Germany
Disruption in first week of Deutsche Telekom strike
Labor union ver.di says that operations at Deutschen Telekom have been severely hampered after one week of strike.
Ado Wilhelm, who is organizing the strike on behalf of ver.di, told heise online that service had been detrimentally affected. The protest is a reaction to the group's plans to outsource some 50,000 employees in the new T- Service division. Today, the labor union says that 7000 people went on strike across Germany. The protests are to continue through the weekend.
Over 10,000 Deutsche Telekom workers walk off the job
More than 10,000 Deutsche Telekom employees refused to turn up for work last Friday to protest the company's plans to outsource 50,000 jobs.
The strikes have also spread to a team wiring up services for officials and the media at the G8 summit next month on the Baltic coast.
Anti-Bolshevist Communism in Germany - Paul Mattick
The council-communist Paul Mattick looks back at the German revolution he participated in.
He describes the conflicts and tensions between the various political factions; between communist revolutionaries and social democracy, between German revolutionaries and Russian Bolshevism. He discusses reasons for the failure of the revolution in the context of the wider international situation and the development trends of capitalism.
Schmitz, Hans, 1914-2007
A short biography of German anarcho-syndicalist, militant anti-fascist and conscript to the Wehrmacht, Hans Schmitz.
Hans Schmitz was born in Wuppertal, Germany in 1914.
His father,* a leading activist in the anarcho-syndicalist union the FAUD, was a devout Catholic and a convinced pacifist from both a religious and ideological standpoint (!). Despite this, as Hans Schmitz reports, he carried a weapon as a member of the “Red Ruhr Army” during the right-wing Kapp putsch.
Dutch Council Communism and Van der Lubbe Burning the Reichstag - The question of "exemplary acts"
Philippe Bourrinet on the reaction of council communists in Holland to Marinus Van der Lubbe burning down the Reichstag in Germany, and on propagandistic acts in general.
Feb 2003
It was the significance of the young Dutch council communist Van der Lubbe's torching of the Reichstag (27 Feb. 1933), more than Hitler's coming to power, which focused the debates within Dutch council communism. The latter was profoundly divided on the question of 'exemplary acts' and of individual violence against symbols of bourgeois order.
Muehsam, Erich, 1878-1934
A short biography of Erich Muehsam, German poet, playwright, bohemian and anarchist revolutionary.
Erich Muehsam was born in Berlin in 1878 into a fairly well-to-do Jewish family. Soon after his family moved to Luebeck in north Germany where his father worked as a pharmacist (in fact the pharmacy is still there).
Airbus workers to strike across Europe against job cuts
Tens of thousands of workers at Airbus are expected to walk off the job Friday (today) in a highly unusual show of Europe-wide union power against plans by the struggling aircraft manufacturer to slash 10,000 posts.
Trade unions predict tens of thousands of staff at all Airbus sites in Europe will down tools and hold protest meetings to increase pressure against the company's "Power8" restructuring scheme. Such co-ordinated Europe-wide protests organised by trade unions are highly unusual.
Reimers, Otto, 1902-1984
Biography of German anarchist Otto Reimers, an engineering worker who tirelessly agitated for the anarchist movement throughout the reign of the Nazi regime and into the post-war years.
Otto Reimers
Born Grambek, Germany 1902. Died Laufenburg, Germany 1984
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.
Dave, Victor, 1845-1922
Biography of a Belgian radical, imprisoned in Germany and militant within the proofreaders' union.
Victor Dave
Born Jambes, Belguim 1845. Died Paris, France 1922
Victor Dave was born in Jambes, near Namur in Belgium on February 25th, 1845. Son of a senior judge (President of the Cour des Comptes Belge) he completed his higher education at the Faculty of Letters in Liège and the Free University in Brussels.
