News Notes from the West

Abstract

Little substantial has happened since the last issue, to this reporter's knowl edge, in the field of working class history as such. But the first issue of the new series of Southwest Economy and Society, the official journal of the Southwest La bor Studies Association, has been published (on February 1). It contains articles on the Mountain West as an example of internal colonialism in the United States, Irish-American radicalism in the Denver movement, and on other matters. Copies can be obtained from Norma Pratt, 395 East Palm, Altadena, Calif. 91001. The eighth annual conference of the S.W.L.S.A. itself took place at California State University, Northridge, near Los Angeles, on April 30-May 1, 1982. Topics included undocumented workers and guest programs, labor in Central America, and black workers since the 1965 Civil Rights Act. Also, western regional conference of the Union for Radical Political Economists took place at U.C.L.A. on February 12-14. Workshops and lectures included discussion of a wide range of themes, including law and disorder in U.S. immigration policy, so cialism in France, feminism and politics in Italy, in Australia, oral history, and the current problems of American capitalism. Readers might also like to know of an educational organization not previously mentioned in these reports, namely the Los Angeles Socialist Community School. Located at 2936 West 8th St. in downtown Los Angeles, it has for some years been offering courses on such topics as the history of Marxism, feminism, history and issues at a location which has long been a meeting place for non-sectarian leftist groups in L.A. A second inter-campus one-day conference of graduate students writing dissertations in la bor history at the various campuses of the University of California will (hopefully: the money had not come through at this writing) take place at U.C.L.A. on April 19, under John Laslett's chairmanship. It is hoped to make this an annual event, alternating among the campuses, since it was so successful last year.