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
Filed under 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 13/02/2011 · 4 Comments
One statement that I quite often make is that I’m not a trade unionist. This can confuse those who know me, because I am a member and active rep within the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS). However, though I believe in worker organisation as a part of class struggle and the challenge to capitalism, … Read more
Filed under Anarchism · Tagged with anarcho-syndicalism, Anton Pannekoek, bottom-up organisation, bureaucracy, Capitalism, class unity, class war, closed shop, collective decision making, CWU, full time officials, industrial peace, labour power, leadership, mass participation, mediation, militancy, partnership with bosses, PCS, rank-and-file, reformism, regulating class conflicts, revolutionary unions, scab, self-organisation, SolFed, trade union, trade unionism, union reps, union scab, worker assembly, working class
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 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 24/04/2010 · 4 Comments
Anarchists, particularly anarcho-syndicalists, are often highly critical of both the form and function of mainstream trade unions. Perhaps the most incisive critique comes from a postal worker, reflecting on the sell-out by the Communication Worker’s Union (CWU) for The Other Campaign; Because the leaders of the CWU are so remote from the daily lives of … Read more
Filed under Debate and discourse · Tagged with Anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, Billy Hayes, bosses, bureaucracy, class war, convenors, CWU, Derek Simpson, health and safety reps, middle class socialists, PCS, revolutionary ghetto, shop stewards, Solidarity Federation, trade unions, union reps, Unite, workers' struggles, working class
Posted by Phil Dickens on 26/02/2010 · 3 Comments
“The class war is over.” So declared former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1999. Of course, Blair was speaking from the perspective of a most zealous convert to centre-right neo-liberalism, but his words held a ring of truth. Over perhaps the last twenty years, and certainly the past decade, there has been a marked … Read more
Filed under Anarchism · Tagged with bigotry, capitalist class, class consciousness, class struggle, class war, Emily Pankhurst, Howard Zinn, Immigration, Lindsay Oil Refinery strikes, Manufacturing Consent, middle classes, Nationalism, Noam Chomsky, Patriotism, ruling class, Tony Blair, trade unions, war, working class
Posted by Phil Dickens on 10/01/2010 · 3 Comments
One of the key components of anarchism is class struggle. This struggle has many forms, from picket lines, through anti-racist and anti-fascist movements, to the fight for migrants’ rights and armed insurrection against imperialism. However, the aim remains the same. Agitation, organisation, and education for the working class against their exploitation and repression by the … Read more
Filed under Capitalism · Tagged with activism, Anglo-Irish War, army mutinies, border agents, class struggle, class traitors, class war, coffeeehouse movement, Dahr Jamail, education, enforcing the state, Listowell Police Mutiny, Manilla, native policemen, organisation, police, prison officers, repression, Russian Revolution, soldiers, the military, working class
Posted by Phil Dickens on 31/08/2009 · 5 Comments
As with borders, the prison system is an element of state structure deemed to be beyond question. Debate rages on whether it is “too soft” or “too tough,” on whether it needs reform, and on how it can be made to work better. However, the idea of its abolition remains unspeakable, indeed unthinkable. There simply … Read more
Filed under The state · Tagged with Anarchism, anarchist black cross, class and justice, class prejudice, class war, Crime, criminal justice, inequality, police, police brutality, prison system, prisons, racial politics
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