 General
Gordon Baker
General Baker is an internationally known labor leader and autoworker
who has championed the cause of the unemployed and unorganized for over
30 years. General Baker was the first American who refused the Vietnam draft.
His case was a landmark in draft resistance, symbolizing the beginning of
the anti-war movement. He is also legendary for his role in leading black
autoworkers in the 1960s Detroit wildcat strikes against automakers and
discriminatory union leaders. Baker was a founder of D.R.U.M.,
and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. The book, "Detroit:
I Do Mind Dying" (about the worker revolts of that era) calls him the
soul of the movement. This book is widely recognized as one of the most
important books on the black liberation movement and labor struggles in
the United States. More recently, "The American Dream," a documentary
about labor history, featured he and his family, as well as other historical
figures. General Baker also ran for statewide political office in Michigan;
led in the statewide effort to support Detroit's homeless tent city; was
part of the North American delegation to the 7th Pan African Congress in
Uganda, and has addressed other international gatherings in Europe.
As an autoworker for over 30 years, Baker has witnessd robots replace
workers on the assembly line,forcing many into the homeless shelters and
food lines. His effort has always been to build unity among different sectors
of workers regardless of ethnicity or gender around their common, class
interests. As a founding member of the Labor Party of America, he is helping
to build a workers party that can change the nature of the debate in America
around the interests of the poor. General Baker remains one of the few leaders
from the 1960's who continues the struggle for a whole new cooperative world.
Baker works as a furnace operator at Ford Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan,
and is past president of the Coke Oven Blast Furnace Unit of the United
Auto Workers. He is also a founder and chair of the Steering Committee of
the League of Revolutionaries for a New America.
University appearances:
Baker was a convenor of the 1993 conference in Detroit commemorating
MalcolmX and celebrating the 25th anniversary of the founding of the League
ofRevolutionary Black Workers; He was a featured speaker at MIT (1994) and
the University of Illinois(Chicago) (1995) at conferences concerning the
impact of electronictechnology on industry and the community. He has also
been featured at: Cleveland State University; University of Massachusetts;
State Universityof New York at Binghamton; and the Carnegie Mellon Institute;
HowardUniversity Conference on the Columbus Quincentennial.
Suggested Topics
Moving Onward: From Racial Division to Class Unity
Independent Politics: Which Way For The Labor Movement
When Robots Replace Workers, Unemployed Workers Starve:
The New High Tech Economy versus a Vision of a New Cooperative World
For more information, contact Speakers for a New America at 1-800-691-6888
or by e-mail at speakers@lrna.org. Visit our web site at http://www.lrna.org/speakers/
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