INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:
AGAINST TERRORISM:



The following article was recently published at the Anarkismo website. It comes originally from the Swiss platformist group Libertäre Aktion Winterthur. What the following provides is a little more context about not just the recent embassy bombings in Italy which have been discussed at this blog before and may be a complete police fabrication. What the following provides is a criticism of the whole romantic idea that terrorist tactics can be used to advance the cause of anarchism. Of course they can't, and such tactics have nothing whatsoever to do with what the anarchist movement aims towards. They are the acts of desperate individuals with little social connection who glom onto anarchism as an excuse for what they want to do. Anarchism is not the only ideology that has suffered, is suffering and will suffer from such "friends". What I find valuable in the following is that it is a clear and blunt repudiation of such nonsense without any hedging or throat clearing "apologies". The more real anarchists state their views in this way the sooner we will be clear of the terrorist parasites that live off the hesitation of the majority in the movement.
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No Solidarity with “anarchist” letter bombers
by Libertäre Aktion Winterthur law at arachnia dot ch

The question of violence has always been a hot topic in anarchist discourse. How can the oldest and rawest expression of power be combined with the teachings of an anti-authoritarian ideology? Can a revolutionary anarchist strategy contain violence?


[Note: This communiqué is consciously not written in response to the most recent attacks in Rome on 23rd December [2010]. We question any anarchist link to these incidents, because – just like with the series of attacks in 2003 - the ominous “Federazione Anarchica Informale“ (FAI) has claimed responsibility. It is an unlikely coincidence that this group shares the same acronym as the Federazione Anarchica Italiana who distanced themselves clearly from the events in 2003 and suggested the “FAI” could well be a fake organisation. There are several examples in recent Italian history of false flag operations. One of them was the bombing of the Piazza Fontana in Milan in 1969, which was commissioned by the state and blamed on the local anarchists. In the most recent “FAI” communiqué in relation to 23rd December, the final words - “Long live the FAI, long live anarchy!” - are rather atypical for a self-described “informal” organisation.]



The question of violence has always been a hot topic in anarchist discourse. How can the oldest and rawest expression of power be combined with the teachings of an anti-authoritarian ideology? Can a revolutionary anarchist strategy contain violence? We can assume that the libertarian way – which includes the expropriation of the current owners of the means of production and abolishing material privilege – will meet brutal resistance by those who see themselves robbed of commodities. Master-servant relations (inconspicuous or obvious) are always based on coercion. This always includes violence which we can only resist as a strong and revolutionary mass movement.

However, as conscious anarchists we shouldn't fall into the trap of letting the means become the ends. “Real anarchist violence is that which ceases when the necessity of defence and liberation ends. It is tempered by the awareness that individuals in isolation are hardly, if at all, responsible for the position they occupy through heredity and environment.” [1] These words by Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta haven't lost any validity since they were written almost 100 years ago. They prohibit us to injure or even kill functionaries within capitalism as part of a libertarian praxis simply for the role they play. We think this should be obvious to anybody with an anarchist understanding.

In recent months, events have taken place – also in relation to Switzerland – which have questioned this libertarian principle in the name of anarchism. We don't mean call-outs like “Schlag die Polizisten, wo ihr sie trefft” ('Hit the cops where you encounter them') that are plastered on walls and published on websites as acts of individual resistance. These texts might be rhetorically quite clever but the content is rather confused. Nor are we talking about the numerous solidarity actions for Billy, Costantino and Silvia, whose anti-civilisation ramblings we only find amusing. [2] However we can assume that people from these networks are supportive of actions, that go far beyond paintbomb attacks or slashing car tyres.

We are thinking about the letter bombs that have been sent to various institutions of the state, particularly to embassies, in recent months. Hoping to injure a high-ranking bureaucrat when opening the envelope, the bombs were meant as a form of revenge for the imprisonment of the three aforementioned activists. This kind of praxis doesn’t only demonstrate political stupidity, but also cowardice and inhumanity. In the best case because of naivety, or in the worst because of calculation, the senders were prepared to injure a simple clerk or a subordinate secretary. With these acts, the senders stand among ruthless criminals who, as servants of capital, have persecuted and killed members of the working class. These acts are not revolutionary but an expression of political reaction. Faced with the infamy of these actions, we can only conclude: No solidarity with the “anarchist” letter bombers – never! A few years ago left-radical groups had to be created by the state to convince the population of the need for more repression. It is tragic that things have become so easy for the European capitalist class.

It is difficult for all of us to react adequately to a political and social climate that is taking us, the exploited, to the brink of frustration. This shouldn’t, however, be an excuse to find sanctuary in the old illusion of the “Propaganda by Deed” and the desire to change society through individual acts of violence. The follow-on effects of such deeds will be repression, escapism and an even bigger hopelessness instead of an insurrection by the masses. It is also wrong for anarchists to use structurelessness as a modus operandi, as demanded by our “insurrectionary” comrades. If everybody is only responsible to themselves, individualist and unpredictable actions will be preferential, instead of creating a praxis of solidarity to constantly work towards the social revolution.

We can only resist the capitalist system together in an organised and goal-oriented class struggle. Theoretical unity and stringency in praxis, federalist structures and individual discipline are the qualities of anarchists who are fighting in the spirit of solidarity for the social revolution and not for total repression. The workplace and school, the neighbourhood and the community centre, the street and the refugee centre: these are the spaces of our libertarian agitation and the organisation of the struggle and not the columns of the bourgeois media, who are waiting to report about the most recent attack by people in revolt with sensationalist headlines.


End of December 2010
Libertäre Aktion Winterthur (Anarchist Action)


[1] From a text by Errico Malatesta. Full text available: http://www.zabalaza.net/pdfs/varpams/anok&violence_em.pdf [PDF 108kb]
[2] Billy, Costantino and Silvia were arrested in Switzerland in on 15th April 2010. It is alleged that they were attempting to bomb IBM in Zurich. They have been in jail since. More information: http://againstthewaiting.blogsport.de/


Related Link: http://www.libertaere-aktion.ch

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT ITALY:

THE FdCA ON TRADE UNION WORK:

The Italian platformist group the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici recently held their national congress and debated a number of questions. Amongst these was the question of how anarchists should work in the trade unions. To say the least this is an important question and deserves a lot of attention.

The following translation of the final motion was published at the Anarkismo website. While some of the discussion relates only to Italy or to other countries with similar union structures (most of southern Europe) a lot is relevant worldwide in these times of austerity and governmental attacks on working people. Have a good read.

@I@I@I@I@I@I@I

8th National Congress of the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici
Fano, 31 October/1 November 2010
Motion on Trade Union Work


The international situation
The capitalist system's structural crisis has dealt a severe blow to the economies of many countries.
A structural – not cyclical – economic crisis which in effect demonstrates the nett failure of the liberal system.

In Europe, where liberal parties continue to be successful, the various parties and governments define it as a cyclical crisis and often declare it to be over, merely because they cannot declare the very system they base themselves on to be a failure.

European governments of all political colours are taking anti-popular economic measures; they are supporting banks and businesses using the crisis as an alibi, and the bill for this "support" is being paid for by public and private-sector workers, pensioners and the weakest layers of society in the form of wage freezes, cuts, casualization, privatization and the sale of public services.

All over Europe, these governments are allied with the industrialist class, which is using the threat of outsourcing – and thus job losses – to blackmail the workers, reducing their bargaining power and union rights with the aim of making these measures irreversible.

Today more than ever, the outsourcing of entire companies or parts of the productive system is being used with the precise aim of obtaining the maximum profit, by outsourcing to countries where the cost of labour (in terms of wages and rights) is much lower.

The response of the workers to this cage being built for them has been difficult to organize, for a variety of reasons:

•it is strongly opposed by the leadership of various trade unions, who are anything but autonomous from the government and the political parties, and are systematic and systemic accomplices of the "labour reforms" that make up the bars of this cage;
•it is limited to the company or even single plant affected;
•workers from various countries are not organized internationally, united on a platform of demands with common objectives. Widening the social conflict is the only way we have to stand up to the attacks from the bosses who, with the complicity of local institutions and collaborationist trade unions, are using the crisis to force the workers down onto their knees.
On the international level, existing organizational forms are totally insufficient; too often we find workers from the same multinational in different countries in conflict with each other, conflicts stoked and often supported by the governments themselves. There are all too few cases of international coordination among workers (multinational companies).
The national situation
1. Italian capitalism and the attack on the labour system
The crisis in the Italian economic system is bringing the various productive districts of several Italian regions to their knees.

The crisis first hit temporary workers, day workers, those on short-term contracts, in other words the whole army of casual workers, but has now reached even workers on permanent contracts, eliminating their safety nets.

There is massive and at times unjustified use of the Redundancy Fund [1], serious delays in wage payments, staff reductions, factory closures, etc.

It is a crisis that is being offloaded onto the workers, because every means by which an attempt is sought to get over it involves reducing production costs – reducing wages and reducing rights.

It is a crisis that is useful as far as the government and the bosses are concerned, as they are using it to re-write the rules for bargaining and labour policy in general.

New rules which will be applied across the board and will be vague (so that they can be got around easily), that will lead to a planned reduction of wages and an end to collective bargaining agreements, and will be agreed on by obliging unions, who sign agreements in the name of development – in other words, profit.

With its last Budget, the government effected widespread cuts hitting workers, both as far as wages are concerned – by means of wage freezes (4 years for civil servants) – and with regard to the reduction and de-structurization of welfare coverage, with measures which hit women workers and changes for the worse to old-age and contributory pensions; but it is also destroying the quality of public services (schools, healthcare, universities, research, etc.), cutting jobs for short-term contract workers, blocking new contracts and externalizing, placing restrictions on the right to strike and suspending the renewal of worker representation bodies (RSUs).

It is the company that decides the work-pace for workers, creating a form of domination by capital over the supply of work. Working conditions are leading to the physical and mental exhaustion of workers, and there has been a sharp increase in workplace accidents and work-related illness. For the sake of profit, productive plants are at saturation point, and no collective bargaining is permitted on these points. Companies have an interest in monetizing the health of the workers by not respecting health and safety regulations either inside or outside the production premises, aided by legislation that has markedly reduced company responsibility.

In the private sector, the company which best toes the bosses' line is FIAT: increases to the working day, work shifts second to none for their intensity and dramatic force, restrictions in time off for illness, the elimination of collective bargaining agreements and the right to strike, and dismissal and repression for anyone who does not play by these rules.

Marchionne's [2] plan is thus nothing more than the latest example of the old line in FIAT which has never tolerated any form of opposition to restructuring plans or reductions in the workforce.

It is the market and its fluctuations that everyone must now bow to: the businesses are in charge!

Less time for rest, more overtime, maximum flexibility, no strikes, and getting ill is a luxury that only the unemployed can afford.

The decades may pass, but the FIAT company has never lost its historical vocation as the inflexible interpreter of that strategy that equates the factory with the barracks that has left such a scar on the minds and bodies of generations of workers in its (vain) attempt to drown their fighting spirit and their ability to organize their struggle and their resistance from below, factory by factory.

2. The attitude of the CGIL, CISL and UIL unions

The government's measures have in effect given lie to the conclusions imposed by the majority at the CGIL's recent 16th Congress, both as regards the current situation and the foreseeable future.

The CGIL's current leadership, strengthened by the latest nominations to the National Secretariat and by the restrictive changes to its Statute, which centralizes decision-making in favour of the National Executive, has once again shown its inability – and to some extent its badly-concealed unwillingness to return to the collaborationist fold – to face up to this vital phase in which the very existence of the union itself is under threat.

The dynamics of this Congress also laid bare the real state of the confederation, now showing the effects of "Balkanization": the majority's refusal to discuss the union's line with the minority [3], and the contrast between the FIOM [4] and the rest of the confederation.

The harshness of the current economic phase and the current and future state of society allow no room for resting on laurels: the workers need to respond to this attack on the conditions of their lives.

Today, the CGIL must re-think its policy: will it support the FIOM by acting in a more confrontational way (as the minority in La CGIL che vogliamo believes) in order to give a greater voice to the workers, or will it think about going back to a phase of agreement with the CISL and UIL on bargaining rules, in the continuing search for unity between the unions? Choosing the latter would condemn the CGIL to a minor role, ignored both by the other two unions and by the employers' federation, Confindustria.

For quite some time now, the CISL and UIL, with the UGL [5] alongside them, have clearly understood how trade union relations will be reformed - with changes that will turn the role of Italian unions completely on its head.

The reforms proposed by the government over the last two years or those presented by Confindustria and FIAT have found support and agreement from these unions, without too many problems. And partnership is no longer spoken about: the unions will no longer be external partners, they will be part and parcel of the whole thing.

3. The grassroots unions

The birth of the Unione Sindacale di Base [6] (USB) on 22 May in Rome could have been an opportunity to simplify the scenario of grassroots syndicalism in Italy, but it does not seem to be above to contribute to resolving the old problems that afflict the Italian grassroots syndicalist galaxy since its very origins almost 25 years ago.

The road to the USB is littered with the remains of the previous "grassroots pact" signed by the RdB/CUB, Confederazione COBAS and the SdL, not to mention the hairs which flew during the split between the previously-federated RdB and the CUB, accounting for approximately 80% of all grassroots union members.

Despite the pernicious, top-down mechanism of decomposition and recomposition which has afflicted grassroots syndicalism for decades, the birth of the USB does bring with it some new aspects, such as a division of the union into two macro-areas – private sector and public sector – managed by collective executives, not single-sector coordinators, and is in general an encouraging signal, above all in those areas where the class war is at its harshest.

But, for a new union, there remain many divisions and problems, such as:

•the problem of the continuing error of calling separate strikes, all too often on the decision of the national leaderships;
•the problem of competition between the various grassroots unions.
The price of these divisions and problems is also paid for by libertarian-inspired syndicalism, traditionally a supporter of workers' unity over and above the interests of any single union.
But libertarian syndicalists know that they can provide continuity to the workers' struggle, even in this phase of neo-partnership unionism, and that they can help to guarantee democracy in the workplace.

In this crucial phase, therefore, grassroots syndicalism needs to overcome its long-standing inability and find a solution in a stable coordination – if not a federation – if it is to seriously represent a point of reference, both for the workers, casual workers and immigrants, and for the CGIL's internal minority.

Anarchist Communist labour tactics
In this phase which sees a strong attack coming from the bosses, collusion by some unions (CISL, UIL), and a wait-and-see attitude from others (the CGIL majority), the FdCA believes that the only labour strategy that can be effective in defending the interests of the class is one of conflict and libertarian practices. It must be autonomous from the logic of parties, it must aim to unite the workers whatever their union, it must have united objectives and methods of struggle, and it must be organized horizontally.
The intervention of anarchist communists cannot but begin in the workplace, where it is necessary to rebuild the unity of workers' interests, for:

•the defence of jobs, against redundancies and the unjustified use of certain forms of unemployment benefits;
•the defence of the Workers' Statute and the right to strike;
•the defence of the national collective bargaining system and the conquest of company agreements that improve the workers' wages and working conditions, while removing the link to productivity;
•the protection of workers' health and the struggle to allow workers to manage their own working hours in order that they may better manage their lives and their work;
•casual workers (temps, those on short-term contracts, etc.) to be represented on worker representation bodies and in bargaining agreements. All too often, given how easily they can be blackmailed, they are unable to assure themselves any form of protection;
•the stabilization of all casual workers and those on short-term contracts.
In the areas where they live and work, it is the task of anarchist communists to encourage and influence:
•coordination networks of workers, migrants, casual workers, single-category or inter-category, but autonomous from political parties and trade unions;
•form of cooperation and struggle where the various experiences can enrich and enable more effective defence of class interests;
•coordination networks where class solidarity, direct democracy and participation can be fostered, with the aim of creating a more egalitarian, libertarian society.
It is important for FdCA members and sympathizers who are members of the CGIL to take an active role in the organized minority La CGIL che vogliamo, having supported its creation from the very beginning, since it represents an excellent opportunity to influence the CGIL and increase our visibility.
It is equally important for members and sympathizers in grassroots unions to facilitate coordination and unity between the various unions so that a strong point of reference can be created for workers, casual workers and the unemployed; it is also necessary to begin to talk about representation of private-sector workers and an active role in bargaining.

The coming months will be vital for the class struggle and a renewal of social conflict, both in Italy and abroad where mobilizations and strikes are on the increase.

Today, workers in struggle need solidarity from all categories, both in the public and private sectors; union activists who have been hit by dismissal and repression need the solidarity and support of all trade union organizations who believe that class conflict and grassroots participation in the struggles are fundamental strategic objectives.

The FIAT struggle, both in Italy and abroad, can be a demonstration of the possibility for mobilization and workers' opposition to company plans which, be it in Italy, Poland or Serbia, use the crisis as a way to blackmail the workers and force them to submit to the logic of profit.

The FdCA will support all initiatives of struggle from below in defence of the conditions of workers in their workplaces and where they live.

Our members will seek to foster the creation of coordination networks of combative, grassroots syndicalism, but also of political initiatives to support the grassroots struggle by anarchists and libertarians, which can lead to more concerted mobilizations.

Coordination with an international dimension which - apart from improving the flow of information - can lead to opportunities for solid international struggles on the basis of shared platforms of demands, against uncontrolled offshore outsourcing, to defend the right to strike, workers' statutes and wage conditions in countries where they are under threat and extend them to countries where they do not exist.

Labour Platform
1.Solid international conflict against uncontrolled offshore outsourcing by multinationals on the constant search for the maximum profit.


2.Struggle in solidarity with dismissed workers and the creation of resistance funds.


3.Safeguard jobs by blocking factory closures and/or reductions and fighting job cuts for casual workers in the public services.


4.Struggle for the dignity of labour.


5.Against the annihilation of workers' rights and freedoms, in defence of the right to strike, the right to be represented and the Workers' Statute.


6.For the right to representation of all casual workers.


7.For the right of workers to decide every platform and every agreement through a binding vote.


8.Against the reduction of workers expelled from the production process to slavery and marketization.


9.Against the uncontrolled use of casual workers who live under constant blackmail from the bosses, despite often fulfilling highly professional roles. For the stabilization of all casual and short-term contract workers.


10.Against the outsourcing of work, often contracted to cooperatives and individuals pledged to self-exploitation and increasingly exposed to injury and death at the workplace.


11.For the defence of national collective bargaining and the extension of company agreements released from the link to productivity.


12.For the protection of workers' health and the management of their own working times.


13.For a large-scale wage battle with FIAT, for metal-mechanics and all categories.


14.For a European minimum wage across all categories.


Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici
Fano, 1 November 2010
Document approved unanimously by the 8th National Congress of the FdCA


Translator's notes:

1. Cassa integrazione. A system whereby workers are laid off temporarily but continue to receive 50% of their pay from the State for a limited period, relieving companies of the cost of their unused workforce.
2. Sergio Marchionne, FIAT CEO.
3. The minority grouped around a programmatic document they supported during the last Congress entitled La CGIL che vogliamo (“The CGIL we want”). See http://www.lacgilchevogliamo.it
4. The Federazione Impiegati Operai Metallurgici, the largest constituent federation of the CGIL.
5. The Unione Generale Del Lavoro, right-wing union traditionally associated with the neo-fascist parties.
6. “Grassroots Syndical Union”, founded in May 2010 from a merger of the RdB, part of the CUB and the SdL (itself formed in 2007 from a merger of SinCobas, SALC and SULT).

Related Link: http://www.fdca.it/fdcaen

ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS:
WORKERS' SOLIDARITY #118 NOW ONLINE:


The newsletter of the Irish Workers' Solidarity Movement eponymously named "Workers' Solidarity' issue # 118 is now online for your reading or downloading. Here's the plug:
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Workers Solidarity 118 is online
The November - December 2010 Edition of the Workers Solidarity freesheet, an anarchist paper published in Ireland, is now online with a PDF for download

PDF of Workers Solidarity 118 Web Edition 2.28 Mb




1% of the Population, 34% of the Wealth
Democracy in Brazil
Attacks on Welfare Continue
Sacking of Socialist Nurse Overturned
That's Capitalism!
Thinking About Anarchism: Dual Organisation
Film Review: Made in Dagenham


Anarchism and the WSM
As the economic crisis goes from bad to worse, we have been active in a variety of efforts to resist the attacks on our living conditions. Together with Éirígí, Seomra Spraoi social centre and the Irish Socialist Network, we organised the One Percent Network walking tour and Halloween treasure hunt. We also helped organise a demonstration on the reopening of the Dail on 29th September, in conjunction with a Europe-wide day of action against austerity called by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). 100,000 attended a similar protest held in Brussels while a general strike in Spain on the same day brought most of the country to a standstill.

At a more local level, we attended a community sector forum in Liberty Hall organised by the unions to fight cuts in community services and were present at the “Claiming Our Future” conference held in the RDS in Dublin on October 30th. Finally, we were amongst those protesting warmonger Tony Blair’s book signing in Dublin, which persuaded him to cancel two similarly planned events in the UK.

In July we reported on the Northern Ireland bill which would have criminalised protests of over fifty people unless they gave police at least thirty-seven days notice. We are happy to report that, after a short campaign by trades unions and community groups, this part of the Assemblies and Parades bill has been withdrawn. Before it was scrapped we had the farcical sight of Sinn Fein members joining protests against a bill drawn up by a joint Sinn Fein and DUP committee at Stormont, and introduced by a Sinn Fein and DUP coalition Executive.

Within the WSM, twenty of our members attended a successful educational weekend in Tipperary, where we discussed strategies for continuing the struggle for anarchism as well as the practical skills required in running our organisation and other campaigns. In the south, our Cork branch continues to operate Solidarity Books on Douglas St, which aims to spread the anarchist message in the city. A successful fundraiser for the bookshop, “Chaos Cabaret”, was held in September while we continue to participate in the anarchist forum, an open discussion group, in Cork.

Also, the Cork branch is running a weekly series of talks on radical and revolutionary politics and history during October and November:

•19th October - Tadhg Barry & Revolutionary Cork (1907-1921)
•26th October - The Lost Revolution
•2nd November - The Spanish Revolution
•9th November - Labour Militancy (1917 - 1923)
•23rd November - The Land War
•30th November - Kropotkin: The Anarchist Prince
With governments North and South now lecturing us on the need for four years of further cuts, we need as many people as possible to join the various campaigns against such measures if we are to maintain any type of civilised society on this island. WSM members are committed to being involved in this process and, if you are also, then we would love to hear from you.


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In This Issue

1% of the Population, 34% of the Wealth
Countless walking tours make their way around Dublin daily; generally educating the masses of tourists on the lives lived on these streets before us. It was a different kind of walking tour, comprising around 200 people, that hit the streets around Stephen’s Green on October 9th last.
...
Democracy in Brazil
As this issue of Workers Solidarity goes to print, Brazil is about to elect a new president. After eight years, the Workers’ Party (PT) incumbent, Lula, must step down. His chosen successor, Dilma Roussef, is poised to become Brazil’s first female president, as she holds a 46.9% to 32.6% lead over her closest rival after the first round of voting. Roussef is a former urban guerrilla who was tortured by the western-backed military dictatorship (1964-1985) before throwing her lot in with electoral politics, joining the PT in 2000....

Attacks on Welfare Continue
We spoke with Vincent O’Malley, a community sector employee who advises and advocates for social welfare applicants and recipients, about the effect the recession is having on the operation of the social welfare system....

Sacking of Socialist Nurse Overturned
Yunus Bakhsh, a psychiatric nurse from the north east of England has won a four year battle against his bosses. Sadly his union, the public service giant UNISON, was about as much use as a tailor in a nudist camp. This should be of interest to the 39,000 workers in Northern Ireland who are in Unison....

That's Capitalism!
Last year the Exchequer lost €7.4bn as a result of the tax break regime, over three times the EU average. According to the government’s own Economic and Social Research Institute, 80% of the tax relief available on pension contributions goes to the wealthiest 20% of earners....

Thinking About Anarchism: Dual Organisation
The society we live in is a long way off the kind of society that anarchists advocate. So the question that anyone interested in creating a better society has to answer is: how best to act for positive change? The question of how anarchists should organise is one that has been debated over and over. It is clear that anarchism, rooted in ideals of equality, freedom and democracy, needs to adopt organisational practices which foster rather than stifle these ideals....

Film Review: Made in Dagenham
If you like ‘feel good’ films this is for you. Leaving a cinema feeling both entertained and optimistic is rare enough, and this film scores highly on both points....


Related Link: http://www.facebook.com/WorkersSolidarityMovement

ANARCHIST THEORY:

ANARCHIST THOUGHTS ON LABOUR DAY:

It's 'Labour Day' in the anglosphere. Elsewhere most of the world ,and many in English speaking countries as well, celebrate May Day as the real Labour Day. Be that as it may here's an interesting and timely article from Linchpin. Linchpin is the site and magazine of the Ontario platformist group Common Cause. Unlike many of the self-congratulatory messages that will be coming forth today this article sees that there are indeed problems with the way labour is organized today, and it points to some possible solutions. I find little to disagree with in what follows though I have to admit that I haven't gone through it with my usual nit-picking comb. What is especially valuable is the suggestion that workers should form organizations seperate from but in sympathy with the unions. Well disposed union leaders may see this as a Godsend as it will "let them off the hook" for actions that are necessary but either outside the scope of unions or perilous for them to undertake. as to those who are not well disposed, well more's the pity. Here's the article.>>>

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It’s the class struggle, stupid!

Organized labour’s confused response to the McGuinty Liberals' attack on Ontario’s working-class

By Ajamu Nangwaya and Alex Diceanu

Organized labour in Ontario will continue to put forth a weak and ineffective response to attacks from the ruling class as long as it continues to ignore the reality of class struggle. A perfect example is its current response to a proposed two-year wage-freeze that the Dalton McGuinty-led Ontario government plans on imposing on unionized public sector workers. The provincial Liberals would like to save $750 million per year from a wage-freeze, so as to help manage the $19.3 billion budget deficit. Readers need not be reminded that this deficit is the result of the risky financial speculations of the captains of finance, industry and commerce that created the Great Recession of 2008.

But it is the 710,000 unionized members of the working class and 350,000 non-unionized managers and other employees who draw pay cheques from the government[1] and the users of state-provided services (and private sector workers) who are being asked to bear the burden of paying for the actions of the corporate sector. At the same time as this attempt to take income from the pockets of government workers, the McGuinty Liberals’ have granted a $4.6 billion tax-cut to the business sector.

The leader of the Ontario New Democrats, Andrea Howarth, has signaled her support for public sector workers’ acceptance of a pay cut. She asserts, "I'm quite sure when they get to the bargaining table they will do their part like everyone else does ... there is a collective bargaining process that has to be respected."[2] Wow! Who said that the working-class needs enemies with “friends” like the New Democratic Party (NDP) and its leader Andrea Horwarth?

However, it is the tame and even puzzling reaction of some of Ontario’s major labour leaders that should be of concern to workers in the public sector. The government called labour leaders and employers from the broader public sector to “consultation” talks on the wage freeze on July 19, 2010. Coming out of the talks, this was what CUPE-Ontario president Fred Hahn had to say, “This is not like the early ’90s, this is not about sharing the pain. That’s all just not true”.[3] He was referring to former NDP premier Bob Rae’s unilateral opening of public sector workers’ contracts and the imposition of public sector wage-cuts accompanied by tax increases for the corporate sector. Was Brother Hahn implying that a wage-freeze would be tolerable, if accompanied by the cancellation of the $4.6 billion corporate tax-cut?

No credible union or union leader should contemplate a zero-wage increase over two years - even if the government rescinds the $4.6 billion tax-cut. There should not have been a tax-cut for the capitalist class. Restoring the tax should not be used as a bargaining chip to escape a wage-freeze on public sector workers.

Not to be outdone was the president of the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union, Warren (Smokey) Thomas. We will leave it to you to decipher the implicit message in the following statement by Smokey Thomas. “Just because he [Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan] wants something doesn’t mean he’s going to get it. It’s not a social contract. He can propose (a wage-freeze) but he has to bargain it. He can’t legislate it. He’ll lose.”[4] Is it just us or does that sound like a labour leader who is not really in a fighting spirit and just wants to make a deal?

A simple matter of misguided policy?

However, the critical issue for Ontario’s public sector workers is the extent to which many of our labour leaders seem to be completely unaware of the state and employers’ motives for disciplining labour through wage concessions. Ismael Hossein-zaded of Drake University made the following observation, which is quite applicable to the posturing of labour leaders in Ontario:


Quote:
Viewing the savage class war of the ruling kleptocracy on the people's living and working conditions simply as “bad” policy, and hoping to somehow—presumably through smart arguments and sage advice—replace it with the “good” Keynesian policy of deficit spending without a fight, without grassroots‟ involvement and/or pressure, stems from the rather naive supposition that policy making is a simple matter of technical expertise or the benevolence of policy makers, that is, a matter of choice. The presumed choice is said to be between only two alternatives: between the stimulus or Keynesian deficit spending, on the one hand, and the Neoliberal austerity of cutting social spending, on the other.5

Based on some of the statements coming from labour leaders, they may not have gotten the memo that the attack on the working-class (through the slashing of social programme spending, attacks on private sector pensions and wage freezes) is not about good or bad economic policies. Hossein-Zedad must have been inspired to write his paper after reading the following Keynesian-inspired comment by Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan; “From a policy perspective, it makes no economic sense whatsoever. You’ve got a government saying we need to stimulate the economy. The best way of stimulating the economy is through public-sector workers who spend every single penny of their disposable income in their local communities,”[6] But it’s not about the economy, per se. It’s the class struggle, stupid!

Canada’s economic and political elite have clearly given up the ghost of Keynesian economics, which calls on government to either stimulate or restrict the demand for goods and services based on the state of the economy. In the case of the 2008 crisis in capitalism, these neoliberal players felt forced by the magnitude of the impending financial collapse to pump money into the economy. A not-too-insignificant fact was lost on many observers and commentators who gleefully cheered on the capitalist class’ “Road-to-Damascus” moment. The capitalist state in Canada and other imperialist countries will do everything within their power to maintain a business environment that facilitates the accumulation of capital or profit-making, as well as legitimize the system in the eyes of the people. That is all in a day’s work for the state…no surprise here for class conscious trade unionists and other activists!

Labour’s “Response”

We ought to note that the recent crisis in the economy caught organized labour off-guard and ill-prepared to mobilize the working-class against that monumental failure of capitalism. For decades, Western corporations and governments have been force-feeding the public a steady diet of tax-cuts. Lower taxes on businesses, high-income earners and the wealthy, the widespread slashing of social services and income support programmes, a massive reduction in state oversight and regulation of corporations and the enactment of anti-union policies and legislation have been the all rage since corporations and Western governments abandoned their class-collaborationist pact with organized labour in the 1970s. Yet at the very moment when capitalism experienced a crisis of confidence resulting from a set of policies that had been hailed as perfect ingredients for economic and social progress, organized labour was caught with its pants down. Its leaders didn’t have a class struggle alternative to Keynesian economics – an economic tendency that was never intended to be used as a tool to end wage slavery and the minority rule of bankers, industrialists and the managerial and political elite.

Presently, the labour movement is ideologically and operationally ill-prepared to effectively face down the two-year wage-freeze demand from the McGuinty Liberals. Unfortunately, labour’s leaders have, in the main, focused on narrow economic demands rather than seeking to politically develop union activists and their broader membership behind a class struggle labour movement platform. Union members have been politically deskilled and demobilized in favour of a social service model of trade unionism. These labour leaders have failed to use their unions’ courses, workshops, week-long schools, publications and other educational resources to educate members of the fact that they are a part of a distinct class with economic and political interests that are different from that of the rulers of capitalist society.

Even the most casual of observers understand that organized labour’s raison d’être is to champion the material concerns of the working-class. And yet, ideologically-speaking, most labour leaders in Canada have cast their lot in with capitalism - albeit a more Scandinavian version. This is why a coherent critique of capitalism is notably absent from most union-organized workshops and events. It should therefore not come as a surprise that many union members have swallowed the employers and politicians’ message that Canada is a largely middle-class country and that our collective aspiration should be to remain a member of this class. If the labour leaders, academics and the media say that the majority of Canadians are a part of the middle-class, it must be so. The development of a working-class consciousness becomes very difficult (but not impossible) in this kind of political environment.

The great majority of Canadians are members of the working-class. They sell their labour, exercise little to no control over how their work-life is organized, have no say over how the profit from their labour is distributed and are so alienated from work that the aphorism “Thank god it’s Friday” has its own acronym. One should never define middle-class status as one’s ability to purchase consumer trinkets, live in a mortgaged home or even own a summer cottage. Middle-class status ought to be defined by one’s exercise of power and control and/or the possession of high levels of human capital found among administrative/managerial elites in the private and public sectors, academic elites and independent professionals.

Labour’s Credibility Crisis

The narrow economic obsession of labour leaders was on plain display when Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan revealed the March 2010 Budget. When it became known that the McGuinty Liberals would be seeking a two-year wage-freeze from public sector workers, this news was all that consumed the attention of most labour leaders. Many labour functionaries scrambled around in search of external and internal legal opinions, requesting briefs from senior staff on the impact of a wage-freeze on bargaining in specific sectors and sending out correspondence to members assuring them to “just act as if nothing had happened”, because they’re “already covered by a collective agreement”. Many labour union offices’ and unionized workplaces’ anxiety was centred entirely on the desired wage-freeze by the McGuinty Liberals. Nothing else!

But today we hear labour leaders talking about keeping money in workers’ pockets to stimulate the economy and that their primary concern is maintaining public services at adequate levels. Why didn’t organized labour deploy its resources to educate and mobilize the public against the $4.6 billion corporate tax-cuts, slashing of $4 billion in transportation infrastructure spending from Metrolinx’s $9.3 billion budget7] and the scrapping of the special diet allowance that benefited over 160,000 members of the working-class for the unprincely sum of $250 million per annum and a mere monthly average of $130 per person[8]? The provincial government anticipates that the two-year wage-freeze across the public sector will net a savings of $1.5 billion – yet the previous $8.6 billion effectively stolen from the working class failed to push organized labour into action.

The leaders of organized labour did not have the imagination to energize their members and the broader citizenry in alliance with other social movement organizations over the Budget. They could have exposed the class priorities of the McGuinty Liberals. The government’s main concerns clearly have nothing to do with those of us who are poor, live from pay cheque to pay cheque and do not patronize the golf courses where McGuinty and his friends hang out when they are not screwing the public. Listen up public sector labour leaders: the people will not be fooled by your claims to be advocating for the general interest. The broader working-class just have to simply see where you direct the labour movement’s resources and they will clue into the issues that are being prioritized. Take a look at the poor, working-class and/or racialized areas that are likely to be affected by the $4 billion cut to Metrolinx’s budget:


Quote:
…the austerity moves could affect five planned projects: rapid transit lines for Finch Ave. W., Sheppard Ave. E. and the Scarborough RT, along with the Eglinton Ave. cross-town line and an expansion of York region’s Viva service.[9]

Are we to believe that a class-struggle and anti-oppression informed public education, organizing and mobilization campaign in defense of public services, the social wage and a livable wage would not have had some level of traction with the people of Ontario?

An alternative economic plan or a different labour movement?

In some quarters of the trade union sector, there are talks of presenting an alternative plan to the slash-and-burn neoliberal policies of the provincial government. But, the presentation of Keynesian economic proposals by labour leaders is useless in a climate where the ruling class doesn’t feel threatened by a politically mobilized population, especially without “compelling grassroots pressure on policy makers”.[10] We implied earlier that labour unions have a credibility gap with the broader public if they now assert a desire to “broaden the debate, educate community members and local politicians with a view to engaging in actions that protect public services and build strong communities” as outlined by one union. What would be the purpose of the alternative plans of these labour leaders? The status quo of the 1930s to the 1960s that gave rise to the welfare state is not a transformative option.

There is no such thing as a “contextless” context. Where is the necessary political environment that would force the state to make concessions to the working-class out of fear that they maybe inclined to embrace revolutionary options? When some labour leaders are loosely talking about coming up with an alternative (Keynesian economic plan?) stimulus proposal, they would do well to understand the political implications of the following statement:


Quote:
Keynesian economists seem to be unmindful of this fundamental relationship between economics and politics. Instead, they view economic policies as the outcome of the battle of ideas, not of class forces or interests. And herein lies one of the principal weaknesses of their argument: viewing the Keynesian/New Deal/Social Democratic reforms of the 1930s through the 1960s as the product of Keynes’ or F.D.R.’s genius, or the goodness of their hearts; not of the compelling pressure exerted by the revolutionary movements of that period on the national policy makers to “implement reform in order to prevent revolution,” as F.D.R. famously put it. This explains why economic policy makers of today are not listening to Keynesian arguments—powerful and elegant as they are—because there would be no Keynesian, New Deal, or Social-Democratic economics without revolutionary pressure from the people.[11]

However, when labour leaders shy away from speaking openly about class-struggle and the nature of our economic system, we have a serious problem. It means that they are not in a position to facilitate a class-struggle, democracy-from-below and self-organizing form of trade unionism.

In order fight this attack on the working-class of Ontario, the labour movements’ rank-and-file activists, progressive leaders and principled labour socialists must engage in shop-floor education, organizing and mobilizing that is centred on a class-struggle, anti-racist and anti-oppression campaign. This approach to labour activism must be done in alliance with progressive or radical social movement organizations among women, racialized peoples, indigenous peoples, youth, students, LGBT community, climate/environmental justice, independent and revolutionary labour organizations, anti-authoritarian formations, and radical intellectuals. It must be an alliance based on mutual respect, sharing of approaches to emancipation and resources and a commitment to the value that the oppressed are the architect of and the driving force behind the movement for their emancipation. It is essential that organized labour open up and transform its leadership and decision-making structures to accommodate the full inclusion of its membership, in all their diversity.

In most of our unions and locals, this means starting from the beginning and we can use this current crisis to take those first steps. There is a lot of frustration among union members and community activists over the inaction of labour’s leadership in the face of this attack - and a desire to do something about it. That frustration and desire can be channeled into building cross-union “fight back committees” that bring together trade union and community activists in a city or town, such as members of the Greater Toronto Workers Assembly have already begun to do in that city. The “fight back committees” can give us a capacity to act independently from organized labour’s leadership. And probably our first acts should be to organize general assemblies in our locals and town hall meetings in our communities to promote a working-class view of the economic crisis and to mobilize our fellow workers and neighbours around militant, grassroots resistance to the McGuinty government and all the forces promoting a new round of austerity for the working-class.

Nothing less than a self-organizing, class-struggle approach to trade unionism will put labour in a position to fight in the here-and-now, while building the road we must travel on our way to the classless and stateless society of the future.

Alex Diceanu is a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3906 and a graduate student at McMaster University. Ajamu Nangwaya is a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Locals 3907 and 3902 and a graduate student at the University of Toronto. Both authors are members of the Ontario anarchist organization, Common Cause.

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[1] Walkom, T. (2010, March 26). Liberals aim at easy targets. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/ontariobudget/article/785616--walkom...
[2] Brennan, R. J. & Talaga, T. (2010, March 26) Hudak cut wages deeper. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/ontariobudget/article/785343--hudak-cut-wages-deeper
[3] Benzie, R. (2010, July 20). Dwight Duncan’s wage-freeze pitch gets frosty reception. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/837872--dwight-duncan-s-wage-freeze-pitch-gets-frosty-reception
[4] Benzie, July 20
[5] Hossein-zaded, I. (2010, July 23-25). Holes in the Keynesian Arguments against Neoliberal Austerity Policy—Not “Bad” Policy, But Class Policy. Retrieved from http://www.counterpunch.org/zadeh07232010.html
[6] Benzie, July 20.
[7] Hume, C. (2010, March 29). Transit still not a priority. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/ttc/article/787317--transit-still-not-a-...
[8] The Canadian Press. (2010 April 1). Ontario asked to restore special diet allowance. Retrieved fromhttp://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/04/01/diet-allowance.html
9] Goddard, J., Rider, D. & Kalinoski, (2010, March 26). Miller outraged as budget sideswiped GTA transit. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/785573--miller-outraged-as-budget-sideswipes-gta-transit
[10] Hossein-zaded, I, Holes in the Keynesian arguments against neoliberal austerity policy.
[11] ibid

ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS:

THE IRISH ANARCHIST REVIEW:

A new bright star in the anarchist constellation...The Irish Anarchist Review, published by the Irish Workers' Solidarity Movement. Upholding their long tradition of sensible and solid analysis the WSM has produced a winner with this one. Here's the announcement and a foretaste. You can download the full issue here.

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Announcing the WSM Irish Anarchist Review Issue 1

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Welcome to the first issue of The Irish Anarchist Review, the new political magazine from the Workers Solidarity Movement. This magazine will explore ideas and practical struggles that can teach us about building a revolutionary movement today. We decided to cease printing Red & Black Revolution, and start this project, aimed at provoking debate and discussion among anarchists and the left. For this purpose, we will be pursuing a non-sectarian approach, taking ideas from various left currents, mainstream discourse, and reflections on experiences of life and struggle. We will take, print, and discuss, anything that we find useful for our needs. We hope that readers will have a similar attitude, and will use the magazine to discuss, debate and develop ideas. We will also welcome submissions and responses to articles.

This issue is shaped by the current financial crisis, and more particularly, by the reactions of the Irish political and capitalist classes, as they pursue an aggressive strategy of cutbacks. We have seen the implosion of the building sector, the foundering of the banks upon corruption and incompetence and the failure of our foreign investment based economic model. Moreover, we have seen that the government response has been to protect the banks and builders by transferring wealth from social services, public pay and increased taxation straight into bank bailouts and NAMAland. This needs to be identified for what it is: an act of outright class warfare.

We are faced with a situation where a strong and organised response to government attacks is absolutely necessary, but is constrained by the prevailing ideology and practice of partnership. The most pressing concern for Irish radicals today is to build a labour movement that rejects the corporatist mentality and service-delivery model of ICTU and poses instead workers self-organisation as the basis for struggle. With this in mind, this and future issues will look for inspiration in revitalising class-based politics.

The weakening of Irish organised labour through the Celtic Tiger period is examined by James R's article, http://www.wsm.ie/c/unions-after-celtic-tiger and he poses some requirements for the emergence of a class movement that can deal with the threats of the present while bearing a vision of a better future. Andrew Flood looks at some of the positive http://www.wsm.ie/content/consequences-24th-november-public-sector-strike elements of recent struggles,emphasising the possibilities for self-organisation http://www.wsm.ie/c/capitalist-crisis-union-resistance-ireland and direct action made visible in the recent struggles.

We feature two articles that try to learn from the experiences of radicals internationally. Ronan McAoidh reviews the work of Swedish group, KaÌmpa Tillsammans!, http://www.wsm.ie/content/faceless-resistance which argues that affinity between workers, not just union organisation, is the basis of successful struggles. An interview with Alex Foti http://www.wsm.ie/c/mayday-interview-alex-foti explores organising tactics that try to deal with the growing trend of flexible working conditions.

The reviews also tie into this theme, assessing the development of an American working-class counter-culture http://www.wsm.ie/c/iww-revolutionary-working-class-culture and, by looking at workplace blogging, http://www.wsm.ie/c/checkout-life-tills discussing some ways in which this can be done today.

Overall, this issue attempts to learn from the current weakness of the Irish working class, and explores both the origins of this weakness and some routes towards a combative class movement, capable of disrupting the ruling class offensive on living and working conditions and posing an altogether different vision of society, and, most importantly, a way of getting there.

WORDS : DARA MCAOIDH

Articles

Reflections on the 24th November
http://www.wsm.ie/content/consequences-24th-november-public-sector-strike
On the 24th of November something extraordinary happened. Some 250,000 workers acted together in a day-long strike against the public sector wage cuts planned by the government. The vast majority of these workers had never gone on strike before, yet across almost all workplaces the strike involved 90% or more of those working.

Capitalist crisis and union resistance in Ireland
http://www.wsm.ie/c/capitalist-crisis-union-resistance-ireland
Late 2008 saw the Irish capitalist class wage a major ideological struggle against the Irish working class. They called for workers to bear the brunt of the capitalist crisis. Print media, TV and radio carried segment after segment where well-paid commentators argued that workers, in particular public sector workers, were earning too much, had overly generous pensions and that the public had unrealistic expectations of public services.

The usefulness of Faceless Resistance http://www.wsm.ie/content/faceless-resistance
Although Faceless Resistance as a concept has been discussed among radical circles in Sweden for several years, it has only recently begun to be noticed in the English speaking world, primarily due to delays in texts being translated. In this article I will look primarily at the work of Kampa Tillsammans, who developed the core ideas of Faceless Resistance, but I will also situate these ideas in their historical and social context and introduce other tendencies that have been influenced by and adapted some of the theory.

Mayday had become like a funeral - interview with Alex Foti
http://www.wsm.ie/c/mayday-interview-alex-foti
In the middle years of this decade, Alex Foti became known across activist circles for involvement in the Euromayday Parades. In a special themed issue of Green Pepper, Foti and the Chain Workers Collective sketched a very attractive understanding of the work discipline of contemporary capitalism. In their understanding, society had found itself in a situation of profound disjuncture with our working pasts - life today was defined by contingent employment rather than the traditional job for life.

The unions after the celtic tiger http://www.wsm.ie/c/unions-after-celtic-tiger
A rather strange figure is moving to centre stage in Irish politics, that of the trade unions - absent from mass struggles until recently and weakened over the decades of social partnership, they are now the only possible source of a movement that can confront attempts to transfer the cost of the recession to working people. This statement does not come with out some qualms.

Checkout: Life On The Tills http://www.wsm.ie/c/checkout-life-tills
Anna Samâ, as you might guess, is a pseudonym, the handle of a French blogger who decided to put her years behind the till to good use on a website describing the day-to- day experience of supermarket workers in all its tedious glory. In a way it's refreshing to discover that the psychology of the checkout girl / boy appears to be the same wherever you go - my own days at Centra and the like are well imprinted on the brain, but they could have been an atypical reflection of my general misanthropy, grumpiness and ill will towards the rest of the species.

Review: The IWW and The Making of a Revolutionary Working Class Counter culture
http://www.wsm.ie/c/iww-revolutionary-working-class-culture
The book can be read in a number of ways; on one hand it rescues the IWW from Stalinist critics that fashionably flounced after Russian Bolshevism; it gives insight to the politics and personalities of the union itself and rescues Hill the man. But as suggested by the subtitle, itâs Rosemont's treatment of how the IWW built a counter hegemonic working class culture that is the most interesting facet of this brick thick work.

ATM eating your hand for bills

All photos used in this publication were sourced under a Creative Commons License on Flickr.com.
The following user names are credited. Page 3, 4 and 16: Infomatique. Page 6, 12 : Antrophe. Page 7: Asid- script. Page 8 and 10 Cinocino. Page 15: pasukaru Page 14: Mlibrarianus and Laburbuja. Page 15: alam- osbasement Page 18: Artecallejoro. Page 20: Cashen. Page 21: Erikwdavis. Page 23: Bear Clause.
Frontpage illustration: helene pertl Backpage illustration: lisa crowne

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Irish Anarchist Review Facebook fan page
http://www.facebook.com/workers.solidarity

Launch of Irish Anarchist Review - audio recording of launch at Dublin anarchist bookfair
http://www.wsm.ie/c/launch-irish-anarchist-review

PDF of Issue 1 of Irish Anarchist Review 6.61 MB
http://www.wsm.ie/sites/default/files/IrishAnarachistReview1.pdf

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS- GREECE:

ANARCHIST STATEMENT ON THE EVENTS IN GREECE:

The following item comes from the Anarkismo site and is the collective statement of 5 platformist organizations from various countries on the events in Greece. Special thanks to the Porkupine Blog where I first saw this item. It has since been reprinted widely. More on the events in Greece later.

The Greek crisis continues to make news every single day, particularly because it raises the spectre of 'sovereign default' on the part of other European countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy , Ireland and even Great Britain. Such an event would be beyond the capacity of the EC (or the world for that matter) to patch up, and could easily lead to the end of the EU with all the unknown consequences of same, let alone its effect outside of Europe. While other events such as the Icelandic volcano and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill have contributed to nervousness in world markets there is little doubt that the events in Greece are the major influence on recent market volatility.

Is there a reason to be nervous ? Certainly if one simply takes the potential for sovereign default as 'Financial Crisis Version 2.1' there is indeed. A domino cascade of sovereign defaults would be basically unstoppable and would provoke a far greater crisis than the one we are gradually emerging from. Is there reason for the ruling class to be nervous and their opponents to be hopeful about an effective opposition emerging from the present crisis ? Personally I doubt it. On our sister blog Molly's Polls I gave (sneakily) several reasons about why a revolution in Greece is improbable. I stand by these items no matter how dramatic present events may seem.

It may be hard for some amongst the crazier fringes of anarchism in the USA to understand the difference between revolution and mindless rebellion, but most other people in the world ( including pretty well all responsible anarchists outside of the primitivist, post leftist cult)understand it very well. In revolution you don't firebomb banks and run like hell. You take over the building, destroy the records of debts and turn the building to good use whatever that may be. Perhaps the bank workers try and devise new accounting systems for a new society. can you begin to comprehend how far away from such an eventuality Greece is ?

Events in Greece have hardly progressed beyond what I personally envisioned as the "maximum extent of rebellion". That is "rebellion" not revolution or even a prelude to the latter. Why do I say this ? Let's take some well accepted "necessities" that define a pre-revolutionary state.

1)The ruling class can no longer operate in its usual fashion. This condition at least is fulfilled in Greece. Bankruptcy is bankruptcy. This does not, however, mean that the plan (read conspiracy) of the EU and the IMF cannot at least salvage something for the local Greek ruling class and, more importantly, international finance that holds Greek debt. It is entirely within the realm of possibility that the bailout plan can work albeit with all the victimization of ordinary people that the following statement points out.

2)The ruling class is divided. You have to search pretty thoroughly to find evidence of this. Yes, the main conservative opposition party in Greece voted against the austerity measures, but this is an obvious rhetorical devise on their part, and I have a hard time believing that anyone takes their "opposition" seriously. They, after all, laid the basis for the present crisis by their fraudulent national accounting, and I'm pretty sure that the average Greek is more than sufficiently aware of this just as the rest of the world is. When the vote came up in the Greek Parliament only three socialist PASOK deputies voted with their conscience against the austerity measures. Try to understand that in most modern societies the "left" is very much just another aspect of the ruling class (most obviously in the USA ). If there will be a division amongst the Greek ruling class it will appear first amongst the so-called 'socialists". There is little evidence of such desertion to the "other side" at this time. Perhaps the vast, vast, vast majority of "socialist" bureaucrats are making very rational calculations about the general mood in Greece today. ot perhaps you'd like to believe ultraleft groupuscles instead.

3)The population can no longer live in the present conditions. Actually in Greece the population is rebelling against a set of circumstances that has yet to be implemented. For the vast majority of the people who have come out into the streets the issue is not their present conditions but rather what they will be in the future if the government's policies are implemented. It's a basically conservative response (nothing wrong with that by the way), but the population is still very far from being driven against the wall by an unendurable situation. The people in other countries have been the unfortunate subjects of even more brutal readjustments and revolution has not been the results, even if, as in the case of Argentina great advances in terms of libertarian ways of organization have happened. The Greek people can love with what the ruling class is planning for them, however vicious it may be, and I think they are likely to realize this and not toss caution to the winds in the end.

4)The opposition is united, at least in terms of getting rid of the present regime. This is where the present Greek situation is most deficient in terms of the preconditions for revolution. As I mentioned before the general reasons for the present protests are not to remove a regime but rather to keep a certain system of benefits in place. No doubt the more clear sighted of the anarchists (excluding the insurrectionists who have no program beyond- more violence ) have a vague idea of a society that is different from our present one, but it has hardly been expressed at least in "mass terms" beyond vague generalities. No doubt the Coalition of the Radical Left also have vague proposals for an alternative society (with all the corrupting and futile statism that such a party can muster ). In such a vague cloud the conservative aspects of the movement come to the fore...as they actually have if one examines the numbers in the news from Greece dispassionately without revolutionary illusions. Here you will see a horrible and obvious fact. the various factions of the Greek left not only, in the majority, don't want an alternative society but they abhor each other with a deep passion. Various union centrals make great efforts to stay separate from others in their demonstrations. I am speaking here of the major players in the present Greek drama, not the separation of all of them from the anarchists. To say the least this is not the way to proceed.

5)Finally a "revolution" as opposed to a revolt presupposes a vision of society ie a goal that is sufficiently diffused amongst the general population such that they see it as both worthwhile and possible. Sometimes these goals can be pretty limited ie the end of communist rule in eastern Europe. When a clear alternative, however, is not present it is the responsibility of "revolutionaries" to present such alternatives over the course of how many decades they may take to seek into popular consciousness. The most common goal of the present Greek rebellion is not a new and different society, as I have mentioned above. It is merely a defensive action against an "adjustment" that will remove benefits from ordinary Greeks. Good luck to them, even if I think the effort is doomed.

In any case here is a perfectly rational statement from various international anarchist groups in support of Greek workers. I agree with its statements of fact and its call to action even if I am very much a pessimist as to the conclusion of this struggle.
Solidarity with the Greek workers' struggle!
Statement on the Greek crisis

Greece is a test case for the social dismantling that awaits us all. This policy is being enacted by all the institutional parties, by every government and by all of globalised capitalism's institutions. There is only one way to hold back this policy of barbaric capitalism: popular direct action, to widen the strike movement and increase the number of demonstrations all across Europe.
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SOLIDARITY WITH THE GREEK WORKERS' STRUGGLE!

The Greek working class is angry, and with good reason, with the attempt to load responsibility for the bankruptcy of the Greek State onto their shoulders. We maintain instead that it is the international financial institutions and the European Union who are responsible. The financial institutions have plunged the world, and Greece in particular, into an economic and social crisis of historical proportions, forcing countries into debt, and now these same institutions are complaining that certain States risk not being able to repay their debts. We denounce this hypocrisy and say that even if Greece - and all the other countries - can repay the debt, they should not do so: it is up to those responsible for the crisis - the financial institutions, not the - to pay for the damage caused by this crisis. The Greek workers are right to refuse to pay back their country's debt. We refuse to pay for their crisis!

Instead, let us shift the capitalists into the firing line: Greek capital generates some of the biggest profit margins in Europe due to its investments in the poorer Balkan countries, the absence of social protections, collective guarantees and a minimum wage for Greek workers, not to mention the country's gigantic black economy in labour and an even greater exploitation of immigrant work. Greek capital is also very lightly taxed, due to the weakness of the State (with regard to the rich) and major corruption which permits fraud and tax evasion on a massive scale. So it is equally up to Greek capitalists to pay for this crisis.

We also denounce the attitude of the European Union. The EU was presented to us as a supposed guarantee of peace and solidarity between the peoples, but now it is showing its true face - that of acting as an unconditional prop for neoliberalism, in a complete denial of the notion of democracy. As soon as an economy becomes mired in difficulties, all pretence of solidarity evaporates. So we see Greece being scolded and accused of laxity, with insulting language bordering on racism. The "Europe which protects us" that liberals and social-democrats extolled at the time of the scandalous forced adoption of the Lisbon Treaty (particularly in France and Ireland) now seems a long way away.

As far as actual protection goes, the EU and the financial institutions have combined their efforts to frog-march Greece towards the forced dismantling of public services, through austerity plans that recall the "Structural Adjustment Plans" of the IMF: the non-replacement of staff, wage freezes, privatisations and VAT increases. Today the EU is demanding that the retirement age be moved back to 67, not only in Greece but also in other countries, and is also threatening to dismantle the social welfare system. In this way they are opening new markets for investors, while guaranteeing the assets of rich investors, to the detriment of the basic interests of the working class. It is a Europe of the ruling class, and one which we must all work together to oppose.

This is why we call for participation throughout Europe in solidarity initiatives with the Greek working class and with future victims of the onslaught of the banks.

Against the values of greed and rapacity that the European Union is based on, let us respond with class solidarity! Greece is a test case for the social dismantling that awaits us all. This policy is being enacted by all the institutional parties, from out-and-out bourgeois to liberals and social democrats, by every government and by all of globalised capitalism's institutions. There is only one way to hold back this policy of barbaric capitalism: popular direct action, to widen the strike movement and increase the number of demonstrations all across Europe.
Solidarity with the Greek workers' struggle!


Alternative Libertaire (France)
Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)
Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (Italy)
Organisation Socialiste Libertaire (Switzerland)
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (South Africa)