Solidarity motor bulletin #03: Datsun: hell's battlefield
Issue of Solidarity's auto industry newsletter from July 31, 1974 containing an interesting article by Japanese labour activist Matsuo Kei about the situation of workers in Japan in Nissan plants facing appalling conditions and a pliant company union.
The lump: an heretical analysis - Dave Lamb
Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2014 16:03
1974 pamphlet by Solidarity criticising the standard left and union response to "the lump": the paying of building workers by lump sums for a job instead of union rates on national terms and conditions. Deeply controversial at the time, it criticised the slogan "Defend the unions, smash the lump!" and pointed out that the building unions agreeing to enforce a government pay freeze in "national interest" bore much responsibility for the development.
Belgium: the general strike - Solidarity
Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2014 15:49
Pamphlet from January 1961 with first-hand news and accounts of the huge general strike in Belgium which was ongoing against the introduction of the "Loi Unique" which would reduce workers' purchasing power. Produced by Agitator (later renamed Solidarity) and New Generation, paper of the Young Socialist League, youth wing of the Independent Labour Party, much of it was written by Maurice Brinton under the pseudonym Martin Grainger.
The great Flint sit-down strike against GM 1936-37 - Walter Linder
Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2014 15:40
A history of the Flint sit-in strike by Walter Linder, slightly abridged by Solidarity and published as Solidarity pamphlet 31 on 1 November, 1969. Walter Linder was a member of the Maoist Progressive Labor Party, whose politics are rejected by both Solidarity and libcom.org, however Solidarity published the pamphlet due to the wealth and value of the factual historical information.
The BLSP dispute: the story of the strike - Ken Weller
Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2014 15:28
A detailed account and analysis of an important strike at the British Light Steel Pressings plant against job cuts in 1961, which was undermined by the unions and eventually defeated.
Renault workers fight sackings - Solidarity
Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2014 13:21
A graphic account, written by rank-and-file French metalworkers, of struggles against job cuts at Renault in Paris and Le Mans, written as British car manufacturers also make cuts. Published as the first Agitator (later renamed Solidarity) pamphlet.
Standard Triumph strike: the full facts - Solidarity
Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2014 12:58
An account and lessons of the unofficial strike by 126 workers at the Standard Triumph Service Depot 24 April-14 June, 1961. Written by George Jacobs, Ken Weller, Tom Hillier and Jim Petter and published as Solidarity pamphlet 5.
Self-management and the limits of recuperation: Solidarity discussion bulletin
A publication of discussion ongoing in Solidarity around the "ideology" of self-management in the group, including whether it could be recuperated into capitalism. The discussion followed publication of Maurice Brinton's Malaise on the left.
The rape of Vietnam - Bob Potter
Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2014 12:44
Anti-Vietnam war pamphlet published as pamphlet 25 by Solidarity June-July 1967, which was quite unique in the time in that it also criticised the North Vietnamese bureaucratic regime. It was later added to and superseded by the lengthier pamphlet, Vietnam: whose victory?.
What next for engineers? - Ken Weller
1972 reprint by Big Flame of a Solidarity pamphlet by Ken Weller about the learnings for workers from the ten-week strike at Ford Dagenham in 1962, as Ford management begin to get tough at the Halewood plant.
