The IWW - a good idea? Practical?

What's the punch line, I see the smiley but what's funny about calling a libertarian organisation 'shit reformist scabbing bastards'?

But I think I may have mixed you up with another poster with a similar tag. I'll slink off now ..

Firstly, I don't think the problem varies much whether the faith group which takes over a workers organisation is the SWP or has another preferred ideology. As I recall James Connolly changed the meetings days of the branch so they did not clash with mass, which had previously been used as a technique to keep church goers from getting involved in a largely catholic work force. (I can't remember any details as it was in a book I read a long time ago). Suddenly the branch grew when it was no longer run by people who placed their atheist beliefs above class organisation.

The Hull and the Sierra Leone situation seem in some way similar, though no doubt they had their differences. I suspect the fellow workers in SL may have faced different forms of repression to those in Hull.

Also having what must have been over half their membership in a single industry in a single of country does not seem to have phased the IWW very much. But it would be good to hear more about the SL experience.

It would also be interesting to know how much having the vast majority of their membership in English speaking countries has influenced their growth. Their website indicates a desire to develop beyond the anglosphere, but how successful is this?

Leutha

Personally I think groups should work together where their interests coincide. The CGT and SAC do have more workers alone than the AIT - but that's not the point, it's what those workers do that matters and is the issue between the AIT and the CGT or SAC.

Imagining that half a dozen European unions with roots in the working class in their country are going to join what is effectively a US union with a radically different history to them is wishful thinking at best. While I've seen a fair bit of that in the IWW over the last 20 odd years, it's still an important organisation and could do with learning a bit more about the situation outside North America in order to better work with other groups. Additionally, workers' conditions and rights are significantly worse in North America than they are in Europe and a lot of the things that motivate workers in Europe (for example teh CPE in France at the moment, or defending public health in the UK) have no equivalent.

Joining the IWW outside of the 4 big white anglophone countries at the moment is about associating with the history and the idea, but means very little. The IWW has particular resonances because of its history - other countries have a different history and are likely to express it in different ways. This might change, but it came to nothing before in Poland because it ended up with a load of leftists using it as an excuse to attack the Polish anarchist federation. It does also beg the question of when the governing bodies of the IWW ever leave north America?

Regards,

Martin

joe i can't believe you are seriously twisting Steves tongue in cheek comment like that.

And the CGT is not libertarian communist, nor does it hold true to anarcho syndicalisms rejection of bureacracy and representative mediation (well unless you count the numpties joing the SPanish government). The CGT takes part in works councils with no reservation. The CNT Vignole has had a few sections take part but that was with huge reservations and based on particularities.

aye and the TGWU says that there will be no dignity in labour until it is free.

Naa.. by that time the NLRB filings will have been reviewed and hopefully you'll get some back pay and the option to be reinstated to the shitty job you were fired from in '07. Take that Gordian Knot!!