Reading Struggles

Collected works of author, labor educator, and union organizer Kevin Van Meter.

Robert Ovetz and Kevin Van Meter have a book chapter titled “Fifteen Theses on the US Labor Movement” in the forthcoming collection edited by our comrade Gabriel Kuhn. Workers' Power from Below: Rebuilding Syndicalism in the 21st Century will be released on Pluto Press in January 2027! About the book: Capitalism is in crisis, and class divisions are deepening worldwide. Labour is becoming increasingly mobile and precarious. This is the moment for syndicalist unions to advance

Quite pleased to be back at Historical Materialism London this November as part of the Workers and Capital stream with a paper titled—“Political Materials”: Between Inquiry and Intervention in Radical Social Movement Publications. The talk will cover Johnson-Forest Tendency / Correspondence, Chaulieu-Montal Tendency / Socialisme ou Barbarie, Italian Operaismo, Zerowork, Midnight Notes, and Processed World. The conference will be 5-8 of November 2026 and check out the conferen

Quite pleased that my recent interview with Daniel Gross is running in the Summer 2026 issue of New Politics print edition and online in some weeks time. Here is a preview of the introduction and opening question: "It is no secret that the labor movement in the United States is in trouble. The past few decades have been marked by a decline in overall union density coupled with aggressive anti-union employer campaigns in the private sector and recent attacks on federal worker

Rust Belt Rising Building Solidarity and Worker Power in Rochester, New York Saturday, August 15th, 9am-6pm Sunday, August 16th, 9am-2pm Join author, labor educator, and union organizer Kevin Van Meter for a workshop as part of the conference on Saturday. Time TBD. Labor Education for All Workers How can we include labor education in every aspect of our organizing? This workshop will provide participants best practices on how to run robust labor education programs for union

Our George Caffentzis collection is avaiable for preorder! READING THE PLANETARY CLASS STRUGGLE: CONFRONTING CAPITALIST ACCUMULATION, CONSTRUCTING POSTCAPITALIST WORLDS: THE COLLECTED WORKS OF GEORGE CAFFENTZIS Edited by George Caffentzis and Silvia Federici "A profound class struggle account of the historic and ongoing crises of capitalism..." George Caffentzis has been the leading philosopher of the anticapitalist movements for over a half-century. With unrivaled clarity a

Join Points of Departure editors Robert Ovetz and Kevin Van Meter at Labor Notes 2026 in Chicago as we celebrate the release of this new collection. Meet the Authors Saturday, 4:30 - 6:15pm Grand Ballroom C Full event description: Chat with authors of recent books that help us understand labor and the world. Buy a book and get it signed! With Aleida Garcia Aguirre, Eric Blanc, Jaz Brisack, Ellen David Friedman, Olivia Geho, Fred Glass, Debbie Goldman, Suzanne Gordon, Daniel G

Our Harry Cleaver collection is available for preorder! POINTS OF DEPARTURE: REFUSAL OF WORK AND THE CRISIS OF CAPITALISM: THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF HARRY CLEAVER Edited by Robert Ovetz and Kevin Van Meter “Refuse work. Revolt against capitalism. Read Harry Cleaver. In that order. Repeat.” This is a definitive collection of Harry Cleaver’s best unpublished, translated, or lesser known writings–both historic and current–on the refusal of work, class composition and “inversion

INTRODUCING CLASS COMPOSITIONS (Opening remarks from Class Compositions in a Time of Fascism. Watch here.) Class Compositions is a new Common Notions book and event series dedicated to circulating the best militant research and theoretical interventions around from dynamic historical reproductions to cutting edge dispatches from new worlds just beginning to emerge. Our programming, including todays program, will draw on the rich autonomist tradition to aid militants and w

Kevin's Van Meters's opening remarks from Class Compositions in a Time of Fascism. Capitalism and the state engaged in class combat for nearly a hundred-fifty years. They tried to whittle union density down to under ten percent, they spent a hundred to undo New Deal programs, seventy-five to unravel the social contract and various productivity deals with sectors of the class. The ruling class fought for decades to undermine the gains of black liberation, indigenous, peasant,

CLASS COMPOSITIONS IN A TIME OF FASCISM with Charmaine Chua, Sarah Jaffe, Kieran Knutson, Peter Linebaugh, Kevin Van Meter (mod). UPDATE 5/11: Silvia Federici won't be able to join us, we are ever so pleased that author and labor journalist Sarah Jaffe will be participating in our panel. As part of Red May, cosponsored by Common Notions Press. Join us on Sunday, May 17 at 2:00PM EST / 11:00AM PST: https://www.youtube.com/live/lrfVtVW2WkY What are our most prescient tasks in a

Join Common Notions and the editors of Points for Departure for a special release event in Chicago to coincide with Labor Notes!

Book Blurb for Rehearsing the Future by Michael Doan So pleased to be asked to blurb my comrade Mike Doan's forthcoming AK Press book Rehearsing the Future: The Thought and Practice of James and Grace Lee Boggs. "For much of the twentieth century, Grace Lee and James Boggs made a way out of no way, in love and in struggle, in revolutionary Marxism, Black liberation, and other social movements of the time. Now in our time, how do we make a way out of Grace and Jimmy’s ideas,

CLASS COMPOSITIONS Militant research and theoretical interventions for new worlds! Class Compositions: A Common Notions Series is dedicated to publishing the best militant research and theoretical interventions around from dynamic historical reproductions to cutting edge dispatches from new worlds just beginning to emerge. Our books draw on the rich autonomist tradition to aid militants and working-class intellectuals, political collectives and study groups using methods of w

Pleased to announce and share the cover for the forthcoming Common Notions title Points of Departure: Refusal of Work and the Crisis of Capitalism: The Collected Writings of Harry Cleaver “Refuse work. Revolt against capitalism. Read Harry Cleaver. In that order. Repeat.” This is a definitive collection of Harry Cleaver’s best unpublished, translated, or lesser known writings–both historic and current–on the refusal of work, class composition and “inversion of the class persp

SPRING 2026 TALKS AND WORKSHOPS A few upcoming talks and workshops with more dates and details forthcoming. May 2nd and 3rd Upstate Anarchist Book Fair in Binghamton, NY Using Workers’ Inquiry to Organize and Fight the Boss! Join Anastasia Wilson and Kevin Van Meter at 1:30PM on Sunday May 3rd for this workshop and panel to participate (read full description here). Come visit the Common Notions table. Book Fair information here. May 16th Constellation Anarchist Bookfair

Using Worker’ Inquiry to Organize and Fight the Boss “Workers’ inquiries are identifying working-class self-activity in various sectors, understanding the class struggle from the working-class point of view, and allowing workers to develop their own knowledge of how their work is organized.” Are you a militant worker, labor organizer, movement radical interested in workers' inquiry? Take a read a new introductory piece by Robert Ovetz and Kevin Van Meter at New Politics Magaz

New Applied Research Report! The State of the Unions: Organized Labor in Maine, 2022-2024 (2026) Joseph van der Naald and Kevin Van Meter "The State of the Unions: Organized Labor in Maine, 2022-2024 provides a look into Maine’s labor movement. The report analyzes both historical and contemporary union membership patterns in the state of Maine, their implications for the conditions of workers and their wages, as well as recent union organizing efforts in the state." The Key F

Labor scholars and organizers Robert Ovetz and Kevin Van Meter joined Professor Richard Wolff on Economic Update for a show titled "Resurgent Labor Organizing" this week. Rick interviewed Robert and Kevin about Marx's "A Workers' Inquiry," labor organizing in the US, and contemporary struggles of the working-class. Take a watch! Don't miss part one of this two part episode with our colleagues Alexander Pyne of the Blue Bottle Independent Union and economist Anastasia Wilson