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 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 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 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
