to harness working class militancy and jump start a revolution on the shop floor of American Motors. Melrod faces termination, dodges the FBI, outwits collaborators in the UAW, and becomes the central figure in a lawsuit against the labor newsletter Fighting Times, as he strives to build a class conscious workers’ movement from the bottom up.
A radical to the core, Melrod was a key part of campus insurrection at University of Wisconsin Madison. He left campus for the factory in 1972, hired along with hundreds of youthful job seekers onto the mind-numbing assembly line, Fighting Times paints a portrait of these rebellious and alienated youthful hires, many of whom were Black Vietnam vets.
Containing dozens of archival photographs, Fighting Times captures the journey of a militant anti-racist revolutionary who rose to the highest elected ranks of his UAW local without compromising his politics or his dedication to building a class-conscious workers’ movement. The book will arm and inspire a new generation of labor organizers with the skills and attitude to challenge the odds and fight the egregious abuses of the exploitative capitalist system.
May Day march through Milwaukee neighborhood. Author on left, next to brother Mike Braun holding banner (prematurely deceased from a heart attack) and brother Bill Dew behind author with first raised (prematurely deceased after battling pancreatic cancer). Let Billy and MIke be remembered for their contribution to the ongoing struggle for justice and liberation.