SLCL’s Westfall Series Presents Labor Rights Activist Chris Smalls

St. Louis County Library Foundation’s Westfall Politics & History Series is pleased to host Chris Smalls, co-founder and former president of the Amazon Labor Union. Smalls will discuss and sign his memoir, “When the Revolution Comes: A Fight for the Future of the Working Class.”

The event will take place on Tuesday, July 14, 7:00 p.m. at the Clark Family Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63131. Books will be available for purchase and signing from Left Bank Books.

Chris Smalls will be in conversation with Kathy Gilsinan, author and senior editor at Puck News, formerly of the Atlantic and Politico Magazine. 

In the early days of the COVID pandemic, warehouse worker Chris Smalls and his colleagues continued showing up as the rest of the world was shutting down. A dedicated and experienced Amazon employee, increasingly frustrated by the inner workings of the retail giant, Smalls had already felt himself reaching a breaking point. So when coworkers around him began falling ill, and with no transparency or assurances of safety coming from those in charge, he made the only choice left available to him. He staged a walkout with friend Derrick Palmer, eventually finding himself on the picket line without a job. But what began as a demand to keep essential employees safe in a crisis would grow into a movement devoted to achieving dignity and security for the American wageworker, sparking a groundswell of organizers at the most notable companies across the nation and leading to lasting change for labor.

“When the Revolution Comes” is the riveting inside story of how a young Black man from Hackensack, New Jersey with few to no resources, led in an improbable fight against Amazon, the second largest private employer in the United States, and won. This epic David and Goliath tale follows Smalls from a childhood spent navigating his dad’s stints in and out of prison, to his years of sacrifice and economic uncertainty as a father of three, to his ascension as the leader of a new generation’s labor movement.

A deeply personal and eye-opening account of the creation of the Amazon Labor Union, “When the Revolution Comes” offers both a searing exposé of what it’s like to be working class in America and inspiring evidence of what is possible when the overworked, underpaid, and disempowered join together, a movement born in community. 

CHRIS SMALLS is the co-founder and former president of the Amazon Labor Union. Under his leadership, the ALU successfully unionized an Amazon warehouse: a historic victory for workers’ rights in America. A Fortune “40 Under 40” honoree, he was named to the Time 100 list of the most influential people of 2022, alongside his fellow union organizer Derrick Palmer.  

Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us.