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

A roundup of content that has been added to libcom.org during July 2016. Thank you to all contributors!

blogs

1. On July 3rd remember Iran Air 655 and the true meaning of "American Exceptionalism" by Soapy

Every July 3rd we pass over a notable chapter in our history of "American Exceptionalism". This year marks 28 years since the US downing of Iran Air 655 killing all 290 people on board.

2. WorkersWildWest #4 - Out now! by Angry Workers of World

Issue no.4 of our working class paper for Greenford, Southall, Park Royal area in West London - We distribute 2,000 copies, mainly in front of bigger work-places, but also housing estates and job centres. For workers' self-organisation and an internationalist position.

3. It’s more than just the killings and the racism, it’s the extortion too by Soapy

The media is full of stories regarding the tragic murder of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, missing from the discourse is a discussion of how resentment of the police stems not only from police killings and racism, but also from their role as enforcers of the government's extortionist practices.

4. James Green- R.I.P. by Hieronymous

James Green, labor historian, professor at University of Massachusetts, and writer died June 23, 2016 in Boston. He was the author of the definitive work Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America in 2006. Here's the New York Times obituary.

5. Wildcat strikes at Walmart China by Working Class Self Organisation

Walmart workers at four stores across China have utilised social media to launch a series of coordinated wildcat strikes against the company’s imposition of a new work schedule that enables management to change work hours at short notice and reduce overtime payments.

6. Sanders campaign reaches its climax by Peter Storm

On Bernie Sanders' announcement of support for Hillary Clinton.

7. On dissolving the people: Living the Dream on #ausvotes2016 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 Federal Election result.

8. So this is how it ends: Obama spends his last months in office shilling for the TPP by Soapy

The “hope and change” candidate will go out with a whimper. After nearly eight years of consistent support for neoliberalism, Obama will spend the freest months of his presidency shilling for the likes of Pfizer and Comcast.

9. A review of Left of the left: my memories of Sam Dolgoff by Anatole Dolgoff by Juan Conatz

A short review by Juan Conatz of Anatole Dolgoff's Left of the left: my memories of Sam Dolgoff.

10. Thoughts on the movement, or why we still don't even Corbyn by Joseph Kay and Ed Goddard

It’s a lonely world these days for an anti-parliamentary socialist with all politics seeming to have taken a back seat to the current Labour Party shenanigans. While the deluge of establishment groupthink currently arrayed on Corbyn is as disgusting as it is cynical, we're still not pinning any hopes on him in the (now quite likely) event he comes out on top in the next leadership election.

11. Paperboy of the 1990s by Juan Conatz

A brief indulgence in 1990s nostalgia by Juan Conatz, centering on his first job.

12. Turfs, and also clumps by Nate Hawthorne

Blog post on tensions around organizing campaigns encouraging or discouraging contact with the life of the larger organization.

13. Strike in the port of Koper by Angry Workers of the World

Report on strike in the port of Koper, Slovenia in summer 2016, which affected the supply chain in central Europe - published originally in German in issue no.100 of Wildcat.

14. Tenant Power: Portland Solidarity Network Takes Demands to a Landlord by Eviction Free Zone

As Portland becomes more and more impossible for renters, the Portland Solidarity Network and Portland Tenants United are marching on a landlord to support tenant power.

history

1. The Red Butterfly by John Lauritsen

A first person account of involvement in and the activity of The Red Butterfly, a socialist "cell" within the US Gay Liberation Front 1969-1971.

2. Skurikhin, Petr Markovich (1895-193?) by Nick Heath

A short biography of Russian anarchist sailor Petr Skurikhin

3. "We will not be part of this unjust, immoral, and illegal war": remembering the Fort Hood Three by Derek Seidman

A short history of the Fort Hood three, a group of GIs who were the first high profile examples of American troops refusing to fight in the Vietnam War.

4. The Combahee River raid, 1863 by Earl Conrad

A short account of the Combahee River raid during the American Civil War, which was led by former slave and underground railroad activist Harriet Tubman, and freed nearly 800 slaves.

5. The matchgirls strike, 1888 by John Simkin

A short account of the successful strike in 1888 by thousands of unorganised female workers at the Bryant & May match factory in London.

6. Who were the Luddites?

A brief overview of the Luddite movement: militant textile workers in the UK who fought against job losses and deskilling brought about by the industrialisation of the industry.

7. A people's history of the fourth of July by Zinn Education Project

A roundup of key events in United States working class history which have also taken place on 4 July, beyond 1776.

8. Black people in the British empire: an introduction by Peter Fryer

Acclaimed writer Peter Fryer exposes the exploitation and oppression of Britain's colonies, looks at grassroots rebellions and restores black people to their rightful place in Britain's history.

9. Stenzleit, Georg Hermann Jakob (1848-1933) by Nick Heath

A short biography of German anarchist George Stenzleit, active in London

10. Interactive map of Latino urban riots and social unrest by Aaron Fountain

This interactive map features urban rebellions and incidents of social unrest in Latino communities from 1964 to the present.

11. Folke Fridell: Textile Mill Worker, Anarcho-syndicalist, Proletarian Writer

Work. A contested word, loaded with millions of synonyms and associations. Hate/love. But for the author Folke Fridell (1905-1984) there was no doubt: there is no intrinsic value to be found in work. It is not a source of pride. During his life he waged a constant war, against work, against the machines, against the bosses, but perhaps also, in his individuality, against his co-workers too.

12. Timeline of direct action against the Iraq war, 2002-2004 by Anarchist Youth Network

A timeline of direct action which took place against the second Gulf War in the UK and Ireland up to 2004, compiled at the time by the Anarchist Youth Network.

13. Readings and photos from the student uprising at Chomsky’s university, MIT, 1967-1972

The protests that erupted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1960s were an important part of the student unrest that shook the US in this period.

14. Solidarity forever: an oral history of the IWW edited byStewart Bird, Dan Georgakas and Deborah Shaffer

A fantastic oral history of the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World union, based on interviews done for the award-winning documentary, The Wobblies (1979). Compiled by filmmakers Stewart Bird and academy-award-winning director Deborah Shaffer, with historical introductions to each section of interviews by labor historian Dan Georgakas.

library

1. Carnival of the Oppressed, The Angry Brigade and the Gay Liberation Front

An article investigating the relationship between Gay Liberationist groups and the British New Left.

2. The Women's Liberation and Gay Liberation Movements by Huey Newton

Speech given by Huey Newton, founder of the Black Panthers, August 15, 1970. The speech criticises previous attitudes of the Black Panther Party and revolutionary groups towards homosexuals and women, and stresses the need to take steps to support and ally with their liberation movements.

3. The Cherokee Removal Through the Eyes of a Private Soldier

In May 1838, federal militias started to round up Cherokees and move them into stockades in several southern states. They were then forced to march one thousand miles westward. Thousands of Cherokees died as a result of the removal. The journey became known as "The Trail of Tears" or "The Trail Where They Cried." Fifty years later, in 1890, Private John Burnett, who served in the mounted infantry; told his children his memories of the Trail of Tears, which he described as the "execution of the most brutal order in the History of American Warfare."

4. The dossier of subject no.1218 : a Bulgarian anarchist’s story by Alexander Nakov [Review]

Review of the autobiography of a veteran anarchist militant who survived the prisons of both fascism and Bolshevik rule, before helping relaunch the Bulgarian anarchist movement in the 1990s.

5. Against the imperialist front for the massacre of spanish workers we must oppose the class front of the international proletariat from Bilan

Article from Bilan issue 34 (August - September 1936), issuing a powerful critique of the sacrifice of the Spanish working-class and revolution in the name of the war effort, the Popular Front and the Republic.

6. The Spanish imperialist war and the massacre of the Asturian miners from Bilan

From Bilan issue 44 (October-November 1937).

7. ‘To be or not to be’ isn’t the question by Roland Simon

January 2015 article by Roland Simon, of Théorie Communiste, on the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

8. From outbreaks to ‘inbreaks’ until exhaustion by Roland Simon

Article by Roland Simon, published on 03/05/2016, on the Nuits debouts and the movement against the (El Khomri) reforms to labour law in France, translated from the French from Des Nouvelles Du Front

9. Outbreaks, inbreaks and exhaustion (follow-up) by Roland Simon

Follow-up article by Roland Simon, published on 24/05/2016, on the Nuits debouts and the movement against the (El Khomri) reforms to labour law in France, translated from the French from Des Nouvelles Du Front

10. Manifesto by Gay Liberation Front

The manifesto of the UK organisation the Gay Liberation Front, written in 1971 in London and revised in 1978.

11. Gay liberation by The Red Butterfly

Introductory pamphlet about gay liberation produced by The Red Butterfly, a Marxist cell within the New York Gay Liberation Front first published in 1970.

12. The gay manifesto by Carl Wittman

A radical manifesto for gay liberation published by the Marxist cell of the US Gay Liberation Front in 1970.

13. Gay oppression: a radical analysis by The Red Butterfly

A Marxist analysis of discrimination experienced by LGB people, published by a section of the Gay Liberation Front in New York in 1970.

14. The first Gay Liberation Front demonstration by John Lauritsen

A first person account of the first demonstration of the US Gay Liberation Front against the Village Voice newspaper in New York City in 1969 for their homophobic advertising policy.

15. Appeal on behalf on an oppressed human variety by Kurt Hiller

Classic speech against gay oppression written by Kurt Hiller for the Second International Congress for Sexual Reform in Copenhagen in 1928, which was translated by the Marxist cell within the Gay Liberation Front and published in 1970.

16. Critique of the "gay demands" by The Red Butterfly

A communiqué issued by the revolutionary socialist cell within the Gay Liberation Front critiquing what they saw as "gay nationalism" and "extreme segregationism" in a document called "gay demands" issued at the Black Panther Party's “Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention Planning Session” in Philadelphia, 5 September 1970. It was distributed at a follow-up BPP convention in Washington DC in November. While we may not agree with all of it, particularly the passages which slip into transphobia, we reproduce it here for reference.

17. The Fort Hood three

Pamphlet about the Ford Hood three: three American GIs who refused to go and fight in the Vietnam War.

18. 5 full issues of Spain and the world

Partial archive of Spain and the World, an anarchist newspaper published by Freedom Press in London throughout the course of the Spanish civil war.

19. 8 full issues of The New Solidarity

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.

20. Sylvia Pankhurst reader

An extensive compilation of the political writings of left communist Sylvia Pankhurst on class, women, communism and fascism.

21. Communist organisation and discipline by Amadeo Bordiga

Article by Amadeo Bordiga from Prometeo no. 5, May 15th 1924, on the structure and functioning of communist parties, and the International.

22. 26 full issues of Resistance

Archive of issues of Resistance, an anarchist publication produced out of New York from 1947-1954.

23. We Want Everything: A Novel by Nanni Balestrini

Nanni Balestrini’s fictionalized account of the Hot Autumn, in which a young worker from Italy’s impoverished south arrives at Fiat’s Mirafiori factory in Turin, where he finds himself in conflict with the bosses and the entire capitalist system.

24. 23 full issues of Views and Comments

Archive of Views and Comments, an anarcho-syndicalist leaning publication produced out of New York by the Libertarian League from 1955 until 1966.

25. Electoral politics is not a gateway drug by Scott Jay

Rather than leading to more militant and radical forms of resistance, electoral politics typically leads only to more electoral politics.

26. Erdogan policies have played a major role in the Region by Zaher Baher

This article covers the policy of Erdogan and his political party (AKP) in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Rojava and Iraqi Kurdistan. The article shows the reasons as to why Erdogan supports Isis, the reason for invading Mosul and why Kobane has been chosen to be invaded but not Jazeera? The article also states the success of Erdogan polices during the war in the region since 2013 and predicting his peace policy in the future can be on the expenses of Rojava's Cantons.

27. This nonviolent stuff'll get you killed by Charles Cobb

Civil rights scholar Charles E. Cobb Jr. describes the vital role that armed self-defense played in the survival and liberation of black communities in America during the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1960s.

28. 8 full issues of Retort

Archive of Retort, an anarchist publication produced out of Bearsville, New York from 1942-1951.

29. The Progressive Plantation: racism inside white radical social change groups

A short book discussing racism and anti-working class attitudes in radical groups, and how to fight it

30. In memory of a revolutionary spanish anarchist : A biography of Vicente Ruiz Gutiérrez

Pages from the recollections of a Spanish anarchist that cover his youth, the development of his libertarian ideals and his militant activities, the eruption of the revolution and the battle for the defence of Malaga, his going onto the Huete front and then onto Madrid, and finally the retirada and the road into exile.

31. Neither your war, nor your peace by Argelaga

A July 2016 editorial on contemporary Islamic terrorism, its origins as an ally of the West in the anti-Soviet war, and its effects on Western society, which, with its “frightened consumers” becoming “racist and xenophobic nationalists”, is “rapidly heading for fascism (a fascism without a führer, anonymous and bureaucratic, like our times)”, published in the Barcelona journal, Argelaga.

32. 1 full issue of Anarchos

Archive of Anarchos, an anarchist publication produced by the Eastside Anarchist Group out of New York during the late 1960s.

33. 1 full issue of The Marine Worker

Archive of The Marine Worker, a newspaper produced by the Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union No. 510 of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) from 1921 until 1936.

34. The world scene from the libertarian point of view

A 1951 pamphlet produced by the Free Society Group of Chicago, the World scene from the libertarian point of view features 21 anarchists giving their outlook on international issues and anarchism's potential.

35. Ethics and American unionism by Sam Dolgoff

A 1958 pamphlet written by Sam Dolgoff (under the pseudonym Sam Weiner) and published by the Libertarian League.

36. 5 full issues of Why?

Archive of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.

37. Against the conceptual dumbing down of the 2016 “movement” in France by Mouvement Communiste/Kolektivně proti Kapitălu

This is a leaflet criticising the wildly inflated claims made about the recent "movement" against the new Labour Law in France and the accompanying degradation of political language. Also included PDFs of original french leaflet and English version.

38. 6 full issues of New Trends

Archive of New Trends, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from September 1945 until August 1946.

39. 4 full issues of the Industrial Worker

Partial archive of articles from the newspaper of the revolutionary union, the Industrial Workers of the World.

40. Manifesto on the Russian Revolution

Exiled Russian and Ukrainian anarchist-communist views on the Russian Revolution issued in 1922.

41. We want freedom for all: a Jewish anarchist statement by Libertarian Workers Group

This early 1980s statement was published by a number of youthful, 20-something, mostly Jewish born members of the New York and New Jersey based Libertarian Workers Group (LWG). The LWG was a very active group of young anarcho-syndicalists, libertarian socialists and libertarian communists.

42. Various statements and leaflets by Jewish Anarchist Committee

Miscellaneous statements and leaflets by the Jewish Anarchist Committee. Primarily covering the early 1980s period of the Lebanese Civil War, Israeli and Syrian excursions into Lebanon. The JAC aim was to promote an anarcho-syndicalist, anti-zionist, and non-national libertarian point of view on matters pertaining to the Israeli invasion and within the broader political scene in New York and elsewhere on these and other matters. The JAC was heavily supported by the New York / New Jersey based Libertarian Workers Group (LWG).

43. Our Position by Federation of Russian Anarchist Communist Groups of U.S. and Canada

1934 positions adopted at conference by exiled Russian anarchist-communists in the US and Canada on the matters of war, fascism, bolshevism, the United Front and political prisoners.

44. "Common program" class struggle proposal by Workers Solidarity Alliance

As the 1980s crisis continued to ravage American workers, the W.S.A. sought to bring together, in a working common alliance, "those anti-bureaucratic and anti-centralist forces" within the class, "both workplace and political organizations". The goals were the "renewal and reconstruction of the American labor movement from the bottom up".

45. Introduction and political statement of Against the Grain

Introduction and political statement of the 1970s libertarian socialist Workplace Organizing Committee and their paper Against the Grain.

46. Covers of Against the Grain

A PDF of some covers from the 1970s libertarian socialist publication, Against the Grain.

47. "Fellow Workers of the White Goods Industry!"

1919 Leaflets and hand bill directed to NYC "white goods" garment workers by "The Workers Council of the White Goods Industry".

48. Vote what for? - Errico Malatesta

1959 English translation of Errico Malatesta's pamphlet "Vote. What For?" by the New York based Libertarian League.

48. 3 full issues of Yard Roots

Archive of Yard Roots, a radical, anarchistically inclined political, cultural and health oriented newsletter produced during the 1980s.

49. "Caribbean Correspondence"

"Caribbean Correspondence" , Subtitled "Workers Control and Self-Management", # 2 July 1978, entitled "Crisis Time"

50. Spain turns

Contempory account and analysis of events in Spain, particularly concerning the social revolution, from anti-Bolshevik Marxist journal International Review, Vol.2 No.3, New York, April 1937.

51. 17 full issues of Anarchy

A partial archive of scanned issues of Anarchy magazine, edited by Colin Ward and published monthly by Freedom Press from March 1961-December 1970. It is particularly known for its stunning covers by anarchist graphic designer Rufus Seger.

Português

1. O bom cidadão – ZEROWORKER

Texto publicado em Amigos da Revolução Social, ano 1 #0, em outubro de 2001.

[b]2.[b] O leninismo contra a revolução - Segunda parte: o leninismo como supressor da ruptura comunista - GCI-ICG

Texto que analisa os métodos do leninismo para canalizar a energia do proletariado para a defesa do capital e do Estado, detalhando a participação decisiva do leninismo na contra-revolução mundial que esmagou a luta do proletariado desde 1917.

3. Tudo pode acontecer - Fredy Perlman

A luta em França não destruiu o poder político e militar da sociedade capitalista. Mas não demonstrou que isso seria impossível: ‒ Numa manifestação em Paris, os estudantes sabiam que não se podiam defender da carga policial, mas alguns estudantes não fugiram da polícia; começaram a construir uma barricada. Foi aquilo a que o Movimento 22 de Março chamou acção exemplar: um grande número de estudantes ganhou coragem, não fugiu da polícia e começou a construir barricadas.

Français

1. 19 full issues of Théorie Communiste

Théorie Communiste is arguably one of the most influential journals amongst the ultra-left. The journal is the work of a Marseilles-based group. It was first published in 1977, before that, members of TC were formerly associated with councilist groups, including, among others, the journals 'Cahiers du Communisme de Conseils', based in Marseilles, and 'Intervention Communiste'.