A guide to building a successful solidarity network along the lines of the Seattle Solidarity Network, written by two SeaSol organisers, in text and PDF pamphlet format.
PDF versions:
US paper size: http://libcom.org/files/seasol-pamphlet-expanded-US.pdf
A4 paper size: http://libcom.org/files/seasol-pamphlet-expanded-A4.pdf
A comrade of ours has put this into a beautiful pamphlet: http://zinelibrary.info/build-your-own-solidarity-network
Is it necessary for there to be a critical mass of anarchists operating within a solidarity group for it to "work"?
I ask because in my limited experience of HSG I get the impression that this why HSG is what it is. The "politics" of the group is officially not anarchist but the underlying philosophy/aims of the key organisers is.
Yes, a critical mass of anarchists makes a big difference. The essential thing (in this context) is to be able to keep the organization's practices and spirit in line with the basic principles of direct action, direct democracy, and mutual support among equals, and not to let it turn into a single-issue organization or a sterile nonprofit. Without a critical mass of anarchists, I'm not sure whether this would be possible to maintain over the long term, in the face of the inevitable influx of new members who are liberals (in the American sense), Leninists, or just plain confused.
Also it's important for people to understand that this "critical mass" depends on the quality of the anarchists as much as (or more than) on the quantity. In other words, are the anarchists involved good at translating their ideology into effective practice? Are the anarchists among the most active, competent, reliable, and respected activists within the organization? If they are, then three anarchists in twenty might be enough of a critical mass. If they are not, then an absolute majority of anarchists might not even be enough.
This is excellent! We're thinking of starting a solidarity network here in London, Ontario so this pamphlet will be very helpful (together with aid from our comrades in Hamilton).
Added 2 new versions of the pamphlet, one for US paper and one for A4 paper.
These new versions also include the SeaSol interview with libcom
http://libcom.org/library/seasol-interview
And "Why you should start a solidarity network"
http://libcom.org/library/why-you-should-start-solidarity-network
mods please update the page...
This is a really wonderful pamphlet. Thanks for the upload 888!
Really interesting and inspiring stuff.
In case anyone can't find it, http://libcom.org/files/seasol-pamphlet-expanded-US.pdf
A spanish translation can be found here:
in pdf: here
in text format: here
Slovak translation in progress;)
i hope someone from seasol reads this and would answer my question:
the whole part Inside organizing seems very unclear to me. I see solidarity networks as a special type of organizations that differ to anarchosyndicalist groups as well as to unions (meaning workplace organizations). the seasol formed in response to a kind of vacuum in the sphere of organizing around worker's conflicts when the workers were already outside the workplace or community. and if i understand it right, it didn't aim at building the workplace structures (partly perhaps because this is the job of IWW, of which the initial seasol organizers were members).
but then, the last part of the text says that seasol wants to deal with workplace organizing which i really don't follow. to me it automatically becomes a union type of organization (very close to some European anarchosyndicalist groups, mostly the smaller ones). and this means severely changing the perspective and structure of seasol.
i would be very glad for comments in this. thanks.
The vacuum of organizing is much bigger than this, at least here in the U.S. There is also a vacuum of organizing among workers who are within workplaces, tenants within housing complexes, and more broadly, within the working class as a whole.
When we started SeaSol, we chose to put most of our energy into building SeaSol rather than into IWW workplace organizing because at that time we did not have the capacity to do workplace organizing successfully. Our group was too small and inexperienced. Now, through building SeaSol, this has changed. Whether we say it's the IWW doing the workplace organizing or SeaSol doing it isn't very important in my opinion. We are the same people. In practice each new organizing project functions like a small semi-autonomous working group.
True, integrating workplace groups within the main structure of SeaSol doesn't seem to be practical. They need their own meetings and structures at the workplace and/or industry-wide level. At best we can help them get started and help them fight, and then either we bring them into the IWW or else they remain independent and we form a lasting alliance or federation with them.
blarg
I disagree quite a bit with this. I think there's a load of difference between the two in terms of capacity and links to resources and knowledge, not to mention that SeaSol is basically the IWW, but does outside the workplace organizing and is not anti-capitalist. I mean, maybe its not really the time to be having these conversations, as it seems that as many solidarity networks go defunct as start up, but a serious talk about next steps is probably in order at some point. If the next step is merely independent, democratic, rank and filist unionism...that seems to be aiming low.
I agree that more strategic planning should be in order. SeaSol hasn't had any serious discussions about future direction for a long time, it is too busy with day to day stuff in the meetings. It would be good to have such a discussion soon.
What would be gained by having some aims and principles saying "SeaSol is anti-capitalist" though? I don't think it would make any practical difference. Is SeaSol any more or less anti-capitalist in its activities than a group that says "we are anti-capitalist"? The membership is largely anti-capitalist. I've toyed with proposing some principles (such as never supporting or working with politicians, or having paid staff), but never got round to proposing them as there wasn't much enthusiasm from other members and there usually seemed to be more pressing things to deal with.
I need to give it more thought, but what I'm trying to say that IWWer/communists/anarchists whatever extending not explicitly anti-capitalist solidarity networks into unions should be carefully thought about.
my problem with this is that here the pamphlet says SeaSol is going to become a union type of organization. or am i reading it wrong? because the other answer would be that SeaSol is just trying rebuild itself to be able to engage in IWW campaigns as some kind of support group. and so, this whole IWW/SeaSol mix is very confusing because we are speaking here of two distinct types of organizations.
what i am also trying to say in fact is that the whole pamphlet is really great and inspiring. we have slovak translation ready and plan to publish it (with some critical afterword which is at the moment under discussion) but then suddenly the pamphlet ends with this confusing final part, so we are like "wtf?!".
so i thought it would be fine to ask about it, cos maybe we just didn't get it right or something new and more explanatory could be said. on the other hand, so far i see that the quoted part in the ending seems to be very badly thought-out. still, i would appreciate input from the SeaSol folks and their perspective. this way we can avoid maybe in reality a groundless criticism from our side. so far, it seems it has good grounds but i believe the whole matter can be explained.
I've been thinking (and discussing with fellow Wobs in Tampa) about functioning as a solidarity network as wobblies. It increases visibility, helps people out, reminds them that union is still around and creatively addressing working class issues from the workplace to the home. Then, in the case of "inside" organizing, we can encourage workers to set up with the I.W.W. and get in contact with an organizer.
But as far as having the branch also function as a solidarity network, I can only see this increasing public awareness, engaging people who would otherwise be pretty un-engaged, and helping members practice organizing meetings and actions. The only issue, is that people involved in the solidarity network aren't necessarily members of the I.W.W. But I think people would be more inclined to join once it's been demonstrated that we do something of value.
In other words, as Blarg I believe said, it's a good tool for getting IWWs more comfortable with organizing, and perhaps recruiting members out side of workplace campaigns being taken on by wobs already.
I'm also open to the fact that what I'm saying makes no sense.
MT
I think I (as someone in both SeaSol and IWW) already answered this, above:
"True, integrating workplace groups within the main structure of SeaSol doesn't seem to be practical. They need their own meetings and structures at the workplace and/or industry-wide level. At best we can help them get started and help them fight, and then either we bring them into the IWW or else they remain independent and we form a lasting alliance or federation with them. " So no, SeaSol probably isn't going to become a union.
Also this effort doesn't get planned or coordinated within the regular SeaSol OR IWW meetings. We form smaller working groups of people who are both SeaSol and IWW organizers who meet specifically for a particular workplace or industry outreach / organizing-support effort. This is the only practical way we've yet found to get the job done. We currently have two such projects, one calling itself an IWW committee and the other calling itself a SeaSol project, but in practice it makes hardly any difference (I know because I've been in both).
On the issue of whether the groups are anti-capitalist or not, I think in reality SeaSol is just as anti-capitalist as the IWW is, so this isn't the distinction that matters. Also the IWW sometimes does outside-the-workplace stuff too. A more significant distinction is that solidarity networks are not part of a central continent-wide administrative structure, not registered with the Department of Labor, and do not administer contracts.
blarg
I don't think SeaSol is anti-capitalist, it just contains anti-capitalists. It is a direct action based group but doesn't have enough explicit content. It would be better to have more explicit anti-capitalist content, I think that would keep more people around and drawn towards anarchism. As it is the great majority of the people who stay involved are anarchists - why would anyone want to keep being involved otherwise except out of a sense of obligation or duty? Therefore we should be taking more steps to explain to new people why we're doing this in the longer term, which means introducing anarchist ideas into the language and presentation of SeaSol more.
Priama akcia's article related to the debate can be found here:
http://libcom.org/library/afterword-activities-related-workplace-community-our-conditions
nice!
also Hartford Network for Solidarity aka Hart N' Sol just won their first case against a millionaire landlord.
Can a mod approve my change to make the PDF links more visible please?
Russian translation can be found here: http://anarhobarnaul.org/seasol/
I'm not in SeaSol or the IWW, but from my understanding of this pamphlet, their strategy for moving from mutual aid for individual workers and tenants to workplace (and perhaps also neighborhood) based organization, is as good a strategy as any. Here it is as I understand it (someone correct me if I'm wrong).
1. Continue drawing in workers (and tenants) using the solidarity network tactics described in the pamphlet
2. Involve the new members in training workshops about workplace organizing (skills which are mostly applicable to tenant organizing).
3. Once an individual is trained in this, they can go back to their job and use those skills to create an IWW union local, or if the workplace is already unionized to create a militant rank and file organization within their workplace which will hopefully also draw in new IWW members as "dual-carders" (members of both their regular union and IWW). Even though most workers who approach SeaSol are seeking help for issues at a job they're no longer at, when they find a new job their organizing efforts can be done at their new workplace. The IWW remains in contact with the worker to provide ongoing support in their efforts. As the worker builds an organizing committee in their workplace, the others on this committee can also rely on the IWW for support and build skills through their training workshops.
4. Throughout this process, SeaSol's internal education group (SETI http://seticabal.wordpress.com/) will engage interested members in educational workshops and discussions on anarchism, revolution, and related themes.
By the way, can someone from SeaSol tell us how these education efforts are going? How much participation is there from members who entered SeaSol without revolutionary politics? How are they responding to the education, is it shifting their politics?
I think syndicalist and I would both like to know more about your last question.
Also SeaSol itself seems to be taking on the workplace collective fights side of things, and the initial thing of SeaSol being a project of the IWW has subsided and it is its own more independent thing now, with it's own goals, strategies, plans, etc.
You can get a glimpse of SETI here: https://seticabal.wordpress.com/
Essentially it's just a monthly planning session where those within SeaSol who are so inclined get together to do the planning to make sure that at least some revolutionary/anarcho-syndicalist political education (as well as organizing training) is happening within SeaSol. So that means speaking events, film screenings (sometimes directly following a SeaSol meeting), one-on-one discussions, distributing texts at meetings, and holding monthly discussion sessions. Most of this is deliberately tailored for those (usually newer folks) within SeaSol who are not already as politically educated. The results are hard to measure. So far I'd say on the whole SeaSol has been succeeding at growing without becoming less radical, and arguably SeaSol may actually be more anarchist now than it was in the past - that is, in terms of actual politics, not in terms of being embedded in the local activist milieu. However, it's hard to say how much of this is due to SETI vs other factors (people forming social bonds with anarchists within SeaSol, getting used to the essentially anarchist way we do things in the organization, getting invited via SeaSol to events supporting various other causes, etc). That said, I do know there are at least a few individuals active in SeaSol whose radicalization has definitely been assisted by SETI.
I guess I'd say SETI is moderately successful at achieving its aims, and is probably the best we can do with our current capacity, but it's still a very small and modest project. A lot more is needed. For instance, someday I hope we can start doing effective political education aimed at people _outside_ our current active membership...
Great piece! We translated it into German:
http://zweiter-mai.org/solidarische-netzwerke-ein-leitfaden/
Zweiter Mai
Thanks very much! If you could post that to our German language section as well we would really appreciate it (submit content - library)