INTERNATIONAL LABOUR GERMANY:

PROTESTING NEO-LIBERALISM IN GERMANY:

It's official now. You know that a ruling class plot has serious opposition when there are mass protests against it in Germany of all places. I speak of the practically worldwide move by governments to make the ordinary person suck it up for the bank and corporate bailouts of recent memory. Yes, even governments have to at least pretend to balance their books occasionally (despite social democratic illusions) or at least not get swamped in a visible sea of red ink. Thus Germany, like many other countries, is trying to download the cost onto its average citizen, and German workers are responding with opposition to this attempt to make them pay for a crisis they didn't create. Here's the story from Deutsche Welle. But I would not be true to form if I didn't make a plug here for my own people, the German anarcho-syndicalist union the FAU, and the German language section of the IWW. Look to them for more consistent opposition than social democratic unions are wont to present.

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Thousands march as German unions protest Merkel government

Tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets of a host of German cities, marching against what they say are unfair social policies espoused by the coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A day ahead of an important gathering of heavyweights from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), tens of thousands have marched across Germany on Saturday protesting government policies and what they say is social inequality.


Umbrella union group DGB, which helped organize the demonstrations, said nearly 100,000 people marched in Stuttgart, Dortmund, Nuremberg and Erfurt to voice their disapproval with the Merkel government.


Chief among the complaints was the offloading of the costs of the financial crisis on taxpayers.


"We don't want a republic in which powerful interest groups decide the guidelines of politics with their money, their power and their influence," Berthold Huber, head of IG Metall, Germany's largest trade union, told demonstrators in Stuttgart.


The union is demanding higher wages and the introduction of a minimum wage, arguing that ordinary Germans should benefit most from the country's economic upswing following the financial crisis.
Pressure mounts on coalition


The protests were timed to coincide with the CDU's annual party congress, at which it's expected Merkel will be reelected to the leadership. The three-day gathering in Karlsruhe in Germany's south begins Sunday.


The congress will be held under the specter of sagging opinion poll figures for Merkel and the CDU. Just over a year into Merkel's second tenure as chancellor, many Germans are angry over a lack of progress on key campaign promises.


Her center-right coalition now trails the center-left grouping of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens in opinion polls.


Merkel's government has also been dogged by infighting between the CDU and their government partners, the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).


Most recently, the public was angered when the Merkel government decided to extend the lifespan of the country's nuclear reactors. Nuclear energy remains deeply unpopular in Germany, witnessed most recently last week when tens of thousands protested the transfer of atomic waste from France to a storage facility in the north of Germany.


Merkel has also been criticized from the rightist faction within her own party, who believe she has not been conservative enough in her leadership of the CDU and the country.

PERSONAL:

HERE AT MOLLY'S BLOG:

The seasons change, and the leaves begin to fall. Molly is due to go on vacation soon so the number of posts at this blog will drop during that time. I hope I've provided at least a little information and amusement in the last little while. the squirrels are busy gathering their nuts, and Molly is busy decorating the yard for Halloween. It's a long process preparing for my favourite holiday, and each year the cars drive by, stop and take pictures.

In terms of this blog I'd like to call the readers' attention to three different sections that have been added in the last little while. All of them are under the anarcho-syndicalist rubric, the form of anarchism that I feel closest to and which I consider the most practical. The first is the listing for the KRAS, the Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists in Russia. While it must be admitted that KRAS is still only a propaganda group rather than a functioning union it is still significant that they have at least expanded their online presence in the last little while. it is part and parcel of the general expansion of practical anarchism that I have taken such delight in in the last few years.

Speaking of such there is also a new listing for the youth section of the German FAU. The (take a deep breath) Anarhistisch-Syndikalistischer Jugen (Anarcho-Syndicalist Youth) in Germany has been expanding rapidly, and I have added a separate category for them following the FAU listings. While not up to the level of the youth federation of the Swedish SAC (also listed under our Links) the young German comrades seem to be expanding rapidly. I have to admit that it is beyond me why the Swedes and the Germans seem to be so successful while in Spain both the CNT with their FJIL (historical nostalgia ?) and the much larger CGT seem to have their youth sections "stillborn". There is also another Iberian youth federation that, as far as I can tell, is not an extension of one of the Spanish anarchosyndicalist unions, but it is also very small. They have been listed under the Spanish section of our links. As I said, beyond me, and I can definitely see the utility of a youth federation as it addresses concerns different from those of older people. As for here in North America this is obviously a project for the far distant future as "youth" would probably encompass close to 95% of anarchists here.

Perhaps most pleasantly there is now a listing for the Workers' Initiative/(another deep breath) Inicjatywa Pracownicza of Poland. These people are the "non-AIT' anarcho-syndicalist union federation in Poland, and despite my early misconceptions they are (as expected) far more successful in organizing than the AIT affiliated ZSP. Their base of strength is in Poznan, but as the listings point out they have branches in many Polish provinces. These are the people who have a "dual card" arrangement with the British IWW. The latest news that I have heard from their quarter is that their decision to actually run as candidates in the workplace councils has brought the same success (in a smaller way) as it brought to the Spanish CGT and the French CNT (Vignoles). The anarcho-syndicalist project faces some fundamental choices in the modern world...whether to actually collectively bargain, whether to participate in union elections (in both the North American and European sense) and so on. My own opinions are very much in favour of making the necessary compromises because the alternative is shrinking away to an irrelevant sect that will be of no use even if times were to change. I recognize the dangers, but I also recognize the dangers of the sectarian alternative.

Enough of this pontification. May the busy squirrels of Fall not shit on your head.

Molly.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-GERMANY:

MORE ON HELP FOR THE FAU:

It has been five days since Molly last reported on the court order prohibiting the anarcho-syndicalist FAU from acting as the union for workers at the New Babylon Cinema. Since that time a couple of ways to support these workers have become available. First of all there is the following letter in German that the FAU would like you to fax to the court hearing the case. The fax number is +49(0)30 90188-518.

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Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren vom Landgericht Berlin,Deutschland stellt sich selbst gern als Musterland der Demokratie dar.Aber diese Demokratie scheint nicht für die gewerkschaftlichen Rechteder ArbeiterInnen zu gelten. Ihnen wird durch Verbote die Freiheit zurBildung von Gewerkschaften beschnitten.

So haben Sie der FAU Berlin verboten, sich selbst "Gewerkschaft" und"Basisgewerkschaft" zu nennen! Und das ohne diese Gewerkschafter undGewerkschafterinnen anzuhören! Dies bedeutet faktisch ein Verbot dieserGewerkschaft. Dieses Verbot der eigenständigen Organisierung vonArbeitern und Arbeiterinnen ist ein Skandal!

Damit treten Sie nicht nur deren Rechte mit Füßen, sondern verstoßenauch gegen die ILO-Konventionen und die Menschenrechte.

Wir werden die Öffentlichkeit über diesen skandalösen Vorfall inKenntnis setzen und fordern Sie auf, dieses Verbot rückgängig zu machenund die FAU Berlin nicht weiter mit Strafe zu bedrohen, wenn sie sichöffentlich als Gewerkschaft für die Interessen und Belange ihrerMitglieder einsetzt.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

[name]

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THE LETTER:

The Winnipeg Wobbly Blog also has an article of the situation of the FAU with more information. The letter, In English, that you can send to the New Babylon Cimema management by clicking here follows. There are also support Facebook pages here and here. All information courtesy of the Winnipeg Wobbly Blog.

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I am writing to protest about Kino Babylon's continued harrassment of workers organizing through FAU. Each person has the right to organize to defend their self-interests and employers have no right to interfere with this process. The moves made by Kino Babylon's management and their cohorts in ver.di can only be seen to constitute such unjustified interference.

I understand that the Kino has tried to cut the workers themselves out of the collective bargaining process. This is another attack on their right to organize themselves.

We support the workers' aspirations to earn decent wages and have an influence on their working conditions. And we support the actions of FAU taken so far in this campaign.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-BERLIN GERMANY:

LEGAL SETBACK FOR NEW BABYLON CINEMA WORKERS:

In Germany the , Freie Arbeiterinnen und Arbeiter Union, Free Workers' Union (FAU), the German section of the AIT-IWA, carries on the historical tradition of anarchosyndicalism. For almost a year now the workers of the FAU have been struggling for a collective agreement with the management of Berlin's 'New Babylon Cinema'. Through this time management has employed various legal manoeuvres to try and avoid recognition of the union. Here is the latest example, a temporary court injunction against the union. From the A-Infos site...

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Germany, FAU Berlin may no longer be called union:

The Free Workers Union Berlin has, on 11.12.2009 by a temporary injunction of the Berlin district court, been prohibited from calling itself a union or base union. This is the culmination of a series of attempts of New Babylon Berlin GmbH to take legal action against the strongest and most active union workers in the company. ---- Without hearing the district court followed the reasoning (argumentation) of the opposing side, who already in October got the Labour court to divest FAU Berlin of it's union status. In this judgement although the FAU Berlin was forbidden the boycott of the cinema, the union status, however, was not negotiable. ---- It is a novelty (new factor) in German law, that an organisation would be forbidden to call itself a union.

It is all the more absurd, if it concerns an organization that has for a good year led a labor dispute, which ultimately forced collective bargaining.

"This attack on the fundamental right of freedom of association is a union ban (in the sense of immediacy). It is our understanding that it is still always the workers themselves, who decide how they organise themselves. Should this decision survive/be long lasting, it is not only an attack against the FAu but against every form of independent grassroots/base organising." said Lars Rohm, Secretary of the FAU Berlin.

The FAU Berlin announced, however, to take action against this decision.

Chronology of the conflict in Babylon Cinema

*13/02/2009 Rally of the FAU Berlin in front of the cinema for higher wages during the Berlinale

*11/03/2009 Dismissal of employee and active member of the FAU

*04/06/2009 Presentation of the collective agreement of the FAU at the Babylon cinema

*17/06/2009 Rejection of collective bargaining by the New Babylon Berlin GmbH

*25/06/2009 Demonstration for the establishment of collective bargaining with the FAU

*13/07/2009 Calling for a boycott of the cinema by the FAU Berlin with the aim of bringing management to the negotiating table

*23/07/2009 Expansion of industrial action/workers struggle onto the second GmbH the management operated open air cinemas

*29/07/2009 Complaint for trespassing against members of the FAU Berlin at a leaflet campaign in the cinema

*03/09/2009 Intervention in the labor dispute by verdi

*25/09/2009 Protests of the FAU Berlin at the "Left Cinema Night" in Babylon Mitte. „Die Linke“ distributed flyers on which it indicates mediator/arbitrator of the intervention is ver.dis

*06/10/2009 First official meeting between ver.di and the FAU Berlin about forming a Tarifgemeinschaft (I think they mean common rate?)

*07/10/2009 Temporary injunction by the Labor Court Berlin prohibiting the boycott at the request of the New Babylon Berlin GmbH

*12/12/2009 Prohibition against FAU Berlin, by preliminary injunction, to describe themselves as a trade union or base trade union by the Berlin District Court on application by the New Babylon Berlin GmbH

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HOW YOU CAN HELP THE FAU:

Well, from the above it is certainly plain which side the German courts are on. The only way that the FAU can win through in this fight is by political pressure. Here, from an English section of their mostly German website is what they suggest you can do in solidarity.

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How to support us?:
Get involved: Solidarity is our weapon!

English: Here you find every information you need to support the FAU Berlin.Deutsch: Hier findet ihr alle nötigen Informationen, um die FAU Berlin zu unterstützen.
You can help us – amongst your own ideas – by:
♠Carrying out protest actions in front of German diplomatic missions (embassies, consulates) or other institutions that represent the German state.
♠Sending protest letters to German embassies in your country, including a carbon copy to the management of the Kino Babylon Mitte.
♠Sending protest faxes to the responsible Berlin court.

Here you find a list of all German diplomatic missions. Look if there is an embassy or consulate in your city. This file also includes information on how to contact the embassy in your country. The listed country names are given in German.

Here you find – if necessary – a table to find out how your country's name is in German.

Here [soon to come] templates for protest letters you can direct to the German embassy.

The contact to the Management of the cinema Babylon Mitte is:

Fax: +49 - (0)30 - 24727-800

E-mail: grossman@babylonberlin.de

hackel@babylonberlin.de

The contact to the competent court (Landgericht Berlin) is:Fax: +49 (0)30 90188 - 518

Here [soon to come] templates for protest letters you can direct to the Landgericht (court).

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Please stay tuned to the FAU website (or later here at Molly's Blog) for the details from the German comrades.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR/INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-GERMANY:

SUPPORT THE WORKERS OF BABYLON CINEMA:

The following appeal is originally from the anarchosyndicalist FAU of Germany. It comes Molly's way via the Anarkismo website.

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Support the workers of Babylon Cinema in Berlin:
On March 11, Benoit Robin, a projectionist at Babylon Cinema in Berlin and an activist of FAU, was fired from his job. He was in the midst of organizing for improved working conditions in the cinema.

In January a FAU group was organized at the cinema. The workers there have poor wages: from 5.5-6 euro per hour, 6.4 euro for projectionists. This is a very poor wage in the industry. Many of the workers are precarious and have no contracts. They have no paid holiday or other benefits. By comparison, workers in another cinema chain receive 8.5 euro per hour plus 30 paid paid vacation.

Currently 27 people work at the cinema.

The cinema cannot be said to be in poor financial condition. As an art cinema, it receives a large government subsidy - almost a half million euros per year. Despite this, the workers in Babylon Cinema get extremely low wages - even less than in some workplaces known for their extremely poor work conditions.

The workers at the cinema organized a protest during the Berlin film festival. A month later, Robin was fired. It is believed that he was fired due to this organizing campaign.

Robin was not the only comrade ever fired from Babylon. Last year one comrade was fired for no reason but later received compensation for this. He is currently involved in the protests and organizing campaign.

The workers of the cinema have a blog: http://prekba.blogsport.de

There is also an online petition you can sign: http://prekba.blogsport.de/solidaritaets-erklaerungT

here is a video here (in German) with a machine translation of an article about the situation, but you can get the sense.

http://freundeskreis-videoclips.de/en/arbeitskampf-kino-babylon-berlin-mitte/

FAU is asking people to send letters to the cinema:

Neue Babylon Berlin GmbH

tgrossman@kinoundkonzerte.de

hackel@babylonberlin.de

Tel.: 0049 (0)30-24 727 804

Fax: 0049 (0)30-24 727 800

Re.: Dismissal of Benoit Robin

It has come to my attention that staff at the Babylon Cinema and the FAU-IWA, which has a presence there, have been opposing the precarious working conditions at the cinema.

I was sorry to learn that projectionist and union member Benoit Robin was fired just before he would have become entitled to job protection. This message is a strong protest against that unfair labour practice. Beyond the issue immediately at hand, I urge you to desist from interfering with organizing in your shop.

Best Regards

Copy of your letter to: faub5@fau.org

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-GREECE:

SOLIDARITY WITH KONSTANTINA KUNEVA:

The following item is from the LibCom website. For further information in Greek see the Katalipsan blog that her supporters have set up. The German anarchosyndicalist union, the FAU, has set up a solidarity fund for her and her family. Please go to their website to learn how you can donate.

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Protesters clash with riot police over acid attack on syndicalist cleaner in Athens:

K. Kouneva, a militant syndicalist of the cleaner's union in Athens was attacked with sulphuric acid and is in intensive care. The attack has led to the occupation of the Electric Railway HQs in Athens and a protest march to the hospital where she lies in coma. On Monday protesters clashed with and routed riot police guarding the company's offices in Piraeus.

On Monday 22 of December Konstantina Kouneva, militant syndicalist, general secretary of the cleaner’s union of Athens (Panattic Union of Cleaners and Domestic Personnel) and active feminist was attacked with vitriolic acid by what she and her comrades claim to be agents of her bosses. Konstantina, who comes from Bulgaria, has been actively campaigning for workers rights in one of the darkest sectors of the greek economy: companies that subhire female and predominantly immigrant, often sans-papiers, cleaners to state and private companies, as permitted under a PaSoK (Socialist Party) law of 2001.

Konstantina’s bosses at OIKOMET, the company that provides cleaners to major banks and state magnates like the metro system and the national electricity company, have been known to have direct and close links to the political nepotistic establishment of the country. The company’s owner, Oikonomakis, has been a long term Socialist cadre in Pireaus. According to the Union, Konstantina had been recently receiving a series of threat calls by company thugs in relation to her demand that the Christmas bonus is fully paid to its workers, who had been forced to sign a receipt of payment receiving only half their salary earlier this month. Such threats apparently thickened after she started attending the Assembly of the Occupied General Worker’s Union during the days of the December Uprising. The attack that took place outside her flat in the traditional proletarian neighbourhood of Petralona and sent the syndicalist in coma, has already cost Konstantina one of her eyes, while doctors are struggling to save the other one and her phonetic chords.

In response to the bosses’ attack and the general apathy of the media which have imposed a virtual blackout on the subject, a solidarity demo took place on the 26 of December outside Evangelismos hospital where she is been held in intensive care. During the demo a police car that tried to cross nearby was attacked with rocks by the protesters. Trying to organise more consistent and long-term counterinformation and solidarity action to the syndicalist, an Assembly for Solidarity to K. Kouneva has been formed late this week. On Saturday 27, the Assembly occupied the Headquarters of ISAP, the state-owned Athens-Piraeus Electric Railway Company, which has been hiring Konstantina along with hundreds of other cleaners by OIKOMET. The Assembly hang banners condemning corporate violence and decided to hold a protest march in the centre of Athens on Sunday afternoon. Despite the short-notice and the seasonal holiday, the march was attended by more than 500 people who marched to Evangelismos hospital chanting slogans like “ISAP and the bosses throw vitriolic acid, we shall burn the city down”, “Class hatred, kick and punch the bosses” and “Konstantina you are not alone, bosses pigs murderers”.

On Monday morning (29/12), the Feminist Center of Athens held a demo outside the hospital, while cleaners blockaded the entrance of the OIKOMET offices forcing them to shut down. In the same evening cleaners and solidarity protesters took to the streets of Piraeus, home of the OIKOMET premises. When the protest march reached the offices, the protesters encountered riot policemen guarding the building. In the clash that ensued the riot police forces were routed and were forced to run leaving shields, helmets and even shoes behind.

The text that follows is the pamphlet of the occupied ISAP HQs.
WHEN THEY MESS WITH ONE OF US

THEY MESS WITH ALL OF US
On the 27th of December we occupied the headquarters of ISAP (Athens Piraeus Electric Railway) as a first response to the murderous attack against Konstantina Kuneva on the 23-12-2008. Sulphuric acid was thrown at her face as she was returning home from work.Konstantina is in the intensive care ward of Evangelismos hospital suffering serious sight and respiratory system problems.
Who was Konstantina? Why was she attacked?
Konstantina is one among the hundreds of female immigrant workers who have been working for years as cleaners. She is general secretary of the Panattic Union of Cleaners and Domestic Personnel. She is a militant union organizer, well known for her stance against various bosses. Just last week she had a clash with the employer company “OIKOMET” when she demanded for herself and the rest of her colleagues to get paid the whole amount of money of her Christmas bonus. She also denounced illegal procedures in payments. Just a short while ago the same company fired her mother in an act of revenge against her and she got herself an unfavourable transfer to Marousi station. There is also a case of a three-part meeting in the Labour Inspection Office still pending on the 5-1-2009 concerning a denouncement of hers. Situations like these are not at all rare in the field of cleaning and employee lending companies. It’s exactly the opposite.This is the rule when it comes to cleaning company contractors: delayed contracts, stolen wages, stolen overtime payments, differences between contract assets and what the employee actually gets paid, selection of almost exclusively immigrant male and female workers with green card status (legal residency in Greece ranging from 1 to 5 years – in most cases only 1 year) so they can be held in a state of hostageship, social security benefits that are never attributed. All these under the support of the public sector and enterprises which are aware, incite and support working conditions reminiscent of the middle ages.

OIKOMET in particular, a cleaning company with enterprises all over Greece and owned by Nikitas Oikonomakis who is a member of PASOK (Greek Socialist Party), “officially” employs 800 workers – on the other hand, workers say that their number is at least twice as much and during the last 3 years the turnover amounts to 3000). Illegal procedures on the part of the employer company are on the everyday list. To be more specific, employees sign “blank page contracts” and they are never given a copy of them. They work 6 hours a day but get paid for 4,5 (including stamp) because in this way they appear to be working less than 30 hours per week on paper and the boss is not forced to include them in the “higher stamp category”. Employees get terrorized, they get unfavourable transfers, they get fired and blackmailed into resigning voluntarily (a female employee was threatened by her employer into signing her resignation after being held for 4 hours in a space owned by the company). The boss organised a “yellow” (company) union in order to manipulate employees while he fires and hires people as he wishes, ruling out any prospect of communication inside the workplace or collective action.
What is the connection between OIKOMET and ISAP?
OIKOMET has been assigned as a contractor the cleaning of ISAP (as well as the cleaning of other public sector and corporations) because it can “provide” the cheapest deal that includes the highest level of exploitation and devaluation of work. This “regime” of “offer and demand” is based on public sector organisations such as ISAP. ISAP is an accomplice in maintaining this regime of crude exploitation despite repeated denouncements by the union.The murderous attack against our colleague was an act of revenge and had the intent to serve as an example.The target was not coincidental. Female, immigrant, militant union organizer, mother of an underage child, she was the most vulnerable for the bosses.

The method was not coincidental. It resembles “dark” ages and aims to “brand”, to serve as an example and terrorize us.The time chosen was not coincidental. The media, the political parties, the Church, businessmen and union bosses have been trying to ridicule the social movement that has taken the form of an explosion and talk about the cold-blooded murder of 15-year-old Alexandros as the result of a bullet getting redirected. In this pretext, the attack on Konstantina is lost in the everyday news.

This murderous attack on the part of the employers was well-planned.

Konstantina is one of us. Her struggle for DIGNITY and SOLIDARITY is also our struggle.The attack on Konstantina has left a mark in all our hearts. It has left a mark in our memory as have done the racist pogroms, the concentration camps for immigrants, the attacks by thugs working for the state, the workplace accidents, the people murdered by the state, the working conditions that resemble galleys, the purges, the lay-offs and the terror. All these show the long way ahead for the social and class struggle.

Our hearts are filled with sorrow and rage and one sentence comes to our lips:
MURDERERS, YOUR TIME WILL COME

THE EMPLOYERS TERROR SHALL NOT PASS
SOLIDARITY ASSEMBLY

FOR KONSTANTINA KUNEVA

GERMANY:

THE STRIKE-BIKE WILL BE PRODUCED:

SENSATIONAL SUCCESS FOR WORKERS OF OCCUPIED BICYCLE FACTORY:

After only two weeks of effort most of the needed orders for bicycles from the occupied factory in Nordhausen Germany have been received. The target is 1,800 by the end of October, and so far over 1,300 orders have been received from all over the world. The workers at the factory have decided to start production of the "strike-bike" which will, appropriately be coloured red. With help from the anarcho-syndicalist FAU (Freie Arbeiterinnen und Arbeiter Union) of Germany people all across Europe made presentations, visited bicycle dealers and spread the word in numerous other ways. Hundreds of websites reported on the events. It was picked up by the mass media in Germany. The home page of the strike-bike http://www.strike-bike.de was visited 64,000 times. The workers at the factory plan to start up production at the end of October, but orders are still needed. To see more go to the website above or...

"Bikes in Nordhausen e.V."

c/o Andre Kegel

Bruno-Kunze-Str. - 99734 Nordhausen

Telefon: 03631-622 124 and 03631- 403 591

Fax : 03631- 622 170

email fahrradwerk@gmx.de

For further information about the campaign of the FAU Strike-Bike Solidarity Group:

Folkert Mohrhof

-mobile 0179-4863252

Monday through Friday 10:am-3pm:

+49 40-20 90 68 96

presse@strike-bike.de

GERMANY:

BICYCLE PLANT UNDER WORKERS' CONTROL:

Since the 10th of July workers at the Bike Systems GmbH factory in have been on strike and occupying the Company's factory in the Thuringian Nordhausen area of Germany. The Company applied for bankruptcy protection on August 10th, a possibly very planned move as the factory was "stripped" of productive assets before the strike actually began. Yes...you can indeed make good money out of being bankrupt, especially if you plan ahead. Production at the plant had actually stopped as of June 30th. Various plotters have been operating to acquire the facility and restart operations under what can only be described as a "weapon of mass destruction of workers' rights" (see http://www.bike-eu.com/news/2484/bikes-systems-possible-re-start-after-insolvency.html ). The workers who have been occupying the plant, however, have their own ideas. They have now decided to resume bike production under a self-managed system. The German anarcho-syndicalist union, the FAU (Freie Arbeiterinnen und Arbeiter Union) has joined them in solidarity and is arranging to build a solidarity marketing campaign for the bikes that will be produced by the new self managed factory. Molly reproduces below an article from the Libcom site that provides a translation from the German. Molly has slightly edited this article for reasons of proper English usage. Molly's comments follow.

"Hamburg/Nordhausen, 19th of September in 2007:

Staff of occupied bicycle factory in the Thuringian Nordhausen take up production in self-management again:

The 135 colleagues of the bicycle factory Bike Systems GmbH in the Thuringian Nordhausen who have occupied the factory since the 10th of July, 2007 decided to resume the production of bicycles under self-management. To achieve this aim 1,800 binding orders on bicycles must be received before October 2nd. So the colleagues are working together with the anarcho-syndicalist union FAU (Freie Arbeterinnen und Arbeiter Union-Free Workers' Union) which has formed for this campaign the internet page www.strike-bike.de .

For more than two months the staff have kept the factory in the south of the Harz Mountains occupied in a triple shift. They want to prevent the definite dismantling and sale of the factory. The filing for bankruptcy as of August 10th faces long odds: The factory is exploited and run down. The hall was emptied except for the coating line. the staff receives unemployment compensation and hopes for a new concept and a new investor.

THE "STRIKE BIKE- SOLIDARITY BIKES FROM NORDHAUSEN:

During the occupation and in the wake of discussions during the visits of solidarity people the colleagues of the factory developed the idea to initially take up production under self-management for a short time. Because it is not only the point to only prevent the removal of the last machines and to wait for a new investor, the idea of a "Strike-Bike" met with more and more response. Now the opportunity arises to show the ability for the workers to develop their own concepts and to self-manage production and distribution.

If all goes well and 1,800 advance orders are collected for the bicycles produced under self-management, we will spread the idea of solidarity and bolster colleagues in similar situations to not let themselves be restructured to zero. By whomsoever !

The staff receives assistance in solidarity from the member of the anarcho-syndicalist union Freie Arbeiterrinnen und Arbeiter Union (Free Workers' Union) which will become active in the whole of Germany to spread the knowledge of the striking bicycle workers and to support the sale of the 'Strike-Bike'.

For more information go to http://www.strike-bike.de

For background information and the history of the occupation see http://www.labournet.de/branchen/sonstige/fahrzeug/bikesystems.html

To get in contact with the staff and to take orders see:

Bikes in Nordhausen e.V.

c/o Andre Kegel

Bruno-Kunze-Str 39- 99734 Nordhausen

Telefon 03631-622-124 and 03631-403-591

Fax 03631-622-170

email fahrradwerk@gmx.de

For further information about the FAU-Strike Bike solidarity Group see spokesperson

Folkert Mohrhof

-mobile 0179-4863252 and:

from Monday to Friday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

+49- 40- 20906896

The original unedited communique can be seen at the Libcom link given above

MOLLY COMMENTS:

THIS is the sort of thing that all rational anarchists should celebrate, encourage, support and publicize as widely as possible. With all its limitations this is about 2,000 light years closer to the anarchist idea of "direct action" than dozens upon dozens of set piece theatrical confrontations with police at various "summits". NONE of these little spectacular (in the situationalist sense) acts of theatre ever accomplish more than building an illusion of a movement while at the same time demonstrating to those outside of the charmed circle that anarchists are more than slightly demented because they like to lose battle after battle after battle. The workers at this plant do actual real direct action. It is actions that actually accomplishes something, that has at least a reasonable chance of success. It is not symbolic play acting.

Yes... there are problems with this action by the German workers. In the present configuration of forces it can only be temporary. It is a delaying action while waiting for the "new investor". Its great success will be that it will show that workplaces can be managed without bosses, and it will show this to a particularly "conservative" audience in Germany. The "legend" will live on after the reality has died.

Molly wants to call attention to a certain aspect of this dispute. The workers at the plant receive unemployment payments". This means that they can hold out much longer and "take the chance" of trying to restart production under self-management. This advantage is the result of the German state having a long tradition of a "tamed social democracy". This is not necessarily the case in other countries. Here in Canada the workers would have been cut off long ago, assuming that they could ever have collected EI. In a country such as Venezuela, ruled by a pseudo-populist demagogue the workers would have had the choice of one of three options: 1)integration into a nationalized system at much lower wages ,2)simply being ignored just like Canada or 3) being subjected to the full force of a much more violent repression if the owners of the factory were "bum buddies" of Chavez (part of the 'BoliBourgeoisie' as it is called down there). Molly thinks that this is further proof of her contention that a mild and tamed social democracy is the best environment in which to build libertarian socialism. NO...no demands for nationalization, but many demands that make peoples' lives easier whether they are in struggle or not.

It would be interesting to compare and contrast these sort of things in Germany with the "recuperated workplaces" in Argentina. Germany is not Argentina. Argentina today is not Spain circa 1936. The terrain for the struggle for liberty changes. Both the Argentinian examples and the German one as well depend far too much on the benevolence of the state. THIS is where Mutualism supplements syndicalism. There will be no more "sudden overturns". Just a long and grinding struggle. The "Revolution" today is not Blitzkrieg. It is trench warfare. Initiatives such as those of the German bike workers are a great advance. What is needed is the financial muscle to support such initiatives. This can only be provided by Mutualist credit organizations. Only such things can offer the financial muscle to make self-management not just a holding action until a new boss is found but rather a viable alternative to the cloying arms of the state. Can our present Credit Unions be reformed so that they can provide such support ? Are other institutions needed ? What will they be ? All these are open questions. How do we escape dependence on the state ?

THE 23RD CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKERS ASSOCIATION:
A LITTLE HEAT BUT PRECIOUS LITTLE LIGHT:
The 23rd Congress of the International Workers' Association (IWA-AIT) was held in Manchester, England last December. The Congress was hosted by Solidarity Federation, the British affiliate of the IWA. In the public press releases the present IWW secretariat, based in Norway, was pretty non-committal about the decisions that were actually taken at the Congress. The Secretariat was to be taken on by the Serbian Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative, and the next Congress will be organized by the COB-AIT of Brazil in December of 2008.
Despite being the "official" International the AIT/IWA represents a small minority of active anarcho-syndicalists in the world today. To a large extent it is the creation of the Spanish CNT, and even in Spain the CNT is outnumbered by the CGT by at least an order of magnitude. In countries where the policies of the AIT have led to a split in anarcho-syndicalism, such as France and Italy, the "unofficial" anarcho-syndicalists also outnumber the official affiliates of the AIT.
The original split in Spain between the CNT and the CGT was over the issue of standing in "union elections", which the comrades of the CNT saw as "reformist". Similar splits in France led to the CNT-Vignoles becoming very much the public face of anarcho-syndicalism in that country while the purists of the CNT-AIT have been reduced to a propaganda group of only 100 to 200 members. The Italian USI-AIT also split over the same issue, but the remnant in the USI-AIT ended up participating in the "works councils" of that country anyways(1). Thus they are not in the same minoritarian position as the French purists are. In Spain the CGT has gone on to become the 3rd largest union in the country while the official CNT languishes with afew thousand members.
The REAL issues at stake in this latest Congress were not discussed in any public press releases. Anxious to avoid the loss of their Italian section the AIT avoided the question of the USI's participation in the councils, but this decision will undoubtedly come back to haunt them as it is the be-all and end-all of the whole split in international anarcho-syndicalism. The question of why the USI, which unlike the other sections of the AIT outside of Spain, actually functions as a real union, can "get away" with what others have been expelled for will come back.
The question of the German section, the FAU, and its planned participation in the upcoming I-07 conference in Paris, sponsored by the CNT-Vignoles of France was also "put off" with a reference to deciding whether they should be expelled at some future date. The question of the status of the American ex-affiliate, the Workers' Solidarity Federation(expelled in 2000), was also apparently on the agenda, but efforts by American comrades to gain access to the decisions concerning this matter have born little fruit to date.
Once more very little light. The larger Spanish CGT, along with the French CNT-Vignoles and the Swedish SAC, along with others, have begun a regroupment process in International Libertarian Solidarity and the European Federation of Alternative Syndicalism. The IWW tries to maintain friendly relations with both sides of this dispute, but they generally meet a much more fraternal response from the unions outside of the AIT.
This dispute is a sad reflexion on the present state of international anarcho-syndicalism. The purists, headed by the CNT, would be much more effective in debates within the growing anarchosyndicalist unions across the world. In their present state of isolation they cannot advance the cause of syndicalism at all, but they would be a much needed corrective to more opportunist tendencies in those organizations that have taken a more realistic approach.
For more on the 1979 split in Spain see the Wikipedia article on 'Anarchism in Spain' . The Congress and its "non-news" have been discussed extensively in the forums on Libcom and in the comments section of Anarkismo , often with little light being shed on what actually happened. Molly wonders if the actions of sending the Secretariat to Serbia and the date of the next Congress 2 years into the future and to the other side of the globe may be something of a "pulling a Marx" where the Spanish CNT would rather see the AIT destroyed than fall into the hands of its "competition". Marx did a similar thing when he maneuvered to transfer the First International to the USA rather than see his control of it challenged. This is, of course, just speculation, but it is something to think about.
MOLLY NOTES:
1)In Italy both of the two USI's claim the name of the AIT/IWA even though only the "official" one named above, also known as the USI PRATO-Carnico, has the approval of the AIT as a whole. The other USI, the USI-Roma, is present in many areas of Italy where the "officials" are absent, and vise versa. BOTH appear to be functioning unions, unlike most of the groups in the AIT outside of Spain. Should the "official" USI be expelled from the AIT there would be little to prevent a reunification with the other USI.
The use of the name "AIT" has not degenerated into the legal wrangling stage that the use of the name "CNT" did at the time of the CNT/CGT split some years ago. Not that such a course hasn't been suggested, but the Italians have demonstrated a little more sense in this regard.