This episode features a debate regarding the role of race and class in efforts to advance a Social Democratic politics. It draws on a panel which was part of a day-long conference held in April 2021 considering Joshua B. Freeman’s landmark book, Working-Class New York: Life and Labor Since World War II. Longtime social justice activist Deepak Bhargava and historian Touré Reed concur that race and class identity is “the axis on which the Social Democratic project will turn.” They part ways, however, on whether organizing that springs from and emphasizes racial oppression can propel a movement to achieve economic justice in the 21st century U.S.
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