Posted by Phil Dickens on 19/07/2011 · 2 Comments
I’ve written a number of pieces now on anarchist activity within the trade union movement. In particular, I’d point to Trade unions, worker militancy, and communism from below, What is anarcho-syndicalism: revolutionary unionism, Anarcho-syndicalism and the limits of trade unionism, and my most recent post on Building the rank-and-file. However, these have all focused primarily on the difference between … Read more
Category Debate and discourse · Tagged with 4themembers, anarcho-syndicalism, Anton Pannekoek, association, boring-from-within, Buenaventua Durruti, building the new world in the shell of the old, CGT, CNT, DAM, direct action, Direct Action Movement, FORA, Independent Left, Joseph Kay, left unity, militant workers, PCS, rank-and-file organisation, representatives, revolutionary union, SF, SolFed, Solidarity Federation, trade union, Workers Solidarity Federation, Workers Solidarity movement, workplace committee
Posted by Phil Dickens on 22/05/2011 · Leave a Comment
As we get closer to the possibility of coordinated public sector strikes on June 30th, debate continues to rage about how best to build for the event. In particular, on the libertarian left there has been much talk of the need to build a new rank-and-file. In a recent Truth, Reason & Liberty article on … Read more
Category Debate and discourse · Tagged with anarchist, anarcho-syndicalist, authoritarian, building from below, bureaucracy, control our own struggles, direct action, hierarchy, June 30th, libertarian, Militant, rank-and-file, revolutionary leadership, solidarity, strikes, unions, vanguard, workers, working class
Posted by Phil Dickens on 10/04/2011 · 4 Comments
A black bloc, despite all the controversy around it, isn’t a complicated thing. It is simply the act whereby great numbers of people wear all-black clothing and cover their faces on demonstrations. They then come together as a unit, for both strength in numbers and anonymity. That’s it. It is not an organisation, as conspiracy … Read more
Category Anarchism, Debate and discourse · Tagged with Adam Ford, Anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, anti-fascism, antifa, autonomism, black bloc, blockade, Capitalism, class war, demonstration, direct action, disaffected youth, March 26, March for the Alternative, mass action, mass participation, militant anti-fascism, Millbank Tower, neo-Nazis, occupation, Owen Jones, police violence, property damage, state repression, substitutionism, SWP, vandalism, vanguard, violence
Posted by Phil Dickens on 18/03/2011 · 1 Comment
During the election campaign that saw Labour sweep to power in 1997, Tony Blair boasted that his government “would leave British law the most restrictive on trade unions in the Western world.” And so it did, not only maintaining the anti-strike laws implemented by Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit but adding to them. Aside from … Read more
Category Debate and discourse · Tagged with anarcho-syndicalists, anti-strike laws, anti-trade union laws, Anton Pannekoek, blockades, CNT, collective decision making, direct action, firefighters dispute, fundraising, industrial action, Lindsey oil refinery disputes, Liverpool Antifascists, mandated delegates, Margaret Thatcher, mass assemblies, mass pickets, militancy, miners, Norman Tebbit, picket line, postal workers, printers, Public Order Act, rank-and-file control, sabotage, scabs, Seattle general strike, sell out, solidarity, strike, strike committees, strike funds, Tom Mann, Tony Blair, trade union bureaucracy, TUC, wildcat strikes
Posted by Phil Dickens on 07/03/2011 · 5 Comments
The somewhat poetic title to this post comes from a status update I put on Facebook last week; Best descriptor for Marxism and Leninism I’ve ever read has to be “analysing everything through the eyes of corpses.” Genius. This was a reference to the tendency of nearly all groups and currents (though far from all … Read more
Category Debate and discourse · Tagged with building the new world in the shell of the old, Capitalism, central committee, class consciousness, communism, democratic centralism, federalism, Karl Marx, Leninism, Mao, Marxism, Pol Pot, revolution, self-organisation, Soviet Union, Spain, Stalin, transitional stage, Trotsky, vanguard of the proletariat, Vladimir Lenin, workers party, workers' state, working class
Posted by Phil Dickens on 19/01/2011 · 1 Comment
On 26th March, the Trades Union Congress are calling a march in London against the government’s austerity measures. This has reignited one of the longest-running debates in activist politics: that of peaceful protest versus direct action. In particular, the line is drawn between those worried that a violent minority will hijack the event and distract … Read more
Category Debate and discourse · Tagged with anarcho-syndicalism, Ben Ali, demobilisation, demonstration, demonstration of anger, direct action, FAU, Gilles Dauvé, International Workers Association, IWA, Liberal Conspracy, march, movement building, passive protest, PCS, peaceful protest, popular discontent, Public and Commercial Services union, reformism, revolt, revolution, safety valve, solidarity, Solidarity Federation, Subway sacked worker, Sunny Hundal, Topy Top sacked workers, TUC, Tunisia, Yarls' Wood, ZSP
Posted by Phil Dickens on 30/12/2010 · 2 Comments
This has been something I’ve been meaning to write for a long time. However, each time I have given up because I can’t find the words to articulate something which flowed brilliantly as a rant, but not so well as prose. So, you’ll have to forgive me if this post comes out more as a … Read more
Category Debate and discourse · Tagged with working class, class war, socialists, sectarianism, Leninism, vanguard of the proletariat, Socialist Party, Socialist Workers' Party, Alliance For Workers' Liberty, Solidarity Federation, Anarchist Federation, Frederich Engels, Communist Manifesto, revolutionary leadership, Right to Work, Liverpool Antifascists, Bill Bailey - The Ultimate Sectarian, The Life of Brian, sects, political party, popular front, Coalition of Resistance, National Coalition Against Fees and Cuts, Education Activist Network, National Shop Stewards Network, left unity, AWL, SWP, Militant, Laurie Penny, Alex Callinicos, Richard Seymour, Socialist Worker, paper vendors, cockroaches, criticism, hijacking movements, party building, On the history of Early Christianity
Posted by Phil Dickens on 20/12/2010 · 9 Comments
The recent student protests – in particular the siege of Millbank Tower and the riots on the day of the tuition fees vote – have provoked an awful lot of debate. Among other things, it brought the boogeyman of anarchism back into the media spotlight and helped to reinvigorate the fight against the cuts. What … Read more
Category Debate and discourse, The state · Tagged with Anarchists, Buenaventura Durruti Dumange, Day X, Demo 2010, direct action, Emmeline Pankhurst, graffitti, militancy, Millbank Tower, pacifism, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, police brutality, private property, property is theft, Rudolph Rocker, student protests, vandalism, violence
Posted by Phil Dickens on 15/11/2010 · 3 Comments
A blog, though a useful outlet for thoughts and opinions, is never going to change the world. As I pointed out in Social network radicalism, it can be a useful tool to aid in such goals, but ultimately it can’t do the work for you on the ground. That is why, as well as venting … Read more
Category Debate and discourse · Tagged with activism, activists' families, Alexander Berkman, Anita Rodderick, apathy, burn out, demonstration, Emma Goldman, fund raising, inactivity, John McKinley, leafletting, Leon Czolgosz, organising, passive people, personal toll, rally, weight of responsiblity
Posted by Phil Dickens on 17/10/2010 · 6 Comments
There are innumerable hurdles in trying to build and maintain the momentum of a strong, libertarian, workers movement. From the fact that the first signs of success (or even visibility) with such a movement bring instant state attention and repression to the fact that there will always be far more people willing to sympathise with … Read more
Category Anarchism, Debate and discourse · Tagged with Alliance For Workers' Liberty, Anarchism, anarchist, Campaign Against Climate Change, Defend Council Housing, demobilise from above, educate agitate organise, Education not for Sale, FAU, Feminist Fightback, front groups, Globalise Resistance, heckling from the sidelines, Leninism, libertarian, Liverpool Antifascists, Love Music Hate Racism, Manchester AFA, marginalisation, No Sweat, No2EU, organising, Radical Workers Bloc, revolutionary leadership, Right to Work, Scottish Anti-Fascist Alliance, sectarian, Socialist Party, Socialist Workers' Party, Stop Racism and Fascism, Stop the War Coalition, tail-ending the left, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, Trotskyism, unite against fascism, Workers Climate Action, Youth Fight for Jobs
