With all of the criticisms of 'activism', I would just like to ask what people think that meaningful political activity is? I would be very interested to hear what people think. I actually have quite strong opinions on this, but they will probably just come across as mundane, and boring. So to do this thread differently instead of people slaging of the left communist positions, I will hide mine for a while, and you can explain yours.
Dev
I think the definition from the old Solidarity group is pretty good:
"Meaningful action, for revolutionaries, is whatever increases the confidence, the autonomy, the initiative, the participation, the solidarity, the equalitarian tendencies and the self-activity of the masses and whatever assists in their demystification. Sterile and harmful action is whatever reinforces the passivity of the masses, their apathy, their cynicism, their differentiation through hierarchy, their alienation, their reliance on others to do things for them and the degree to which they can therefore be manipulated by others - even by those allegedly acting on their behalf."
Ha ha, actually I prefer my slight re-write of Solidarity:
Meaningful action, for revolutionaries, is whatever increases the confidence, the autonomy, the initiative, the participation, the solidarity, the equalitarian tendencies and the self-activity of the working class and whatever assists in our demystification. Sterile and harmful action is whatever reinforces the passivity of the working class, our apathy, our cynicism, our differentiation through hierarchy, our alienation, our reliance on others to do things for us and the degree to which we can therefore be manipulated by others - even by those allegedly acting on our behalf.
Will post what I say that as meaning a bit later today when I'm at work
5 minutes! You might well blush. You're slipping, comrades.
Maybe, I didn't express that very well, Button. I didn't mean in terms of theory. I meant in terms of what people actually do.
Maybe, I didn't express that very well, Button. I didn't mean in terms of theory. I meant in terms of what people actually do.
Me personally? In the last year, I've done some organising at work, both inside & outside the structure of the recognised union. I've distributed literature about workplace rights & workplace organising to people I've come across & got talking to about the shittiness of their jobs.
Me & a few others on here are in the process of setting up a local newsletter for where I live, which might develop in the direction of having readers' meetings/film nights etc.
I've also written stuff for Freedom and the odd thing for the Solidarity Federation.
Not sure if any of this passes the "meaningfulness" test, but it keeps me happy. 
Edited to add: If you want concrete examples, it might be worth asking someone to move this thread to Organise. Although threads in that forum about concrete activity do tend to sink without trace, for some reason. 
OK, in terms of what we actually do then...
I hold the view that anarcho-communism is in a very weak position in terms of numbers and influence in society at large. So with this in mind, I believe that what we need to be doing is a) holding the fort and maintining the integrity of our ideas, and b) trying to spread those ideas as widely as possible - given the relative low level of generalised class struggle at the minute.
So on one level, the creation and distribution of clear, accessible, relevant and insightful propaganda is always useful.
But we do not do any of this in a bubble; we are social beings and interact both with our comrades and with other members of our class. And it's in these day-to-day interactions where we can have some influence, putting the anarcho-communist message across to our friends, neighbours and workmates (but in a way that's not preachy or know-it-all).
It also means involving ourselves in struggles as and when they appear, not blindly, but always critically and with positive things to say. It means questioning and criticising any authoritarian or state capitalist tendencies within those struggles, while trying to point out and promote more libertarian methods of struggle.
I've been involved in many different struggles over the years - from driving pickets around during the miners' strike to setting up a tenants association in my neighbourhood, from the defence of a squatted estate to direct confrontation with fascists on the streets. Some activities have been more worthwhile than others, a few activities have been a waste of time, but whatever I've been involved in, I've always tried to maintain the same critical viewpoint.
I don't believe in activism for the sake of it. A lot of the time I'd much rather be doing something else that was much more fun. However, I see activity as an essential part of the work in building a revolutionary organisation - in my case, the AF. I also see it as part of the creation of a working class resistance culture, something that is sadly lacking in most areas of working class life (at least in this country).
At the minute, I'm involved in trying to start up an IWW branch in Leicester. This is not because I'm a dyed in the wool anarcho-syndicalist or industrial unionist, far from it. But I do see it as something that has the potential to bring some of the more militant workers together in a meaningful and accessible way. And if we can do this, then the possibility for meaningful action is widened.
I'm not a purist either. Well, actually, in terms of ideas, I am. In terms of action, I'm not. I believe that working with others on some kind of project which promotes resistance and direct action within our class, even if I might not agree with everything, can only be a good thing.
I also believe that being 'right all the time' is not always the most effective
thing to be.
I'm not one for running around like a headless chicken - I get irritated at the 'we must do something... anything!' type of anarchist. So I'm not big on bandanas or balaclava chic (though I have covered my face a few times). And I can't stand ghetto politics either.
Theory and action always need to go hand in hand: 'theory without practice is sterile, acion without theory is futile.'
Does that answer your question?
Well now have way more experience in the media than should be possible for someone who has only been in the game a couple of years cos I help run one, and provide most of the content for a local news site, and work in news...
Yeah basically a propagandist for general lefty issues (and I do mean general, I go from community fights to pensions to union exposes and back again depending what the audience/issue is).
Also active in union (and simultaneously trying to undermine it in favour of syndicalism, bit of a trick to that...), some community issues, local anarch group, working on setting up a community centre of sorts, attempts to bring active leftists together in forums etc.
What difference does it make? Hmm well we've investigated and broken some fairly decent stories, Freedom's now covering more useful news (story-count wise I reckon we can on ocassion beat the major dailies over a two week cycle, most of their stuff is dross, and badly researched, and of course politically biased and we break loads of stuff they haven't touched) and I would hope has carried a bit of weight for the class angle to newcomers etc.
EASF has been a fairly big success, I've had phone calls and emails from people asking us for more info on topics we work on cos we're the only ones who follow it all properly 8). Also we're providing a local service with the wiki which is unique, and covers local stuff such as local media, community centres, union contacts/websites etc which are basically untouched by any other source. On those grounds alone, I'd reckon we help improve the ability of communities etc to organise. That ties in with physical stuff we do, which is mixed I think, some successes, some failures *shrugs*.
In terms of the union stuff, pleasing and frustrating in equal measures. I've convinced the people in my office to be quite strongly left wing in many ways, but not reliably so. We've got the union through and it'll be recognised, but it has been rubbish over recent troubles which I haven't yet convinced people can be solved through direct accountability (longer conversation, and a more difficult one, which I haven't been able to broach plausibly).
NB there was a similar thread to this a few months ago:
http://libcom.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7719
This one's shaping up better though...
Well, it was until it went all quiet.
OK, in terms of what we actually do then...I hold the view that anarcho-communism is in a very weak position in terms of numbers and influence in society at large. So with this in mind, I believe that what we need to be doing is a) holding the fort and maintining the integrity of our ideas, and b) trying to spread those ideas as widely as possible - given the relative low level of generalised class struggle at the minute.
So on one level, the creation and distribution of clear, accessible, relevant and insightful propaganda is always useful.
But we do not do any of this in a bubble; we are social beings and interact both with our comrades and with other members of our class. And it's in these day-to-day interactions where we can have some influence, putting the anarcho-communist message across to our friends, neighbours and workmates (but in a way that's not preachy or know-it-all).
It also means involving ourselves in struggles as and when they appear, not blindly, but always critically and with positive things to say. It means questioning and criticising any authoritarian or state capitalist tendencies within those struggles, while trying to point out and promote more libertarian methods of struggle.
I've been involved in many different struggles over the years - from driving pickets around during the miners' strike to setting up a tenants association in my neighbourhood, from the defence of a squatted estate to direct confrontation with fascists on the streets. Some activities have been more worthwhile than others, a few activities have been a waste of time, but whatever I've been involved in, I've always tried to maintain the same critical viewpoint.
I don't believe in activism for the sake of it. A lot of the time I'd much rather be doing something else that was much more fun. However, I see activity as an essential part of the work in building a revolutionary organisation - in my case, the AF. I also see it as part of the creation of a working class resistance culture, something that is sadly lacking in most areas of working class life (at least in this country).
At the minute, I'm involved in trying to start up an IWW branch in Leicester. This is not because I'm a dyed in the wool anarcho-syndicalist or industrial unionist, far from it. But I do see it as something that has the potential to bring some of the more militant workers together in a meaningful and accessible way. And if we can do this, then the possibility for meaningful action is widened.
I'm not a purist either. Well, actually, in terms of ideas, I am. In terms of action, I'm not. I believe that working with others on some kind of project which promotes resistance and direct action within our class, even if I might not agree with everything, can only be a good thing.
I also believe that being 'right all the time' is not always the most effective
thing to be.
I'm not one for running around like a headless chicken - I get irritated at the 'we must do something... anything!' type of anarchist. So I'm not big on bandanas or balaclava chic (though I have covered my face a few times). And I can't stand ghetto politics either.
Theory and action always need to go hand in hand: 'theory without practice is sterile, acion without theory is futile.'
Does that answer your question?
thats a really good post - can i request it goes in the AF forum too?
Yeah, why not.
I'm doing some very low-level stuff at work. I went full time there about a month ago, within that time the principal and one vice-principal have left (not 'cos I went full time!), it's turned out to be millions of debt, and they're routinely lying to all the staff including middle management about what's happening. There's two unions, the one open to me has only 8 members there (less than 10%) and are shite anyway. Been having a lot of chats with people (I think everyone is), and most people are being very open about how pissed off they are. A fair number are just looking for new jobs but some have said they'll stick around, see what happens and fight it out if necessary, and this might lead to something a little more collective and organised over the next few weeks although not sure how best to go about it.
Other than that I was very pretty involved Hackney Independent up until the beginning of this year, but no longer have evenings and weekends available to help out. HI delivers 4-8000 newsletters door-to-door on estates 3-4 times a year, and is involved in campaigns against City Academies, housing stock transfers, closures of public facilities (youth clubs, swimming pools) runs a kids' cinema in school holidays, advice sessions on housing/repairs etc.. HI was also heavily involved (and I was personally as much as possible) in the Broadway Market occupation last year and early this year. At the moment they're running three candidates in the Hackney borough council elections, which there's plenty of scepticism of, but they decided to do it in the end. As far as I'm concerned it can't do any harm at the moment, and it'll be very interesting if they all get in. All involved are very realistic about the limitations and potential dangers in it so again, it'll be interesting to see how they play out if it's successful.
Other than that all I do is work on libcom, which is meaningful to me (in that I learn loads in the process of doing it, both political and technical), and will hopefully become more and more useful in itself as time goes on.
None of this necessarily explains my positions on useful activity - what I think and what I actually end up doing don't always line up - no time to go into that now - off to work...
Similary to catch I've been involved in very low-level activity at work the past few years. I've mostly been temping so not much possibility for any sustained work, but done a few small bits and pieces like sharing wage rates with other temps to encourage people to request upwards rate matching, my most long-term job my co-workers and I have done some fucking hardcore work reduction, collectively setting our work rate very low (and reducing our hours, we also got our unpaid breaks reduced when we got moved onto new contracts), and informally blocking a new monitoring measure of signing in. Helped get unpaid back-pay to one colleague in one place, and to a few temps at another when some of us were payed while offices were closed and others weren't. Though that didn't go nearly as far as I would've liked it to, although I learnt a few things and now i have a permanent job in that place I intend to try and apply some of those lessons in future. Particularly with respect to temps. I've joined permanent colleagues in 2 strikes, and was one of the few temps to do so. My most long-term job I went to union meetings and brought up the issue of temp/casual labour, but wasn't around long enough to do anything. I think this will be a big part of what I try to do in my new place, though this time from the position of permanent thank fuck. I have a few ideas about bringing temps into the struggles of permanents and vice-versa I want to try out.
Apart from that stuff, do libcom cos I realise my generation has completely broken with any working class (for itself) heritage, has no knowledge or conception of collective struggle or collective self-advancement, so I think letting people know about
- the history of struggles
- news of current struggles
- advice on your own struggles
- the ideas that came out of struggles
is very important. I also learn a lot from doing this site, and generally just really enjoy it.
Other than that I view generally being a nice guy, doing small things like being polite to people, holding open doors, helping people with heavy bags or whatever in public as being vaguely political as well. I think politeness and mutual respect is the first step in building a new working class movement at such a time after massive defeat
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*starts stopwatch waiting for someone to post quotation from Solidarity pamphlet*