Organise! - Who We Are

Organise! is a group of working class people who are fed up with being fucked about by the profit system, fed up with seeing our communities torn apart by racism, sexism, nationalism and sectarianism, and sick of a greedy few getting rich off everyone else’s backs. We want to improve everyday conditions for ourselves and other working class people, but we also struggle for the revolutionary transformation that can create a free and equal society, one based on mutual aid and co-operation. Sound crazy? Maybe it does, but all the alternatives assume the continuation of the present system… and that’s even crazier...The current system isn’t working- stress and overwork affect more and more people while others are flung on the dole; we live in a world of plentiful resources yet millions starve; some people make vast fortunes just because they own companies, land, property or natural resources, but those of us who create the wealth, work the land and build the properties are left struggling to pay for the natural resources; politicians tell us there’s no money- not for wages, benefits or local amenities, but there’s always plenty for war; both locally and globally the gap between the richest and the poorest sections of society has never been so great and for all humanities technological advances we spend more time working than people did 40 years ago; instead of a war on poverty they’ve got a war on ‘benefit fraud’, a war on drugs and a ‘war on terror’ and the same institutions that create war, poverty and environmental destruction stigmatise, imprison and deport the resultant refugees.We don’t think these things are inevitable or coincidental, we think they are related to capitalism- an economic system defined by wage slavery and the accumulation of profit out of other people’s work. So we support all workers against their bosses in demanding higher wages and better conditions. We try to intervene practically to support workers engaged in disputes and are also active in our own workplaces and communities.But it’s not just a question of trying to struggle by in a world of exploitation and oppression; we look to a future where workers control production and society in their own interests. And unlike some people who claim to oppose capitalism, we don’t want to be a new set of leaders and we refuse to be led by anyone else.

The Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation, Anarchist Federation, Anarchist Prisoner Support and a number of individuals merged in 2004 to form Organise! aiming to create a more effective and better resourced class struggle anarchist organisation.

The ASF and AF in Ireland had already collaborated on two previous publications, called Wildcat, which presented agreed positions on the trades unions and the ‘north’. The impetus for the creation of this organisation goes back to a proposal made earlier that year asking Anarchists to look seriously at building more effective organisation across Ireland.

The response to this proposal was mixed but discussion on moving things forward took place between those who were most interested in pursuing it and who felt they had most in common.

We seek through our activity and propaganda, through discussion and practical solidarity with our fellow workers to show the relevance of anarchist methods of organising and ultimately the benefits of a future libertarian communist revolution for workers everywhere.

Many members of Organise! are, and have been, active in their own workplaces. When we talk about workers, we don't just mean those in paid employment, we also support and get involved with the struggles of students, the unemployed and domestic workers. For example, in the past we have done work around benefit issues. We have also been involved in the Fascists Out Campaign, which drove fascists of the streets in Portrush and more recently closed down the Ulster Nationalist Alliance/WNP postal address in Belfast. We were prominent in building support for Joanne Delaney in Belfast last year, organising pickets of Dunnes stores in Belfast and Derry. We organised pickets in solidarity with Afghan refugees on hunger strike in Dublin.

We have supported many groups of workers in disputes from involvement in support for Irish Ferries workers to support for striking postal workers in Belfast and Newtownabbey. We have supported the three sacked airport workers forced to go on hunger strike as a result of their treatment by the leadership of Unite/ATGWU article here and here. Members of Organise! are involved in the Just Books Collective and have also been involved in the Belfast Rossport Solidarity group. We oppose the introduction of water charges across the north and we are involved in building opposition on a street by street basis in working class communities with a clear message that only mass non-payment will defeat the government. As such we are involved in the WWPC which has recently saw many of the groups also opposed to water reform running to catch up with us in the call for mass non-payment. We have also been involved in anti-war protests.

We produce a free bulletin, Working Class Resistance every two months.

We develop and maintain contact with similar organisations around the world as we recognise that the struggle against capitalism must be an international one.

"The emancipation of working class shall be the task of workers ourselves."