Jacobin Radio: Remembering Mike Davis (Part 2)

Jacobin Radio

Jacobin

Socialism, History, News, Left, Jacobin, Alternative, Socialist, Politics

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🗓️ 9 January 2023

⏱️ 85 minutes

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Summary

Today Suzi brings part two of our tribute to Mike Davis, who died on October 25. Mike was a prolific writer, historian, political activist, urban theorist, and author of dozens of books, many featured here on this podcast.

We begin with an interview from July 1986 just after Mike completed his first book, Prisoners of the American Dream, published on the centenary of May Day 1886. Mike discusses the political economy of Reaganism, or Reaganomics, which began with a frontal attack on organized labor. He also explains what makes the American working class different. The second interview, from February 1988, coincided with the Justice for Janitors campaign. David Diaz joins Mike in the discussion on Los Angeles politics, looking at what redevelopment in the city had wrought. LA, like the rest of the country, was switching from a manufacturing to a service economy, though manufacturing continued using very low-wage immigrant labor. Non-union workers could not afford the cost of housing, and the lack of affordable rents fed the growing homeless crisis. We get a preview of Mike’s lifelong concerns about LA and workers fighting for a life with dignity and livable wages. We follow with a newer interview with Mike Davis and co-author Jon Wiener discussing their compelling 2020 history of LA in the 1960s, a hotbed of political, social and cultural upheaval and rebellion, Set the Night on Fire.

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, protest movements.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Jacobin Radio, I'm Suzy Weisman. Today we continue our tribute to Mike Davis,
0:17.2	who died on October 25th. Mike was a writer, historian, political activist, urban theorist,
0:23.4	and author of dozens of books, the outpouring of articles, remembrances, and tributes are
0:29.0	a testament to Mike's powerful and distinctive influence, his tireless life as a fighter
0:34.4	against everything that diminishes human dignity and ravages the planet. He was also a dear
0:39.7	friend and a friend of this program. Today we play two of the first interviews I did with Mike
0:45.4	in the mid 1980s. The first is from July 1986, on Mike's just completed first book, Prisoners
0:53.6	of the American Dream, which was published on the centenary of Mayday 1886, only in 1986,
1:01.4	and we discuss what makes the American working class different, the political economy of
1:06.3	Reaganism, which began with the frontal attack on unions, intensifying the employer and
1:12.2	government offensive against organized labor. The second interview from February 1988 coincided
1:20.0	with the Justice for Janitors campaign. David Diaz joins Mike in the discussion of LA politics,
1:26.6	looking at what redevelopment in Los Angeles had brought. Los Angeles, like the rest of the country,
1:32.5	was switching from a manufacturing to a service economy, though in Los Angeles,
1:37.2	manufacturer continued using very low wage immigrant labor in sweatshops,
1:43.1	construction, and non-union clerical workers, a black and brown workforce in a city with a
1:49.2	growing homeless crisis because of the lack of affordable housing for its workforce. We're going
1:55.2	to follow that with a newer interview with Mike Davis and co-author John Wiener discussing their
2:00.7	2020 compelling history of Los Angeles in the 1960s, a hotbed of political, social, and cultural
2:09.2	upheaval and rebellion called Set the Night on Fire. All this when our program returns in just a
2:16.0	moment. This is Susie Wiseman, and today I'm doing an interview with an old friend of mine who's
2:32.4	visiting Los Angeles, Mike Davis, who is an editor of New Left Review, and teaches at Evergreen
	...

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