Jane Slaughter

Jane Slaughter

Jane Slaughter is a Detroit based activist. Married to Peter Landon.

Jane Slaughter was born in Scott Depot, West Virginia in 1949. She moved to Washington, D.C. to study at American University. There, she became a member of the New American Movement, and later a member of the October League.

She later joined the International Socialists and moved to Detroit to work in telecommunications. Shortly thereafter, she left her job to join the UAW at Chrysler, where she worked for several years. While working at Chrysler, she worked on the UAW's union newspaper. Finding the work enjoyable, she went on to co-found the labor magazine Labor Notes, where she was an editor until retiring in 2014. She still occasionally writes articles for the magazine.

The Detroit Socialist Author

The Detroit Socialist Logo

Jane Slaughter has written for The Detroit Socialist. The Detroit Socialist is "the newspaper of the Greater Detroit chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. The paper will publicize DSA’s activities and offer a socialist perspective on the issues affecting our region. Contributing writers are generally Detroit DSA members."

Open Letter from RWU to the President

In November 2022 Jane Slaughter, signed the Open Letter from RWU to the President .

For a Political, Prolific and Democratic DSA Editorial Board

In May 2023 Jane Slaughter signed a resolution "For a Political, Prolific and Democratic DSA Editorial Board" as one of the MUG and R&R's Joint Resolutions for the 2023 DSA National Convention in August in Chicago.

Local members

Key Metro Detroit Democratic Socialists of America members in 2020 included Regina Weiss, Abraham Aiyash, Jess Newman, Lauren Trendler, Nada Daher, Landis Spencer, Jason Krzyslak, John Zettner, Melissa Luberti, Gavin Buckley, Gary Walker, Adam Ezell, Susan Steigerwalt, Ryan Riske, Peter Landon, Greg Sollish, Jane Slaughter, Lisa Worley, Sam Stark, Caleb Lalinsky, Arv Reddy, Liam McCormick, Michael Stepaniak, Jonathan Flatley, Dana Martinez-Ocker, Amanda Matyas, Nicolas Tedesco .

2019 delegates

The June 1 2019 meeting of Metro Detroit Democratic Socialists of America featured elections to represent the organization at the National DSA convention in August, frank discussions about ways to improve the organization going forward, and speeches from members running for local municipal office.

The meeting began with speeches from Nada Daher and Brian Stawowy, running for city council and mayor respectively in Ferndale. The candidates focused on concerns about real estate developers pricing existing residents out of Ferndale and the need to create a “Ferndale for All,” not just for a privileged few. Mike McDermott, running for city council in Westland, gave a fiery speech about the need for a civilian review board of the city’s police department.

The meeting continued with a brainstorming session on how to improve Detroit DSA as the organization grows. Ideas were proffered about promoting volunteerism, rooting the organization deeper in the labor movement, greater political education, campaigning for state ballot initiatives, heckler training, repealing SESTA/FOSTA, continued support for public education, and working with religious socialists.

The meeting concluded with a vote on the 10 delegates to be sent to Atlanta for the national convention. Those elected were Nada Daher, Michelle Emfinger, Natasha Fernandez-Silber, Catherine Hoffman, Mel Herrera-Baird, Peter Landon, Kyle Minton, Jessica Newman, Jane Slaughter, and Dorthea Enrique Thomas. Alternates were Hank Kennedy and Roger Robinson. Those elected are sure to do our chapter proud.

Early NAM leadership

In 1971, the New American Movement National Interim Committee was composed of:

• Lynn North, Ann Arbor Mich.
• Harry Boyte, Chapel Hill, No. Carolina
• Martha Williams, Wash. DC
• Harold Henderson, Peoria, Ill.
• Marjorie Fields, New York City
• Staughton Lynd, Chicago, Ill
• Diana Adams, Cleveland, Ohio
• Frank Speltz, Davenport Iowa

• Chip Marshall - Field Staff Coordinator –
• Frank Speltz – Coordinator of the national conference

Travelers for NAM:

• Frank Blumer, Northwest
• Michael Lerner, California
• Randy Bregman, Midwest
• Lynn North & Jane Slaughter, South
• Jeremy Rifkin, Northeast
• Chip Marshall, Southwest, Mountain & Plains states

NAM first national conference

The first national meeting of the New American Movement was held in Chicago October 9-11. Up to 75 delegates and observers from 25 cities participated. The meeting laid the basis for a Thanksgiving conference on program in Chicago. The politiçal principles, program, and structure of the organization were discussed;

At the conference, a body mandated a committee to write a shorter version of the original NAM document in a style, adapted to mass distribution. People elected to this committee were:

• Diana Adams (Cleveland, Ohio),
• Jeremy Rifkin (Washington, D;C;),
• Jane Slaughter of the national staff,
• Karen Whitman (Baltimore, Md.),
• Michael Lerner (Berkeley, Calif),
• Alice Lynd (Chicago, Ill),
• Harry Boyte (Chapel Hill, N.C.).

The committee was mandated to have the basic document written by October 23.1971

ISO

Jane Slaughter is a former member of the International Socialist Organization.

History of Labor Notes

Labor Notes was founded in 1979, just as the attack on the American working class was about to shift into high gear. The three founders – Jane Slaughter, Kim Moody and Jim West – were members of the International Socialists.

Socialist Scholars 1997

In March 28-30 1997 Democratic Socialists of America convened their annual Socialist Scholars Conference at Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York.

The conference was themed "Radical alternatives on the eve of the millenium".

Invitees were asked to join Doug Henwood, Robert Heilbroner, Paul Sweezy, Harry Magdoff, Bill Tabb, Frances Fox Piven, Robert Fitch, Jane Slaughter and Ellen Meiksins Wood "as they debate changes in the labor movement, Marxist theory, the state of the economy, market socialism, and other areas where theory and practice meet".

Or "listen to the United States' only independent and socialist congressman", Rep. Bernie Sanders, "dialogue with" Joel Rogers of the New Party and In These Times' ....Salim Muwakkil on independent politics...

Center for Labor Renewal

In 2009 Jane Slaughter was listed as an endorser of the Center for Labor Renewal.

Against the Current

In 2009 Jane Slaughter was listed as an advisory editor of Against the Current, bi-monthly analytical journal of U.S. Trotskyite organization Solidarity .

Labor Notes

In 2009 Jane Slaughter, Co-founder of Labor Notes, editor of A Troublemaker's Handbook 2, Detroit was a member of the Labor Notes policy committee.

"Real World Labor"

In August 2009 Dollars & Sense, produced an anthology entitled "Real World Labor", edited by Immanuel Ness, Amy Offner and Chris Sturr and the Dollars & Sense Collective.

Contributors included David Bacon, Kim Bobo, Aviva Chomsky, Steve Early, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Staughton Lynd, Arthur MacEwan, John Miller, Frances Fox Piven, Robert Pollin, Jane Slaughter.

USSF

At the United States Social Forum in Detroit , a forum was held "Presente! Left Movement Veterans Discuss the Path to Power and the Role of the Left in the US" June 24th from 3:00pm to 5:00pm at Cobo Hall.

Description: Long-time activists Bill Gallegos, Lian Hurst Mann, Chokwe Lumumba, Jane Slaughter, Linda Burnham, and Pam Tau Lee join other Leftists that have plied their trade for over 30 years in an urgent discussion on the role of the left in today’s social movements.

It was sponsored by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization/OSCL.

Philly DSA/Solidarity Day School 2018

Solidarity x DSA Day School Program

Working Class & Labor History

Why should socialists focus on the working class? Are unions a vessel for political power, or are they bloated bureaucracies? What are the successes and failures of the rank & file strategy in labor movement since the 1970s? Stephanie Luce (CUNY, Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies), Jane Slaughter (Labor Notes, Solidarity, Greater Detroit Democratic Socialists of America), and Dan La Botz (NYC – DSA, Solidarity, Founding Member for Teamsters for a Democratic Union).

Troublemakers School

On Saturday April 13 2019 100 union members, labor activists, and allies met on the Wayne State campus for a Troublemakers School sponsored by the national publication Labor Notes: a day of skill-sharing and strategizing about workplace organizing. Detroit DSA-ers helped with the planning for the day, which drew participants from as far as Kalamazoo and Lansing. Sixteen DSA members were in the mix.

Though it was gray and drizzling outside, the energy at Troublemakers School was strong all day, closing out with a call from Rashida Tlaib to continue fighting alongside her. Detroit DSA co-chair Natasha Fernandez-Silber spoke about how the Green New Deal could be enacted in the Rust Belt: “We need light rail, we need electric buses, we need electric vehicles. Let’s do it here.”

Green New Deal panelists and Labor Notes workshop leaders pose with Rashida Tlaib. Left to right: Natasha Fernandez-Silber, Joe Demanuelle-Hall, Jane Slaughter, Sean Crawford, Bianca Cunningham, Chris Brooks, Rashida Tlaib, Rebecca Keetch.

References

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