Detroit’s Marxist Black Auto Workers

Having focused on leftist movements and labor activism in the 20th century for most of my academic career, I was fascinated by the bold grassroots effort led by the Detroit Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) of the late 1960s to early 1970s. Discovering the extensive collection of newsletters circulated by DRUM in Pitt's Archives and Special Collections, I set out to document the social conditions which spurred the movement, DRUM's successes, and its legacy for Black labor activism. I also sought to examine the Marxist nature of the organization and its influence on parallel leftist groups in Detroit and beyond. Forged under the dual oppressions of racial animosity and worker exploitation, the short-lived DRUM demonstrated the tenacity of America's downtrodden and their strength to dare for a better, socially just future