Karl Marx and Abraham Lincoln: They may seem an unlikely pair, but they knew of each other, and Marx was intensely interested in the Civil War and the fate of slavery. Marx also influenced the culture and trajectory of US worker radicalism, which fueled the bitter and bloody labor conflicts of late nineteenth-century America. Robin Blackburn writes about all this in a new book.

Dan Clawson argues that organized labor's decline could be reversed, and the Left's prospects greatly enhanced, if workers and their unions actively connected with social movements pushing for economic, racial, gender, and global justice. Clawson articulates his vision for labor's resurgence, discusses recent attacks on unions and public-sector workers, and describes the last great labor upsurge.

Much of the radical left subscribes to some version of "Dump the bosses, put the workers in charge." Brian Edwards-Tiekert tours a bakery in Oakland that went out of business -- until its workers brought it back. Melissa Hoover describes how worker-run businesses adapt to a bad economy. And Gayle McLaughlin discusses her plan to create jobs by following the model of the Mondragón cooperatives in Spain.

Fair trade coffee, fair trade products -- we're told to buy these items because the extra amount we pay at the register goes to improving the lives of agricultural laborers abroad. But does it? Sarah Besky has done extensive fieldwork on fair trade-certified tea plantations in Darjeeling, India. And Mark Moberg co-edits a volume that features Besky's case study and many others.

Human rights and their violation are an insistent focus of many activists and organizations. But are there important limitations to rights-based politics? Because an individualist interpretation of rights holds sway, Richard McIntyre asserts that the rights revolution has failed to advance the collective strength of US workers. (Encore presentation.)

Human rights and their violation are an insistent focus of many activists and organizations. But are there important limitations to rights-based politics? Because an individualist interpretation of rights holds sway, Richard McIntyre asserts that the rights revolution has failed to advance the collective strength of US workers.