Fire with Fire
firewithfire-blog.bsky.social
Fire with Fire
@firewithfire-blog.bsky.social
Profile for firewithfire.blog/about/. Tweets about things cool (labor organizing) and not (capitalism) from a rank-and-file unionist. Enthusiast of syndicalist practice and Marxist theory.
Pinned
This is my lengthy post from earlier this year about how anarchism was probably the leading poll on the left within the global labor movement from about 1905-1922. Recent research is revealing how the movement was so much wider and deeper than has been recognized.

firewithfire.blog/2024/04/13/a...
Anarchist Unionism: A Forgotten but Glorious History
This piece introduces the core concepts of anarchist unionism as well as its global history in the early 20th century.
firewithfire.blog
New blog post:

"There are two things that builders do: 1) they build and cohere networks of people who are affected by a problem, and 2) they organize these networks in a particular direction to address that problem."

firewithfire.blog/2025/11/22/b...
Building Organizing Networks through 1-on-1 Conversations
This post analyzes two types of activists: “floaters” who attend events without deep engagement, and “builders” who cultivate meaningful relationships through 1-on-1 convers…
firewithfire.blog
November 22, 2025 at 3:55 PM
These are my new zine creations from this summer! If you belong to a political organization or union that would want to get a batch of zines and are willing to pay for shipping, let me know thru the Contact page on my blog and I can mail them to you.
August 16, 2025 at 6:34 PM
My latest blog post shows how to apply the AEIOU (Agitate-Educate-Inoculate-Organize-Uplift) framework to 1-on-1 organizing conversations in a union contract campaign.

firewithfire.blog/2025/06/21/o...
Organizing Conversations for Union Contract Campaigns
1-on-1 organizing conversations are essential for union campaigns, fostering trust and identifying common grievances among workers. Utilizing the AEIOU framework—Agitate, Educate, Inoculate, Organi…
firewithfire.blog
June 26, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Fire with Fire
I constantly strive to be a better organizer and something I need to take to heart more is to ask more questions.

Get people thinking for themselves.

firewithfire.blog/2025/06/08/t...
The Question for an Organizer Is What the Wing Is for a Bird
Good question-asking is a central part of grassroots organizing because it invites participation and encourages people to think for themselves. The basic rules of question-asking can be applied to …
firewithfire.blog
June 13, 2025 at 8:42 AM
My latest:

"Good question-asking is for a grassroots organizer what the wing is to a bird. More than a tool, it is the basic appendage the organizer uses to maneuver through social relationships and political ideas."

firewithfire.blog/2025/06/08/t...
The Question for an Organizer Is What the Wing Is for a Bird
Good question-asking is a central part of grassroots organizing because it invites participation and encourages people to think for themselves. The basic rules of question-asking can be applied to …
firewithfire.blog
June 8, 2025 at 11:53 PM
I review Hamilton Nolan's The Hammer and Eric Blanc's We Are the Union. I sympathize more with Blanc's bottom-up vision of the labor movement, but both books left me wondering what role socialist organization specifically had to play in this grand drama.

firewithfire.blog/2025/05/03/n...
May 5, 2025 at 12:37 AM
I just went thru and polished this old favorite post of mine:

"Everyone can organize, and everyone’s organizing will be stronger if they drop the popular image of organizing they have in their head."

firewithfire.blog/2022/12/17/n...
Notes on Social Relationships in Workplace Organizing
In my own development as an organizer and in talking with others, I’ve come to realize that the role relationships play in organizing is often different than how that role is talked about. In the i…
firewithfire.blog
January 18, 2025 at 12:47 AM
My practical introduction to no-strike clauses for rank-and-file unionists, and why we should oppose them.

Workers regaining "democratic control of their own capacity for collective action is the first step towards remaking a radical labor movement."

firewithfire.blog/2023/09/03/n...
“Never Give Up the Right to Strike”: An Introduction to No-Strike Clauses
No-strike clauses and their close cousins, management rights and grievance arbitration clauses, in union contracts disempower workers by taking away their democratic capacity to take action when an…
firewithfire.blog
January 2, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Brecher's classic book Strike! has a rank-and-file focus that makes it unique among sweeping US labor histories. No other labor book deserves as much wide and enthusiastic a recommendation as this one for today's strike-aspiring unionists. firewithfire.blog/2024/12/23/m...
Mini-Review: Jeremy Brecher’s Strike!
Of all the sweeping US labor histories out there, Jeremy Brecher’s Strike! is the best one I’ve read. It balances dramatic story-telling with political analysis in exactly the right pro…
firewithfire.blog
December 24, 2024 at 7:06 PM
I've turned one of my most-viewed blog posts into a zine, free to download and print. Get the files or read the digital version here: tinyurl.com/K12capitalism
December 15, 2024 at 4:31 PM
"To have a robust movement where discussion of strategy is accessible and well-informed it’s important for unionists to be familiar with a broader range of union ideas that are prominent in the movement as a whole."

firewithfire.blog/2022/12/31/a...
A Critical Survey of Left Unionisms: McAlevey, Burns, Moody, Syndicalism, Permeationism, and Relationship-Based Organizing
This post is a survey of prominent contemporary left union theorists and strategies, including Jane McAlevey, Joe Burns, Kim Moody, Marxist-Leninist permeationism, and IWW syndicalism.
firewithfire.blog
December 7, 2024 at 2:25 PM
This is my lengthy post from earlier this year about how anarchism was probably the leading poll on the left within the global labor movement from about 1905-1922. Recent research is revealing how the movement was so much wider and deeper than has been recognized.

firewithfire.blog/2024/04/13/a...
Anarchist Unionism: A Forgotten but Glorious History
This piece introduces the core concepts of anarchist unionism as well as its global history in the early 20th century.
firewithfire.blog
November 30, 2024 at 4:11 PM
The 1-on-1 organizing conversation with coworkers is the most important tool of grassroots unionism. It's where you 1) build a relationship of trust, 2) identify common grievances and shared interests, and 3) move together from a place of inaction to one of action.

firewithfire.blog/2020/04/19/a...
An Introduction to 1-on-1 Organizing Conversations
The 1-on-1 organizing conversation is the heart of grassroots organizing.
firewithfire.blog
November 30, 2024 at 12:41 PM
The about page on my blog says a little more about me, introduces the main subjects and themes of my writing, and links to my most popular posts. firewithfire.blog/about/
About
This blog is a collection of the broad range of things I write about.
firewithfire.blog
November 30, 2024 at 12:32 PM