The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Culture Corner:
Union and The Tattooed Soldier

Sep 30, 2024

Film: Union, 2024, directed by Stephen Maing and Brett Story.

For showtimes, see: unionthefilm.com

Brett Story’s new film Union is a tough and gripping new documentary about what it’s like to work at the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island and about the fight to unionize it. Problems are laid out for us to see, like a divided and conflicted workforce, and the high turnover rate because of the difficulty of the job and how fast it must be done. And you see workers not giving up, attempting to win a better life for all.

Book: The Tattooed Soldier by Héctor Tobar, 1998

This book tells in dual timelines what happened in Guatemala in the Reagan years in the war on the peasants and Indians. Simultaneously, it shows life in Los Angeles of Guatemalan refugees and of the many homeless. You see life from the point of view of the persecuted and also from one of the soldiers of the Guatemalan army, who is himself a refugee in Los Angeles.

This book is about finally standing up for what is right amidst the Rodney King riots (which occur in this period) and at the same time, standing against the brutality and murder in Guatemala.