From Acquiescence to Rebellion
People tend not to rebel against their oppressors, because the cost is simply too high. But sometimes they do, overcoming extraordinary odds — and understanding how and why rebellions like the Civil Rights Movement happen is crucial for socialists today.
Martin Luther King Jr at the Civil Rights March on Washington, DC. (Wikimedia Commons)
Steve Fraser is one of the premier historians of US labor and left-wing movements. Throughout his career, he has sought to understand and explain the dynamics of acquiescence and rebellion in American history. In his latest book, a collection of essays titled Mongrel Firebugs and Men of Property: Capitalism and Class Conflict in American History, Fraser traces the ever-shifting outlines of American capitalism and the way it has shaped our politics and culture.
Here, he speaks with Jacobin contributing editor Chris Maisano about the New Deal and the Civil Rights Movement, the key role that radicals have played in inspiring popular rebellion, and the resurgence of socialist and radical politics in the United States today.
Chris Maisano
In the introduction to Mongrel Firebugs and Men of Property, you tell a very powerful story about your time in the Deep South during the Civil Rights Movement. What happened?
Steve Fraser
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