Shaun Richman
@shaunrichman.org
Labor guy in higher ed. Author, "Tell The Bosses We're Coming" (Monthly Review, 2020) & "We Always Had a Union" (U. of Illinois, 2025). Contributing writer: In These Times, Jacobin, American Prospect.
Pinned
Shaun Richman
@shaunrichman.org
· Apr 22
We Always Had a Union
www.press.uillinois.edu
My new book, "We Always Had a Union: The New York Hotel Workers’ Union, 1912-1953," is OUT NOW.
It's a sweeping history of one sustained early 20th century union effort, through craft unionism, the IWW, the Communist Party, gangster corruption, industry-wide bargaining, Cold War backlash & more.
It's a sweeping history of one sustained early 20th century union effort, through craft unionism, the IWW, the Communist Party, gangster corruption, industry-wide bargaining, Cold War backlash & more.
Reposted by Shaun Richman
I will not use it at the beach
I will not use it when I teach
I do not want it in a church
I do not want it for research
I see no reason to concede
I will not use it when I read
Although its hype should have no end
Upon it I will not depend
I will not use it when I teach
I do not want it in a church
I do not want it for research
I see no reason to concede
I will not use it when I read
Although its hype should have no end
Upon it I will not depend
I do not like your AI slop
I do not like it, make it stop
I do not want an AI house
I do not want an AI mouse
No AI box. No AI fox—
That AI slop can go kick rocks
I would not AI here or there
I would not AI anywhere
No AI car, no AI czar
Your AI slop is killing trees
I do not like it, let me be!
I do not like it, make it stop
I do not want an AI house
I do not want an AI mouse
No AI box. No AI fox—
That AI slop can go kick rocks
I would not AI here or there
I would not AI anywhere
No AI car, no AI czar
Your AI slop is killing trees
I do not like it, let me be!
December 30, 2025 at 5:10 AM
I will not use it at the beach
I will not use it when I teach
I do not want it in a church
I do not want it for research
I see no reason to concede
I will not use it when I read
Although its hype should have no end
Upon it I will not depend
I will not use it when I teach
I do not want it in a church
I do not want it for research
I see no reason to concede
I will not use it when I read
Although its hype should have no end
Upon it I will not depend
books
Goodreads 2025 Year in Books
Check out My 2025 Year in Books on Goodreads!
www.goodreads.com
December 29, 2025 at 8:40 PM
books
Imagine writing an article about 'urban exploration" and not mentioning Ninjalicious once.
www.huckmag.com/article/unde...
www.huckmag.com/article/unde...
Inside the shadowy, booming underground world of Urbex
Touching bricks — Spurred by social media success and a desire to live in the physical world, a new generation of teenagers and young people are sneaking…
www.huckmag.com
December 29, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Imagine writing an article about 'urban exploration" and not mentioning Ninjalicious once.
www.huckmag.com/article/unde...
www.huckmag.com/article/unde...
Prefer to think about it as America's quarter-millennium crisis.
get ready to say “semiquincentennial” a lot more than you previously did
December 29, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Prefer to think about it as America's quarter-millennium crisis.
Reposted by Shaun Richman
Follow Shaun if you want a Brett Banditelli 2018 tier cynic of organized labor with a Brett Banditelli-never-tier knowledge of organized labor
I've been at 2.9K followers for a while. Apparently, I'm 11 new follows away from flipping the odometer.
Also, are there any new cool people I should follow. History of U.S. Labor, American Communism. Union organizer. Staten Islander. Birding. fish tanks, fish tanks and cooking. Not in that order.
Also, are there any new cool people I should follow. History of U.S. Labor, American Communism. Union organizer. Staten Islander. Birding. fish tanks, fish tanks and cooking. Not in that order.
December 26, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Follow Shaun if you want a Brett Banditelli 2018 tier cynic of organized labor with a Brett Banditelli-never-tier knowledge of organized labor
I've been at 2.9K followers for a while. Apparently, I'm 11 new follows away from flipping the odometer.
Also, are there any new cool people I should follow. History of U.S. Labor, American Communism. Union organizer. Staten Islander. Birding. fish tanks, fish tanks and cooking. Not in that order.
Also, are there any new cool people I should follow. History of U.S. Labor, American Communism. Union organizer. Staten Islander. Birding. fish tanks, fish tanks and cooking. Not in that order.
December 26, 2025 at 10:01 PM
I've been at 2.9K followers for a while. Apparently, I'm 11 new follows away from flipping the odometer.
Also, are there any new cool people I should follow. History of U.S. Labor, American Communism. Union organizer. Staten Islander. Birding. fish tanks, fish tanks and cooking. Not in that order.
Also, are there any new cool people I should follow. History of U.S. Labor, American Communism. Union organizer. Staten Islander. Birding. fish tanks, fish tanks and cooking. Not in that order.
Reposted by Shaun Richman
No one says to legit business owners, "hey I see there's an underground market selling toxic knock-offs of your product: how will you incorporate the toxic product AND protect your customers against its harms?" But apparently it's fine to make this suggestion to educators with respect to AI.
December 24, 2025 at 7:56 PM
No one says to legit business owners, "hey I see there's an underground market selling toxic knock-offs of your product: how will you incorporate the toxic product AND protect your customers against its harms?" But apparently it's fine to make this suggestion to educators with respect to AI.
The uncreative arguments in favor of AI really speak volumes about how AI boosters are desperate for some short cut to being better thinkers and communicators.
December 26, 2025 at 2:44 PM
The uncreative arguments in favor of AI really speak volumes about how AI boosters are desperate for some short cut to being better thinkers and communicators.
I did not CTRL+F my research. You can't CTRL+F a 100 year old physical newspaper that has one extant copy. At some point history requires historians doing a close reading of the surviving documents.
For so many projects there are massive amounts of sources that no single person can check one by one. In that regard, AI is a big improvement compared to "Ctrl+F", of other forms of distant reading because you can do semantic search and actually discover many rabbit holes you would otherwise miss.
December 21, 2025 at 9:11 PM
I did not CTRL+F my research. You can't CTRL+F a 100 year old physical newspaper that has one extant copy. At some point history requires historians doing a close reading of the surviving documents.
Love this. We should all do a thread about serendipitous discoveries in the archives. Me? I found a murder mystery in my hotel workers history.
Absolutely right.
AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.
Let me illustrate …
AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.
Let me illustrate …
Not a historian but like to research. The AI might summarize what I'm looking for, but it doesn't find what I'm *not* looking for. The book on the shelf next to the one I wanted. The insight in chapter 6 based on the quote I needed from chapter 4.
December 21, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Love this. We should all do a thread about serendipitous discoveries in the archives. Me? I found a murder mystery in my hotel workers history.
Queens College made Journalism a minor (ONLY!) as a way of forcing alums to become an expert in literally anything else as well.
getting a reporter to demonstrate any second skill is enough. generally guys who only have one trick can simply be ignored as a matter of course. MattY is never going to publish a photo essay, or drop an interactive article. he’s not even going to write a second article, really
December 20, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Queens College made Journalism a minor (ONLY!) as a way of forcing alums to become an expert in literally anything else as well.
Reposted by Shaun Richman
The Trump administration’s release of the Epstein grand jury documents are entirely redacted.
It’s 119 pages of just black rectangles.
It’s 119 pages of just black rectangles.
December 19, 2025 at 10:38 PM
The Trump administration’s release of the Epstein grand jury documents are entirely redacted.
It’s 119 pages of just black rectangles.
It’s 119 pages of just black rectangles.
Good deal. 👇 Jump on it.
NOW SOLICITING YOUR WOKEST BOOK PROJECTS BECAUSE HOPE IS ALIVE IN THE CAPITAL DISTRICT
December 19, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Good deal. 👇 Jump on it.
We're running out of good ideas?!
December 16, 2025 at 6:41 PM
We're running out of good ideas?!
There's nothing worse than a shitty footnote about an FBI file. Thanks for your description of the document and (relevant to you) FOIPA number. That totally helps the FBI or NARA find the same document for me.
December 15, 2025 at 7:28 PM
There's nothing worse than a shitty footnote about an FBI file. Thanks for your description of the document and (relevant to you) FOIPA number. That totally helps the FBI or NARA find the same document for me.
The Victorians see your 6-7, and raise you "There Are No Flies On Me."
www.villagevoice.com/tee-season/
www.villagevoice.com/tee-season/
December 12, 2025 at 10:03 PM
The Victorians see your 6-7, and raise you "There Are No Flies On Me."
www.villagevoice.com/tee-season/
www.villagevoice.com/tee-season/
2026 has to be the year that Dem leadership stops telling progressive activists–their base–to "suck it up" and fall in line in order to win over the "real Americans." *We're* the real Americans, and they won't remain leaders if they keep crafting messages that make *us* cringe.
...will appeal to voters without scaring away rich people.
And I can't be the only one who hears that.
Stand for something. Stand for anything. Just let it be something you actually believe in.
And I can't be the only one who hears that.
Stand for something. Stand for anything. Just let it be something you actually believe in.
December 12, 2025 at 2:46 PM
2026 has to be the year that Dem leadership stops telling progressive activists–their base–to "suck it up" and fall in line in order to win over the "real Americans." *We're* the real Americans, and they won't remain leaders if they keep crafting messages that make *us* cringe.
Reposted by Shaun Richman
You can do this right now:
Think of a person who wrote a paper you love, whose work influenced or helped you, or has made your professional life better.
Search up their email address. Shoot them a quick email of thanks. It means so, so much. This is a rough time of year, share some joy.
Think of a person who wrote a paper you love, whose work influenced or helped you, or has made your professional life better.
Search up their email address. Shoot them a quick email of thanks. It means so, so much. This is a rough time of year, share some joy.
December 11, 2025 at 10:08 PM
You can do this right now:
Think of a person who wrote a paper you love, whose work influenced or helped you, or has made your professional life better.
Search up their email address. Shoot them a quick email of thanks. It means so, so much. This is a rough time of year, share some joy.
Think of a person who wrote a paper you love, whose work influenced or helped you, or has made your professional life better.
Search up their email address. Shoot them a quick email of thanks. It means so, so much. This is a rough time of year, share some joy.
Reposted by Shaun Richman
I've heard reports of 2 scholarly presses using AI to index and copyedit books. Both reports from authors who were deeply dissatisfied with the quality of the work. Both authors paid to have the work redone by humans. Authors need to demand human copyeditors and indexers! Their work deserves it.
December 11, 2025 at 7:57 PM
I've heard reports of 2 scholarly presses using AI to index and copyedit books. Both reports from authors who were deeply dissatisfied with the quality of the work. Both authors paid to have the work redone by humans. Authors need to demand human copyeditors and indexers! Their work deserves it.
Reposted by Shaun Richman
If you have mourned, as I have, the perversion of Open Access into a form of Ponzi Austerity extraction, into an enabler of technofeudal enclosure by commercial AI, and into an excuse for defunding libraries & print archives, this meditation by @melikhovo.bsky.social is for you.
Into the Fugitive Open
The theme for this year’s International Open Access Week is “Who Owns Our Knowledge?”, a question that ought to be nonsensical, but which is becoming ever more urgent. I cannot help but think about Op...
matthewcheney.net
December 10, 2025 at 1:37 PM
If you have mourned, as I have, the perversion of Open Access into a form of Ponzi Austerity extraction, into an enabler of technofeudal enclosure by commercial AI, and into an excuse for defunding libraries & print archives, this meditation by @melikhovo.bsky.social is for you.
You're describing GENERAL EDUCATION, the college part of the college.
I wouldn't even want to hire you if all you did was study to pass tests in the one subject that you cared about.
I wouldn't even want to hire you if all you did was study to pass tests in the one subject that you cared about.
I think it’s fine for it to be both but if half the classes are going to be non-relevant to the major you should have the option to get the major without the irrelevant ones. If I was there for learning’s own sake, I would definitely enjoy these classes a little bit more. I’m there for a profession.
December 9, 2025 at 7:49 PM
You're describing GENERAL EDUCATION, the college part of the college.
I wouldn't even want to hire you if all you did was study to pass tests in the one subject that you cared about.
I wouldn't even want to hire you if all you did was study to pass tests in the one subject that you cared about.
Reposted by Shaun Richman
I’m hiring a postdoc! Flexible in terms of details, but I’m looking for someone to collaborate with on research about labor market inequality. I’ll review applications as they come in and the posting just went up here:
apply.interfolio.com/178873
apply.interfolio.com/178873
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
December 9, 2025 at 7:36 PM
I’m hiring a postdoc! Flexible in terms of details, but I’m looking for someone to collaborate with on research about labor market inequality. I’ll review applications as they come in and the posting just went up here:
apply.interfolio.com/178873
apply.interfolio.com/178873
actual bluesky challenge: post your favorite work of art from fifty years before you were born.
December 9, 2025 at 1:49 PM
actual bluesky challenge: post your favorite work of art from fifty years before you were born.
New from me: I reviewed Daniel Clark's "Listening to Workers" for @irsh-iisg.bsky.social. 🗃️
Daniel J. Clark, Listening to Workers. Oral Histories of Metro Detroit Autoworkers in the 1950s. [The Working Class in American History.] University of Illinois Press, Urbana (IL) [etc.] 2024. 230 pp....
Daniel J. Clark, Listening to Workers. Oral Histories of Metro Detroit Autoworkers in the 1950s. [The Working Class in American History.] University of Illinois Press, Urbana (IL) [etc.] 2024. 230 pp....
www.cambridge.org
December 9, 2025 at 12:29 PM
New from me: I reviewed Daniel Clark's "Listening to Workers" for @irsh-iisg.bsky.social. 🗃️