RESISTANCE
ISSUE 23
ANARCHY IN THE EU
ON THE FRONTLINE
ARG UPDATE
TIME BOMB POLAND 1956
AF & THE UNIONS - A PERSONAL VIEW
BOMBARDIER BOMBS WORKERS
INSIDE INFORMATION
ANARCHY IN THE EU
ANARCHISTS THROUGHOUT IRELAND AND BRITAIN
will be making their way to Evian in the next couple of
weeks and not for the water. Between June 1-3, the G8
summit will take place there, and as part of the recent
global trend, tens of thousands of protestors throughout
Europe will make sure the elite of the planet’s eight
wealthiest and industrialised nations will be given as
much adverse publicity as possible.
Recently, the Anarchist Federation gave its support to
the “Convergence of Anti-Authoritarian and Anti-capitalist
Struggles” ( CLAAAC), the French-Italian based network
which has been set up to counter the G8 at Evian.
From their statement online at http://www.claaacg8.org8:
“We believe that between human beings, there should exist
relationships other than that of the market, of domination,
alienation and exploitation. Pollution, the waste of natural
resources and differences in wealth are ever more catastrophic.
Globalisation translates into a degradation of living
and work conditions and an increase in social control.
The bosses, with the connivance of the State, are on the
offensive with the destruction of public services, attacks
on labour rights, job precariousness, flexibility, layoffs
and the dismantlement of social rights (welfare, pensions
etc.).This capitalist system cannot be reformed as it
inevitably leads to these effects. The break with capitalism
is, in our opinion, the only possible way to prevent a
human and ecological economic catastrophe”.
We couldn’t have put it any better ourselves! See you
there!
Greece: AS UP TO 20,000 police guarded
the EU meeting in Athens, Greece, 8,000 anti-war protesters
clashed with police and smashed shops and banks. Police
responded with tear gas and savage beatings, and were
met with stones, bottles and petrol bombs. Elsewhere several
other blocs of demonstrators managed to get near to the
meeting. Several undercover police were beaten by protesters
and expelled from the demonstration. The British, Italian
and French embassies were attacked, and British Airways’
office was occupied. The day ended with 106 arrests.
The EU enlargement will involve increasing “liberalisation”
of the economy, to the benefit only of the rich.
Spain: The city of Barcelona was shaken
on Thursday 10th April as thousands of people took to
the streets in a day of protest against the killing in
Iraq and the permanent war. Many businesses were closed,
following a call by several anarcho-syndicalist unions
(CGT, CNT-AIT, SO) for a general strike of 24 hours. Actions
were continuing until the late evening. Strikes and demonstrations
also happened in Madrid and across Spain.
Italy: One million people responded to
a general strike call put out by the rank and file unions
such as the CUB, COBAS and the anarcho-syndicalist USI-AIT.
Marches and demonstrations took place in most towns and
cities.
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ON
THE FRONTLINE
Water,
Fire and a bit of Wind
WELL, IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN sooner or later. Water charges
in the north could be in place by 2005 (under EU law Northern
Ireland needs to have a charge for water by 2010). But
what are the water charges?
Until now we have been permitted the privilege of drinking
water through payment of household rates (the rate we
pay is currently under review but likely to go up). A
separate water charge will essentially involve paying
twice for something which we already pay for once. This
is nothing short of double-taxation which will, as usual,
affect low-income families the most. Charges are likely
to amount to as much as £250 per household, and this for
a service, which according to the General Consumers’ Council
(GCC), loses 37% of treated water every year through the
failings of the current pipe network. The charges will
lead to more privatisation, and the further decrease in
the standard of drinking water.
What is needed is a campaign of resistance to prevent
the new charges from being imposed on us against our wishes,
or a widespread refusal to pay the new charges if they
are. This should be organised along non-party and non-hierarchical
lines and coordinate at local levels across our community.
Non-payment, and any other means of direct action, is
the only language big business understands.
Meanwhile, the fire-fighters dispute rumbles on, despite
desperate attempts by the Union bureaucrats to bring about
a humiliating ‘settlement’ and deliberate morale weakening
statements from the same.
At a Brighton Conference delegates voted to reject the
16% offer recommended by the executive and setting up
the very real prospect of ‘rebel strikes’ once the War
is over - clearly sticking two fingers up to the FBU chiefs
whose mishandling of the dispute has highlighted the danger
of relying on well-paid representatives to fight our battles
- they’ve more in common with the bosses across the table
than the workers.
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ARG
UPDATE
THE
ARGENTINEAN STATE continues its attack on the occupied
factories and neighbourhood assemblies over there:
“The sisters and brothers workers of Brukman have suffered
another attack at the hands of the justice system, the
government and the bosses. In a brutal police operation,
with more than 250 police, attack vehicles, ... and the
presence of infantry, our factory was evicted.”
“During
the last year and a half of occupation and production
under workers' control, we workers demonstrate that we
are the only ones interested in sustaining the workplace
abandoned by the bosses. We have taken charge of the factory,
we put it into production, we have been receiving a decent
wage all these months and have even hired workers fired
by the bosses. This has led to our receiving immense solidarity
from the people of the capital and especially from the
movement of popular assemblies, trade unions and other
organizations of employed and unemployed workers.”
“We
call on all of them to stay rallied at the door of our
factory. Since the first moments hundreds of brothers
and sisters got here, now we are almost a thousand defending
the factory. Here we will stay until we regain it.”– Sister
and brother workers of Brukman.
As
we go to press the workers of Brukman are fighting hundreds
of police for control of the factory.
Meanwhile,
the occupied space of Lezama Sur, home of the local community
assembly and Indymedia, was evicted as part of a terror
campaign against the occupied spaces in Buenos Aires –
buildings taken over by activists and families for safe
housing and cultural centres. The organisers inside the
building were forced out by police but not detained.
The
government is cracking down on protests and community
projects to intimidate activists. The atmosphere of brutal
police control seems to grow more intense daily. Almost
everyday there are cases of police repression – worker
controlled factory evictions, protesters being beaten,
police blockades in the streets, and most frighteningly
assembly members being kidnapped. In recent weeks the
media has only sensationalized these acts.
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TIME
BOMB POLAND 1956
Continuing
our series on the history of workers’ councils -the Polish
Uprising 1956
IN JUNE 1956, workers in Poznan, the main industrial city
of west-central Poland rebelled. The city had been the
epicentre of resistance to Prussian-German occupation
in the nineteenth century, and historically had an experienced
working class with a penchant for direct action.
The revolt began as an industrial protest: 15,000 workers
at the Cegielski engineering plant demanded higher wages
and the reversal of new production targets which they
simply refused to meet. After a street demonstration on
28 June, there followed a day and night of riots with
the security forces and the army –80 people lost their
lives, and thousands were injured.According to one commentator:
‘The
shock of Poznan heaved the whole Polish situation into
crisis. At the base, Party membership began to dissolve.
Party groups in the factories realised that of they did
not start fighting for a better standard of living, they
too could be caught between worker revolts and the guns
of the Internal Security Corps’.
Meanwhile workers at a car factory in Zeran organised
themselves into councils that soon spread throughout the
country. These councils were powerful centres of workers’
control and the culmination of years of frustration with
Party policy. Influenced by the Yugoslav example of workers’
self-management at plant level, the workers’ councils
also claimed the right for workers to manage their own
enterprises.
In July, a frightened Party decided to give legal recognition
to the councils, but this merely served as a ploy to buy
enough time to dismantle them at a later date. In October,
the reformist Gomulka (who had been purged by Stalin)
returned to the ranks of the Polish United Workers’ party
(PUWP) and defied the threat of invasion by Krushchev’s
forces just across the border.
As it turned out, Krushchev had nothing to worry about.
In return for acceptance of Gomulka’s leadership of the
PUWP, Gomulka sold out the councils, overseeing, by 1958,
their grinding down into purely economic bodies, a smokescreen
where real power lay…in the hands of the Party elite.
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AF
& THE UNIONS - A PERSONAL VIEW
Because
of the AF’s position on the Trade Unions, it is often
alleged by those with an axe to grind against us, that
we are purists based in an ivory tower as far as industrial
strategy goes and that we “won’t get our hands dirty”
in the day to day struggle against the bosses in the workplace.
This accusation however, tells us more about the lack
of revolutionary thought and imagination in those who
make such idiotic accusations.
They are quite right, in that we are not only critical
of the unions but that we argue that the unions are nothing
more than a tool of the capitalists, and the union bureaucrat
is nothing more than the pimp of the labour movement,
whose role it is to mediate with our masters and negotiate
the rate - and maybe allow us a fair day’s pay for a fair
day’s wage slavery. Yes, we see the unions as a barrier
to the construction of any viable revolutionary consciousness
and movement within the working class. And true, we believe
that before we can get anywhere against the boss class,
the trade union movement will need to be swept aside.
Yet at the same time, although I strongly hold the above
views on the unions, I’ve always been a member of a union.
Now some readers
might see this as a contradiction, but I would disagree.
Look, as anarchists, we hope to one day see the abolition
of the money and the wages system. This doesn’t mean we
give back our wage packets to the boss on a Friday because
we don’t like money. Similarly, when I’m out of work,
I sign on the dole. I think the benefits system stinks
and know full well it is a tool of the capitalists, and
a warning to those in work to watch out, to keep your
heads down or you’ll end up on the dole as well, replaced
by someone else off the dole queue.
For
similar reasons, it’s worth joining the union. Conditions
are generally better in unionised shops than in non-unionised
places. And yes, there’s usually more freedom to speak
out, agitate, organise, in unionised workplaces. But do
we have to become good little trade unionists because
of this? Of course not.
Although AF-ers join unions, we do NOT stand for positions
in the union bureaucracy. I suspect many anarchists not
already in the AF wouldn’t disagree with this. Added to
this, we in the AF are also sceptical of becoming shop
stewards or union reps. And this scepticism of ours is
often a problem for many non AF anarchists. (This however
does not prevent our members from becoming shop-stewards
if they so wish.)
It shouldn’t be. To be a good shop steward, you have to
be able to REPRESENT your fellow workers and mediate with
the boss (and the union) at the local level. Why revolutionaries
should want to mediate with the boss (or union) is beyond
me. Even if we did such a thing, then surely, as revolutionaries,
how long do you think we’d be able to deal so antagonistically
(and it should be antagonistic) with the boss before our
fellow workers get edgy and decide they want someone a
bit more “reasonable” or “compliant”... or before the
boss decides the same, or realises it’s high time to get
shot of the nasty anarchist agitator.
So
what do us AF-ers do then, when it comes to organising
in the workplace?
I used to work at Hackney Council in London - before being
made redundant with loads of others workers - and I’ll
outline some of the things I was involved in then. This
should hopefully give the lie to all those revolutionary
critics who seem to like to get their hands dirty while
mediating in some cosy meeting with management or the
regional organiser.
I was a member
of Hackney Unison for about four years. On at least three
occasions, I was asked to “stand” for union rep of my
section - knowing full well that this would have meant
my being elected unopposed. The reason I was so frequently
asked to fulfill this role was because I was known as
someone who was active, vocal, and it was also pretty
well known that I was a member of the Anarchist Federation.
During several strikes, I was active in getting people
out on strike, organising picket rotas, picketting, and
on one occasion indulging in fisticuffs with scabs. I
attended and participated in mass strike meetings, and
often spoke from the platform on these occasions. My position
at such meetings however was always ANTI -UNION, and I
would call on people to be vigilant against the union
hierarchy and leadership, and be ready for any attempts
to sabotage the strike. Generally, the died in the wool
bureaucrats and a few trots would be unhappy about this,
and would try to cut my message short. On the whole however,
this viewpoint would be fairly well received.
Our critics should note that in Hackney Unison hardly
anyone failed to grasp my anti-union position. In fact
many there were not unsympathetic. And these weren’t politicos
but pissed off workers who by and large belonged to no
party or political group.
But as anarchists,
we need to be spreading discontent and rebellion, fanning
the flames of discontent. We should be organising outside
of the union structures with other malcontents, and this
is what I tried to do in Hackney - admittedly with only
limited success. And in such a massive branch as Hackney
Unison (which had several thousands of members), it was
possible to work in this way, with other anarchists from
the Solidarity Federation, ex-Class War and some non-aligned
anarchos and malcontents. Yet in the end, the strike was
lost, the union defeated and seriously weakened.
Had we won
however, maybe we could have seen an increase of a new
kind of workers’ organisation, something like the idea
of workplace resistance groups, which the AF advocates
as part of its industrial strategy.
And to all our critics, I can only say this: come out
of the trade union closet, and join us in organising some
autonomous workplace resistance.
(The writer is a member of Leicester AF)
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BOMBARDIERS BOMBS WORKERS
MORE
JOB LOSSES AT BOMBARDIER. After downsizing 3000 workers
onto the scrapheap in March, it predicted further cutbacks
on expendable labour in April when revealing losses of
£280m and a radical “action plan” to raise money and re-shape
the company. Well, as long as the company is alright!
This month though it won itself an order worth £5 billion
for up to 255 regional jets from U.S airways. The planes
arrive in June.Great news, eh?!
Well, not quite. Michael Ryan, general manager of Bombardier
Aerospace in Belfast, said:
“While the news is welcome it will not result in additional
jobs. It will help sustain current production rates, making
the remaining jobs more secure, provided we can improve
our competitiveness.”
So, no more
jobs, and the jobs that remain are on shaky ground. After
all, it all depends on how well Bombardier competes on
the capitalist market, the vagaries of which no one understands,
never mind predict. And if profits do start rolling in,
a nice wee war will always hide the fact they’re not!
A time for
the unions to save the day, exercise a bit of industrial
muscle?
Again, not quite. Instead Amicus union elite are meeting
bosses to hammer out a package of ‘cost savings’ which
the workforce can then put to a ballot...and so thanks
to Amicus, workers who have lost their jobs, or will probably
lose their jobs some time soon, have been negotiated out
of the equation.
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INSIDE
INFORMATION
SOLIDARITY
WITH HAROLD H. THOMPSON APPEAL
The Anarchist comrade Harold H. Thompson, who’s been suffering
in his ownflesh the Usan jails horror since 1979, has
been devoting all his forces to help other prisoners with
theit trials and to lodge appeals on his own aswell to
get so basic rights such as receiving political literature
(banned in the Yankee prisons since the mid 80’s) recognized
for prisoners. His commitment has brought him the hatred
and harassment from warders, prison officers and extreme
right organizations as the Aryan Brotherhood, but nothing
of this has succeeded in making him give up his solidarian
labour up to now.However, the last blow the Tennessee
Department of Corrections has struck him with has stopped
totally his legal work. The Department has removed typewriters
and word processors from the authorized prisoners property
list,which means they won’t be able to have them repaired
or substituted if they break down. Since no court circuit
in the U$A accepts handwritten documents, it’s obvious
this measure is intended just to prevent inmates from
going on enjoying the autonomy they used to have to manage
their trials- in another words, to make Usan prisoners
still more imprisoned, as if it wasn’t enough with all
the things they must bear every day. Harold’s word processor
got broken down a short time ago, and due to this repressive
measure, he can’t go on with the trials, both his and
of other inmates’, he was taking, some of which could
suppose the recovering of elementary rights for the Usan
prisoners. Being things as they are, he and we his comrades
have decided to raise a solidarity campaign to get this
ban retired and thus help Harold to get another processor.
One of the ideas we’ve had is sending protest letters
as the one appearing below to the Tennessee Department
of Corrections Commissioner. You can write another one
if you want to, but if you decide this, please avoid any
expression that may seem threatening to them (you know
how paranoid these Yankees are...) or that may point a
finger directly on Harold.
If you want to write to Harold, do it to this address:
Harold H. Thompson
#93992, Northwest Correctional Complex, Route 1 Box 660,
Tiptonville,
Tennessee 38079, U$A.
To get in touch
with his support group, the address is:
FOHHT, 59
Alderson
Crescent, Formby, Merseyside, L37 3LY, England.
Give this message the biggest diffusion possible. UPWARDS
AND ONWARDS!
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