Welcome to Working Class Progress, a blog space which is dedicated to conversations and ideas about the direction of our movement for economic and social justice.

We all know that we are at a critical moment. Inequality is rising, union membership is shrinking, and the corporations are writing the rules for the new global economy. It seems like we've been hunkered down in defense for years. We worry about our children's future.

Remember that we've been fighting this battle for over 150 years. When working men and women faced a new industrial capitalism in the 19th cnentury, we began the fight to shape the economy and our society and our lives. Did we win safe workplaces because the sweatshops naturally evolved? No, we won them because we marched and demanded laws to ensure health and safety. Were manufacturing jobs just naturally good jobs? No, working people made them good jobs by causing enough trouble that the government guaranteed our right to bargain collectively with employers.

We're at a new stage in the battle. Yet again, we face a new kind of capitalism - - one that is global in reach and driven by retail and finance. Yet there is nothing inherent in the new capitalism which precludes working-class power. No natural law says retail and service jobs cannot be good jobs, that global interconnectedness means class disparity, nor that broad economic security is unattainable today.

The tools that we used to win power in the old capitalism will not serve us well today. Industrial unions, 20th century labor law, even the current form of collective bargaining - - these are all institutions which must evolve. We shouldn't just toss them out the window, but we must question our assumptions, and ask what kinds of tools and directions we need in order to shape corporate power today.

I don't have the answer. Neither do you. And we may never know the answer in our life time. But it's time we had the conversation.

I look forward to hearing from you through Working Class Progress as we build ideas and analysis together for the future.