What's new on "ideas & action" website (W.S.A.)

Interview with Irish Anarchist Pro-Choice Activist Aileen O’Carroll
http://ideasandaction.info/2012/11/interview-with-irish-anarchist-pro-choice-activist-aileen-ocarroll/

Bring Alex Home for Christmas!
http://ideasandaction.info/2012/12/bring-alex-home-for-christmas/

The Revolution Will Be Social
By Steven Fake

http://ideasandaction.info/2012/12/the-revolution-will-be-social/

The Revolutionary Party Is An Oxymoron
By Steven Fake

The campaign of socialist Kshama Sawant for the Seattle City Council continues to attract excitement on the left for her strong showing. A Counterpunch contributor recently called it a “highly significant” development. I wish her well of course. A socialist threat in the city of Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks is indeed heart warming. Hopefully the publicity will introduce some new people to socialism. But electoral campaigns are not a promising strategy for systemic change.

As a native of Reading, PA, one of only three cities in the country that were once controlled by socialists (the others being Bridgeport, CT and Milwaukee, WI), I can appreciate the genuine positive policy implications (The Historical Review of Berks County noted in 1965 that ”the Socialists should be remembered for having given Reading the best municipal government it has had within the lifetime of any Reading citizen today”) and hopeful symbolism involved. It’s a bit like the emotions stirred up by electing the first black president. History, however, forces us to cast a skeptical eye on this route.

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2013/09/the-revolutionary-party-is-an-oxymoron/#sthash.rJYW9Sgo.dpuf

http://ideasandaction.info/2013/09/the-revolutionary-party-is-an-oxymoron/

http://ideasandaction.info/2010/11/working-in-nonprofit-organizations/

Thoughts on SolFed’s anarcho-syndicalism for the 21st century and Especifismo
By Klas Batalo

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2013/09/thoughts-on-solfeds-anarcho-syndicalism-for-the-21st-century-and-especifismo/#sthash.kj5aUMFE.dpuf

akai

In my opinion it is just a platformist inspired reinvention.

What is?

Lost Conversations: Questioning the legacy of anarchosyndicalism
By Scott Nappalos

There is more interest than ever in anarchosyndicalist unions, their history,
and lessons for doing organizing in today’s context. During its peak,
anarchosyndicalism engaged millions of workers on every continent except
Antarctica. Though the Spanish experience through the CNT and 1936 revolution
stands out, anarchosyndicalism was perhaps stronger in Latin America and Asia
than [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2013/09/lost-conversations-questioning-the-legacy-of-anarchosyndicalism/

Pennoid

Why doesn't Ideas and Action set up a Blog section on Libcom A la recomposition?

Thanks for the thought. We've never been asked. And we've been so infrequent in publishing (working on trying to change this).

syndicalist might be able to chime in with some of our recent proposals seeking articles on anarcho-syndicalism in the united states and on the current new worker organizing.

Two "invitations" for submission for ideas and action

Submissions are welcomed and encouraged:

Topic 1:

Current Workers Struggles Discussion

Greetings comrades,

Perhaps there are new winds or increased winds of class struggle lately.
Fast food, warehouse/retail IWW growth, workers centers,wage theft,
alleged "alternative labor" and other developments. or trends

"ideas & action" would like to open its electronic pages for an exchange of
points of view on these topics from a libertarian workers' perspective.

Some of you have already written on these topics. If so, you can quote heavily
from your own and already on-line postings. Making it easier for you
to actually give
us copy. The aim is to try and bring together in one place
contemporary US views on
the current struggles and trends.

Aside from presenting the articles, perhaps a lively readership discussion
might ensue.

All submissions would be done as individuals, not as representing
organizational perspectives per se.

Here are some initial and general thoughts:

1. Submission critically supportive of fast food campaigns

2. Submission totally or mainly critical

3. Submission promoting IWW Food Workers perspective

4. Other

Any additional thoughts, suggestions, comments
are invited and welcome.

This is an initial and BCC email and we invite your suggestions for additional
authors as well.

Topic 2

Which Way Forward for US Anarcho-syndicalists" (ideas & action)
[/quote]

Greetings ....,

Given ...on anarcho-syndicalism ... "ideas & action" would like to open
its electronic pages for an exchange of points of view on
"Which Way Forward for US Anarcho-syndicalists" (or better and sexier title)?

[For those comrades who have written on their blogs or on Libcom].....
Basically, you can quote heavily from your own and already on-line postings.
Making it easier for you to actually give us copy. The aim is to try and bring
together in one place contemporary US views on anarchy-syndicalism and,
perhaps, anarcho-syndicalist organization, networking, what have you..

Aside from presenting the articles, perhaps a lively readership discussion
might ensue.

All submissions would be done as individuals, not as representing
organizational perspectives per se.

Any additional thoughts, suggestions, possible authors, comments
are invited and welcome.

Appreciate the positive feedback re: blogging

Oldie but goodie:
http://ideasandaction.info/2010/07/review-international-socialist-review-on-contemporary-anarchism/

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'An interview with the Iberia section of
the CNT union'

Editor's note: Developments since this interview was conducted earlier this year
have borne out the predictions expressed by the CNT-Iberia
representative interviewed below. Last week, Reuters reported:

"Cutbacks at Iberia could force Madrid's Barajas airport to allow other airlines
to use the terminal previously reserved for the exclusive use of the Spanish
flag carrier and its Oneworld [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2013/10/an-interview-with-the-iberia-section-of-the-cnt-union/

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'A History of the Solidarity
Federation'

By Martin, South London SF

The Solidarity Federation was formed in 1994, at a conference in Blackpool,
Lancashire, called by the Direct Action Movement,
industrial networks and Norwich Solidarity Centre.

To understand why and how this came about, we need to look back into
developments happening in the Direct Action Movement in the 1980s and early
90s.

The DAM [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2013/10/a-history-of-the-solidarity-federation/

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'President Maduro and the
"Anarcho-syndicalists" in Venezuela'

Editorial note: The subject of the short article below by the Venezuelan
anarchist group El Libertario is of particular salience, as Maduro's attack
happens to parallel recent developments here in the U.S. where top Democratic
politicians and the Chelsea Manning prosecution have both used the term
'anarchist' to slur their opponents.

As for the strike prompting [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2013/10/president-maduro-and-the-anarcho-syndicalists-in-venezuela/

bump

ideas and action

okay, so we have an account here now. it'd be great to get blog permissions, for when we'd post our next article. thanks libcom.org collective! :D

YES! and THANKS!

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'La Alzada: “The revolution must
include the feminist struggle, with and inside the libertarian”'

By José Antonio Gutiérrez D.

Note from translator: The word “alzada” is the feminine form of the
Spanish word that means rebel, instigator, or escalator. The term “territorial
work” refers to community and neighborhood work. In Chile territorial work
can refer to community organizations within, as well as those who support and
offer solidarity within a [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2013/10/la-alzada-the-revolution-must-include-the-feminist-struggle-with-and-inside-the-libertarian/

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'Starbucks union strike in Chile'

Editorial Note:

In September of this year US based member of the IWW were able to meet and
connect with members of the Starbucks Union in Chile. They are now waging a
strike over the company’s refusal to meet a single demand of the union and
calling for support and solidarity actions.

Beginning in one store in [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2013/11/starbucks-union-strike-in-chile/

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'The Seeds of Anarchism'

The seeds of anarchism appear most naturally in the daily struggle of the
working class. Truly the tyranny of the capitalist system is most fully realized
in the hierarchy of the workplace and the dictatorial rule of the bosses. In no
place outside of prison are basic freedoms so restricted as in the workplace. In
[...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2013/12/the-seeds-of-anarchism/

ideas and action has posted a new item

'The Elk River Spill --- Capitalism at
its "best"'

By G.

On the morning of Thursday, January 9, 2014, 7500 gallons of a coal cleaning
chemical known as Crude MCHM (principally composed
of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol) leaked from a storage tank and then from a
containment wall at a facility on the banks of the Elk River in West Virginia.

The chemical, distinguished by a strong odor of licorice, soon reached the
intake [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2014/01/the-elk-river-spill-capitalism-at-its-best-2/

ideas and action has posted a new item,
'The state of the union is ...unequal'

By Mike Harris

OK, so the "little person" has been fighting against wage theft, low wages,
and harsh working and living conditions for years. Sometimes alone and lonely,
sometimes collectively and in a self-managed way. For the past year or so,
mainstream labor, through various grass-roots and top-down efforts has tried to
coordinate the fight against poverty [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2014/01/the-state-of-the-union-is-unequal/

ideas and action has posted a new item,

White Supremacy and the Looting of Detroit
By Mike Kolhoff

The court has ruled, so the legalized looting of Detroit will go ahead as
Governor Snyder has planned. The Emergency Manager has ordered the DIA to
provide him with a list of the values of the many artworks in the institute. The
city water works are also probably going to be sold, as [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2014/01/white-supremacy-and-the-looting-of-detroit/

Interview with La Alzada—Acción Feminista Libertaria
“The hallmark of La Alzada, unlike other feminist spaces, it was initially designed as an organization that conceives feminist work from concrete practice”

By Lyudmila

Dec 1, 2013

1. Since its inception a year ago, and its initial public announcement as an organization on International Women’s Day, La Alzada has gone through many collective experiences, changes, and continual redefinition. Can you describe some decisive moments, experiences, and thoughts that have helped define La Alzada during this period?

Since the formation of La Alzada, we have gone through a process of constant growth and maturation, whose origin lies in two concerns: to insert feminism in the public space from a leftist and revolutionary perspective, as well as position issues such as sexism and patriarchy within organizations of a militant character. At the time in our definition as feminists and anarchists, we set out with the idea of recovering the historical memory of the women’s liberation movement, building our own vision of what we mean by the feminist movement. Also, from a process of self-education, we found ourselves with a theoretical and practical challenge: to provide analytical content to anarcha-feminist practices.

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2014/02/interview-with-la-alzada-accion-feminista-libertaria/#sthash.tHKmJw6t.dpuf

ideas and action has posted a new item:

'Lunch Lady Land: reflections on a unionization drive from a radical food service worker'

It was sometime in late February, 2011 when we let the cat out of the
bag. I was working the swing shift in the college's main cafeteria ­
"The Den" as it was known. It was starting to get dark, and I had
just clocked out for my lunch
break and stepped outside onto the smoking dock. No sooner had I sat
down on an overturned milk
crate, when my friend and coworker Emilio came charging around the
corner, panting, wide­-eyed and grimacing.

"Mallory's telling everybody, fool!" he hissed at me through clenched teeth.

Like me, Emilio was a cook (though we sometimes joked our job
description was "lunch lady"). We were also both on a union
organizing committee for our kitchen. We'd been organizing
"underground" for months, building the committee in secret. We
weren't yet ready to go public.

I spasmed a double ­take. "Are you fucking with me?"
[...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2014/02/lunch-lady-land-reflections-on-a-unionization-drive-from-a-radical-food-service-worker/

"Lunch Lady" ---- really like the closing comment:

“If there’s a moral to my story, it’s this: all genuine organizing transforms people. Even the most restrained, mediated campaign takes intensive relational work to get off the ground ­ and once it has, can awaken workers to our own power. This should be even truer for struggles with revolutionary aspirations.”

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2014/02/lunch-lady-land-reflections-on-a-unionization-drive-from-a-radical-food-service-worker/#sthash.zYMzcTh2.dpuf

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'Lighting a Black Flame: The history and
politics of global anarchism and syndicalism'

Transcript of talk by Lucien van der Walt, São Paulo, Brazil, 2 November 2010,
Ay Carmela, Rua das Carmelitas

I would like to thank everybody for coming today. I understand it’s a public
holiday today. So, thanks for coming. Now, Black Flame is a big book, and taken
as a whole the book is quite a [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2014/04/lighting-a-black-flame-the-history-and-politics-of-global-anarchism-and-syndicalism/

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'Property Before People'

By Mike Kolhoff

“Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.” --John
Locke
The granting of corporations the status and protections usually reserved for
individuals has hammered home a simple message: property is more important than
people. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the repression of the
radical ecology movement known as the “Green Scare”; in every prosecution
for civil disobedience or sabotage, the “rights” of private property have
consistently been demonstrated as superior to those of individual human
protesters freedom to act on their beliefs.

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2014/06/property-before-people/

From the archives of the print magazine "ideas & action"

Yugoslavia: Model of workers self-management?

http://ideasandaction.info/1984/03/yugoslavia-model-workers-self-management/

Two articles written at the time of the break-up of the
Anarchist-Communist Federation of North America (ACF).

The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

http://ideasandaction.info/1982/12/decline-fall-acf/

Evaluating two decades of indigenous resistance in Chiapas – A Reply to Dan La Botz
By Steven Fake

Dan La Botz, a long-time labor activist who has considerable familiarity with Mexican affairs, marked the 20th anniversary of the Zapatista rebellion by penning a reflection on their legacy. His critique reflects his openness to electoral strategies for social change. La Botz is a member of Solidarity, one of the handful of Trotskyist-inspired groups of any visibility in the U.S. His views may be taken as broadly representative of a substantial chunk of the left, particularly Marxists.

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2014/06/evaluating-decades-indigenous-resistance-chiapas-reply-dan-la-botz/#sthash.awwWZRyi.dpuf

http://ideasandaction.info/2014/06/evaluating-decades-indigenous-resistance-chiapas-reply-dan-la-botz/

Incapacity, White Supremacy, and the Destruction of Detroit
By Mike Kolhoff

The destruction of Detroit continues according to the plans of Michigan’s Teapublican-controlled state government. Their racist intentions are obvious. They want to drive out the existing African American population, and replace it with one more to their liking. The recent proposal by Governor Snyder to offer financial incentives to encourage high-tech workers to relocate to Detroit is only the most blatant, while cutting off WATER to thousands of current residents is certainly the most despicable. The parallel to the post-Katrina depopulation of New Orleans is brought to mind; New Orleans, that other major American city with a majority African American population.

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2014/06/incapacity-white-supremacy-destruction-detroit/#sthash.FdEcYzSn.dpuf

New ideas & action article:

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'The Chinese and American Synthesis'

By Mike Kolhoff

It’s been clear that the Chinese and American economies have become closely
intertwined since the end of the Cold War. Once arch-enemies, China is now a
close trading partner with the United States, able even to influence the content
of American motion pictures (re: the remake of “Red Dawn”). A vast
distribution network, evidenced most dramatically in the dollar stores, has
arisen primarily for cheap Chinese-made consumer goods. Impoverished Americans
now buy cheap goods made by equally impoverished Chinese workers. The
pauperization of the American working class by neo-liberal policies has meant
massive profits for the exporters and importers of these cheap commodities.

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2014/08/chinese-american-synthesis/

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'Lessons from the Air Traffic
Controllers’ Strike of 1981 '

A.E. Martinez

August 3rd, 1981: Approximately 13,000 air traffic controllers across the United
States declare a strike through their union, the Professional Air Traffic
Controllers’ Organization (PATCO). Their strike echoed the usual demands of
the labor movement: better wages, better working conditions, a shorter workweek,
and ultimately a greater voice for workers at work. Indeed, the PATCO strike was
hardly remarkable in any way. In our own decade, we have seen public-sector
workers walk out several times over grievances basically identical to those of
the PATCO workers, whether they were Chicago schoolteachers in 2012, New York
City subway workers in 2014, or Philadelphia subway workers again in the same
year.

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2014/08/lessons-air-traffic-controllers-strike-1981/

WSA 30 Year Anniversary By Steven Fake

I am a relative newcomer to the WSA. I did not join until 2006. I might have joined some years earlier had I only heard of its existence. WSA is not exactly the most visible political organization in the country. This is unsurprising as anarcho-syndicalism is scarcely known as an ideological tendency in modern America. When I did eventually learn of the WSA it was via the byline of a member writing in a leftist internet publication. The sort of media one finds only if looking for it rather than the kind of rag that can be picked up on a whim at the street corner, perhaps while waiting for the bus. Discovering the WSA was something of a relief for me – proof that there were living members of a tradition which I felt intuitively to be correct, yet had encountered only in history books. If anarcho-syndicalism is, as Noam Chomsky believes, “the proper mode of organization for a highly complex, advanced industrial society”, then what are we to make of the invisibility of the organized tendency in the U.S.?

See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2014/11/anarcho-syndicalism-america/#more-1648

Why Consensus Decision-making Won’t Work for Grassroots Unionism
By Tom Wetzel

Syndicalists have always supported a form of direct democracy based on majority rule. Like most American unions, the Industrial Workers of the World officially endorses Robert’s Rules of Order — although some of their smaller branches use a stripped down version called Rusty’s Rules.1 The point to taking a vote is that it enables an organized group to come to a decision that expresses the collective will, even when there is some disagreement.

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2014/11/consensus-decision-making-wont-work-grassroots-unionism/#sthash.WD8pKICp.dpuf

From the "News Shorts" column by Adam Weaver....

Making Sense of the State Minimum Wage Hikes

http://ideasandaction.info/2014/11/making-sense-state-minimum-wage-hikes/

From the "News Shorts" column by Mike K. ....

Voting? Why bother?

http://ideasandaction.info/2014/11/voting-bother/

From the "News Shorts" column by Tom W. . ....

On the IWW campaign at Whole Foods in San Francisco

See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2014/11/iww-campaign-foods-san-francisco/#sthash.q40RxomO.dpuf

ideas and action has posted a new item,

Modern Slavery and the Triumph of Capitalism
(Part One)'

By Mike Kolhoff

The ideological push for the “science” of free trade has unleashed enormously destructive forces for social and cultural change that have wreaked
havoc on the populations of developing countries. Rapid urbanization and restructuring of agricultural activities, upon which people have depended for
centuries, has spelled disaster. In rural areas, the loss of common [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2014/11/modern-slavery-triumph-capitalism-part-one/

Posted today ----- ideas and action has posted a new item:

'What is Class Oppression? Who is the Working Class?'

By Tom Wetzel

Occupy Wall Street highlighted class inequality in the USA through its talk
about the concentration of income and wealth in the hands of "the 1 percent."
This does put a bullseye on the ruling class in our society. But much of the
talk about class in recent times has focused on income inequality. The idea is
that "the 1 percent" are at the top because they have the highest incomes. But
this fails to get to the heart of the matter. The existence of different income
levels doesn’t explain why there are classes at all. After all, what explains
why there are such huge differences in income?

When American union leaders talk about a worker struggle as a “defense of
middle class jobs”, you'd think they must lead an organization of lawyers and
doctors. Again, this is about income. In the past, unions in some industries
were able to use their leverage to secure wage gains that would enable some
workers to “lead a middle class lifestyle.”

That way of looking at things is a product of the years of the so-called
“class truce” after World War 2. By the ‘40s workers had gained major
concessions from the capitalist elite in North America and Western Europe.

Read the whole article at ---- http://ideasandaction.info/2014/11/class-oppression-working-class/

Our hosting service's server (riseup) is down and ideasandaction.info is temporarily unavailable. We are working to get the site back up as soon as possible.

Up and runnin again.....

News Shorts: http://ideasandaction.info/category/news-short/

Remembering Sam Mbah: http://ideasandaction.info/2014/11/remembering-sam-mbah/

'Modern Slavery and the Triumph of Capitalism, Part 2: Modern Slavery in the USA'

By Mike Kolhoff

“Forced labor is most prevalent in five sectors of the US economy:
prostitution and sex services (46%); domestic service (27%); agriculture (10%); sweatshop/factory work (5%); and restaurant and hotel work (4%).” David Batstone, Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade, 2010, p. 214 The USA is not the only country where modern slavery exists, or even the one with the highest level of modern slavery, but it is the country that does make
the biggest noise about “liberty”. It is also one of the few western
countries where slavery existed as a legal institution after 1850. The peculiar symbol of the huge crack in the Liberty Bell perhaps best illustrates the broken nature of the “liberty” won by the American War of Independence, a liberty that left 4 million living in chattel slavery. So liberty in the United States was then, and is today, hypocrisy wrapped in abstraction.

Slavery did not end in the USA in 1865, but the legal institution of slavery did. There is an undeniable difference between being legally owned by capitalists as personal property, and in being merely rented as another type of resource for use in extracting profit. The first is infinitely worse, but both are without question fundamentally dehumanizing. In the eyes of the capitalists, the only difference is one of profitability. Eventually it was discovered by the
capitalists that it was more cost-effective to rent workers rather than own them outright. While wage-labor soon came to dominate as the preferred method of exploitation, slavery continues to be a source of profit to the present day.

You may view the latest post at:

http://ideasandaction.info/2015/01/modern-slavery-triumph-capitalism-part-2-modern-slavery-usa/

Support the workers struggle at Amazon.com Poland

Dear Friends, Comrades & Fellow/Sister Workers,

Recently a group of Polish Amazon warehouse workers struck against unsafe working conditions and pay issues at two Polish fulfillment centers. The workers are contracted through Manpower, Addeco and other temp agencies.

According to the Polish Syndicalist Union (ZSP), the union the workers
are organizing with:

“The working conditions are even worse than in other countries. Not only the low pay and long hours. Some Amazon workers, especially those hired by agencies, complain of a number of problems including late payments, incorrect payments, not having the mandatory health insurance payments, etc. etc. There is also the matter of workers in one center having a higher rate than in he other.”

The Polish ZSP Amazon workers have launched an international campaign in support of their effort to change conditions at Amazon in Poland.

In solidarity, the Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA) is initiating a support campaign for the workers week of action. Their campaign will start on Monday, January 26 and end Saturday, January 31st.

Please join us in endorsing this campaign and in taking action.

Below, please find campaign action details.

Yours in solidarity,

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2015/01/zsp-ait-support-workers-struggle-amazon-com-poland/#sthash.0laGMjL7.dpuf

Want to Build an Anarchosyndicalist Organization?
By Ann Kij

The following is based on observations of different organizations, local groups and unions. While sometimes different ways work in different circumstances, I feel there are some practices which get organizations off track and some that are useful for moving forward. In all cases I am speaking about smallish sized organizations which have yet to develop as a union but would like to. Organizations which are larger or have certain experience tend to have different issues.

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/#sthash.LOb7LZpB.dpuf

http://ideasandaction.info/2015/02/build-anarchosyndicalist-organization/

Anarcho-Syndicalist Organizations – Operating Principles
By Ann Kij

Last week I wrote some advice about what to consider if you want to start an anarcho-syndicalist organization. That advice concerned mainly focusing on your activity. Another important area would be setting out your operating principles in line with anarcho-syndicalist practice.

Mostly this means writing good statutes for the organization. If we look through the statutes of existing organizations, we see many different provisions, but some common elements. The common elements rest on the idea that the decision making in the organization should come from below and that anybody who is chosen to perform a function in the organization should be held accountable, be recallable and should be rotated. These ideas are very important, because anarcho-syndicalists aim to create a libertarian society and thus, the strive to embody these ideas in the functioning of their organizations.

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2015/02/anarcho-syndicalist-organizations-operating-principles/#sthash.lKkX4P9k.dpuf

'On RailCon15: the Future of Railroads'

By Tom Wetzel

More than 120 people attended the Future of Railroads Conference (RailCon15) in
Richmond, California, March 14th, organized by Railroad Workers United, with
support from local environmental groups and others.

Ron Kaminkow of Railroad Workers United talked about the history of railway
worker attempts to build industry wide solidarity and unity, going back to the
American Railway Union of Gene Debs in the 1890s. These efforts were stymied by
the persistence of the conservative craft unions. The railroads are able to play
one craft union off against the other to the detriment of rail workers. Railroad
Workers United is an effort to build solidarity and unity of the workers across
occupations and unions.

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2015/03/future-railroads/

New on ideas and action -

Why solidarity is necessary – but it’s not just about class
By Geoff

“An injury to one is an injury to all”. This IWW slogan characterizes the solidarity necessitated by class struggle. It characterizes the idea that it’s necessary for the working class to cooperate and work together towards their individual interests, as these are also class interests. The interests of gaining control over economic, social and work decisions which affect the working class directly is made necessary due to the odious nature of our current global economic conditions.

But this slogan really goes further than just class. It is also an embodiment of the solidarity necessitated by intersecting forms of oppression which divide the working class and hinder their ability to fight back in the global class war. Intersectional, meaning, issues concerned with intersections between forms or systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. These issues also create various social hierarchies which marginalize and disempower people. Examples of these issues include, but are not limited to, racism, sexism, queerphobia and gender essentialism. For instance, sexual harassment in the workplace, workplace discrimination on bounds of race or gender, and gender essentialism when it comes to the dignity of transgender folks who often experience terrible cruelty from others when they need to use public restrooms.

http://ideasandaction.info/2015/04/solidarity-its-class/

Reply to ISO on Syndicalism - By Tom Wetzel

The International Socialist Organization’s webzine socialistworker.org recently published a critique of revolutionary syndicalism in the form of a review of Radical Unionism by Ralph Darlington. The review, by Tom Goulet, makes a number of mistaken claims.

The claim that “syndicalist unions broke off from mainstream federations to form ‘purely revolutionary’ unions, cutting themselves off from the mass of workers” doesn’t hold up, though it does conform to the Leninist orthodoxy of Leftwing Communism: An Infantile Disorder. There were many countries where the syndicalist unions were the majority – such as Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Brazil. Syndicalist unions in South Africa, such as the Industrial Workers of Africa (modeled on the IWW) were the only union that organized native African workers, who were excluded from the white craft unions.

At the time of the mass occupation of the factories in Italy in September, 1920, the USI was claiming 800,000 members, and the factory councils formed throughout Italy in those events were mostly organized by the USI. Moreover, it was the anarcho-syndicalists who initiated a militia movement (arditti del popolo) to fight Mussolini’s fascist squads. But the Communists didn’t cooperate and the Socialist Party capitulated to fascism.

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2015/04/reply-iso-syndicalism/#sthash.PfvgGXpZ.dpuf

The (End) Work Zone: Tales of Spontaneous Rebellion in the Workplace
By Smoker

The normal course of a person’s working life typically produces a plethora of stories where the boss got one over on the employees and faced no retribution; countless unfair firings, anomalies with the paycheck, bullying, mistreatment and abuse. Hidden within, and on the periphery of these tales, is evidence of a small scale class-struggle springing into and out of existence in every imaginable kind of workplac.

While many of these instances of rebellion do not result in long-term organization and often include a small number of workers, these events still play an important role in the class struggle. They become major contributions to a person’s constellation of experience in the workplace that reveals the counterpoised interests of the boss, as well as the potential for resistance.

For some. these moments become an important part of their overall development into class-struggle militants, and as such, are of more of novel interest to those seeking to build mass movements. It is with this in mind that Ideas and Action presents a series of short stories reflecting those moments of spontaneous mutiny, impromptu sabotage and most importantly, solidarity. We welcome contributions from our readers; please see our ‘Contact’ page for more information.

This first piece comes to us from a person who goes by Smoker. It recounts a spontaneous work-stoppage at a fast-food restaurant where the workers had previously developed a culture of small-scale resistance and solidarity

See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2015/05/end-work-zone-tales-spontaneous-rebellion-workplace/#sthash.3Q4ZUGFZ.dpuf

Boring from Within Won’t Work
By Tom Wetzel

In their reply to my attempts to defend revolutionary syndicalism, Joe Richard and Ty Carroll try to force the debate into an arbitrarily narrow set of choices.

The attack on “dual unionism” seems to be designed to rule out efforts at building new worker-controlled unions outside the bureaucratic framework of the AFL-CIO type unions.

The basic problem today is the glaring need to build a new kind of worker unionism that is directly controlled by the workers, is based on direct participation and practices of powerful disruptive action, recognizes the flat antagonism of interests between workers and the employers, builds solidarity in action between workers in different sectors, and builds solidarity with grassroots social movements and struggles outside the workplace. A workers movement of this kind in the USA would have to be prepared to violate court injunctions and unjust laws that restrict worker action. To do this, alliances and mutual support need to be developed between unions and social movement organizations so that worker action has mass support.

- See more at: http://ideasandaction.info/2015/06/boring-wont-work/#sthash.I60nLZd2.dpuf

ideas and action has posted a new item, 'The (End) Work Zone: Tales of
Spontaneous Rebellion in the Workplace - Part III'

The normal course of a person's working life typically produces a plethora of
stories where the boss got one over on the employees and faced no retribution;
countless unfair firings, anomalies with the paycheck, bullying, mistreatment
and abuse. Hidden within, and on the periphery of these tales, is evidence of a
small scale class-struggle springing into and out of existence in every
imaginable kind of workplace. ((See Informal Workgroups by M. Jones and Holding
the Line: Informal Pace Setting in the Workplace by Juan Conatz for further
discussion of small scale, informal and spontaneous resistance.))

While many of these instances of rebellion do not result in long-term
organization and often include a small number of workers, these events still
play an important role in the class struggle. They become major contributions to
a person's constellation of experience in the workplace that reveals the
counterpoised interests of the boss, as well as the potential for resistance.

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2016/01/end-work-zone-tales-spontaneous-rebellion-workplace-part-iii/

The following post is authored by WSA member JT and originally posted on their blog Rage Against Capital. While this critique does not represent an official position of the WSA, it did find traction and preexisting sentiment among many members. It is posted on Ideas and Action today in the spirit of comradely debate.

Anarchist Critique of PKK

If you consider yourself to be on the radical left side of politics, be it Marxist, Anarchist, what have you, you have probably been bombarded for the last year with talk about things like “The PKK” and “The YPG”, or “The YPJ”. These are all part of the Syrian Kurdish movement that has come to power in a few cantons in the middle east, the canton mentioned the most easily being the region of Kobane witch has been a front for the Kurdish fighters against the forces of Islamic State. The reaction the broad left has given this movement is one of intense support. Any statements critical of the movement are immediately attacked. Afed put out an article in December 2014 heavily criticizing the movement which is now taken down. I don’t know why it was, but I think I am not very far off in guessing that people’s response to that article had something to do with it. Articles entitled “DEAR MR.ANARCHIST, YOU AREN’T LISTENING” and “Mr. Anarchist, We need to have a chat about colonialism” came out denouncing all those critical of the Syrian Kurdish movement as those who held positions that furthered colonialism. At the same time, telling any supporters that you are critical of the Syrian Kurdish movement often provokes outright attack or confused “why”s on the part of said supporters. I have written critically about this movement before, none of the original articles are up on my site anymore, however this is not because I was bullied into submission by accusations of helping colonialism. Rather, I felt I could do a more rigorous and more well thought out critique. This will be my official piece on the subject, dealing with it at length, and taking a critical look at it, while responding to supporters’ counter arguments against nay sayers.

http://ideasandaction.info/2016/07/anarchist-critique-pkk/

Devrim

I read this. It's really poor in that it has so many factual mistakes.
Devrim

I'm not the author. If you wish too write a specific critique, I'm sure the author would like to hear it.

Devrim

I wrote something on a Facebook thread. He said I was nitpicking, and picking out small factual errors. There are so many factual errors though that you have to think whether the author has any idea what he's talking about at all.

Devrim

Ok, I've not seen it.

Leninist Vanguardism vs. Libertarian Left Militant Minority Organization

By WSA

It is not uncommon for class struggle libertarians to hear Leninists equate vanguardism with a libertarian militant minority group, such as the Friends of Durruti in libertarian Spain, yet suggest that the libertarian role is simply lacking in strategy. This shows a poor understanding of the militant libertarian alternative to Leninist vanguardism and why we see it as far more desirable and superior. The phrase “militant minority” was created by anarchosyndicalists to refer to working class people who are class conscious and have an informal influence within their workplaces and unions due to being hard-working or being good at public speaking, being politically knowledgeable, etc. Anarchosyndicalists have also used the term “vanguard” to refer to an active, organized and politically-motivated militant minority.

http://ideasandaction.info/2016/08/leninist-vanguardism-vs-libertarian-left-militant-minority-organization/

ideas and action has posted a new item,
'Anarcho-syndicalism: A Past Phenomenon,
A Vision for the Future'

By Geoff R

It’s common for many folks familiar with anarcho-syndicalism to look at it as
both a set of ideas and a phenomenon which occurred at a certain period (in the
early 1900s) as a result of certain conditions of capitalism at the time and a
particular response to them. The experiment in libertarian Spain [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://ideasandaction.info/2016/12/anarcho-syndicalism-phenomenon-vision-future/

What is Libertarian Socialism?
By Tom Wetzel

Libertarian socialism is a current or tendency in the world socialist movement that first became an organized tendency in the International Workingmen’s Association of the 1860s-70s, based on various grassroots worker unions and the ideas of federalist socialists like Michael Bakunin, and later influencing the various revolutionary syndicalist unions in the period from the 1880s to the 1930s, and reaching its highest form of expression in the worker’s revolution in Spain in 1936–37, and the mass expropriation of agricultural land and industry in Spain. A vast proportion of Spain’s economy was under direct worker management during the revolutionary period.

1. Control over the decisions that affect you, being self-governing. This is the idea of self-management.

Continued ..... http://ideasandaction.info/2017/09/libertarian-socialism/

Review of “Living Anarchism – José Peirats and the Spanish Anarcho-Syndicalist Movement” by Chris Ealham [AK Press]

By Kevin Doyle

So who was José Peirats? The son of labourers from Valencia province, he moved to Barcelona at a young age with his family in search of work and a future. Suffering illness and numerous privations, Peirats eventually found a home in one of the city’s vibrant rationalist schools. However his education was short-lived and at a young age he entered the workforce proper as a brick-maker. Gravitating to the anarcho-syndicalist union, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), he became a key activist in the L’Hospitalet area of Barcelona. Peirats lived through it all: at the young age of 28 he was in Barcelona as the Spanish Revolution got underway. He witnessed the enormous achievements and hope that the revolution generated and he witnessed, in time, its demise and defeat. In exile at the age of 31 he spent a great deal of the remainder of life documenting the rise of Spain’s anarchist movement, going on the produce The CNT in the Spanish Revolution – an extensive, three volume history of the largest workers’ union in Spain at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. In the last period of his life he said, “I’ve done almost everything in the CNT: I’ve organised strikes, organised workers, spoken in assemblies, meetings, and given conferences, written articles, attended congresses, used pistols, and, some- times, explosives; I’ve been in jail and collected lawsuits, mainly for libelous press articles. I know what it means to be naked and take a beating in a police station. I was the only secretary of the CNT in exile to enter Spain clandestinely when they were still shooting people!”

http://ideasandaction.info/2017/10/review-living-anarchism-jose-peirats-spanish-anarcho-syndicalist-movement-chris-ealham-ak-press/