Submitted on Fri, 10/26/2007 - 4:55pm

Current Classes

Chomsky 101: An Introduction to Noam Chomsky's Life and Political Thought.

FW Facilitator Stephen Holm

This 6-part class will introduce participants to the thinking and writing of one of America’s preeminent dissidents- the MIT Linguistics professor, Wobbly, and anarchist Noam Chomsky.

Themes covered will include Media and Propaganda; U.S imperialism around the world; and the anarchist alternative. There will be short readings and group discussion.

Chomsky 101 meets Saturdays
November 17th - December 22nd 2007 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Downtown Minneapolis Public Library
4th Floor, Conference Room N-402

 

Coup de Sabots and the Creativity of Direct Action

FW Facilitator Jeff Pilacinski

Using Elizabeth Gurley Flynn’s definitions of “Sabotage” and “Direct Action”, we’ll examine the history behind everyday forms of resistance, while empowering each other with practical methods of increasing workers’ control on and off the job.

This class will incorporate a number of different learning methods, including: participant presentations, small group discussions, role plays, short participant compositions, video screenings, reading assignments, and some lecture.

Coup de Sabots meets Thursday Evenings
November 29th – January 3rd 2008 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Pierre Bottineau Library 55 Broadway NE Minneapolis

Register

To register for the above classes, call and leave your name and contact information at 612 339-1266, or by sending email to  [email protected] .

General Information

The Work People's College (WPC) is a current project of the Twin Cities General Membership Branch (TC GMB) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). We draw on the historical legacy of the Work People's College which was founded primarily to support Finnish immigrants and laborers and continued to have deep and abiding relationships with the IWW.

We are dedicated to providing free, radical, and practical education to the working women and men of our communities, education that will further the aims of the working class revolution that we advocate as a union.

The Work People’s College has a dedicated committee that supports classes in arranging classroom space, photocopies, and audio-visual needs. We issue calls for proposals to teach classes to the union and the general radical community several times a year, at which point the committee selects classes to be taught, and engaged in the activities necessary to make these classes a success.

We have decided to concentrate on the following areas, and to achieve a productive mix of class topics for each period of time. Classes are not limited to these categories, which serve largely to encourage the diversity of our offerings.

• History          (e.g., The Spanish Civil War, the 1934 MN Teamsters Strike)
• Vision           (e.g., Political Economy, Philosophy)
• Culture          (e.g., Working Class Culture classes)
• Organizing    (e.g., Direct Action, Social Mapping)

 Past classes have included the following:

• Lessons of the Spanish Revolution
• Imagination and Social Liberation (the thought of Cornelius Castoriadis)
• Political Economy in Karl Marx's Capital.

Other Free Classes in the Twin Cities

The Twin Cities is also host to another free school, the Experimental College, or EXCO, which offers many free classes. You can check out their offerings here

• Twin Cities GMB
• Educational Workers Industrial Union 620