156 - The American Worker feat. Kevin Van Meter

About this episode

The episode features a discussion with Kevin Van Meter about workers inquiry and the historical pamphlet The American Worker from 1947.

We’re talking with Kevin again about workers inquiry as an organizing tool and the example of the pamphlet The American Worker from 1947. Twitter: https://x.com/AmericanWork47 readingstruggles.info notesfrombelow.org Media mentioned The American Worker on COVER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikphd5bNza4&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Ff9eaa73e-0b64-4316-a994-c97369b4e555.usrfiles.com%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY “Searching for the American Worker” https://newpol.org/issue_post/searching-for-the-american-worker/ Culbertson, Anna W. “Our Labor, Our Terms: Workers’ Inquiry in Libraries,” in “Assemblage, Inquiry, and Common Work in Library and Information Studies,” eds. Melissa Adler and Andrew Lau. Special issue, Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies 4; https://journals.litwinbooks.com/index.php/jclis/article/view/175 (CC BY-NC) In and against the state: discussion notes for socialists. https://libcom.org/book/export/html/31378 Reading Struggles: Working-Class Self-Activity from Detroit to Turin and Back Again. https://www.readingstruggles.info/ Guerillas of Desire: Notes on Everyday Resistance and Organizing to Make a Revolution Possible…

People in this episode

Host: librarypunk

Guest: Kevin Van Meter

Topics covered

• workers inquiry
• organizing tools
• American labor history
• social movements
• political activism

Keywords

• workers inquiry
• American Worker
• labor organizing
• political pamphlets
• social activism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies, libcom.org

Books & works: The American Worker, Searching for the American Worker, Reading Struggles: Working-Class Self-Activity from Detroit to Turin and Back Again, Guerillas of Desire: Notes on Everyday Resistance and Organizing to Make a Revolution Possible

More episodes of librarypunk

• 165 - Backburner · May 23, 2026 · 1h 7m
• 164 - NYC PLAN · April 25, 2026 · 1h 4m
• 163 - Organize Your Library · April 2, 2026 · 53 min
• 162 - Fashion librarianship feat. Steph Noell · March 26, 2026 · 59 min
• 161 - SciOp.net feat. Jonny and Jez (part 2) · March 19, 2026 · 1h 17m
• 160 - SciOp.net feat. Jonny and Jez (part 1) · March 12, 2026 · 1h 0m