Motor City Labor League Collection, 1970s

Summary

Abstract:

Materials related to the Marxist-Leninist group Motor City Labor League, active in Detroit in the 1970s. Divided into series based loosely on date and group. The group had an acrimonious split in the early 1970s, with the alliances of the resulting organizations constantly shifting.

Extent:

1 Linear Foot

Language:

English

Background

Scope and Content:

Materials related to the Motor City Labor League (MCLL)'s activities in the 1970s. Includes administrative materials from planning meetings and statements regarding the intragroup conflicts that divided the MCLL beginning in 1972. The sub- and splinter- groups that were party to this schism include Changeover and Aliance. These groups' activities with the reading group Conflict, Control, Change is also represented. Also includes materials from the Christian-Marxist Diaglogue and Marxist-Leninist reading materials, which formed part of MCLL members' program of self-education.

Biographical / Historical:

The Motor City Labor League (MCLL) was a socialist counsciousness-raising and activist group that formed in Detroit around 1970. A mostly white group, they worked in alliance with the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. Beginning in 1972, the group underwent a series of schisms due to personal, political, and philosophical differences. Though MCLL remained a defind group, its numbers dwindled as members joined either splinter groups or were absorbed into other, larger groups. The MCLL and its former members who had joined a group called The Alliance continued to collaborate on some projects, most notably the book club known as Conflict, Control, Change (CCC).

For more information, see: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-1a/detroit-clp.htm

Acquisition Information:

Gift of Jim Cheydleur, 2018.

Processing information:

Materials were arranged roughly by organization. Note that because the boundaries and alliances between groups were constantly shifting, some materials could potentially belong in multiple categories.

Arrangement:

This collection is divided into three series: 1. Alliance and MCLL 2. Conflict, Control, Change (book club) 3. Detroit Marxist Activities

Printed materials have been separated out.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Communism--Michigan--Detroit
Labor Movement--Michigan--Detroit
Radicalism -- Michigan -- Detroit