Red Emma’s

Bringing forth the basic operations of capitalist economies, it reveals what is driving many of today’s most urgent and vexing problems: the common origins of the inequalities of income, wealth, and power; environmental devastation; militarism; racism and white supremacy; patriarchy and male chauvinism; periodic economic crises; and the cultural conflicts that are tearing at US life.

Michael Zweig illuminates all propositions with specific examples from US history, from the first settlement of the New World to current life, including his own lived experiences as an activist, educator, and organizer over the past six decades. As such, the book is an urgently needed resource for activists and organizers seeking structural and moral transformation of life in the US. Building on his analysis, Zweig also presents strategies for political action in electoral and movement-building work.

Michael Zweig is the founding director of the Center for Study of Working Class Life and emeritus professor of economics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is a member of the New York State Coordinating Committee of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and an elected member of the executive board of United University Professions (AFT 2190) at SUNY Stony Brook.  Prior to CLASS, RACE, AND GENDER: CHALLENGING THE INJURIES AND DIVISIONS OF CAPITALISM, his books include THE WORKING CLASS MAJORITY: AMERICA’S BEST KEPT SECRET _and RELIGION AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE._ He lives with his wife in New York City and on the North Fork of Long Island, where for over thirty years he has served as a volunteer in the Southold Fire Department.

Ralikh Hayes serves as a Community Organizer at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Prior to joining LDF, Hayes was a housing paralegal and development associate at the Public Justice Center in Baltimore, Maryland. As a young person raised in the heart of Baltimore City, Ralikh began his journey of combating social injustice in 2007 when he served as a young organizer/math tutor with the Baltimore Algebra Project (BAP). During his tenure at BAP, he was promoted to Co-Director and later served as Board President. Hayes also led campaigns to end the school-to-prison pipeline and increase public school funding in Maryland.

In 2015, in response to the police in-custody death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed Black man, Hayes co-founded Organizing Black, a grassroots membership led organization dedicated to fighting for the liberation of all Black people. Hayes has a depth of experience in leading and supporting local, state, national, and international grassroot campaigns. Hayes has served as a lead organizer for the Alliance for Educational Justice, Baltimore United for Change, and the Movement for Black Lives, to name a few campaigns.