Eastern Europe
Death, industrial action and firings at LG Electronics in Poland
At least one worker fired after industrial action. Workers demand an end to forced overtime.
LG is one of the biggest and most important companies operating in Poland. The group owns a wide variety of investments, most notably its TV and LCD monitor/ screen production in Mlawa and Biskupice Podgórne (near Wroclaw) and its refrigerator and washing machine plant in Kobierzyce.
Poland: Workers fired for union activity
A report from Poland on the firing of two workers for union organising and demanding better working conditions.
Two workers from Workers' Initiative have been fired for union activity. Anybody who would like to show some solidarity should send a nasty e-mail or fax with a protest.The names of the fired people are Aurelia Włodarczyk and Jolanta Szypura. They work for the firm Greenkett Polska, which is part of the IG group - headquarters in Spain. They were demanding a 30% pay raise.
Leaflet: Gaining as much as possible from Škoda´s profit!
The leaflet spread in Skoda/Volkswagen factories in three towns in February 2007 by KPK.
GAINING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE FROM ŠKODA´S PROFIT!
Gasping from out the Shallows: Reflections on revolution in the early twenty-first century
A text by Wayne Spencer giving an overview of struggles in the UK, Poland, South Africa and Italy alongside his reflections on the possibilities for revolution and revolutionary theory in the 21st century.
Gasping from out the Shallows
Reflections on revolution in the early twenty-first century
By Wayne Spencer
Teachers protest in Warsaw
Over 12,000 teachers demonstrated today in Warsaw. Among their demands were not only calls for a pay rise and retention of early retirement priveleges, but also for he dismissal of the Minister and Vice-Minister of Education.
Today over 12,000 teachers from around Poland came to Warsaw to protest the policies of the government, both in regard to its financial committment towards education workers and to the outrageous actions of the Minister and Vice-minister of Education.
The Trial - Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka's seminal novel, telling the tale of Joseph K, a respectable functionary in a bank, who is suddenly arrested and must defend his innocence against a charge about which he can get no information.
Text originally from Project Gutenberg. Available as a pdf file below.
Serbia: Students protest and occupy
A participant's report of new student protests against neo-liberal "reforms" of the education sector.
"Some 300 students gathered at the protest in front of Faculty of Architecture today. After blocking of the major Belgrade boulevard for some time, just few hours ago decision was made to do a sleep-over in the faculty building, which will turn into a full-time blockade of the building tomorrow morning. 400 students are currently occupying the faculty.
Pilarski, Alfons, 1902-1977 aka Janson, aka Jan Rylski, aka Alfons Kompardt
A biography of Alfons Thomasz Pilarski, a German anarcho-syndicalist who took part in the German and Polish anarchist and anti-nazi movements.
Alfons Thomasz Pilarski (alias Kompardt) was born in Upper Silesia, a part of Germany with a 30% minority of Poles, on 6th July 1902, the son of a working class family in Leschnitz near Stehlitz.
Strike at Russian Ford plant
A strike halted production on Wednesday at U.S. car maker Ford's plant near St Petersburg, one of the biggest in Russia owned by a foreign auto maker, after a months-long dispute over pay and conditions.
"The strike took place overnight, the night shift did not assemble any cars," said Yekaterina Kulinenko, Ford Russia spokeswoman. "Most of the day shift is also on strike. We are not making cars at the moment."
Re-visiting the east ... and popping in at Marx's - Gilles Dauvé
Apart from North Korea and Cuba, no country calls itself socialist any more. So why bother about old debates on the nature of the USSR? Since capitalism rules the world, what else is there to know?! A great deal.
It’s crucial to understand why Russia was capitalist in 1980, or 1930, or 1920, if we wish to understand what capitalism really is, and what can and must be revolutionized in Russia as well as in Britain in the XXIst century.
