FINALLY GOT THE NEWS (1970): Documentary on the League of Revolutionary Black Workers

FINALLY GOT THE NEWS

A Film by Stewart Bird, Rene Lichtman and Peter Gessner
Produced in Association with the League of Revolutionary Black Workers
1970 (Released 2003), 55 minutes.

FINALLY GOT THE NEWS is a forceful, unique documentary that reveals the activities of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers inside and outside the auto factories of Detroit. Through interviews with the members of the movement, footage shot in the auto plants, and footage of leafleting and picketing actions, the film documents their efforts to build an independent Black labor organization that, unlike the UAW, will respond to worker's problems, such as the assembly line speed-up and inadequate wages faced by both Black and white workers in the industry.

Beginning with a historical montage, from the early days of slavery through the subsequent growth and organization of the working class, FINALLY GOT THE NEWS focuses on the crucial role played by the Black worker in the American economy. Also explored is the educational 'tracking' system for both white and Black youth, the role of African American women in the labor force, and relations between white and Black workers.

AWARDS:

• 2006 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

"Although most histories of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements give greater attention to [other groups]... the League [of Revolutionary Black Workers] was in many respects the most significant expression of Black radical thought and activism in the 1960s. The League took the impetus for Black Power and translated it into a fighting program focusing on industrial workers."
--Manning Marable, Director, Institute for Research in African-American Studies, Professor of History, Columbia University

"A classic! Rather than the lock-stepped, black-bereted, leather-jacketed Panther units of other films, FINALLY shows rather ordinary people becoming very angry with the system. Ideological in the best sense: it is a film about ideas [and] presents a serious strategy for mass working class action... It speaks of a specific time and specific experiences in terms that will remain relevant as long as working people are not able to control their own lives."
--Dan Georgakas, Cineaste

"[The League of Revolutionary Black Workers]... was one of the most important radical movements of our century - a movement led by Black revolutionaries whose vision of emancipation for all is sorely needed today."
--Professor Robin D.G. Kelley, New York University