Fellow Worker

Description

The Life of Fred Thompson

By Fred W. Thompson
Edited with an introduction by David Roediger

Fred Thompson—1900-1987—socialist, Wobbly, organizer, soapboxer, editor, class-war prisoner, educator, historian, and publisher (it was he who spearheaded the effort to get Charles H. Kerr Publishing back on its feet in the 1970s). Here are lively accounts of his career as a teenage socialist in Canada during World War I; adventures as a hobo on the road; hard years in San Quentin; organizing for the IWW—Colorado miners in the 1920s, Detroit autoworkers in the early ’30s, Cleveland metal-workers in the ’40s; encounters with the mysterious Wobbly philosopher, T-Bone Slim; teaching at the IWW Work People’s College; and much more.

From cover to cover, this book bristles with the characteristic humor and wisdom of a self-taught working-stiff, esteemed by intellectuals as diverse as George Rawick, Studs Terkel, and Archie Green as one of the great men of our time.