THE GENERAL STRIKE IN SWEDEN: THE MISSING REPORTS:
Molly has previously reported on the attempted general strike that the Swedish syndicalist union SAC (see AnarchoSyndicalist Links in the contact section of this blog) called for Nov. 15th. This call was, of course, widely publicized in the press and electronic sites of the world's anarchist movement. Numerous messages of solidarity were sent to our Swedish comrades. The strike, of course, has come and gone, and what is missing from the public face of anarchism is any analysis of what the strike call actually achieved. The SAC may have reported on the results, but little or none of this of this has been published in languages other than Swedish. The exception is an article published in Royo Y Negro, a journal of the Spanish CGT. Published on Nov. 17th, two days after the strike, it was entitled, 'La Huelga de la SAC asusta a patronal y sindicatos mayoritarios en Suecia' (Molly trans: The SAC's strike frightens management (or the bosses' organization) and the majority unions in Sweden).
Royo y Negro made no estimates of the total number of people who heeded the call of the SAC, but they made three observations about the benefits of the strike call. The first was that many affiliates of the majority union, the LO, were so disgusted by the manoeuvres of their union bosses that they joined the SAC demonstrations on their own initiatives. The second benefit was that the strike call reawakened public interest in the existence of the SAC in Sweden. The third is that the call reinvigorated the activity of the locals and industrial sections of the SAC.
All of this is undoubtedly true and to the good, but actual numbers would be much more to the point. Without them one relies on factors that are more than a little subjective. When and how to issue a strike call is an important question as international anarchosyndicalism competes with bureaucratic unions across the world. Success should be judged by objective criteria so that lessons can actually be learned. subjective criteria should be followed over time to see if initial impressions were indeed true.
Still waiting for same...
Molly
PS:The graphic above is the logo of the SAC.