Dear friends,
Over recent weeks Croydon Solidarity [1], AngryWorkers and other comrades have started a debate about how to intensify our collaboration and make it open for others. [2] This debate was compounded by the Covid-19 crisis around us and encouraged us to pronounce more clearly our need for a new form of working class organisation. This article is written in the spirit of this organisation. It is not a pompous programatic proclamation, but a work schedule, a discussion paper for the next strategic steps.
Our efforts have to be based on a broadly shared understanding of how capitalism works and how to overcome it. We will discuss these general questions, but our organisation will primarily distinguish and thereby open itself to others by concrete work, mutual committment and research. The general spirit is not to grow the organisation for the sake of it. Instead we want to help to grow the ability of the working class to self-organise internationally and to demonstrate the potential for communism in the actual movements of the class and the crisis of capital. For the moment our common platform is summarised here:
angryworkersworld.wordpress.com/about/
The focus of our activities will be the setting up of local solidarity networks in strategically important working class areas, activities in and around bigger workplaces, and the circulation of a regular local working class publication. We want to discuss openly and self-critically the experiences of setting up such minimal structures and support each other. We invite existing local initiatives to join in and potentially expand their activities. We are aware that not everyone is able to participate on this level for various reasons, but encourage those comrades to help the effort, e.g. through their research work or by help running the organisational infrastructure. We see the last six years of AngryWorkers activities in west London not as a template, but as something that has to be critically reviewed, also according to specific local conditions:
classpower.net/intro/
We need more than just a federal structure of local collectives. We need a common discussion and decisions that can shape local practice. The second focus is therefore to meet regularly to discuss the local experiences against the background of both the UK and international developments of class struggle. We feel responsible to help international comrades understand the situation in the UK and to establish contacts to local workers if needed.
We are in the process of preparing for a constituting and planning conference for the end of 2020. In order to make all this more concrete we write down some preliminary ideas for a 1-year plan, based on the assumption that 20 to 30 people and 4 to 5 local collectives take part, who are willing and able to meet quarterly.
* Initially we will have to focus on establishing a basic infrastructure, e.g. an online platform, to discuss our local experiences and to create a productive feedback loop: local experiences will inform our general discussions and out of our discussions we can provide valuable information for the local working class.
* This is where the concept of ‘getting rooted’ comes in. Rather than trying to squeeze the class into some organisational shape, we want to have our ears to the ground in working class industries and neighbourhoods in all their complexity – and base our organisational proposals on these concrete conditions. This also means making and then strengthening connections with militant workers, so that our research can be diffused and debated in key sectors.
* As part of the wider collaboration we should discuss bi-monthly ‘editorial articles’ that we can circulate in our local publications. Currently the most pressing subject would be an assessment of the global Covid-19 regime and the responses of the working class so far.
* Another basic step would be the develop of a self-schooling program for new comrades and working class militants: a series of texts and discussions which help to generalise the theoretical and practical knowledge amongst us and encourage critical thinking.
* Based on this organisational fundament we have to develop knowledge and infrastructures that have use value for the working class. At the upcoming constituting meeting we should decide on certain questions that seem the most pressing to answer in order to understand the current developments within our class. This could be the impact of automation as we experience it on the shop-floor or migration or the crisis of working class families. Another strategic research question would be the current division of labour between ‘science and technical staff’ and ‘manual workers’ in the essential industries. We can then develop a research and interview schedule in order to structure a collective work process. Results of the research should be fed back into local publications and the wider debate.
* Most importantly we have to create in-depth reports about strikes and struggles in the UK. Unfortunately most of the current left and union formations don’t see the importance of such in-depth reports or see a critical reflection of strong and weak points of struggles as a threat to their organisational reputation. The working class can only learn out of failures. For these reports we need a sharp view, which comes out of collective debates – and the will to visit strikes and to engage in longer open conversations with those involved. We have to find ways to feed this information back into the local class and make an extra effort to bring it to workers who have a strategic interest, e.g. because they go through a similar situation or work in the same sector. We appreciate the efforts that comrades of groups have undertaken in that regard, but feel that their efforts so far have lacked working class roots for the feedback.
* Over the course of a year, through local work and these struggle visits, we should be able to invite interested working class militants to an independent ‘struggle conference’. Currently we don’t see an independent forum for workers’ to discuss their experiences. The National Shop Steward Network is dominated by the official trade union apparatus and party politics. The World Transformed is geared towards the Labour Party and not a space for reflection. Initially these meetings won’t have a mass character, but a conference of 100 people in 2021 seems a realistic goal.
* On the upcoming constituting meeting we should also agree on steps to take part and contribute to the international debate. The most basic task is to write bi-annual reports about the general development of the crisis and class struggle in the UK. Here we see the internationalist summer-camp structure with comrades from, amongst others, Grupao in Brazil, Bad Kids and Asap Revolution in France, Wildcat in Germany, TPTG and Assembly of Workers and Unemployed in Greece, as our primary reference point. Depending on the general developments we should also systematise our participation in the internationalist website feverstruggle.net, on struggles against the Covid-19 regime.
These are just the bare bones of organisation. We hope that a mutual focus and commitment towards the wider working class will mean that relations within the organisation will be supportive and constructive, without having to spend too much time on discussing ‘how we discuss’ or organise ‘how we organise ourselves’. The focus is outwards and patience is required. We know that class struggle is not gradual and we want to bear that in mind in our day-to-day organising. We want to prepare ourselves for the leaps of struggle that will inevitably come. These leaps will be contradictory, like the Yellow Vests in France or the recent protests and strikes in Bolivia. We want to prepare ourselves not in order to ‘capture the flag’ of these movements, but in order to detect and support the emancipatory tendencies within them theoretically and practically.
If you are interested in taking part in the preparatory process of the constituting meeting, please drop us an email.
To reiterate, this meeting will not be an exciting happening (although it might be exciting, too), it will perhaps not feel like a hip and historical moment, but a moment of commitment to work together.
In solidarity
Comrades from Croydon Solidarity, AngryWorkers and others
www.letsgetrooted.wordpress.com
[1]
croydonkickoff.wordpress.com
[2]
https://angryworkersworld.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/ideas-for-our-angryzoomcalls/
https://angryworkersworld.wordpress.com/2020/04/06/ideas-for-our-angryzoomcall-2/
angryworkersworld.wordpress.com/2020/04…/
Comments
New entry on our UK
New entry on our UK initiative blog:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/09/croydon-solidarity-getting-rooted/
We plan a planning / discussing / work conference in Novermber, for comrades who see the need for the political autonomy of the class and want to get their hands dirty...
New entry on US
New entry on US uprising:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/us-uprising-against-police-violence-one/
We plan a discussion / work conference in November, for comrades who see the need for the political autonomy of the class and want to get their hands dirty...
Very good piece that.
Very good piece that.
New entry - Amazon drivers'
New entry - Amazon drivers' leaflet distributed by comrades in Croydon:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/amazon-drivers-leaflet-croydon/
We plan a discussion / work conference in November, for comrades who see the need for the political autonomy of the class and want to get their hands dirty...
And further thoughts on the
And further thoughts on the uprising in the US:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/us-uprising-against-police-violence-two/
We plan a discussion / work conference in November, for comrades who see the need for the political autonomy of the class and want to get their hands dirty...
Zoom discussion meeting with
Zoom discussion meeting with comrades from New York, Delhi, Edinburgh, London: student/workers struggles today...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/lets-get-rooted-zoom-debate-on-university-struggle-as-class-struggle/
New entry on Teesside
New entry on Teesside Solidarity, part of a series of short reflections on local groups
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/19/teesside-solidarity-getting-rooted/
Entries: Report on
Entries: Report on distribution of new workers' newsletter in Croydon, plus Tesco leaflet:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/20/reports-from-croydon-tesco-amazon-blm/
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/20/tesco-leaflet-croydon/
Blog post summary with
Blog post summary with recording of our meeting on 'university struggle as class struggle':
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/lets-get-rooted-zoom-debate-on-university-struggle-as-class-struggle/
New entry on crisis and
New entry on crisis and struggles in the aviation sector:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/22/crisis-in-the-air-where-are-the-workers-voices/
Extensive report on current
Extensive report on current situation in the UK - not only for comrades abroad:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/whats-going-down-on-covid-island-a-uk-report-june-2020/
New entry on Parkdale
New entry on Parkdale Organize, comrades from Toronto - part of our series on local groups:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/06/28/parkdale-organize-getting-rooted/
On the upcoming Tower Hamlet
On the upcoming Tower Hamlet Workers Strike:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/02/tower-hamlets-council-workers-strike/
And on a related note, I see
And on a related note, I see there's now an East London group: https://twitter.com/east_wildcat
Short report from strike day
Short report from strike day one in Tower Hamlets:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/06/tower-hamlet-council-workers-strike-day-one/
We started an interview
We started an interview series with workers about the power relations during and after the Covid lockdown:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/07/interview-series-workers-power-during-the-lockdown/
Here is the first interview with a London Underground worker:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/07/lockdown-interviews-london-underground-worker/
Please circulate...
LETS GET ROOTED comrades from
LETS GET ROOTED comrades from Croydon wrote down their experience from supporting Pizza Hut workers during the lock down...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/11/pizza-hut-struggle-under-covid-a-balance-sheet/
Report on day three of the
Report on day three of the Tower Hamlets Council workers strike...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/12/tower-hamlets-council-workers-strike-day-three
Second interview - how did
Second interview - how did power relations between bosses and workers change during lockdown? With a NHS midwive...
'Let's get rooted' is no spectator sport - get politically organised!
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/15/lockdown-interviews-nhs-community-midwive/
Ciao comrades, Two new
Ciao comrades,
Two new entries on the 'Let's get rooted'-blog.
Another interview in our lockdown series. The aim of the interviews is to understand the shift in the power relation between the bosses and our class during the pandemic. We a think that manual and often low paid 'essential' workers will have gathered confidence during the lockdown. This is counter-acted by the bosses' attempt to use the crisis and increasing unemployment against us and to put pressure on wages and conditions from above. In order to organise, we have to listen and understand. This time we interviewed primary school students about their experiences during lockdown and key workers' school.
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/20/lockdown-interviews-two-primary-school-students/
Comrades of ‘Let’s get rooted’ have been active in the strike of public sector workers in Tower Hamlets. In Croydon down the road the council also announced cuts – comrades from Croydon Solidarity distributed leaflets and spoke to local workers. We have to point out that few of the workers we spoke to even knew that their colleagues in Tower Hamkets were on strike. Another piece of evidence that we can’t rely on the formal communication channels of the trade unions. Below a short report.
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/20/from-tower-hamlets-to-croydon-spread-the-resistance-of-public-sector-and-allied-workers/
'Let's get rooted' is not a journalistic effort. We want to build working class political autonomy from below. Stop wavering, get involved.
Comrades wrote an update on
Comrades wrote an update on the Tower Hamlets council workers' strike:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/25/tower-hamlets-key-workers-vote-to-continue-strike-action/
New analysis of mutual aid,
New analysis of mutual aid, social reproduction and crisis in South London:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/26/mutual-aid-social-reproduction-and-crisis-in-south-london/
New interview with NHS worker
New interview with NHS worker about the changes in the balance of power during lockdown...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/27/lockdown-interviews-nhs-worker/
New review of 'Tracksuits,
New review of 'Tracksuits, traumas, and class traitors' up on our blog:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/review-tracksuits-traumas-and-class-traitors/
A short interview with
A short interview with comrades of (ex) Hobo collective in Bologna:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/
For the Hobo
For the Hobo interview:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/02/hobo-a-short-interview-with-comrades-from-italy/
Are we part of the left? Some
Are we part of the left? Some thoughts after a discussion of Sai Englert's text on organisation. Collective response to Englert's article still to come...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/05/are-we-part-of-the-left/
Short article on recent
Short article on recent protests of migrants / workers from Afghanistan against state repression in Iran
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/06/silence-about-the-repression-of-workers-from-the-hindu-kush
New interview in the lockdown
New interview in the lockdown series: bike courier in Denmark...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/07/lockdown-interviews-bike-courier/
New translation: struggle of
New translation: struggle of agricultural migrant workers in Italy
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/08/agricultural-workers-in-italy-fight-for-their-regularisation/
Been meaning to ask, is it
Been meaning to ask, is it alright if Freedom occasionally reproduces AWW stuff, with attribution?
Summary of our recent debate
Summary of our recent debate of the ‘Open letter to John Holloway’ by Wildcat. Working class action needs theory and collective reflection
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/10/working-class-theory-discussing-the-open-letter-to-john-holloway/
Sure thing, welcome...
Sure thing, welcome...
The FT just reported that
The FT just reported that 6,000 BA workers applied for voluntary redundancy - that's how much they trust the unions to defend their jobs...
An interview with a Heathrow worker, part of our lockdown series...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/lockdown-interviews-heathrow-worker/
Unison blocks five-day strike
Unison blocks five-day strike in Tower Hamlets:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/12/unison-blocks-five-day-strike-in-tower-hamlets/
New translation of Wildcat
New translation of Wildcat text on Corona, the meat industry and the workers. Lets get rooted isn't a subsidiary of Google Translate - its an organised political effort for communists who are not afraid of the working class and its contradictions...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/15/the-daily-grind-corona-the-meat-industry-and-the-workers/
Interview with housing
Interview with housing officer in Manchester...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/17/lockdown-interviews-housing-officer/
New lockdown interview - with
New lockdown interview - with waitress...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/08/25/lockdown-interviews-waitress/
Meeting on lessons of the
Meeting on lessons of the Wapping dispute, with participant
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/02/wapping-86-picket-bulletin-and-the-new-technology-golem-event
New book review
New book review 'Revolutionary Yiddishland'...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/book-review-revolutionary-yiddishland-a-history-of-jewish-radicalism/
We started a series of
We started a series of articles describing concrete experiences with 'working class internationalism', e.g. international strike support or creating links with comrades abroad. Here is the intro to the series. More to come soon...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/working-class-internationalism-series/
Lockdown interview with Royal
Lockdown interview with Royal Mail workers...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/07/lockdown-interviews-royal-mail-worker/
First part in our
First part in our internationalism series, on Gezi Park:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/14/internationalism-turkey/
Our updated contact page with local group presentations:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/contact-local-groups/
And three longer presentations from Heathrow, Bristol, Croydon
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/14/local-groups-heathrow/
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/14/local-groups-bristol/
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/14/local-groups-croydon/
Questions to our comrades in
Questions to our comrades in the USA regarding the current mobilisation against police violence - feel free to respond!
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/22/questions-for-comrades-in-the-us-from-wildcat-comrades/
New interview with volunteer worker
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/22/lockdown-interview-elderly-people-charity-volunteer-worker/
Recording of our meeting on
Recording of our meeting on Wapping '86 and interesting comments written down by a comrade after the meeting: how have class relations changed since then?
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/24/wapping-86-and-beyond-how-have-class-relations-changed
The 'Comments After the
The 'Comments After the Meeting' additional text on this last posting about Wapping and Beyond in relation to the changing class composition particularly in terms of the authors experience in the UK well worth others reading again. Thanks.
Is there any plan to stick
Is there any plan to stick the recording on a soundcloud or similar? Dunno about anyone else, but I found it very buggy when trying to stream through my phone's browser. Maybe listeners are meant to download it, but that seems like a bit of extra faff?
Interview with 1st year
Interview with 1st year respiratory nurse...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/09/30/lockdown-interviews-1st-year-qualified-respiratory-nurse/
On 15th of October meeting
On 15th of October meeting with comrades in Sao Paolo:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/10/04/zoom-debate-with-comrades-of-grupao-from-brazil/
Dear all, just a little
Dear all,
just a little reminder that this meeting is on today - email us for the Zoom link…
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/10/04/zoom-debate-with-comrades-of-grupao-from-brazil/
Lockdown Interviews - Call
Lockdown Interviews - Call centre worker:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/10/21/lockdown-interviews-call-centre-worker/
New leaflet by the Heathrow
New leaflet by the Heathrow group:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/10/25/leaflet-for-heathrow-workers/
Leaflet for Whirlpool factory
Leaflet for Whirlpool factory workers in Bristol about the struggle against factory closure in Naples:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/10/30/bristol-whirlpool-factory-leaflet/
Our comrades at Heathrow have
Our comrades at Heathrow have a new blog, with updates on aviation struggles:
https://heathrowworkerspower.wordpress.com
This article on Covid and
This article on Covid and workers in Bangladesh is from May 2020, but still a good basis for understanding the situation:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/11/16/covid-and-workers-in-bangladesh/
We discussed this text at our
We discussed this text at our general meeting last weekend - on class consciousness and organisation. Minutes will follow...
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/11/19/class-consciousness-and-organisation-november-meeting/
We also discussed this
We also discussed this summary on the situation in the UK:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/11/19/current-situation-in-the-uk-november-meeting/
Leaflet on recent wildcat
Leaflet on recent wildcat actions at Amazon in Poland
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/11/21/leaflet-on-current-wildcat-actions-at-amazon-poland/
General leaflet to Amazon workers in Croydon:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/11/20/amazon-drivers-leaflet-croydon-2/
Interview with a student who
Interview with a student who took part in the university occupation:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/11/23/interview-manchester-university-occupation/
Heathrow Workers Newsletter
Heathrow Workers Newsletter from our comrades, for next week's strike:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/11/27/heathrow-workers-newsletter-no-1/
Public minutes of our
Public minutes of our November AngryWorkers general meeting:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/11/27/brief-summary-of-minutes-of-the-general-angryworkers-meeting-november-2020/
I'm glad someone pointed out
I'm glad someone pointed out to you what you're website name means in Strayan.
'Let's get rooted' - That was
'Let's get rooted' - That was a conscious decision to triple our membership down under :-)
Leaflet for a postponed strike in Bristol:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/11/29/airbus-securitas-workers-strike-in-bristol/
Lockdown interviews - Amazon
Lockdown interviews - Amazon worker
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/12/07/lockdown-interviews-amazon-worker/
Two new interviews about
Two new interviews about changes at work during the lockdown
Morrisons worker
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/12/29/lockdown-interviews-supermarket-worker/
University lecturer
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2020/12/30/lockdown-interviews-university-lecturer/
Dear comrades, We have a new
Dear comrades,
We have a new lockdown interview with a young McDonalds worker on our blog: https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2021/01/01/lockdown-interviews-mcdonalds-worker/
Finally friends helped us putting subtitles under this short video, an interview with Enrico Baglioni on workers’ committees and working class violence in the late 1970s. The book link for further readings is in the blurb below the video: https://en.labournet.tv/enrico-baglioni
In solidarity
Some
AngryWorkers
An interview with
An interview with agricultural workers in Kent:
https://letsgetrooted.wordpress.com/2021/01/06/lockdown-interviews-agricultural-worker/
Lockdown interview with
Lockdown interview with comrade who works at Wetherspoons...
https://www.angryworkers.org/2021/02/15/lockdown-interviews-wetherspoons-worker/
New editorial on Covid
New editorial on Covid crisis:
https://www.angryworkers.org/2021/02/19/editorial-1-the-covid-crisis-facing-the-whole-of-humanity/