They struggled for public housing and public transport. They fought to reduce the police force and to have access to public space, so cities were not just playgrounds for the wealthy. More than a century ago, workers battled for the public infrastructure that we take for granted, as part of a larger struggle for socialism. Historian Shelton Stromquist discusses how we live in those socialist cities today, which elites are struggling to return to private hands.
Resources:
Shelton Stromquist, Claiming the City: A Global History of Workers’ Fight for Municipal Socialism Verso, 2023