Peter Shapiro

"Well-written, fast-paced and inspiring...simultaneously an education in labor organizing in a multinational workplace and a stirring tale of struggle by some of U.S. capitalism's most exploited workers...Song of the Stubborn One Thousand does a masterful job at weaving these lines of the narrative into a cohesive and elucidating tale of sacrifice and inspiration." -- Ron Jacobs in Counterpunch. Peter Shapiro is a retired letter carrier and longtime labor journalist and union activist. He did support work for the Watsonville Canning strikers and was indignant that their struggle, which so deeply moved and impressed him, was receiving almost no media attention. Twenty-five years later, there was still no in-depth account of this remarkable labor struggle available, and he realized he was going to have to write it himself. "It was a humbling experience," he writes. "The sheer complexity of the story reined in any temptation to make facile generalizations or impose preconceived assumptions. A wide range of forces were involved in the strike and contributed to its success, despite often conflicting agendas; the more I learned about them, the more I appreciated how important it is to know where people are coming from, why they act as they do, why even those you disagree with require a measure of empathy and respect...More than anything else, though, I came away from this project with a renewed appreciation for the strikers, whose sacrifices, steadfastness, resourcefulness and dignity made everything possible. You don’t have to romanticize them or turn them into revolutionary icons to see how their experience speaks to the rest of us who likewise yearn for a more just society and a better world."