Categories: U.S. and Canada

Hungry for knowledge? The library is open!

The Detroit storefront office of Workers World Party, in Midtown near Wayne State University, is an anchor to the struggle against capitalism. A lot happens here, from classes, forums and shared meals on Saturday nights to the weekly meetings of the Moratorium Now! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs on Mondays. On another day volunteers might be stapling signs on sticks for a Black Lives Matter action, putting materials together for a booth at LGBTQ Pride, or silk-screening T-shirts demanding the freedom of political prisoner the Rev. Edward Pinkney.

Now, 5920 Second Ave. will be serving the people’s movement in another way. Workers hungry for knowledge — an essential weapon in the class struggle — have a new resource.

The Addington-Dostal-Kiya Memorial Library houses the beloved book collections of four Workers World Party comrades who are, sadly, no longer with us. Wendell Addington died in 1998, Ted Dostal in 2003, and Tashi Kiya and Frances Dostal both died in 2013. But with the library now open, Addington and Kiya of the Detroit branch and the Dostals of the Cleveland branch are still educating the next generation of revolutionaries.

These comrades gave us a rich cross section of movement literature, with a large number of titles covering African-American, labor and left history in this country; liberation movements in Asia, Latin America and Africa; the Soviet Union; and the classic works of Marxism. Many of these books and pamphlets have been out of print for decades. To touch them is to touch a piece of history.

So remember, next time you are in Detroit: The library is open!

Martha Grevatt

Share
Published by
Martha Grevatt

Recent Posts

Musk/Trump war on trans people, workers of color includes veterans

New York City The author is a transgender veteran, retired from the Veterans Administration. Virginia…

March 14, 2025

Sit-ins target Starbucks

Starbucks Workers United is keeping the pressure on the company to agree to a decent…

March 14, 2025

Cleveland: Yet another death in Cuyahoga County Jail

The following statement was issued March 5, 2025, by the Cleveland-based Cuyahoga County Jail Coalition.…

March 14, 2025

On the picket line

Tennessee gig drivers Gig drivers in Tennessee voted to unionize last August. They formed the…

March 14, 2025

Airport security: Musk’s chainsaw clashes with union steel

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Transportation Security Administration, announced March 7 that…

March 14, 2025

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: A salute to Martyrs’ Day

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s statement “Keep going on the path toward…

March 13, 2025