Fire with Fire

Building Organizing Networks through 1-on-1 Conversations This post analyzes two types of activists: “floaters” who attend events without deep engagement, and “builders” who cultivate meaningful relationships through 1-on-1 convers…

New blog post:

"There are two things that builders do: 1) they build and cohere networks of people who are affected by a problem, and 2) they organize these networks in a particular direction to address that problem."

firewithfire.blog/2025/11/22/b...

I love this! The commitment to collective decision-making and how the entire approach to unions influences your storytelling and game design are particularly inspiring and feels relatable to my experience as an education industry worker.

Pamphlets of Blog Posts I’ve turned some of my blog posts into pamphlets that can be downloaded and printed. Feel free to distribute these as you wish. If anyone wants to print and sell these for a small amount with…

firewithfire.blog/pamphlets-of...

These are my new zine creations from this summer! If you belong to a political organization or union that would want to get a batch of zines and are willing to pay for shipping, let me know thru the Contact page on my blog and I can mail them to you.

Organizing Conversations for Union Contract Campaigns 1-on-1 organizing conversations are essential for union campaigns, fostering trust and identifying common grievances among workers. Utilizing the AEIOU framework—Agitate, Educate, Inoculate, Organi…

My latest blog post shows how to apply the AEIOU (Agitate-Educate-Inoculate-Organize-Uplift) framework to 1-on-1 organizing conversations in a union contract campaign.

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The Question for an Organizer Is What the Wing Is for a Bird Good question-asking is a central part of grassroots organizing because it invites participation and encourages people to think for themselves. The basic rules of question-asking can be applied to …

I constantly strive to be a better organizer and something I need to take to heart more is to ask more questions.

Get people thinking for themselves.

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Thanks for the kind words and the plug!

The Question for an Organizer Is What the Wing Is for a Bird Good question-asking is a central part of grassroots organizing because it invites participation and encourages people to think for themselves. The basic rules of question-asking can be applied to …

My latest:

"Good question-asking is for a grassroots organizer what the wing is to a bird. More than a tool, it is the basic appendage the organizer uses to maneuver through social relationships and political ideas."

firewithfire.blog/2025/06/08/t...

Yea, the whole idea of cadre I find fascinating, historically important, and extremely under-discussed. Basically, how do all of those super-committed socialists work with each other and with social movements? I don't think everyone has to be in a cadre org, but I think it's worth strategizing about

I review Hamilton Nolan's The Hammer and Eric Blanc's We Are the Union. I sympathize more with Blanc's bottom-up vision of the labor movement, but both books left me wondering what role socialist organization specifically had to play in this grand drama.

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Notes on Social Relationships in Workplace Organizing In my own development as an organizer and in talking with others, I’ve come to realize that the role relationships play in organizing is often different than how that role is talked about. In the i…

I just went thru and polished this old favorite post of mine:

"Everyone can organize, and everyone’s organizing will be stronger if they drop the popular image of organizing they have in their head."

firewithfire.blog/2022/12/17/n...

“Never Give Up the Right to Strike”: An Introduction to No-Strike Clauses No-strike clauses and their close cousins, management rights and grievance arbitration clauses, in union contracts disempower workers by taking away their democratic capacity to take action when an…

My practical introduction to no-strike clauses for rank-and-file unionists, and why we should oppose them.

Workers regaining "democratic control of their own capacity for collective action is the first step towards remaking a radical labor movement."

firewithfire.blog/2023/09/03/n...

This looks great, buying now!

Mini-Review: Jeremy Brecher’s Strike! Of all the sweeping US labor histories out there, Jeremy Brecher’s Strike! is the best one I’ve read. It balances dramatic story-telling with political analysis in exactly the right pro…

Brecher's classic book Strike! has a rank-and-file focus that makes it unique among sweeping US labor histories. No other labor book deserves as much wide and enthusiastic a recommendation as this one for today's strike-aspiring unionists. firewithfire.blog/2024/12/23/m...

Hi Karen, Thanks for the kind words! I'm more connected in the union world and less so in the zine world, so I'm not actually sure where to look for more zine content beyond just using the search bar. I hope you find what you're looking for!

The title reads, "Public K12 Education as Capitalist Industry: A Political Guide for Radical Educators and Organizers." The words are framed tightly by large images of crayons, pencils, scissors, and a ruler against a blank pink background.

I've turned one of my most-viewed blog posts into a zine, free to download and print. Get the files or read the digital version here: tinyurl.com/K12capitalism

A Critical Survey of Left Unionisms: McAlevey, Burns, Moody, Syndicalism, Permeationism, and Relationship-Based Organizing This post is a survey of prominent contemporary left union theorists and strategies, including Jane McAlevey, Joe Burns, Kim Moody, Marxist-Leninist permeationism, and IWW syndicalism.

"To have a robust movement where discussion of strategy is accessible and well-informed it’s important for unionists to be familiar with a broader range of union ideas that are prominent in the movement as a whole."

firewithfire.blog/2022/12/31/a...

Anarchist Unionism: A Forgotten but Glorious History This piece introduces the core concepts of anarchist unionism as well as its global history in the early 20th century.

This is my lengthy post from earlier this year about how anarchism was probably the leading poll on the left within the global labor movement from about 1905-1922. Recent research is revealing how the movement was so much wider and deeper than has been recognized.

firewithfire.blog/2024/04/13/a...

An Introduction to 1-on-1 Organizing Conversations The 1-on-1 organizing conversation is the heart of grassroots organizing.

The 1-on-1 organizing conversation with coworkers is the most important tool of grassroots unionism. It's where you 1) build a relationship of trust, 2) identify common grievances and shared interests, and 3) move together from a place of inaction to one of action.

firewithfire.blog/2020/04/19/a...

About This blog is a collection of the broad range of things I write about.

The about page on my blog says a little more about me, introduces the main subjects and themes of my writing, and links to my most popular posts. firewithfire.blog/about/