Wisconsin's Labor Movement Was Forged in Fire

We continue our series on the struggles of teachers and public sector unions in the state of Wisconsin today. As part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine for ​“The Wisconsin Idea,” Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) traveled to Wisconsin in the summer of 2021. From Madison to Appleton, they spoke to a range of educators, organizers, scholars, and activists who are fighting to rebuild worker power after the devastating passage of Act 10 in 2011 under Republican Governor Scott Walker, and nearly 50 years after cops, townspeople, and a union-busting school board broke the infamous Hortonville teachers’ strike in 1974. In this interview, recorded in the town of Hortonville, Max sits down with scholars Harvey J. Kaye and Jon Shelton to discuss the historical significance of Act 10, the Wisconsin Uprising, and the Hortonville strike that set the stage for them decades earlier, and to examine how these crucial events fit into the larger historical trajectory of the labor movement and progressive politics in Wisconsin. 

Harvey J. Kaye is Professor Emeritus of Democracy & Justice Studies and the Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay; he is also the author of many books, including Thomas Paine and the Promise of America and Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again. Jon Shelton is Associate Professor and Chair of Democracy and Justice studies at UW Green Bay, and he is the author of Teacher Strike! Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order.

Additional links/​info below…

• Harvey’s Twitter page
• Jon’s Twitter page
• American Federation of Teachers — Wisconsin website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times investigative series: The Wisconsin Idea
• Harvey J. Kaye, Macmillan, Thomas Paine and the Promise of America
• Harvey J. Kaye, Zero Books, Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again
• Working People, **Harvey J. Kaye (bonus episode)**
• Jon Shelton, University of Illinois Press, Teacher Strike! Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order
• Eleni Schirmer, Gender and Education, ​“When Solidarity Doesn’t Quite Strike: The 1974 Hortonville, Wisconsin Teachers’ Strike and the Rise of Neoliberalism”
• The Jacobin Show, ​“The Democratic Coalition after Trump and the Fall of Wisconsin”
• Dan Kaufman, Norton Books, The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics
• Michael D. Yates, Monthly Review Press, Wisconsin Uprising: Labor Fights Back
• John Nichols, Bold Type Books, Uprising: How Scott Walker Betrayed Wisconsin and Inspired a New Politics of Protest

Permanent links below…

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemu​si​carchive​.org)

• Jules Taylor, ​“Working People Theme Song”