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
Filed under Debate and discourse · Tagged with Alex Callinicos, Alliance For Workers' Liberty, Anarchist Federation, AWL, Bill Bailey - The Ultimate Sectarian, class war, Coalition of Resistance, cockroaches, Communist Manifesto, criticism, Education Activist Network, Frederich Engels, hijacking movements, Laurie Penny, left unity, Leninism, Liverpool Antifascists, Militant, National Coalition Against Fees and Cuts, National Shop Stewards Network, On the history of Early Christianity, paper vendors, party building, political party, popular front, revolutionary leadership, Richard Seymour, Right to Work, sectarianism, sects, Socialist Party, Socialist Worker, Socialist Workers' Party, socialists, Solidarity Federation, SWP, The Life of Brian, vanguard of the proletariat, working class
Posted by Phil Dickens on 06/12/2010 · 5 Comments
It is a long-established truism that anarchists are opposed to electoralism. A myriad of slogans such as “whoever you vote for, government wins,” “don’t vote, it only encourages the bastards,” and “if voting changed anything they’d abolish it” have entered the public psyche. So much so, that they are taken up by cynics and the … Read more
Filed under Anarchism · Tagged with all parties as bad as one another, Anarchist Federation, austerity, capitalist system, democracy, direct democracy, don't vote - it only encourages the bastards, Don't Vote - Organise!, electoral abstention, electoral system, electoralism, green party, if voting changed anything they'd abolish it, labour party, new labour, old labour, parliamentary democracy, politics, socialist, Solidarity Federation, workers party
Posted by Phil Dickens on 29/11/2010 · 4 Comments
The sixth part of a series exploring anarcho-syndicalism, its aims and principles, and the practicalities of enacting them in the real world. In part five of this series, I examined how to rebuild the community consciousness and sense of solidarity that once defined the working class. Here, I want to look at building upon that … Read more
Filed under What is anarcho-syndicalism? · Tagged with Anarchist Federation, anarcho-syndicalism, Anton Pannekoek, community, community organisation, community unions, direct action, Don't Vote - Organise!, Glasgow Rent Strike, IWW, Lewisham Bridge occupation, libertarian, non-hierarchical organisation, Poll Tax rebellion, radical, rent strike, Seattle Solidarity Network, sit-in, solidarity, solidarity networks, squatting, strike, working class
Posted by Phil Dickens on 21/08/2010 · 8 Comments
It is, perhaps, the most vague and ill-defined term in sociopolitical discourse. At the same time, it’s one of the most commonly used. It can be everything from a badge of honour to the most callous insult. Something which defines your economic status or destroys your street cred. The term I’m talking about is “middle … Read more
Filed under Debate and discourse · Tagged with Anarchist Federation, Anarchists, bourgeois, class war, Daily Mail, Guardian, Howard Zinn, Ian Bone, Joseph Kay, left-wing, Libcom.org, liberal, Liberal Democrats, Marxist, middle class, middle England, Radical Workers Bloc, revolutionary leadership, Socialist Workers' Party, Solidarity Federation, splitter, student, Trotskyite, vanguard of the proletariat, Vladimir Lenin, working class
Posted by Phil Dickens on 31/07/2010 · 3 Comments
The second part of a series exploring anarcho-syndicalism, its aims and principles, and the practicalities of enacting them in the real world. In The Union Makes Us Strong? the Anarchist Communist Federation (ACF, now Anarchist Federation) offered “a critical analysis” of “syndicalism, including its anarcho variety.” In it, they painted anarcho-syndicalists as “dismissive of the … Read more
Filed under What is anarcho-syndicalism? · Tagged with Anarchist Communist Federation, Anarchist Federation, anarcho-syndicalism, CNT, community organising, Gaston Leval, Hannah Kay, industrial unionism, Industrial Workers of the World, industry, International Workers Association, IWA, IWW, LibCom, revolutionary syndicalism, Rudolph Rocker, Sam Dolgoff, SolFed, Solidarity Federation, Spain, syndicalism, unions, Wobblies
Posted by Phil Dickens on 11/07/2010 · 2 Comments
The sixth and final part in a series looking at anarchism as it relates to feminism, gender equality, and patriarchy. I began this series by referring to a video and statement by the anarcha-feminist group No Pretence, who were “pissed off by the patriarchy which is (still) evident within the anarchist movement.” When I came … Read more
Filed under Exploring anarcha-feminism · Tagged with anarcha-feminism, anarchist, Anarchist Federation, CNT, consciousness-raising, dialogue, Eileen O'Carroll, Kathie Sarachild, manarchism, Mujeres Libres, No Pretence, patriarchy, sexism, under-representation of women
