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"People all over the world, and particularly ordinary working people in factories, mines, fields, and offices are rebelling every day in ways of their own invention."

—C.L.R. James, Grace Lee Boggs, and Cornelius Castoriadis, 

Facing Reality

Kevin Van Meter

Reading Struggles is the website of author, labor educator, and union organizer Kevin Van Meter. Kevin writes about contemporary labor issues, labor history, and neighboring social issues.  As an educator, he provides training so that union members and workers can create democratic workplaces and communities. 

BOOKS

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American Worker:

International History, Reception, and Responses

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Reading Struggles: Working-Class Self-Activity from Detroit to Turin & Back Again

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Guerrillas of Desire: Notes on Everyday Resistance & Organizing to Make a Revolution Possible

Books

More Books & Other Writing

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Uses of a Whirlwind: Movement, Movements, & Contemporary Radical Currents in the US

(with Team Colors)

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Real World Labor,

4th Edition (with Ben Beckett, Kari Lydersen, Robert Ovetz, and the Dollars & Sense Collective)

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General Interest Articles, Book Chapters, Interviews & Blog Posts

In The Press

Reviews

Kevin Van Meter’s eloquent and provocative book Guerillas of Desire gave me a whole new way to think about organizing.

This eye-opening book...makes us see the problem of 'organizing' in a new and much more useful way... We are already organized, Van Meter argues, we are already in revolt, and we always have been. The job of the organizer is to ask questions, to listen, and to cross-pollinate the wisdom of both open revolt and everyday resistance in communities everywhere. 

Beautifully written, Guerrillas of Desire shows the power of the refusal of work of those
capitalism has subjugated…

ALEXANDRA BRADBURY,

editor at LABOR NOTES

ERIC LAURSEN, independent journalist and AK PRESS 
author.

SILVIA FEDERICI, 

author of CALIBAN AND THE WITCH

Bio

BIO

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Kevin Van Meter

(he/him/his) is an author, labor educator, and union organizer. He is author of Guerrillas of Desire, co-editor of Real World Labor and Uses of a Whirlwind, and writes regularly on  contemporary labor issues, and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Labor and Society.  

Kevin holds a PhD in Geography, Environment and Society with a focus on labor history, working-class studies, and spatial theory. He studies the impact labor unions and workers’ organizations have on the changing regimes of work within the United States and examines the ways in which working-class and poor people self-organize within regimes of work, produce new forms of life at and outside of work, and construct narratives about their working lives. 

Upcoming Events

  • Aug 23, 2025, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
    In this workshop participants will learn about various strategies and tactics for developing, implementing, and circulating worker’s inquiries grounded in historical and contemporary examples.
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  • Wed, Sep 10
    https://www.commonnotions.org/buy/strike-wh
    Sep 10, 2025, 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM GMT-5
    Strike While the Needle is Hot: Join the authors along with labor journalists and educators for a special celebration of the books release for organizers as they explore how some of the biggest swings musicians, workers, and supporters have co-created a popular culture of resistance.
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Events

CONTACT

For interview, speaking, and workshop requests, contact Kevin directly using the email below.   

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