What's new to libcom.org (June 2016)

blogs

1. What we can learn from the US women's soccer team by Chilli Sauce

The US women's soccer team has recently been in the news, both for a wage discrimination suit and a judge denying them the right to strike during the Rio Olympics. This is something we should be paying attention to. Here's why.

2. It’s getting hot in here! Conversations in Gurnell Leisure Centre’s Sauna, Greenford by Angry Workers of the World

One article for issue #4 of WorkersWildWest - out soon! Ealing Council wants to sell off the land, the leisure centre will be demolished and rebuild together with luxury flats in 2019 - at least according to their plan. We hope local people will try to keep the centre open..

3. Not just a 'loner': the Jo Cox murder and fascist terrorism by Ed

Labour MP Jo Cox's murder was the act of a fascist terrorist inspired by relentless nationalist, anti-immigrant campaigning from mainstream politicians and the media; not, as he's portrayed, merely a 'loner' with 'mental health issues'.

4. GM and Harry Wilson: Corporate raiding in the 21st century by Soapy

The collapse of GM meant disaster for thousands of auto workers, it also meant opportunity for corporate raiders like Harry Wilson.

5. #SandersofSthBrisbane ? Council elections, social movements & the #RighttotheCity by With Sober Senses

This is the latest episode of Living the Dream - a podcast I participate in as part of the collective blog The Word From Struggle Street. Here we talk about the local council election and the Right to The City and various challanges and contradictions around local movements and struggles.

6. Yesterday’s pig heads, Corbyn-mania, Brexit or business as usual: Tragedy and comedy in the UK - A short report by Angry Workers of the World

Dear fellow travellers, for an international meeting of like-minded rebels we wrote a short report about the situation in the UK. We had little time recently to systematically follow and discuss the wider developments, therefore it ended up as a bit of a selective cut-and-paste job - but people outside of the UK might still find it interesting.

history

1. The Black Guards by Nick Heath (updated)

An updated version of our short account of the Anarchist Black Guards and their suppression by the Bolsheviks in Moscow in 1918.

2. Borzenko and the Odessa Anarchist Underground: Borzenko, Grigori Maximovich (1888-1938) aka Leonid Moskalenko by Nick Heath

A short biography of Grigori Borzenko, active in the Odessa anarchist underground.

3. Soviet justice: The case of Gavriil Pavlyuk by Nick Heath

A very short article on the prsecution of anarchist peasant Gavriil Pavlyuk.

4. What was great about Theodore Draper and what was not by Bryan D. Palmer

An article by Bryan D. Palmer about the different camps of viewing the American Communist Party's history.

5. Workers power in Lérida by Jordi de Gardeny

A brief account of the revolution and its institutions in Lérida, Spain, in August-September 1936, written in 1965 by one of the former leaders of the POUM.

6. Does Anarchist Movement in Iraqi Kurdistan, Bashur, exist? by Zaher Baher

This article answers frequent questions that I was often asked in the meetings and the interviews . What I said here in regards to Iraqi Kurdistan in relation to anarchism and anarchists movement I have gained through my own experiences that growing up in that society and observing the situation closely too. There is no doubt that some of the Kurdish and none-kurdish comrades do not agree with me. However, I am very happy to have discussions, debates with them as long as these comrades refer to the facts and reality rather than some paragraphs , statements from this book and that book.

7. US Latino urban riots by Aaron Fountain

There have been at least 64 riots in Latino communities since 1964, but most have been forgotten. Aaron Fountain gives an overview of the rebellions.

8. The Burnsall strike: a glimpse of the future by Sarbjit Johal

A short history of the year-long strike of mostly Asian women workers at Burnsall Ltd in Smethwick 1992-93.

9. Yaroshevskaya, Rebekka Yakoklevna (1887-1937 or after?) by Nick Heath

A short biography of anarchist Rebecca Yaroshevskaya active in Bialystok, Tashkent and Kharkov.

10. The May days: Barcelona 1937

Interesting collection of writings on the May days in Barcelona: the combination of the "civil war within the civil war" as workers fought back against a counter-revolutionary Communist Party takeover.

11. The Provos: Amsterdam's anarchist revolt by Richard Kempton

A book written by Richard Kempton on the 1960s Dutch Provo movement.

12. Immigrants faced deportation for political activity

A short article about the attempt of the American government to deport Dominick Sallitto, Vincent Ferrero and Marcus Graham because of their anarchist politics.

13. Stonewall: The birth of gay power by Sherry Wolf

A history of the Stonewall riots, where LGBT people in New York City took a stand against violent state repression and battled the police, kickstarting a militant, global gay liberation movement.

14. A history of Dutch fascism and the militant anti-fascist response by Job Polak

A radical history of the struggle against fascism in Holland since the early 20th century, written by member of the Dutch section of Anti-Fascist Action.

library

1. 10 full issues and 18 articles added to our Industrial Worker newspaper archive.

2. 16 full issues added to our archive of Anarchy: a journal of anarchist ideas.

3. The brain of society: notes on Bordiga, organic centralism, and the limitations of the party form by C. Derrick Varn

Article examining Bordiga's idea that after the international class war is won, the organic-centralist party of the proletariat would, in a distant time, emerge as the 'brain' of the future, classless, stateless, communist society - the 'social brain', whose role would be to co-ordinate society's activities in accordance with the invariant communist programme.

4. A Return to Occupy Wall Street : what lessons can we learn?

An interview by Fabien Delmotte of Marisa Holmes, Mark Bray, Nathaniel Miller and Jason Freedman about the occupy movement.

5. The immediate program of the revolution by Amadeo Bordiga

A short article on revolutionary demands, by Amadeo Bordiga, from 'Sul filo del tempo', May 1953.

6. An introduction to the situationists by Jan D Matthews

A brief introduction to the history and ideas of the libertarian Marxist group the Situationist International.

7. Reflections on Castoriadis and Bookchin by Yavor Tarinski

A brief examination of certain political aspects of the works of Cornelius Castoriadis and Murray Bookchin and their similarities.

8. When the robots fire us by Federation of Anarchists in Bulgaria

Computers are replacing people's jobs much faster, than new ones get created. What shall we do then?

9. On the dialectical method by Amadeo Bordiga

Article by Amadeo Bordiga, published in Prometeo, November 1950, examining dialectics.

10. Value and its abolition by Bruno Astarian

The attached text is an abridged translation of 'L'abolition de la valeur', to be published in 2016 by Editions Entremonde, Genève. The text has been published in the US as part of a book by Bruno Astarian and Gilles Dauvé: Everything must go - the abolition of value, Ardent Press, January 2016.

11. Jacques Camatte and the new politics of liberation by Dave Antagonism

A compilation of a series of articles that were spread over three issues of 'Green Anarchy' (#18, #19, #20), as an introduction to Camatte's writing and their influence on green anarchism.

12. Marxism and psychology by Karl Korsch

Korsch’s article first appeared in the councilist periodical Living Marxism in February 1938. He is generally appreciative of both Freud, whose postulates about the unconscious Korsch calls a “genuine discovery,” as well as Reich’s efforts to understand the rise of fascism on its basis. Oddly, Korsch — who by then had long since abandoned Leninism and increasingly considered Marxism a lost cause — had recourse to Lenin’s arguments against the Economists in defending Marxist methodology.

13. North-East of the US : class struggle unionism and social issues

This article presents, this time, the current situation of American unionism and its history and provides an overview of the activities of the revolutionary syndicalists of the Industrial Workers of the World.

14. The People newspaper

Partial online archive of The People, a US socialist publication in the 1890s.

15. The anarchist question in the Spanish revolution by Pepe Gutiérrez-Álvarez

A critical, yet sympathetic assessment of the role of the anarchists in the Spanish Revolution and the “circumstantialism” and collaborationism of the CNT-FAI, in which the author portrays the Workers Alliance (a revolutionary insurrection initiated by communist left groups in 1934, largely restricted to Asturias, based on the principle of trade union and proletarian unity) as not just a missed opportunity but also as a possible model for an alternative to the fatal choice between collaboration and an unacceptable “anarchist dictatorship”.

16. An A to Z of communisation by Gilles Dauvé

An A-Z of key aspects of communisation theory, by Gilles Dauvé.

17. Studies in the classical theories of money by Karl Niebyl

An inquiry into basic concepts of monetary theory by Marxist economist Karl Heinrich Niebyl (1906-1985).

18. The gun control we deserve by Patrick Blanchfield

An article by Patrick Blanchfield about the various possible outcomes for gun control in the United States.

19. Gender Nihilism: An Anti-Manifesto by Alyson Escalante

Alyson Escalante's critiques of the trans community's reliance on gender essentialism and a proposal for a radical negation as the solution to gendered alienation and oppression. To be included in the upcoming anthology Fuck Your Gender Neutral Prison! A Nihilist Insurrection Against Gender.

20. Praxis: Marxist criticism and dissent in socialist Yugoslavia by Gerson S. Sher

A detailed study of the Yugoslav Marxist journal, Praxis, published in 1977.

21. Graphic dreams of Utopia [Book review of The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia]

Review of the new graphic novel on the life of French Communard and anarchist Louise Michel, "The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia" by Mary M. Talbot and Bryan Talbot.

22. The "popular front" triumphs in Spain from Bilan

Article from Bilan nr. 28, March-April 1936, examining the political situation in Spain and the victory of the Popular Front in 1936, in relation to the Spanish agrarian question.

23. Speech at the Madrid Ateneo by Salvador Seguí

A speech delivered by Salvador Seguí in 1919 in Madrid in which the CNT leader denounces Catalonian separatism as an alibi for the repression of the workers movement, denies that socialist parties or anarchist groups are capable of assuming responsibility for production, calls upon the unions to focus on an educational program to prepare the Trade Unions, based on occupational categories, to guarantee the normalization of production and consumption after the revolution (so that “all the material needs of life for all humans will be assured”), and claims that this preparation (“We have to read a lot, and discuss even more”) is an indispensable precondition for communism.

24. Brighton Hospitality Workers interview by Vienna Workers' Union

Translation of an interview by the Vienna Workers' Union with Brighton Hospitality Workers, an industrial section of Brighton Solidarity Federation, looking at the struggles they have organised and the lessons which working-class militants can learn from them.

25. Goals and methods of the anarchist-communist party by Liu Shifu

Manifesto written by Liu Shifu for the Chinese anarchist paper People's Voice in 1914.

26. Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa newsletter

The eighteen newsletters published by the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa between 1991 and 2003.

27. Review: The End of anarchism? by Luigi Galleani

A review by Paul Avrich of Luigi Galleani's The End of Anarchism?.

28. World labor needs a union by Fred Thompson

A 1969 pamphlet written by Fred Thompson and produced by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) about potential worldwide union coordination and cooperation.

29. Don't join the army by Veterans for Peace

Great text/website from Veterans for Peace debunking UK military recruitment propaganda.

30. Fair pay for you is based on penalising them

Article about the attack on Australian Penalty Rates: rates which were set up because of what it says on the tin: a penalty to employers who penalised employees by making them work on weekends.

31. Sorbonne anarchist leaflet, 1968

Leaflet produced by anarchists at the Sorbonne University during the May 68 events.

32. Crime becomes custom, custom becomes crime by Trevor Bark

A political analysis of the nature of crime. We have significant disagreements with the author but reproduce this text reference. Part of the text is readable below, however some is missing. The full text is in the PDF, attached.

33. Industrial Solidarity newspaper

A partial archive of Industrial Solidarity, a newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) produced out of Chicago. IS replaced Solidarity in 1921 and eventually merged with the Industrial Worker in 1931.

34. The New Solidarity newspaper

Partial archive of The New Solidarity, a newspaper produced out of Chicago by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) from 1918-1920. NS replaced Defense News Bulletin.

35. Talking schools by Colin Ward

A compilation of 10 talks given by Colin Ward on education from a libertarian and anarchist perspective.

36. The Situationist Times

The Situationist Times was an international, English-language periodical created and edited by Jacqueline de Jong, of which six issues were published between 1962 and 1967. A radical compendium using such Situationist tactics as détournement and a printed form of dérive, the journal included essays, artwork, found images, and quotations concerned with such issues as topology, politics, and spectacle culture.

37. Mémoires by Guy Debord and Asger Jorn

An influential art book by Guy Debord and Asger Jorn, first published in December 1958 by the Copenhagen SI, with a second issue in 1959. Renowned for its sandpaper cover which inspired, among others, the design for the 1980 debut album of the English post-punk band The Durruti Column, 'The Return of the Durutti Column'.

38. 5 full issues and 1 article added to our archive of the Industrial Pioneer.

images

1. Western Socialist color covers

Western Socialist color covers mainly 1976-1978

esperanto

1. La Mortula Ŝipo by B. Traven

Rakonto pri Ŝipo ke sinkis por la asekuro mono.

2. Laborista Esperanta Movado Antaŭ la Mondmilito

Historio E-libro pri la unua laboristoj esperantaj kaj ilia agadoj antaŭ la unua mondmilito.

3. 1984 by George Orwell

Romano de George Orwell pri mondo regas unu partion. Dikaturo de la partio nepre dominas ĉia de penson kaj agon.

4. Kapitalo by Karlo Markso

La Kapitalo: Kritiko de la politika ekonomio Unua volumo Libro I: La produktadprocezo de la kapitalo Monda

5. Elizo Rekluzo: Biografio

Jean Jacques Élisée Reclus (esperantigite Elizeo Rekluzo) (naskiĝis la 15-an de marto 1830 en Sainte-Foy-la-Grande (Francio), mortis la 4-an de julio 1905 en Torhout (Belgio)) estis franca geografo kaj anarĥiisto.

Italiano

1. Fontamara by Ignazio Silone

Fontamara estas la nomo de fikcia vilaĝo en Abruco kaj scenejo de romano de la itala verkisto Ignazio Silone. La romano estas pri vivo en malriĉa kamparo, sube la Faŝista registaro de Mussolini.

Nederlands

1. Open brief aan partijgenoot Lenin by Herman Gorter

Geschreven: 1920 /// Bron: Uitgave J.J. Bos en Co, Kinkerstraat 300, Amsterdam, 1921 /// Vertaling: Uit het Duits vertaald door X /// Deze versie: Uitgeverij De Vlam, Amsterdam, 1978. — Spelling, taal, punctuatie en (soms) zinsbouw aangepast. /// Transcriptie: Adrien Verlee /// HTML: Adrien Verlee voor het Marxists Internet Archive, september 2005