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
Filed under 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 30/04/2011 · 2 Comments
In the present movement against government cuts, a lot of slogans (and from them leftist strategies) are invoking the idea of a general strike. As a tactic, there are a number of reasons this would not work. Chief amongst them being that a set-piece “one-day” strike is the limit of the left’s ambitions in this … Read more
Filed under Anarchism · Tagged with anarcho-syndicalist, casualisation, CGT, CNT, direct action, Emile Pataud, Emile Pouget, general strike, Jimmy John's Union, organising, picket lines, revolution, self-management, Solidarity Federation, Spain, Starbucks Workers Union, unemployed
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
Filed under 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 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 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 31/08/2010 · 3 Comments
The third part of a series exploring anarcho-syndicalism, its aims and principles, and the practicalities of enacting them in the real world. Although it isn’t limited to workplace struggles as traditional syndicalism is, industry remains an important battleground for anarcho-syndicalism. After all, it is here that the working class create the wealth of the world, … Read more
Filed under What is anarcho-syndicalism? · Tagged with anarchist communism, anarcho-syndicalism, bread-and-butter issues, bureaucracy, casualisation, disposable workforces, FAU-B, general strike, industrial disputes, IWW, Kronstadt, mass meetings, mikhail bakunin, Paris Commune, revolutionary unionism, Russian Revolution, scabs, Solidarity Federation, Spanish Revolution, Starbucks union, striving for the impossible, trade unions, workers' assemblies, workers' self-organisation, ZSP
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 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
