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
Filed under 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 31/12/2010 · 3 Comments
The seventh and final part of a series exploring anarcho-syndicalism, its aims and principles, and the practicalities of enacting them in the real world. The basic foundation of anarcho-syndicalism is that ordinary people, through solidarity and direct action, have the power to improve our own lives. We do not need bosses, bureaucrats, or political parties … Read more
Filed under What is anarcho-syndicalism? · Tagged with activism, anarchist communism, anarcho-syndicalism, community organising, democratic centralism, dictatorship of the proletariat, from each according to his ability to each according to his need, Industrial Workers of the World, IWW, libertarian, mass participation, organisation, rank-and-file control, revolutionary leadership, revolutionary unionism, self-organisation, social centres, SolFed, solidarity, Solidarity Federation, solidarity networks, squatting, strike, trade unions, unions, vanguard of the proletariat, workers' assemblies, workers' self-organisation
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 31/10/2010 · 1 Comment
The fifth part of a series exploring anarcho-syndicalism, its aims and principles, and the practicalities of enacting them in the real world. One of the first things that I pointed out in this series was that anarcho-syndicalism is more than just syndicalism. That is, it is not just concerned with the workplace and with class … Read more
Filed under What is anarcho-syndicalism? · Tagged with resistance, libertarian, anarcho-syndicalism, CNT, IWCA, community organisation, ZSP, grassroots, communities, occupations, blockades, Puerto Real, rent strikes, grassroot organisation, galvanising people, demobilised working class, the left, Haringey Solidarity Group, Hackney Solidarity Network
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
Filed under 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
Posted by Phil Dickens on 26/07/2010 · 10 Comments
The terms “capitalism” and “the free market” carry a lot of historical weight and baggage. For the right, they are basic neccesities for freedom and prosperity. For the left, they are the root of social and class inequality, the primary source of misery and injustice in the name of human greed. For the vast majority … Read more
Filed under Anarchism, Capitalism · Tagged with anarchist, anarchist communism, anarcho-syndicalism, Benjamin Tucker, Capitalism, communism, corporatism, Emma Goldman, free markets, Kevin Carson, libertarian, murray rothbard, mutualism, petty bourgeois, private property, scarcity, socialism, state-capitalism
Posted by Phil Dickens on 28/06/2010 · 9 Comments
It has been my intention, for some time, to write a series of articles exploring various issues and ideas within anarcho-syndicalism. This is not a purely academic exercise. I am a member of the Solidarity Federation (SolFed) – the British section of the International Workers’ Association (IWA) – and its Liverpool local. Now, anarcho-syndicalism is … Read more
Filed under What is anarcho-syndicalism? · Tagged with activism, anarchist communism, anarcho-syndicalism, Brighton, CNT, from each according to his ability to each according to his need, IWA, libertarian, Liverpool, philosophy, practical, puerto real shipyard dispute, SolFed, Solidarity Federation, thoery, worker self-organisation, working class
Posted by Phil Dickens on 27/04/2010 · 4 Comments
Emma Goldman, writing Anarchism: what it really stands for, pointed out that there were three main strands of hierarchy that anarchists opposed. “Religion, the dominion of the human mind; Property, the dominion of human needs; and Government, the dominion of human conduct, represent the stronghold of man’s enslavement and all the horrors it entails.” In … Read more
Filed under Religion · Tagged with An Anarchist FAQ, Anarchism, atheism, Bible, Budhism, Catholic Worker, Catholicism, child abuse, christian anarchism, coercion, Emma Goldman, faith, freedom of worship, hierarchy, Islam, Jesus, Judaism, Leo Tolstoy, libertarian, mikhail bakunin, organised religion, Pagan, Paganism, Peter Kropotkin, secularism, Starhawk, terrorism, theocracy, violence
Posted by Phil Dickens on 22/01/2010 · 1 Comment
The subject of capital punishment evokes often ferocious debate. Each side, pro- and anti-, contends that the other lacks morality and/or reason because of their stance. Its existence and use has inspired a wide plethora of protests, songs, films, and writings, and it remains an emotive issue even where it is no longer carried out. … Read more
Filed under Anarchism, Debate and discourse · Tagged with an eye for an eye, Anarchism, arbitration, authoritarian, blood feud, capital punishment, crimes of passion, criminality, death penalty, DNA testing, execution, forensics, homicide, libertarian, permanent exclusion from society, psychopathy, psychosis, rape, rehabilitation, Saudi Arabia, The Anti-Politician, United States, vengeance
