SAD END TO A GREAT INSTITUTION!

'Bookfair couldn’t guarantee the banner’s safety', said Dave Douglass
 

by Dave Douglass (South Shields}

THE annual Anarchist Bookfair in London was for many many years the highlight of the Anarchist and radical Marxist calendar.   It brought together the most splendid , vivid fascinating and eccentric, profound and trivial, exciting and profane, hilarious and spiritual assortments of people.   They came in thousands, they bathed in the rainbow variety of factions, tendencies, visions and issues.   Workshops and presentations, entertainment and discussion filled the entire day as the crowds crammed past stalls laden with literature and art, T-shirts and stickers, posters and badges, cards and calendars, a myriad of interesting and unique stuff you would never find anywhere else under one roof.   The Vegan food commune outside the venues hawked the most interesting of pastries and butties, tatties and cakes, rich wonderful chocolate cakes and angel cakes which tested the will power of the most dedicated of health freaks.  In my own judgement the Anarchist bookfair almost vied with the Durham Miners Gala (almost) in terms of ‘not to be missed’ events.  Ancient aud Anarchists rubbed shoulders with the Mohican punks of yesterd-a-year, born again hippies, young activist, and what a Glasgow paper talking of the anti polaris demonstrators of the 60’s called ‘ beardies, weirdies and lang lagged beasties’ 
 
Sadly the great spirit of comradely diversity, the ‘let a million flowers blossom let ten thousand schools of thought reign’ which Mao had once said and may actually at one time believed, had started to change and smoulder into authoritarian intolerances.  In a gradual change of attitude which I think has spread from the Ultra PC ‘no platforming’ ‘shut them up’, ‘safe space’ evangelists of the US campuses, only very particular schools of thought would be allowed to be heard.  

Invited to speak one year I suggested I bring the famous ‘red’ miners banner of the Follonsby Lodge.   The banner originally drafted in 1928 famously sets forth the options and variety of radical working class ideologies and ‘roads’ depicting as it does Social Democracy, Bolshevism, and Anarcho-syndicalism, the ballot box and the gun, in the form of Kier Hardie, James Connolly in the uniform of the ICA, V.I.Lenin , A.J.Cook and George Harvey.  The banner encapsulates the trajectory of ideological struggle and events which led through the birth of the IWW, the ILP, the development of the Soviets, the General Strike, The Easter Irish rising and the Russian revolution.  In this trajectory the debate around the nature of the state and working class democracy ideas of the anarchists and syndicalists, the Industrial Unionists, how society could function once capitalism was defeated were all marked by the birth of this banner. 

I had concluded that the Anarchist Bookfair was an ideal platform to retell this story and the way in which working class history had developed.   'Nope’, I was told , the bookfair couldn’t guarantee the banner’s safety.  One look at the central portrait of Lenin flanked by the hammer and sickle would be enough to stifle any debate and could lead to the destruction of the banner.   It was an early demonstration of the chain of thought which would seek to re-write history by tearing down all statues and memorials and references to un-pc historic figures.   It would be the fingers in the ears while shouting 'lalala’ to stop the sound of words too wounding to be heard. 
 
Then four or five years ago we had a gang attack on Comrade Brian Bamford of the Northern Anarchist Network.  Brian has a knack of rubbing folk up the wrong way it must be said, he had been irreverent to an old stalward of traditional anarchism who had passed away, Brian’s obituary was thought to be insensitive, which it undoubtedly was.  But it led to his stall being turned over his books trashed and he beaten up and sprayed with ketchup.  This was in the middle of an event of Anarchists who are supposed to believe we can govern ourselves without enforcement and laws imposed upon us.   It got worse, as first Brian then members of his group were banned from regional anarchist bookfares, not simply from having a stall but attending on pain of violence.   Book and Newspaper shops which stocked the NAN magazine were visited and warned not to stock the journal, the printers likewise were given the Gypsies Warning.   He hasn’t mounted a bookstall since. 
 
Last year, a section of the Anarchist wing fighting alongside the PKK against ISIS were invited to speak at a workshop.  The hall was invaded by students from the Gulf states who although purporting to be progressives were basically supporters of the Jihadists and Theocrats.  They stamped and chanted and no platformed the speakers.  Bending over backward to preserve our traditions of free speech they were invited to present an alternative view before the anarchists spoke, which they did, and then broke up the meeting and stopped them being heard. 
 
This year was the final straw.  One of the anarcho-feminists had been circulating a leaflet saying why they didn’t allow transmen to attend women only sessions and workshops, when she was surrounded and shouted down and threatened by a gang of 'transmen’, who not only stopped those sessions but demanded a whole list of demands from the bookfare in general be met.  This was as to content of stalls, workshops, items displayed and on sale.  The organisers under a constant barrage have just said ’bollox’ you organise your own, we’re done’.  ‘That’s it, were done organising this event’. 
 
I cannot in conscience blame them.  The only way to stop this march of intolerance would have been to not tolerate it and to physically impose free thought and free speech on people who plainly don’t believe in it.  Which would be a contradiction too hard for Anarchists to cope with.  Its a sad reflection on where mostly middle class ‘safe space’ victim-mongering, no-platforming , witch hunting, tyranny has taken us.   It is a very sad day in my view.  We have to ensure that this intolerance and denial of free speech and basic liberty is not fed into working class organisations and events. 
 
Tyneside anarchists in conjunction with the Follonsby Wardley Miners Lodge Association will be hosting a Guy Fawkes Workers Bookfare in Newcastle next year, Nov 3rd.   This will be an opportunity to present books on working class political ideology and history and progressive thought which one would not get the chance to see in conventional book venues. It will very much be in the tradition of the once famous bookfare although we don’t expect the same numbers.   At this bookfare the principle of free speech and political liberty will be guaranteed, and anyone who doesn’t accept the principle ‘left’ or right will be not invited and if necessary excluded. 
 www.fiveleavespublications.blogspot.com/2012/10/  

******

SORRY END TO A GREAT INSTITUTION

by Dave Douglass (South Shields}

THE annual Anarchist Bookfair in London was for many many years the highlight of the Anarchist and radical Marxist calendar.  It brought together the most splendid , vivid fascinating and eccentric, profound and trivial, exciting and profane, hilarious and spiritual assortments of people.  They came in thousands, they bathed in the rainbow variety of factions, tendencies, visions and issues.  Workshops and presentations, entertainment and discussion filled the entire day as the crowds crammed past stalls laden with literature and art, T-shirts and stickers, posters and badges, cards and calendars, a myriad of interesting and unique stuff you would never find anywhere else under one roof.  The Vegan food commune outside the venues hawked the most interesting of pastries and butties, tatties and cakes, rich wonderful chocolate cakes and angel cakes which tested the will power of the most dedicated of health freaks.  In my own judgement the Anarchist bookfare almost vied with the Durham Miners Gala (almost) in terms of ‘not to be missed’ events.  Ancient aud Anarchists rubbed shoulders with the Mohican punks of yesterd-a-year, born again hippies, young activist, and what a Glasgow paper talking of the anti polaris demonstrators of the 60’s called ‘ beardies, weirdies and lang lagged beasties’ 
 
Sadly the great spirit of comradely diversity, the ‘let a million flowers blossom let ten thousand schools of thought reign’ which Mao had once said and may actually at one time believed, had started to change and smoulder into authoritarian intolerances.  In a gradual change of attitude which I think has spread from the Ultra PC ‘no platforming’ ‘shut them up’, ‘safe space’ evangelists of the US campuses, only very particular schools of thought would be allowed to be heard.  

Invited to speak one year I suggested I bring the famous ‘red’ miners banner of the Follonsby Lodge.   The banner originally drafted in 1928 famously sets forth the options and variety of radical working class ideologies and ‘roads’ depicting as it does Social Democracy, Bolshevism, and Anarcho-syndicalism, the ballot box and the gun, in the form of Kier Hardie, James Connolly in the uniform of the ICA, V.I.Lenin , A.J.Cook and George Harvey.  The banner encapsulates the trajectory of ideological struggle and events which led through the birth of the IWW, the ILP, the development of the Soviets, the General Strike, The Easter Irish rising and the Russian revolution. In this trajectory the debate around the nature of the state and working class democracy ideas of the anarchists and syndicalists, the Industrial Unionists, how society could function once capitalism was defeated were all marked by the birth of this banner. 

I had concluded that the Anarchist Bookfare was an ideal platform to retell this story and the way in which working class history had developed.  'Nope’, I was told , the bookfare couldn’t guarantee the banner’s safety.  One look at the central portrait of Lenin flanked by the hammer and sickle would be enough to stifle any debate and could lead to the destruction of the banner.  It was an early demonstration of the chain of thought which would seek to re-write history by tearing down all statues and memorials and references to un-pc historic figures.  It would be the fingers in the ears while shouting’ lalala’ to stop the sound of words too wounding to be heard. 
 
Then four or five years ago we had a gang attack on Comrade Brian Bamford of the Northern Anarchist Network.  Brian has a knack of rubbing folk up the wrong way it must be said, he had been irreverent to an old stalward of traditional anarchism who had passed away, Brian’s obituary was thought to be insensitive, which it undoubtedly was.  But it led to his stall being turned over his books trashed and he beaten up and sprayed with ketchup.  This was in the middle of an event of Anarchists who are supposed to believe we can govern ourselves without enforcement and laws imposed upon us.   It got worse, as first Brian then members of his group were banned from regional anarchist bookfares, not simply from having a stall but attending on pain of violence.   Book and Newspaper shops which stocked the NAN magazine were visited and warned not to stock the journal, the printers likewise were given the Gypsies Warning.   He hasn’t mounted a bookstall since. 
 
Last year, a section of the Anarchist wing fighting alongside the PKK against ISIS were invited to speak at a workshop.  The hall was invaded by students from the Gulf states who although purporting to be progressives were basically supporters of the Jihadists and Theocrats.  They stamped and chanted and no platformed the speakers.  Bending over backward to preserve our traditions of free speech they were invited to present an alternative view before the anarchists spoke, which they did, and then broke up the meeting and stopped them being heard. 
 
This year was the final straw.  One of the anarcho-feminists had been circulating a leaflet saying why they didn’t allow transmen to attend women only sessions and workshops, when she was surrounded and shouted down and threatened by a gang of 'transmen’, who not only stopped those sessions but demanded a whole list of demands from the bookfare in general be met.  This was as to content of stalls, workshops, items displayed and on sale.  The organisers under a constant barrage have just said ’bollox’ you organise your own, we’re done’.  ‘That’s it, were done organising this event’. 
 
I cannot in conscience blame them.  The only way to stop this march of intolerance would have been to not tolerate it and to physically impose free thought and free speech on people who plainly don’t believe in it.  Which would be a contradiction too hard for Anarchists to cope with.  Its a sad reflection on where mostly middle class ‘safe space’ victim-mongering, no-platforming , witch hunting, tyranny has taken us.   It is a very sad day in my view.  We have to ensure that this intolerance and denial of free speech and basic liberty is not fed into working class organisations and events. 
 
Tyneside anarchists in conjunction with the Follonsby Wardley Miners Lodge Association will be hosting a Guy Fawkes Workers Bookfare in Newcastle next year, Nov 3rd.   This will be an opportunity to present books on working class political ideology and history and progressive thought which one would not get the chance to see in conventional book venues. It will very much be in the tradition of the once famous bookfare although we don’t expect the same numbers.   At this bookfare the principle of free speech and political liberty will be guaranteed, and anyone who doesn’t accept the principle ‘left’ or right will be not invited and if necessary excluded. 
 fiveleavespublications.blogspot.com/2012/10/

******

Catalan General Strike

LARGE numbers of Catalans have observed a general strike to condemn police violence at a banned weekend referendum on independence, as Madrid comes under growing international pressure to resolve its worst political crisis in decades.
Schools and universities were shut on Tuesday and unions reported that most small businesses were closed after unions called for the stoppage to “vigorously condemn” the police response to the poll, in which Catalonia’s leader said 90% of voters had backed independence from Spain.
“An attack on democracy without precedent in recent times calls for a united response,” said Javier Pacheco, the secretary general in Catalonia of the Comisiones Obreras union. “We have called on all sectors to take part.”
No public transport will be available between 9am and 5pm in Barcelona, and in Tarragona the municipal bus service was cancelled. In the Ebro delta, the rice harvest was halted for the day.
Barcelona’s public universities were expected to join the strike, as was the contemporary art museum and the Sagrada Familia, the basilica designed by Antoni Gaudi and one of the city’s most popular tourist sites.
FC Barcelona said it would take part in the strike, adding that it would close its headquarters and that none of its professional or youth teams would train.
Demonstrations have been called to begin at noon and Britain’s Foreign Office warned travellers to expect further disruption in the region over the coming days.

Catalan leader calls for mediation with Spain over independence

The central government has vowed to stop the wealthy north-eastern region, which accounts for a fifth of Spain’s GDP, breaking away from Spain and has dismissed Sunday’s poll as unconstitutional and a “farce”.
At least 893 people and 33 police officers were reported to have been hurt on Sunday after riot police stormed polling stations, dragging out voters and firing rubber bullets into crowds.
Violent scenes played out in towns and cities across the region as riot police moved in to stop people from casting their ballots.
The UN rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said he was “very disturbed” by the unrest while the EU president, Donald Tusk, urged Madrid to avoid further use of violence.
The European parliament will hold a special debate on Wednesday on the issue.

******

Strike Halts Barcelona - King to speak

KING Felipe will make a televised statement at 9 a.m. local time, a spokesman for the royal household told CNN.

His decision to intervene in the crisis comes as tens of thousands of people gathered in Barcelona, angered by the harsh treatment meted out by national forces who tried to prevent the banned vote from taking place. Many demonstrated in front of the Barcelona headquarters of the Spanish national police.

Shops were closed, universities halted classes and transport companies ran reduced services as supporters of Catalonia's bid for independence from Spain attempted to maintain the momentum from Sunday's vote.

The main trade unions, the CCOO and UGT stopped short of declaring a general strike, describing the action instead as a "work stoppage" to skirt labor laws that forbid strikes for political reasons.

Facing Spain's biggest political crisis in decades, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy held talks with opposition parties in Madrid.

Protesters gathering in Barcelona said they were motivated by fury at Sunday's violent crackdown -- the Catalan health ministry said 893 people were injured as riot police raided polling stations, dragged away voters and fired rubber bullets.

"This is a protest against police violence and maintaining momentum after Sunday," said Victor Noguer, 27, a firefighter.

"The streets will always be ours," protesters chanted, some of them draped in the blue, yellow and red Estelada flag used by Catalan separatists.

Protesters wave a Catalan pro-independence 'Estelada' flag as they gather at the Placa de la Universitat square in Barcelona during a general strike in Catalonia called by Catalan unions on October 3, 2017.

Officers from the Guardia Civil and the Catalan police force stood guard outside the local headquarters of the Spanish government in Barcelona, where hundreds of firefighters gathered. Other groups of protesters gathered outside the headquarters of the national police, shouting "Spanish police get out!"

In an interview with CNN at a police control center in the city, Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau condemned Rajoy's decision to deploy national security forces as "seriously irresponsible."

"Why is he throwing thousands of police officers against the population," asked Colau, who does not support Catalan independence but was in favor of holding the referendum. "Why is he keeping thousands of police officers on standby in the city of Barcelona and in Catalonia? What is the message of fear he wants to send?"

Protestors gather in front of the Spanish Partido Popular ruling party headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.

The presence of the Spanish national police and the Guardia Civil in Catalonia is a source of increasing tension in the city following Sunday's violence. Animosity is also rising between local and national forces.

On Tuesday, the Guardia Civil police union, the AUGC, filed a complaint with the Catalan High Court against the Catalan police, or Mossos d'Esquadra, complaining that they failed in their duties by not enforcing the court ruling that banned the referendum.

The AUGC also filed a complaint in connection with the eviction of 200 officers from the Hotel Vila in the Calella district of Barcelona. It called for a judicial inquiry into reports the mayor threatened to withdraw the hotel's license if the Guardia Civil remained there.

Spanish newspaper El Pais said two hotels in Barcelona and hotels in Reus, 100 kilometers from the city, have ordered Guardia Civil officers to leave following Sunday's referendum.

Spain's Interior Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, said Madrid would "take all necessary measures" to stop the "intolerable harassment" of national security forces.

The Catalan government says it earned the right to split from Spain, claiming 90% of those who voted in Sunday's poll were in favour of independence. But the result was not decisive: turnout was low, at around 42%.

Catalan independence vote caps four centuries of mistrust

Catalan authorities blamed the crackdown for the low turnout, but it remains clear that public opinion in Catalonia is deeply split on independence.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont stopped short of declaring independence for Catalonia Monday. According to the referendum law passed by the Catalan Parliament -- and declared illegal by Spain's top court -- authorities have 48 hours after the result to declare a split. Catalan authorities have not yet presented a final result to the Parliament in Barcelona.

Puigdemont has called for international mediation to resolve the crisis.

Protestors throw referendum ballots as they rally in front of Spain's ruling Partido Popular headquarters in Barcelona.

It said that during his meetings the Prime Minister "has strongly defended the actions of the security forces during [Sunday's] events and has reiterated that more than 400 officers needed (medical) attention and 40 needed emergency attention because of their injuries."

Rajoy's office said Tuesday that he was considering calling a special session of Spain's Congress of Deputies to discuss the crisis.

So far, European Union leaders and the European Commission have backed the Spanish government's opinion that the referendum was illegal.

The European Parliament, the EU's only elected body, will discuss the crists on Wednesday. The issue Catalan cause is likely to find more sympathizers, especially from the smaller nations.

The UN Commissioner for Human Rights has asked to be allowed to send in experts to examine if citizens' rights have been violated.

******

Barnsley Labour History Festival

BARNSLEY FESTIVAL OF LABOUR HISTORY 

Saturday October 15th

10.30am   The Yorkshire Rising of 1820    Malcolm Chase
11.45         Readings from John Hugh Burland’s “Annals of Barnsley”
12.50 – 2pm       Dinner.   There is a solidarity protest for the Kinsley 3 strike in the precinct.   
                       Please support. 
2pm          Votes for Women –campaigning in Barnsley and beyond.  Jill Liddington
3.15pm    Labour Politics in Barnsley 1890-1910   Keith Laybourn
4.30pm    The Matchwomen’s Strike and New Unionism    Louise Raw (finishes 5.35pm)

7.30pm    “The Price of Coal”    Directed by Ken Loach. Written by Barry Hines.  

Sunday October 16th 

10am         The Great Unrest   1910-14    Ralph Darlington (John Newsinger is ill). 
11.15         The General Strike     Daryl Leeworthy
12.30pm   Work Camps in Yorkshire in the 1930s   John Field
1.35 – 2.40pm                      Dinner
2.40pm      Asian Youth Movements in South and West Yorkshire in 1970/80s
                      Anandi Ramamurthy
3.55pm      The Miners’ Strikes of 1972 and 1984/5    Ralph Darlington

The Festival has been financially sponsored by the TUC, BFAWU, UCU Yorkshire Regional Committee, Leeds and Hull Trades Councils, Barnsley UNISON

*******

General Strike anniversary

90 years since the 1926 General Strike – learn the lessons to fight back!

NINETY years ago today, millions of workers were taking part in the General Strike to defend the miners from a brutal Tory government.  The NSSN along with militant unions has championed the idea of generalised strike action to face down Tory austerity and their planned anti-union laws. 

The PCS National Vice-President John McInally celebrates the 1926 General Strike and draws out the lessons for today’s generation of trade union fighters:

'The 90^th anniversary of the general strike of 1926 allows us to reflect on the potential of the working class through their own organisations - the trade unions - to organise and fight back against attacks on their terms and conditions.

'But the current generation of conservative union leaders will also no doubt use this anniversary to expound a defeatist narrative, best expressed at the 2012 TUC Congress during a debate on the feasibility of calling a general strike, that “..we tried that once and it didn’t work”.  This cynical, ignorant statement seeks to re-write history as a series of defeats to prove industrial action is pointless and that gains made through generations of struggle were actually gifted to us by a munificent ruling class.

'In fact in 1972 the very threat of a general strike forced the government to resurrect archaic legal procedures in order to release jailed Dockers from Pentonville prison.  In 2011 public sector workers saw a glimpse of their massive latent strength during the two million strong N30 pensions strike that was sold out by cynical “leaders” who choreographed a “settlement” with Tory ministers that robbed them of pension rights.  The 1984-85 Miners strike is also cited as “proof” that struggle is useless and only “diplomatic” entreaties can restrain the bosses from implementing the worst aspects of a never-ending race to the bottom.  But with solidarity action from the rest of the union movement, Thatcher could have been defeated then.

'Leadership now as then is critical.  In 1926, the Daily Mail accurately described the  general strike as a “revolutionary move” but with the purpose of frightening the Labour Party and union leaders, which it did.

'Jeremy Hunt’s imposition of unacceptable contracts on junior doctors is a key stage in privatising our National Health Service and he seeks to intimidate them but also warn off right-wing union leaders by claiming the strikers aim to overthrow the government.

'My union PCS along with the Fire Brigades Union called on the TUC general council to call a day of action in support of the junior doctors. The TUC must, as a matter of priority, reconsider their decision not to support this call.

'The real lesson of the general strike is not that we can’t win but with determined leadership, workers can secure priceless victories.'

Spanish Labour Appeal for Support

EMERGENCY CALL

 

Drop the Charges Against the Airbus 8 and the 300 Other

Trade Unionists Prosecuted for Taking Strike Action!

 

Dear Friends and Comrades ,

This is to urge you to please sign on to the Appeal below to the Spanish authorities , calling for the charges to be dropped against trade unionists in Spain facing stiff prison sentences for exercising their right to strike. The appeal also calls on the Spanish government to repeal Article 315.3 of its Penal Code and to respect the right to strike and all the Conventions of the International Labor Organizations that Spain has ratified.

 

On Tuesday, February 18, an International Day of Action in support of the embattled Spanish trade unionists is being organized by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), to which the TUC is affiliated. The demands listed below are the ones being raised by the ITUC.

The endorsements will be sent to the Spanish authorities prior to Feb 18 , and so that the appeal, with all its endorsers, can be distributed to the Spanish press and read out to the trade unionists across Spain who will be mobilized to demand the right to strike.

Please fill out the coupon below and return it . Also please feel free to circulate this Appeal widely to friends, co-workers and fellow unionists.

 

Thanks, in advance, for your support. We look forward to hearing back from you,

 

In solidarity

JP Barrois

Drop the Charges Against the Airbus 8 and the 300 Other

Trade Unionists Prosecuted for Taking Strike Action!

We -- the undersigned trade unionists and supporters of trade union rights in the United Kingdom -- call upon you to relay to your government in Madrid our most urgent appeal that all charges leveled by the Spanish authorities against 8 Airbus trade unionists (7 members of the Workers’ Commissions / CCOO and 1 UGT member) be dropped immediately.

 

In addition we call for (1) all charges to be dropped against 300 other trade unionists charged with organizing informational picketlines during the recent general strikes and/or workplace and sectoral strikes, and (2) the repeal of Spain’s Article 315.3 of the Penal Code, which provides for prison sentences for trade unionists who take part in informational picketlines during a strike.

We have been informed by the Platform of Trade Unionists for Democracy and Trade Union Independence in Spain that the Airbus 8 are currently on trial for events that took place in front of the gate of the Getafe factory during the 2010 general strike against the reform of the employment laws – events resulting from the brutal police assault on the striking workers. The public prosecutor’s office is asking for a prison sentence of 8 years and 3 months for each of the 8 trade unionists, a total of 66 years.

During the first preliminary hearing that took place last December, the accused Airbus 8 turned down the public prosecutor’s offer to reduce the penalty from 8 years and 3 months to 2 years, since this would have involved agreeing that they had committed the crimes with which they were charged -- and of which they are completely innocent. As a result, the charges stand as they were.

Already prison sentences have been handed down in trials in Pontevedra, Grenada and Asturias -- the latter involving five UGT members at Arcelor’s Gijón plant who have been jailed -- two of them for 5 years and three of them for 3.5 years.

We have likewise been informed that on February 18, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), to which our trade union federation in the United States – the AFL-CIO – is affiliated, will be organizing an International Day of Action in support of the embattled Spanish trade unionists and in support of their right to strike.

The right to strike is an indispensable component of the right to collective bargaining, a cornerstone of trade union rights and of democratic rights as such.

As supporters of trade union and democratic rights, we are outraged by the violations of basic labor rights taking place under Article 315.3 of the Penal Code.

We call upon the government of Mariano Rajoy to drop all the charges against the trade unionists, to repeal this nefarious Article 315.3 of the Penal Code, and to respect the right to strike and all the Conventions of the International Labor Organisation ( ILO ) that it has ratified.

We would greatly appreciate your acknowledging receipt of this most urgent appeal.

I endorse this appeal

Name :

Union :

Radical History Network of North East London

 MEETING:  ‘EVERYWHERE AND NOWHERE':
General Strikes, Solidarity Strikes and Industrial Solidarity
“The general strike is a revolution which is everywhere and nowhere”
(Fernand Pelloutier)

Wednesday 8th May, at 7.30 pm.

Venue: Wood Green Social Club.
3 Stuart Crescent, Wood Green,
London N22 5NJ

(Not far from Wood Green tube/end of White Hart Lane/nr Civic Centre

On the 87th anniversary of one of the most crucial days in the 1926 General Strike…

The General Strike was originally conceived as a revolutionary weapon – a way for the working class to seize control of society and remake it in their interest.  In recent decades General Strikes have been used and proposed for less lofty aims; and in the current onslaught on our living and working
conditions, are seen as a defensive weapon, holding off the imposition of austerity…

But is a centrally organized General Strike with one specific aim an effective tactic, either for immediate practical gains, or to overthrow capitalism. Organised through the union structures and hierarchies which
often frustrate workers struggles, what can a General Strike realistically achieve? How might industrial solidarity be more effectively built? Amidst repeated agitation for One-day General Strikes – is a one day strike really a general Strike at all?

With these questions in mind, we aim to discuss several issues, including some of the myths and facts of the 1926 general Strike in the UK - was it really defeated by the TUC General Council selling it out? Or was it in fact sabotaged at a more local level?

Workers' struggles are very difficult in the context of 27% unemployment.  We will look at how the recent general strikes in Spain have widened out to include action by unemployed people, students and pensioners, and how the recent struggles have connected industrial action with other important areas such as housing and
education. We also hope to discuss alternative tactics and strategies that have succeeded in winning strikes and building solidarity across industry lines, without necessarily being 'general Strikes' in name...

All welcome, come with an open mind…

'The healthiest fish ... halibut': Big Bob on protein!!!

Cheeky Cockney Union Man Cocks a Snoop at our Northern Chippy Cuisine

SAYING he had no specific plan to co-ordinate strikes with other unions, Bob Crow told the FT's political correspondent, Jim Pickard, (see 'Lunch with the FT' interview - 26/03/2011) that 'if there are disputes in rail, shipping or bus industries at the same time over cutbacks, we would be fools not to co-ordinate the timing.' He estimates that 5,000 of his own member's jobs are at risk of redundancy.

The SWP and others on the Left have been urging a 24-hour general strike, but a petitioner on last Saturday's Unite train back from the protests in London had a hard time convincing people to sign up to get the TUC to call one. The SWP lad said the last Saturday's protest against the Coalition cuts showed what happens when the leadership of the TUC call for a demo. But it didn't do much good in the 1980s when the TUC last called for 'Days of Action' by trade unionists. This didn't faze the SWP lad, who claimed that it is different now to the 1980s; indeed it is, the trade unions are weaker now than they were in the 1980s.

Curiously Bob Crow told the FT that he is not against all cuts like some other leftwingers, nor is he a 'deficit denier'; his proposed alternative to the cuts is a 'one pence tax on all emails' according the last Saturday's FT. This would, says Full-fact an analytical website, raise £12 m a year well short of the UK's deficit. Other parts of his political philosophy include a dislike for free trade and a passion for bigger import and export duties. He reputably keeps a bust of Lenin in his office but believes in pay differentials being on a six-figure salary himself. He supports a policy of 'opportunities for all', which I suppose Dave Cameron would ascribe to.

The grilled halibut at the Rules "hunting, shootin', fishin'" establishment in Covent Garden, that claims to be London's oldest restaurant, costs £53.90 for two, and the chips were £7.50 for two portions. But Big Bob knows the place well and he said that 'we had a summit here ... five weeks ago' and gossiped about Blair and Brown using the same place not to mention 'Nell Gwynne and King Charles'. Then he said: 'That's the healthiest fish you could have, halibut' it's 'full of oil, good for everything, bones, joints, healthy glow.' That, and the fact that he works out six days a week is what he reckons keeps him so fit.

One is left wondering if he will in the end prove to be a better and more successful leader for the British Left than was Arthur Scargill in the 1980s.

Myth of General Strike

Syndicalist Bedfellows Seduced

YESTERDAY the Global Edition of the New York Times ran a story about last month's general strike in Spain entitled 'For Spanish labor, a dance of discontent'. The general tenor of this report tended to support the sceptical position taken by the syndicalists at the National Shop Stewards' Network (NSSN) steering committee meeting last weekend in London, when they challenged the proposal put by the Socialist Workers' Party members on this committee to work for a 24-hour general strike. This report says the Spanish 'general strike' was according to the analysts 'a well-choreographed dance in which unions could show their discontent with the measures (of the Spanish Government) without significantly damaging their natural ally, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose popularity is at its weakest point since being elected.' I think that the argument of the British syndicalists to these types of 'general strikes' is that at worst they risk bringing the weapon of the general strike into disrepute in the eyes of the working class, and, at best, are a safety valve weakening serious social unrest. They are not like the British Poll Tax Riot, sometimes referred to over here these days by militants on the left, which was unpredictable and seriously shook the regime but they are a kind of fancy shadow boxing and the leaders of the NSSN should understand this. The vain hope expressed by the SWP mover of the motion in London that he wished that Britain was like Spain and had had six 'general strikes' since 1979, shows the mindless misunderstanding of some on the British left of Spanish politics because, in a way, last month's Spanish general strike demonstrated the impotence of the Spanish trade union movement.

Indeed, most accounts claim that the Spanish strike was not a 'rousing success' and in interviews given after the strike commentators note a certain curious 'concord in which the unions declared victory but could not point to specific concessions they expected to win from the government - while the Spanish labor minister praised the union's bargaining skills'. The Spanish Government measures have cut severance pay for fired workers and made it easier for companies to put workers on less hours in response to temporary drops in demand. There has been a reduction in the collective bargaining power of the unions as well. The unions also oppose the threat in the Socialist Government's proposed budget to raise the pension age from 65 to 67.

The Spanish 'general strike' was called on the 29th, September to co-ordinate with the other European demonstrations but it seemed to turn into pockets of unrest and protest across the continent and didn't have the impact of the Greek struggles earlier in the year. Nor are the Spanish workers united in their struggles, our sources inform us that in Madrid there were three separate demonstrations during the 'general strike': one by the main unions - the UGT and Workers' Commissions; one by the anarchist CNT; and another by the anarcho-syndicalist CGT. But Spain still has 20% unemployment according to the official statistics, though these figures do not take account of the normally thriving black economy in Spain; hence, the Socialist Government is in a weak position and a poll last week in the newspaper El Pais showed the Socialists trialing the conservative Popular Party by 15%.

The problem is that the British left is so aware of its own weakness that it feels a necessity to play-up the events in Spain or Greece to create for itself an ideal type example to aim to remedy our own situation, but very often they not comparing like-with-like and are usually using foreign appearances to overlook and escape from the very real nature of our own situation. In the end on the left we are often seduced by our own slogans and apparently exotic foreign events, and things like the myth of the general strike; which requires more thought and consideration than the SWP proposal offered us at last weekend's NSSN steering committee meeting.

UPDATE: this post is now attracting responses from SWP members, whose comments can be read after the full post here. Click here to read SWP supporter Geoff Brown's post on his blog.