Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It's Hard

Organizing can be tough. Co-workers get scared, meetings flop, committees crack, leaders disappoint, and momentum stalls. But when everything feels like it’s falling apart, this book will be your lifeline—helping you get back up, dust yourself off, and figure out your next step.

Drawing on 50 years of experience advising thousands of workers, Ellen David Friedman has created a starter kit and field guide for workplace organizers—offering core principles, examples, and a framework for making sense of the chaos. Begin with the idea that your co-workers have dignity and deserve a say in their own lives, and you’ll start to see the path to building collective power.

You’ll learn how to assess power dynamics, avoid common traps, and keep going when everything feels hopeless. The more you practice democratic methods, the stronger your group becomes. With patience and courage you can navigate obstacles, recover from discouragement, and even turn defeats into lessons for future victories

Eight true stories, brought to life with Fernando Martí’s bold illustrations, reveal ordinary workers navigating real crises, making hard choices, and building strength step by step. If you’re ready to build something stronger than fear, stronger than apathy, and stronger than the boss, this book is your map.

ELLEN DAVID FRIEDMAN is the board chair of Labor Notes. She has been a union organizer, strategist, and labor educator for 50 years, including 20 years at the Vermont-National Education Association and 10 years teaching, organizing, and troublemaking in Guangzhou, China.

$25.00

Praise

Praise for Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It’s Hard

“Against the seemingly limitless power of corporations and billionaires, and the cruelty of a government turning against its own people, there are workers everywhere standing up and fighting back. I’ve known Ellen David Friedman for many years. She knows what it takes to organize and give people real hope. This book contains that experience and helps anyone who is building power in the workplace—step by step, facing endless challenges—to keep going.”

—‎SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS

“Ellen David Friedman has gifted us all with this essential book on organizing! We’ve all been there: hit with obstacles that seem insurmountable. This text gets right to the point about what it will take to shift our mindsets and the culture of oppressive systems. Every element is taken from stories in the field, with lessons to help us all. Our rank-and-file caucus cannot wait to begin our book group!”

—JIA LEE, United Federation of Teachers, MORE caucus, New York City

“Each page will help you gain and build momentum when you feel stuck. It’s easy to get frustrated, to complain or take a step back. But this book equips you to lean into problems and push through, keeping an eye on the horizon. Every real-world story delivers an organizing principle that will help you build collective power with your colleagues and create a democratic union along the way.”

—JON SCHLEUSS, President, The NewsGuild-CWA

“Keep Going captures the need for humility in organizing, especially when things get hard. Through storytelling, Ellen shares organizing lessons that respond to common organizing questions and challenges, and that provoke thought about the processes of organizing often taken for granted or forgotten.”

—DIAMONTÉ BROWN, President, Baltimore Teachers Union

“In this era of oligarchy, workers are up against great odds, and their best hope lies in their ability to organize. Ellen David Friedman’s book faces the harsh challenges of organizing, and offers not only concrete guidance but also examples of success. It is based on real experience and provides wonderful guidance.”

—LARRY COHEN, President (2005-2015), Communications Workers of America

“While many organizing books focus narrowly on techniques, Keep Going hits on key fundamentals, putting questions of union democracy and power front and center. It combines practical advice with fundamental insights on organizing.”

—JOE BURNS, labor attorney/negotiator and author of Class Struggle Unionism

“Unions are more admired than they have been in a half century. Maybe it’s because of people like Ellen David Friedman, who are rebuilding unions that are democratic, led by rank-and-file members, and fearlessly committed to winning what workers need. That vision, lost in too many unions, is irresistible—to workers inside unions, and to those not yet organized. Ellen was advising us from the start of our decade-long transformation of the Massachusetts Teachers Association into a fighting union. If your union is breaking your heart, or you are at the start of building the union you deserve, or like all of us, you’re figuring out how to overcome the latest outrage by your boss, read this book and you’ll gain new inspiration to Keep Going.”

—MAX PAGE, President, Massachusetts Teachers Association