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 07/03/2011 · 5 Comments
The somewhat poetic title to this post comes from a status update I put on Facebook last week; Best descriptor for Marxism and Leninism I’ve ever read has to be “analysing everything through the eyes of corpses.” Genius. This was a reference to the tendency of nearly all groups and currents (though far from all … Read more
Filed under Debate and discourse · Tagged with building the new world in the shell of the old, Capitalism, central committee, class consciousness, communism, democratic centralism, federalism, Karl Marx, Leninism, Mao, Marxism, Pol Pot, revolution, self-organisation, Soviet Union, Spain, Stalin, transitional stage, Trotsky, vanguard of the proletariat, Vladimir Lenin, workers party, workers' state, working class
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 23/01/2011 · 4 Comments
Originally published in issue 11 of Shift Magazine (Jan 11 – May 11) Since the May General Election, we have been witnessing the slow demise of British fascism as we know it. The British National Party’s spectacular failure tore open divisions and animosities that had been long brewing below the surface. Resignations, sackings, splits, and … Read more
Filed under Fascism, Religion · Tagged with Anjem Choudary, austerity, BNP, EDL, extremism, Fascism, hope not hate, Islam, Islam4UK, Islamism, Islamophobia, Luton, Muslims Against Crusades, political Islam, racism, SAS, shift magazine, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, Socialist Workers' Party, statism, Stephen Lennon, Tower Hamlets, unite against fascism, Wootton Bassett, 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 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 Anarchists, working class, class war, Howard Zinn, Vladimir Lenin, vanguard of the proletariat, Socialist Workers' Party, Solidarity Federation, Anarchist Federation, middle class, middle England, Daily Mail, Guardian, left-wing, student, liberal, Marxist, Trotskyite, Ian Bone, Radical Workers Bloc, Liberal Democrats, splitter, Libcom.org, Joseph Kay, revolutionary leadership, bourgeois
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 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 28/03/2010 · Leave a Comment
The seventh and final part in a series of articles discussing the anarchist movement as it relates to non-European peoples and cultures. What lessons are to be learned from the examples of anarchism beyond the West? How can we build upon them to make a truly global resistance movement? Throughout this series, one of my major sources has … Read more
Filed under Anarchism, ethnicity & culture · Tagged with "threat of a good example", academic, Anarchism, anti-racism, Autonomous Shinmin Region, black anarchism, Chapias, Chuck Morse, community control of resources, Don't Vote - Organise!, Euro-centric, Jason adams, lifestyle anarchism, Manchuria, Mexico, Murray Bookchin, Paris Commune, post-anarchism, Rudolph Rocker, Russian Revolution, Spanish Revolution, The Other Campaign, worker control of industry, working class, workplace occupation, Zapatista autonomus municipalities, Zapatistas
