Show Notes
Podcast episode about the life and work of radical hobo author T-Bone Slim. A prolific columnist for the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union in the United States, he was also a poet and songwriter as well as a barge captain working on the New York waterfront. In this episode we speak to Dr Owen Clayton from the University of Lincoln and Slim's great-grandnephew, John Westmoreland. If you want to support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/workingclassliterature Our patreon supporters get exclusive access to our T-Bone Slim bonus episode, with more information about his mysterious death and more: https://www.patreon.com/posts/wcl-e01-1-t-bone-29711940 And you can also follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/workingclasslit Check out The Big Red Songbook of IWW songs, including those by Slim, in the WCH online store: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/products/the-big-red-songbook-250-iww-songs More information on Slim, can be found in the links below: - Puns, Politics, and Pork Chops: The ‘insignificant magnitude’ of T-Bone Slim by Dr Owen Clayton: https://workingclassstudiesjournal.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/jwcs-vol-4-issue-1-june-2019-clayton.pdf - Juice is Stranger Than Friction: Selected Writings of T-Bone Slim, edited by Franklin Rosemont: https://www.akpress.org/juiceisstrangerthanfriction.html - T-Bone Slim papers held at the Newberry Library, Chicago: http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/nby_mms/id/53743 - More information, photos and full show notes here on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/09/04/wcl-e01-t-bone-slim-the-laureate-of-the-logging-camps/ Theme music by John Westmoreland. Check out the following links for more info: Website: westmorelandmusic.com/ Album, Cast Fire: store.cdbaby.com/cd/westmoreland7 Facebook: www.facebook.com/westmoreland.band/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/westmoreland_music/ Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC0lnbkyMa-N0wYkR6R26Oxg
More from Working Class Literature
As part of our work to mark the centenary of the UK's 1926 general strike, we sat down with with Charles Ferrall and Dougal McNeill, authors of the excellent Writing the 1926 General Strike: Literature, Culture, Politics to talk about some of the literature texts produced in response to the strike, both from established authors and emerging working-class writers.
Following our double-episode on the Florence Working-Class Literature Festival back in February, our co-host Matt was invited to this year’s festival, recording this episode on-site at the ex-GKN factory in Florence. Featuring the various writers, researchers, organisers, and activists in attendance, this episode captures the atmosphere of the festival at this critical time for the GKN struggle. Our podcast is brought to you by patreon supporters of both Working Class Literature and Working Class History. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory Taking place on 4-6 April 2025, the opending day of the festival marked the 1367th day since the 400+ workforce at the GKN car parts factory in Florence was first made redundant. They subsequently seized the factory and remain in control of it to this day, despite receiving their third – and now final – redundancy notice in the days leading up to this year’s festival.Recorded on-site at the occupied GKN factory on the outskirts of Florence, this episode features the voices of various writers, researchers, organisers, and activists that we spoke to while at the festival. These conversations took place against a frenzy of activity, both for the festival but also the GKN struggle itself.
Part 2 of our double episode on working-class author Jack Hilton, with Jack Chadwick whose literary detective work rescued Hilton from almost total obscurity. This part covers his novel Caliban Shrieks in more detail and how it compares to other working-class novels from the same period; his later writing and life, and how his writing career would come to an end (despite George Orwell’s efforts); and, finally, the amazing series of events that led to the rediscovery and republication of Caliban Shrieks. Our podcast is brought to you by patreon supporters of both Working Class Literature and Working Class History. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
Part 1 of our double episode about Jack Hilton, a working-class author, World War I veteran, unemployed movement organiser, and trade union activist from Rochdale, north-west England.
Part 2 of our double-episode about the Working-Class Literature Festival held every year in Florence, at the former GKN car parts factory, which was taken over by the workers after they were made redundant in 2021.