A Great Vision - A Militant Family’s Journey through the 20h Century

from $7.99

Author: Richard March

Synopsis: A Family's 100 Year Fight for Justice

The eye-opening saga of a militant family begins with grandparents fighting the black shirt fascists in war-torn Croatia after WWI. Their daughter Jane and her young husband Herb March became fearless organizers in the 1930s & 40s Chicago meatpacking industry, as they build the United Packinghouse Workers of America, a multi-racial, democratic union. Herb and Jane inspired their son Rick March to join SDS in the 60's and 70's and engage in guerilla theater to oppose the Vietnam War and racism.

As the US is driven toward a new Gilded Age, crushing unions, immigrants and civil rights, the March family fighting the good fight for three generations inspires us to carry on…and win.​

View All Available Formats:
Quantity:
Add To Cart

Author: Richard March

Synopsis: A Family's 100 Year Fight for Justice

The eye-opening saga of a militant family begins with grandparents fighting the black shirt fascists in war-torn Croatia after WWI. Their daughter Jane and her young husband Herb March became fearless organizers in the 1930s & 40s Chicago meatpacking industry, as they build the United Packinghouse Workers of America, a multi-racial, democratic union. Herb and Jane inspired their son Rick March to join SDS in the 60's and 70's and engage in guerilla theater to oppose the Vietnam War and racism.

As the US is driven toward a new Gilded Age, crushing unions, immigrants and civil rights, the March family fighting the good fight for three generations inspires us to carry on…and win.​

Author: Richard March

Synopsis: A Family's 100 Year Fight for Justice

The eye-opening saga of a militant family begins with grandparents fighting the black shirt fascists in war-torn Croatia after WWI. Their daughter Jane and her young husband Herb March became fearless organizers in the 1930s & 40s Chicago meatpacking industry, as they build the United Packinghouse Workers of America, a multi-racial, democratic union. Herb and Jane inspired their son Rick March to join SDS in the 60's and 70's and engage in guerilla theater to oppose the Vietnam War and racism.

As the US is driven toward a new Gilded Age, crushing unions, immigrants and civil rights, the March family fighting the good fight for three generations inspires us to carry on…and win.​

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hard Ball Press (April 14, 2017)

  • Language ‏ : ‎ English

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 360 pages

  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0997979739

  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0997979732

  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds

  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches

Reviews

〰️

Reviews 〰️

Rick is quite a story teller, and the tales of his family, and their deep involvement in the labor and progressive struggles of their time, kept me turning the pages. I learned quite a bit of history, too, presented as background to the family stories. If you are interested in oral history, in labor history, in tales of the Communist Party in the 20th Century, take a look at Rick’s book. His father was a well-known labor organizer and CP member in Chicago, organizing packinghouse workers, and the book has great stories to tell. I ended up buying this book to share with two of my relatives as well!
— Betsy L. Zucker
The book then is both a tribute to the “great vision” of the Left of the 20th century and a lesson to the younger activists of the twenty-first on the essential role of everyday folk culture in building a successful struggle for a better world.
— Paul Buhle, The Progressive
…provides a timely reminder of what the McCarthy era was like for progressives who had been building major unions and successfully challenging injustice…in the 1950s.
— Steve Early, New Left Review
This book echoes with the commitment needed to build a union…Urban life in New York and Chicago neighborhoods echoes through tenements and flats, through to the 1960s promised land in California. It’s an engaging read because it is a real-life story of families coping with economic and political dislocation, not only surviving, but passing on values of caring and solidarity.
— Mike Matejka, Fox Valley Labor News
[A Great Vision} is a fascinating book. Richard March tells a story very much from the inside of a family involved in some of the great struggles of our time, especially in Chicago.
— Kim Scipes, Portside
A Great Vision: A Militant Family’s Journey Through the 20th Century, traces [Rick March’s] family history through three generations as they organized for union protections, civil rights, and anti-war movements. More than simply a memoir, A Great Vision shows us how folklore practices can help forge new models of social activism to address 21st-century progressive causes. Following his talk, March will perform some old labor songs learned from his father.
— Sound Salon
New York Hustle - Pool Rooms, School Rooms, Street Corners
from $7.99
Little Meena and the Big Swim/La Pequena Meena y El Gran Nado
from $5.50
The Art of Organizing
from $7.99
My Open Heart - Stories & Essays by Members of SEIU Healthcare 1199NE
$12.50
Good Trouble - A Shoeleather History of Nonviolent Direct Action
from $6.00