Bryan Palmer tells the compelling story of how a handful of revolutionary Trotskyists, working in the largely non-union trucking sector, led the drive to organise the unorganised, to build an industrial union. What emerges is a compelling narrative of class struggle, a reminder of what can be accomplished, even in the worst of circumstances, with a principled and far-seeing leadership.

BRYAN D. PALMER is Professor Emeritus and former Canada Research Chair, Canadian Studies, Trent University, Peterborough, Canada. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, former editor of Labour/Le Travail, and has published extensively on the history of labour and the revolutionary left. Among his many books are Canada’s 1960s and the co-authored, Toronto's Poor: A Rebellious History. He lives in Warkworth, Ontario.

Bryan D. Palmer's profile page

“Palmer's superb micro-history of the Minneapolis General Strike provides readers with an unprecedented view of a Depression-era class struggle from the inside out. Revolutionary Teamsters offers invaluable 'dancing lessons' — still relevant today — for labour radicals and protest organizers."
—Mike Davis, author of Ecology of Fear, Planet of Slums, and Buda's Wagon

"A stirring study worthy of the epic struggles it describes. Palmer's account situates the creativity, seriousness, and heroism of revolutionaries and rank-and-filers in an historical moment while trusting that they speak to our moment as well."
—David R. Roediger, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and co-author of The Production of Difference

"Revolutionary Teamsters … is not only a fresh look at a critical set of historical events in the history of both the left and the labor movement, but also an invitation to engage in a creative reconsideration of the relationship between the past and the present. Like any really good historian, Palmer reveals himself to be more interested in the future than in the past."
—Peter Rachleff, Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota

“An informative and well-researched book,Revolutionary Teamsters: The Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, by Bryan D Palmer, deserves to be read widely by anyone interested in the contemporary labour movement – in North America or anywhere else.”
—Richard Allday, Counterfire

“Palmer's superb micro-history of the Minneapolis General Strike provides readers with an unprecedented view of a Depression-era class struggle from the inside out. Revolutionary Teamsters offers invaluable 'dancing lessons' — still relevant today — for labour radicals and protest organizers."
—Mike Davis, author of Ecology of Fear, Planet of Slums, and Buda's Wagon

"A stirring study worthy of the epic struggles it describes. Palmer's account situates the creativity, seriousness, and heroism of revolutionaries and rank-and-filers in an historical moment while trusting that they speak to our moment as well."
—David R. Roediger, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and co-author of The Production of Difference

"Revolutionary Teamsters … is not only a fresh look at a critical set of historical events in the history of both the left and the labor movement, but also an invitation to engage in a creative reconsideration of the relationship between the past and the present. Like any really good historian, Palmer reveals himself to be more interested in the future than in the past."
—Peter Rachleff, Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota

“An informative and well-researched book,Revolutionary Teamsters: The Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, by Bryan D Palmer, deserves to be read widely by anyone interested in the contemporary labour movement – in North America or anywhere else.”
—Richard Allday, Counterfire