A product of Guyana, and a classic of Caribbean radical history, The Bauxite Strike and the Old Politics examines the struggle of Afro-Guyanese mine workers in what was the soon-to-be nationalized bauxite industry, as they faced off against the racism and sexism of the Canadian-owned aluminum firm, ALCAN, the class collaboration of the Guyana Mine Workers Union (GMWU), and the hostility of Forbes Burnham's government toward their self-organization and self-emancipation. Through these events, Burnham's regime—which initially claimed to be a patron of global African solidarity, cultural renewal, and a cooperative society—began to reveal itself as a collaborator with the empire of capital, an oppressor of Black workers, and a promoter of racial insecurity in Guyana.