revolutionary action movement (ram) - Michael Schwartz Library

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Prior to the wildcat strike at Dodge Main General 'Baker had begun to pull
together a group of eight black workers . They would meet in the offices
of the Inner City Voice .
Black workers who were either dismissed or penalized moved to
organize the workers at Dodge Main by using a weekly Newsletter
(DRUM) as an organizing tool . The contents of the Newsletter
dealt with very specific cases of racism and tomism on the job
and stressed the necessity of united action on the part of
black workers to abolish the racial aspects of exploitation
and degradation of the plant . 31
The first issue of the DRUM newsletter dealt
with the May 2nd wildcat
strike . The second issue carried an "expose" on several blacks in the
plant whom DRUM considered to be "uncle toms ."
The issued also outlined
the DRUM program .
DRUM is an organization of oppressed and exploited black workers .
It realizes that black workers are the victims of inhumane slavery
at the expense of white racist plant managers . It also
realizes that black workers comprise 60 percent and upwards of
the entire work force at Hamtramck Assembly Plant, and therefore
hold exclusive power . We members of DRUM had no other alternative
but to form an organization and to present a platform . The
Union has consistently and systematically failed us time and time
again . We have attempted to address our grievances to the UAW's
procedures, but to no avail . Its hand are just bloody as the
white racist management of this corporation . We black workers
feel that if skilled trades can negotiate directly with the
company and hold a separate contract, then black workers have
more justification for moving independently of the UAW . 32
The third issue of DRUM dealt
with charges and documentations of racist
conditions in the plant and also attacked the UAW for endorsing the annual
Detroit Police field day . It also listed a number of deaths attributed to
the police department . After the third week, black workers in the plant
31 Luke Tripp, "DRUM--Vanguard of the Black Revolution ." The South End ,
Wayne State University Newspaper, Vol . 27, No . 62, Thursday, (January 23,
1969), p . 9 .
32 DRUM (Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement) Newsletter , Vol . 1, No . 2,
(Detroit, Michigan, DRUM), p . 3 .