Read up about the IWW, Blair Mountain, the labor movement of the early 20th century, and just how close the US was to capital "R", full-on 1917 style revolution in the 30s pre-New Deal.
Also don't forget thinks like the Bonus Army (tangentially related), or the Colorado Mine Wars (1903-ish) / Colorado Coalfield Wars (1913, culminating in the Ludlow massacre)
Most of these topics are interesting, some of them are lame but one takes the cake:
National debt and the debt ceiling
oof, what are you even supposed to write about that? "This hasn't been a talking point for a while, also it never mattered"
Funny how only public debt is counted for the national debt, not private.
An interesting write up would talk about how the rhetoric is used as an excuse for austerity.
There's that union-membership vs share of wealth going to the top graph that's made the internet rounds for a few years that might be good to include
If you use that, be prepared for the teacher to criticize it for not accounting for the third-cause fallacy; that is, be ready to argue that those two things are directly related rather than just being two independent things that happened on their own.
I mean globalisation also factors into that, even if most US workers were still unionised it wouldn’t matter because so much of the exploitation to create that wealth now happens overseas.
For a second I was confused how a Super Mario 64 speedrunner would be a good source for info on labor unions.
citations needed episode on snitching economy goes over the train porter's union
I was once told to look into Malatesta’s view on trade unions. Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe he viewed them as ultimately serving capital due to how they increased worker investment in the ruling ideology; that they could not be the end goal of worker organizing.
The only theory text I've read that talks about unions explicitly is Rosa Luxemburg's "Reform or Revolution," mostly concerning the limits of unionism.
the ILWU is an older union with a radical history afaik, maybe a good example to mention
the dollop on Henry Ford's Henchmen and the Battle of the Overpass, Matt Christman is a guest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQom7O2iIok
Jane McAlevey is probably a good place to start, in particular her book No Shortcuts. It's available on library genesis too
Jane McAlevey
Heard her interview a few times, one of the best public speakers around.
Daniel DeLeon springs to mind as someone who probs has some good takes regarding the american labor movement
