Do you want to change the world? Join the labor movement.
We are the Rank & File Project: a new generation of activists fighting for a better world by organizing in the workplace from the bottom up.
Our world is in crisis...
We live in a world of extreme economic inequality, where luxury is afforded to a tiny few while most of us struggle to keep a roof over our heads, much less pay for college or health care. Climate change ravages our planet, and governments refuse to seriously address it. Many of our laws and institutions continue to oppress people of color, women, and LGBTQ people — and a rising far-right movement threatens our democracy and civil liberties.
...and it's up to us to fix it.
Many of us want to build a better world, but we don't know how or where to start. It's easy to feel powerless as an individual trying to change things. It's not enough just to have the right ideas — we need the power to implement those ideas so we can take on corrupt politicians and powerful capitalists.
How can we build the power we need?
To solve these problems, we need to win socialism: a democratic society where everyone — not just the very rich and their bought-out politicians — has an equal say in running our country, our neighborhoods, and our workplaces.
The question is, how do we get there? Working-class people's greatest source of power lies in the workplace, because our labor is the source of corporate profits. We make that power felt through strikes that shut down production and cause those profits to dry up, like UAW autoworkers, Hollywood writers and actors, and New York City nurses did last year.
As the old labor anthem puts it: “Without our brain and muscle, not a single wheel can turn.”
By disrupting business as usual, workers can force bosses and politicians to listen to our demands. That's how we won the eight-hour day, many health and safety regulations, higher wages, and a basic social-safety net.
To win major progressive change today, we'll need fighting, democratic unions. That's why socialist labor activists are working together to build the Rank & File Project.
Join us
We are recruiting, educating, and supporting a new generation of activists who will join the fight for working-class power by taking union jobs on the shop floor. We aim to turn the unions we join into strong, militant, democratic organizations that can win major gains for workers, by workers. We want to forge real alliances between unions and other social movements, like the climate justice movement, the racial justice movement, the movement for Palestine, and the movement for LGBTQ+ rights. And we think unions must serve a vital role in forging a political alternative to the hard-right, authoritarian Republican Party and the fake, corporate-friendly “progressivism” of the Democratic Party.
We have a long-term view: that workers fighting on their own behalf can build a movement for socialism. We have a world to win!
Apply for our upcoming Rank & File School!
Do you want to build a movement of working-class people learning how to fight for and win a better world? This fall, we are recruiting applicants to join the Rank & File Schools in California's East Bay, New York City/New Jersey, and Philadelphia, which will be launching in either the fall or winter 2024-25.
Participants will get education and support: about how to organize, what union democracy and power look like, and how to pick a winning strategy for confronting the boss. They'll work with experienced mentors and with each other as we all learn together how to build our movement for a fair and democratic society.
Our fall 2024 applications are now open for those who are interested in one of our target industries! If you don't already work in one of these occupations, we'll help get you on track to do so. Sign up here: