accounts
Archive of accounts with radicals and working class activists on libcom.org.
Paper Boys: One Man’s Account of Picketing at Wapping
One man's very personal account of the often violent picketing during the News International strike at Wapping in 1985-6.
PREFACE
They said we were greedy printers but we showed them all.
Since the Winter of Discontent, when the Soft Cops were no longer able to control the workers their role for Capital has been on the decline and that of Hard Cop on the increase.
Young Detroit Radicals 1955-1965 - Dan Georgakas
Dan Georgakas's personal recollections of radicals in Detroit and the people who formed the League of Revolutionary Black Workers.
Young Detroit Radicals 1955-1965 (1)
Greek riots 2008 eyewitness reports
Daily reports, eyewitness and participant accounts and documents from the December 2008 uprising in Greece following the police killing of 15-year-old Alexander Grigoropoulos.
The reports cover the murder of Alexander 6 December 2008, participants then document the rebellion on a daily basis from 8 December to 20 December 2008.
These reports were compiled daily at the time by libcom.org and were grouped together retrospectively in order for easy browsing in November 2009.
In the Sorting Office - on the 2009 post strikes
A postman explains Royal mail's "modernisation" programme and how it affects workers and service delivery.
Like Roy Mayall writing in your issue of 24 September, I am a postman and concerned at the absence in the media of any account of how mail delivery is organised and what Royal Mail’s modernisation programme entails. The programme was introduced because the popularity of email and texting has caused a drop in mail volume.
Anatomy of an Industrial Struggle: Chrysler Factory at Tonsley Park in Adelaide 1976-1978
An account of two years of struggle at an Australian Chrysler plant by one of the workers, including a detailed look at the role of the union.
Introduction
This article by Garry Hill, a worker at the Tonsley Park Chrysler plant near Adelaide in Australia, describes a series of struggles in which he was actively involved.
The Hamburg revolution - Heinrich Laufenberg
A participant's account of their involvement in the November 1918 rebellion in Hamburg, and the movement of workers' councils that developed from it.
Preface
Low-level organising in a hospital
A hospital worker named Malcolm's account of collective organisation and counter-information in the workplace.
One day the three hospital workers I lived with showed me a memo the hospital put out announcing a picnic for the staff. It said you had to bring your own food. The administration thought they were doing all the workers a great favor sending them this invitation to a bring-your-own-food picnic.
Direct action against unpaid wages on a demolition site
Demolition worker Anthony's account of labouring in the New England winter, and taking direct action when his wages were not paid.
The wicked New England winter had set in. There was no more work haying fields or picking apples. There was food from our livestock and from what we could put away from our garden, but no money for anything else. My friends and I drove our beat-up station wagon to the nearby "city," population 5,000. We went to apply for food stamps and possibly general assistance.
Employee thieving at a discount chain store
Kmart worker Karl recounts his employment in the late 70s and early 80s, with his and his co-workers' unofficial way of supplementing their wages.
Employee sabotage in a copy shop
Alan, a shop clerk's account of unofficial wage enhancement in a Minneapolis photocopy outfit.
I've never dealt with so many fucked-up managers as when I started working at a busy, downtown Minneapolis copy shop. We had to do a lot of work, took a lot of shit from customers and got paid beans. Actually, it was one of the best jobs I've had because everybody that I worked with was really fun.
