Our Members Be Unlimited: a comic about workers and their unions

(Paperback)

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An original and visually powerful exploration of unionism. In our current political climate, people are looking for answers - and alternatives. The promise of unions is that their 'members be unlimited'- that they don't belong to the rich, the powerful, or special interests, but to all workers. How did the idea of unionism arise Where has it flourished And what are its challenges in the 21st century From Britain to Bangladesh, from the first union of the 18th century to today, from solidarity in Walmart China to his own experiences in an Amazon warehouse in Melbourne, comics journalist Sam Wallman explores the urge to come together and cooperate that arises again and again in workers and workplaces everywhere. With a dynamic and distinctive art style, and writing that's both thoughtful and down to earth, Our Members Be Unlimited serves as an entry point for young people or those new to these notions of collective action, but also as an invigorating read to those already engaged in the struggle for better working conditions - and a better world. 'Sam Wallman's comic is history and argument, it is celebration and reflection, and with every turn of its beautiful, vivid pages it is a reminder of the galvanising power of radical solidarity and of radical love. This book is a gift, it's exhilarating.' -Christos Tsiolkas, author of The Slap 'In a narrative that moves from trade-union history to his own efforts organising in an Amazon warehouse, Sam Wallman draws honest, unsentimental portraits of the working class that was and the working class that is. Most of all, he shares a vision of the working class that could be, depicting the everyday decency of ordinary people as the only hope for a world in crisis. Funny, tender, and wise, this book both delights and inspires.' -Jeff Sparrow, author of Crimes Against Nature ' Our Members Be Unlimited is a textured, extensively researched work ... The artist's bold style, consisting mainly of primary colours, makes the work visually compelling ... His creative agility demonstrates the many possibilities of comics ... What's hugely evident across the work is Wallman's passion for, and belief in, a better world.' -Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, The Sydney Morning Herald

Reviews

Sam Wallmans comic is history and argument, it is celebration and reflection, and with every turn of its beautiful, vivid pages it is a reminder of the galvanising power of radical solidarity and of radical love. This book is a gift, its exhilarating.

-- Christos Tsiolkas, author of The Slap

In a narrative that moves from trade-union history to his own efforts organising in an Amazon warehouse, Sam Wallman draws honest, unsentimental portraits of the working class that was and the working class that is. Most of all, he shares a vision of the working class that could be, depicting the everyday decency of ordinary people as the only hope for a world in crisis. Funny, tender, and wise, this book both delights and inspires.

-- Jeff Sparrow, author of Crimes Against Nature

Unionism is about more than your rights at work. It is something greater even than a form of politics at the point of production: union struggle is composed of those mundane moments of perseverance and ingenuity in daily life that are all too easy to pass over in retrospect. This is the history that Sam Wallman uncovers in his magnificent new longform comic, Our Members Be Unlimited With his unmistakable animated and intricate graphic style, Wallman is skilled at stitching these quotidian details into a broader narrative of working-class history Learned and extensively researched, this book is also practical, ending with a sizeable glossary of useful union terms, from black cat to ultra. Wallmans activist energy, familiar to anyone who has read his shorter comics or seen his posters pasted up around their city, makes this graphic history urgent and invigorating reading.

-- Joshua Barnes * Books+Publishing *

Our Members Be Unlimited is a beautiful and often moving guide to union organising thats in touch with the reality of work today. Sam Wallman draws on the history of working-class resistance and the humanism at the heart of our movement to guide and give heart to activists.

-- Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin magazine

Beautiful, bold, and necessary. An original and timely look at labours past and present that shows how workers won the rights we have and how theyll be taken away if we dont use our power to keep them and build on them.

-- Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight AttendantsCWA

[Our Members Be Unlimited is a] textured, extensively researched work The artists bold style, consisting mainly of primary colours, makes the work visually compelling His creative agility demonstrates the many possibilities of comics Whats hugely evident across the work is Wallmans passion for, and belief in, a better world.

-- Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen * The Sydney Morning Herald *

Sam Wallman has written an inspiring and uplifting visual history of the [union] movement [his] distinctive style, wit, and historical knowledge make this something to relish.

-- Jason Steger * The Sydney Morning Herald *

Sam Wallmans book is an insight both personal and historical into a collectivist alternative to capitalism that has existed as long as there have been bosses Wallman is ambitious enough to take comics to areas that are hard to explain, where the message may be complex but the stories are simple. [Our Members Be Unlimited] is a book that asks readers to read slowly and pay attention to the subtleties.

-- George Dunford * ArtsHub *

Our Members Be Unlimited ... rallies for workers rights in a journalistic comics account of past and present struggles in global and local labour organising, including recent battles fought in Amazon warehouses and with the New York City Taxi Workers Alliance.

* Publishers Weekly *

Our Members be Unlimited offers an entertaining, well-researched and accessible history of unionism [Each page] is designed with the confidence and urgency of a poster.

-- Matt Chun * Overland *

Stylistically, Wallman deftly manages the complex use of space - at times like MC Escher or Diego Rivera, also taking inspiration from early trade union banners Unique and urgent, Our Members Be Unlimited is aimed at a broad audience and well deserves to reach it.

-- Andrew Chuter * Green Left *

Creatively, intellectually, politically, emotionally, Wallman has produced a remarkable work. Our Members Be Unlimited is a robust and distinguished contribution to the long Australian tradition of interactions between artists and the labour movement going back to its birth years in the nineteenth century.

-- Rowan Cahill * Recorder *

No artwork or book has the same power as rank-and-file workplace organising. But if it reaches a wide enough audience, the book might help amplify the emerging wave of union organisation, from US Amazon warehouse workers to cleaners and health care workers in Australia. Our Members Be Unlimited helps us realise that, when we build union solidarity in the workplace, our efforts go beyond wages and conditions rekindling the old spirit of collectivism is how we build a better future for humanity.

-- Nicky Minus * Jacobin *

A fantastic work.

* Red Tape *

In Our Members Be Unlimited, comics journalist Wallman achieves what many on the left struggle with: he makes history, theory, and organising practice accessible and fun to read about Deftly mixing personal experience, journalism, and history, he highlights not just the highs but also the lows of union history. Throughout, he makes extensive use of imaginative spreads that blend traditional comics layouts with artwork more commonly found on murals and activist posters hits so powerfully you cant help but want to share. Hand this to any reader interested in labour movements, comics fans or not.

-- Matthew Noe * Booklist *

A stunner a bold visual history of workers struggles; a mini-memoir of Wallmans time working as a picker (and shop floor organiser) in an Amazon warehouse; and a compelling intro-slash-invitation to union activism.

-- Tove H * Powell's Books *

Activist and comics journalist Wallman debuts with a convincing, transfixing graphic history of the impact and future potential of unions This is a dynamic, persuasive look at labor power.

* Publishers Weekly *

Our Members Be Unlimited is a half-historical half-autobiographical novel of the slow progress of unionisation across the world. If theres anything to glean from this, its that no one can be expected to stand defiantly on their own and that theres a benefit to being part of a collective in pursuit of freedom whether that liberation is from British capitalism in the 1600s or from one of the most profitable and tyrannical companies known today. (You know which one Im talking about.)

-- Kvothe Harris * Rediscovered Bookshop *

In this artfully illustrated book of comic history, author Sam Wallman documents recent gains made by organised labour while offering the reader a look back at the struggle for worker rights. A great introduction for younger readers looking to familiarise themselves with the labour movement, this comic book offers a humorous and educational perspective on the challenges facing unions in the 21st century, and the way those challenges differ from the struggles of workers in previous centuries.

* Microcosm Publishing *

Author Bio

Sam Wallman is a comics journalist and cartoonist based in Melbourne, Australia. His drawings have been published in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Age, the ABC, and SBS.