Shift Happens Quotes

“Capitalism, it seemed, didn't cope well with peace. War, however, was a profit machine.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“When Columbus arrived in the Bahamas in 1492, there were an estimated 300,000 Indigenous people from the Lokono and Carib nations living on the islands. By 1548, after fifty-five years of violent enslavement and harsh labor, only about 500 people survived.

Welcome to the history of labor in the United States.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“After centuries of being called names like reptiles, scum, and dumb bunnies, the working class would now be anointed with a more flattering name: essential.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“Imagine we give workers a say in their working lives.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“In Dr. King's last speech, he said, "Either we go up together; or we go down together."

Solidarity was his final gift.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“Nothing topples that pyramid of oppression like solidarity.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“Ditching solidarity is never the answer.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“The mill owners fought back, and the police broke up the picketing- it was against the law to gather in front of the mills. So the picketers didn't "gather", they walked. Day after day, the 23,000 strikers formed a marching and singing chain around the mills. After this first "moving" picket line, all picket lines began to move- and still do today.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“Being an ally can be tough. You're not in the shoes of the people you want to help. Often you're wearing shoes that have been standing on the necks of people you want to help.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“It was known even then that racism was a useful tool in dividing the powerless.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“...because if citizens are in a battle with the government, those citizens are called criminals.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“The Haymarket eight were put on trial because they believed in worker rights, that capitalism and authority might not be all that great, and that violence was necessary as a means of defense. These were ideas, not bombs.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“Twisting in the capitalist wind, workers searched for hope and change. Out of this searching environment the anarchist was born; people who had once believed in the hope of democracy were now frustrated by what they'd ended up with.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“But this story of making it rich through hard work and perseverance is a convenient one for capitalism. It keeps people hoping, and therefore, it keeps people working.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“By 1834, workers had organized the first national union. It proposed that every working person be supported by all working people.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“Wasn't America rich enough to provide for everyone?”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“Solidarity: the ultimate working-class superpower”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“Capitalists had discovered the pyramid of oppression- dividing people up into categories, ranking those categories based on differences the capitalists themselves promote, and then turning the categories against each other to fight over the promoted differences.”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.

“But they also tried out something new- the language of false patriotism- where anything good for capitalism is labeled American and anything bad for capitalism is labeled un-American”
― J. Albert Mann, Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States: A witty, unflinching YA history tracing capitalism's toll on American workers and the fight for justice.