Bring Fire to the Castle: crisis, militant social democracy, insurrection, and existing means of settling disputes
Submitted by s.nappalos on May 3 2013 12:15
An exploration of the 2008 global crisis and responses. This article looks at militant reformism and the role of existing means and channels of settling disputes in society. Equilibrium and social forces of stability are identified for their central role in determining the depth and potential of crises, and distinguish simple crisis from situations with more radical potential.
“Es siempre la descomposición del viejo régimen, del Viejo sistema de Estado, acentuado por el impulso de las masas escalavas hacia la libertad, lo que hace surgir y desarrolla esos elementos[1]”. Peter Arshinov, Historia del Movimiento Maknovista
The movement to abolish the present state of power: direct democracy, forms, and power
Submitted by s.nappalos on May 3 2013 12:05
A critique of belief in the inherent radical nature of forms such as direct democracy in the context of the anti-austerity movements, and an appeal to politics based on a process of struggle across time deepening breaks with capitalist normalcy.
Today society is in transition. Workers in the capitalist core are seeing the stability and benefits that many enjoyed slip away. The relationships that defined the capitalist periphery nations are fundamentally being transformed by deeper integration into the world economic system.
State, social movements and unions in El Alto, Bolivia
An excerpt from El Alto, Rebel City on organisation among market traders, the informally-employed and community organisations in the notably militant Bolivian city.
The State and the Unions
Poor people's movements : why they succeed, how they fail - Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward
Examinations of four different periods of struggles in the US, from the depression to the civil rights movement, suggesting formal organisationalism led them to fail.
Poll tax rebellion - Danny Burns
Submitted by Steven. on Apr 10 2013 22:30
Full scanned version of the definitive grassroots history of the mass working class movement which defeated Margaret Thatcher's poll tax. 17 million people refused to pay the tax, which defeated it and brought Maggie's time as Prime Minister to a premature end.
This book tells the gripping inside story of the biggest mass movement in British history, which at its peak involved over 17 million people.
The battle for Middle Earth is being fought in Bologna: Blu's new painting defending social space XM24
Submitted by StrugglesInItaly on Mar 26 2013 10:21
Bologna is burning, while just outside its ancient walls a battle is being fought, under the single eye of Sauron, looking down from one of the two towers that are the symbol of the city.
On one side are the bankers, shop keepers, butchers, politicians, and all the enemies who want to dominate the city with their bulldozers and their money, including Darth Vader with his troops and a Sauron-Mayor yelling to catch the ring.
No Dash For Gas: We climbed those chimneys to kick-start protest and debate
Submitted by Gabriel Levy on Mar 7 2013 08:58
EDF, the power company, has been denounced for attacking the right to protest, after it launched a damages claim for £5 million against 21 activists. Here one of them explains what No Dash For Gas is aiming at
EDF, the power company, was denounced last week for attacking the right to protest, after it launched a damages claim for £5 million against 21 activists. The claim followed a sit-in at its West Burton power station, organised by No Dash For Gas, that forced it to shut down for a week in October-November last year.
Facing the enemy: A history of anarchist organisation - Alexandre Skirda
Submitted by working class s... on Dec 27 2012 19:52
The finest single volume history of European anarchism is finally available in English in Paul Sharkey's elegant translation. Drawing on decades of research, Alexandre Skirda traces anarchism as a major political movement and ideology across the 19th and 20th centuries.
Critical and engaged, he offers biting and incisive portraits of the major thinkers and, more crucially, the organizations they inspired, influenced, came out of, and were spurned by.
The unemployed struggle in West Ham in the 1900s
Submitted by Battlescarred on Dec 18 2012 22:36
A short history of the unemployed agitation in West Ham and the Triangle Camp events
The first decade of the 20th century was devastating for the British working class with rising unemployment. In 1902 with the demobilisation of soldiers after the Boer War there was a surge in the number of unemployed.
'Don't be a soldier!' The radical anti-war movement in north London 1914-1918 - Ken Weller
Submitted by Steven. on Dec 18 2012 12:07
Ken Weller of Solidarity's excellent and detailed historical account of working class opposition to World War I in North London, which offers a snapshot of the anti-war movement nationally.
Digitised by libcom.org, December 2012. Text version to be completed shortly.
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