Revolutionary Green Unionism: Green Syndicalism in Theory and Practice

This book is an attempt to raise awareness of revolutionary green unionism and/or green syndicalist theory as well as how it can work in practice. I do not claim that it contains all of the answers. It may even include claims that could later prove to be erroneous. I also do not claim that the ideas I present here are either 100% consistent, nor are they necessarily “ideologically pure” (by ecological, socialist, libertarian, green syndicalist, or revolutionary standards—if absolute such purity exists, and I generally believe it does not).

It is an attempt to walk the talk and make the road by walking it, wherever it seems to want to go. Obviously the end goal is libertarian eco-socialism (though even that defies precise blueprints and specifications). The direction has been partly determined by struggles past (including the “Green Bans”, Lucas Plan, and Earth First! - IWW Local #1 in a green syndicalist context, but so much more from the general history libertarian socialist movements which are far too numerous to list here). It is informed, also, by multicultural and intersectional struggles for liberation from white settler colonialism, many of which do not fit comfortably into neatly delineated, and largely Eurocentric preconceived ideological boxes.

Introduction

Part 1 - What It Is: Theory & Praxis

Chapter 1 - Green Union Organizing: Avoiding the “Jobs versus Environment” Trap
Chapter 2 - Alliances Between Workers and Environmentalists Must be Built from the Ground Up
Chapter 3 - Aristocracy Forever
Chapter 4 - The Prospects for Revolutionary Green Union Led Transformation
Chapter 5 - Just Transition, System Change, and Revolutionary Green Transformation
Chapter 6 - Just Transition and Extractive Industry Workers
Chapter 7 - Green Unionism against Precarity

Part 2 - What It's Been: A Little History

Chapter 8 - The IWW and Earth First, Part 1: Establishing Roots
Chapter 9 - The IWW and Earth First, Part 2: The Crucible
Chapter 10 - The IWW and Earth First, Part 3: Tree Spikes and Wedges
Chapter 11 - The IWW and Earth First, Part 4: I Knew Nothin' Till I Met Judi
Chapter 12 - The Secret History of Tree Spiking Part 3 (reposted from the Judi Bari Archives)
Chapter 13 - Mistaken Identity: the Tortured History of Sabotage
Chapter 14 - Green versus Yellow Unionism in Oakland
Chapter 15 - More Green versus Yellow Unionism in Oakland
Chapter 16 - California's Water Crisis Began Over a Century Ago

Part 3 - What it Ain't: Responding to Sectarians and Critics

Chapter 17 - Are You Sure We're Talking About Syndicalism Here? (a Green Syndicalist response to Marxist-Leninists)
Chapter 18 - Are Refinery Workers Climate Enemies?, Part 1
Chapter 19 - Are Refinery Workers Climate Enemies?, Part 2
Chapter 20 - Common Misconceptions and Entangled Histories, a Review of Jonathan K London's Academic Revisionism of Earth First! - IWW Local #1
Chapter 21 - Common Cause or a Neighborhood “Linch”-Mob? (a Green Syndicalist response to Bookchinites)
Chapter 22 - The Jevons Paradox Myth (a Green Syndicalist response to DeGrowthers)
Chapter 23 - The Jevons Paradox Myth (a Green Syndicalist response to Class Reductionists)

Part 4 - What Others Say it is, and What I Think About That

Chapter 24 - Book Review Green Syndicalism
Chapter 25 - Book Review Eat Like a Fish
Chapter 26 - Book Review A Planet to Win
Chapter 27 - Book Review The Lucas Plan
Chapter 28 - Book Review Overcoming Capitalism

Part 5 - What it Could Be: Envisioning the Future

Chapter 29 - Unions and the Climate Justice Movement
Chapter 30 - Restoring the Heartland and Rustbelt through Clean Energy Democracy
Chapter 31 - Railroad and UC Workers Solidarity
Chapter 32 - Renewable Energy is (Mostly) Green and Not Inherently Capitalist
Chapter 33 - Green Unionism Done Right in Richmond: A Brief Review of the "Roadmap to Contra Costa County Refinery Transition" - (reposted from the Reports section of this site)
Chapter 34 - You Can’t Just Speak a General Strike, Let Alone a Revolution, into Existence

Last Updated June 30, 2026

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