Episode Details

Synopsis:  Fifty years ago, factory floor workers at Lucas Aerospace challenged their company's focus on war machines with an innovative plan for socially useful production - and it could be just as relevant today.

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Description:  Military budgets are skyrocketing across the globe, while funding for social needs—housing, healthcare, education—is being slashed. Politicians often justify this skewed spending by claiming it creates jobs. But what if the people doing those jobs had a say in how public money was used?

Fifty years ago, workers at Lucas Aerospace, a U.K. military contractor, designed a visionary proposal known as the Lucas Plan: a worker-led alternative focused on socially useful production rather than weapons of war.

In our special report, The Lucas Plan at 50: A Radical Investment in Society, Not the War Machine, Laura spoke with Brian Salisbury, a former Lucas Aerospace shop steward and one of the voices behind that groundbreaking effort. He comes from a proud family of Lucas workers: his father worked there for over 40 years. He himself worked for the company for 22 years at the Birmingham plant. At 90 years old today He says: “At a time when there’s a lack of a political alternative narrative to neoliberalism the opportunity to put forward a response from the “bottom up” is essential given the direction of travel by those in power on either side of the Atlantic.”

What follows is the full, uncut conversation with Brian—rich with lessons for today’s movements for climate justice, peace, and economic democracy.

Guest:  Brian Salisbury: Former Lucas Aerospace Shop Steward

SPECIAL THANKS: Karen Bell, Joe Guinan, Steve Schofield 

ADDITIONAL CREW: Stanley Arlidge - Episode Producer, Clementine Malpas, Tiger Nest Films

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RESOURCES:

- Watch the episode released on YouTube July 11th 5pm ET; PBS World Channel July 13th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode) and airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast July 16th.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.