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INTRODUCING ANARCHO-SYNDICALISM
by Bill Meyers
Part II
Enemies Of The Earth And Their Strategies
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your
knees." — Emiliano Zapata
The four great enemies of humanity, the earth, and anarcho-syndicalism
are capitalism, authoritarian religions, Marxism-Leninism, and
industrialism. Of these capitalism is the greatest enemy.
Capitalism, as rationalized by the Neo-Liberal philosophy,
takes two primitive and usually harmless phenomena, the benefits
of trading and the benefits of accumulation, and elevates them
to the status of icons (gods). These two gods prop up the great
god Capital, which the capitalists believe gives them the right
to rule over other people, steal with impunity, destroy the environment,
and in general do whatever they want without regard to anyone's
needs but their own. Capitalists like to pretend that theirs is
an ideology of honest work and productivity, but it is really
an ideology of theft and special privilege.
Capitalism loudly proclaims the free market, but there is no
such thing as a free market. There are markets, sure, but the
point of capitalist business practices is to control those markets.
In particular capitalists like a "free market" in labor.
They form corporations to pool their capital and dictate wages
to working people when those people walk around the labor market
trying to sell their wares, their labor. Capitalists say that
labor unions should be illegal; or made harmless by regulation.
Labor unions give workers the same power of combination that the
capitalists have grabbed for themselves. A labor union is in a
better position to negotiate a fair price for what it sells, peoples'
labor, than is an individual worker. But anarcho-syndicalists
goes far beyond that. We reject the idea that some small group
of people, people who for the most part have distinguished themselves
as social parasites and predators, are to be the owners and the
vast majority are to be their wage-slaves.
Capital in our era has become almost totally international
in its outlook. McDonalds and Citigroup can be found in almost
every country on earth. But working people are divided, unable
so far to form powerful international relations of solidarity.
Such capitalist institutions as the World Bank, International
Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization must be destroyed
if humanity and Nature are to survive into the 22nd century.
The destruction of the environment by capitalism threatens
all humanity. Capitalism cannot reform itself because it is a
theology based on lies; liars will lie to themselves rather than
see the reality confronting the world today. Capitalists are in
denial. They are out of touch with reality, a condition psychologists
call insanity. They tell the truth on occasion only to further
their general practice of lying. The earth is becoming one vast
toxic dump for their pesticides; they are eating every blade of
grass, turning the whole world into a desert. They promise working
people wealth, some day. Wealth that is impossible, because the
earth simply cannot support it. Theirs is the wealth of things.
The wealth of overgrown pack-rats. The wealth of anarcho-syndicalists
must be based on a sustainable future, in cooperation with nature,
based on human love, not greed for things. Capitalism can be summed
up in one word: More. It is the philosophy of More for Me, even
if it means less for everyone else. Ours is also a philosophy
of more, but of more justice, fairness, love, and cooperation
with Nature.
Leninism, and authoritarian Marxism in general, takes this
understanding of relation between working peoples and capitalists
and turns it on its head. Leninism postulates that the working
class is bound to seize political power, and therefore if you
want to rule over people what you need to do is form a Leninist
party. The Party pretends to represent the working people, but
sets up an internal dictatorship that mirrors its plans for a
future government. It uses the working people to obtain power,
destroys the old aristocracy of money, then becomes the new aristocracy
over the people. Anarcho-syndicalists call Leninism a proto-bourgeois
ideology, because the Leninists are attempting to replace the
old bourgeoisie with themselves, the new bourgeoisie. This is
why Leninists have to share, with Fascists, the ideology of the
Leader and his vanguard party. Working people, in a free society
(with the differences in wealth abolished), would not choose dictatorship
as a form of social organization.
Anarcho-syndicalism was much more popular than Marxism and
Leninism prior to 1918. What happened? At a crucial point in the
Russian revolution Lenin outmaneuvered the people, who favored
anarcho-syndicalism. Basically he did this by lying. [The details
can be found in The Bolsheviks and Workers Control 1917-1923 by
Maurice Brinton.] The effect was catastrophic. The Leninists took
credit for the defeat of the Czar and the capitalists in Russia.
Around the world political organizers decided to emulate Lenin.
There is a very real tendency of political organizers to think
that they should be in power; Lenin's promise of power tempted
them from genuine working class organizing to proto-bourgeois
organizing. This happened all over the world. In the United States
it resulted in a majority of anarcho-syndicalists, who were in
the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to leave that organization
and join with former Socialist Party members to form what would
become the Communist Party USA.
Although Leninism has been pretty well exposed for what it
is at this point, especially since the fall of the Communist Party
in the Soviet Union, Leninism and similar authoritarian ideologies
that appeal to working class people are still dangerous. As the
global ecosystem disintegrates, bringing unprecedented misery
to people, the current revolt against capitalism and globalization
will strengthen. People with authoritarian personalities, accustomed
to authoritarian solutions, may be attracted to Leninism and its
right-wing sibling, Fascism. Therefore it is important for anarcho-syndicalists
to have a fairly deep understanding of Leninism in order to counter
its influence.
Religion is the organized form of the tendency of humans to
deny the reality of Nature. Religions are based largely on people's
fear of death and a promise of an afterlife. By encouraging people
to be out of touch with reality religions promote wage-slave subservience
to capitalists and their program of destroying the environment.
Some religious groups are openly hostile to anarcho-syndicalism
because of the social organization it implies. Others are hostile
mostly because most anarcho-syndicalists, seeking the truth about
Nature, mostly reject religious cults and their ideas. However,
the rejection of all religious beliefs is not as important as
seeing the necessity of organizing society on cooperative lines.
Religions, are great in their variety, and the people who subscribe
to them are remarkable in their variety as well. Authoritarian,
hierarchically organized religions are far more dangerous than
the spiritual belief systems themselves. We must study the individual
cases and do what we can to help people out of these traps. There
are tendencies in some religions that can be appealed to as having
a common ground with us. In general, anarcho-syndicalist organizations
should welcome members who adhere to our general principles, whatever
their religious beliefs. Strategies may vary greatly. In societies
where many people have come to accept Nature, or where people
are divided up among many sects, we may be able to go about our
organizing while keeping peaceful, respectful relationships with
the various religious groups. Religious tolerance is a principle
that should be practiced by all, but we also have a right to defend
ourselves against attacks by religious bigots.
Industrialism is the ideology of production, the theory that
more production is better for the world. It is subscribed to by
both capitalists and Leninists. It is raised here because, in
the past, anarcho-syndicalists have sometimes fallen under its
influence. We must consciously reject it today.
Everything occurs in a context. The overall context is Nature.
Nature is everything; everything is nature. Our human home exists
on this planet earth, which we must share the earth with the rest
of the ecosystem. Life must be kept in balance. The society that
produces the most crap (cars, air-conditioners, whatever) is not
the best society. Industry has its price, and the price of even
the current level of industry is too high for the earth. We must
make our society sustainable, if necessary by partial or full
de-industrialization. This can be done while improving human happiness
if we learn to accept Nature and focus on what really makes humans
happy: society, friendship, and rewarding activity. However, de-industrializing
the earth will be quite a trick; it must be done with care. The
details of such an endeavor cannot fit in this short, introductory
essay.
Everything is Nature and Nature is everything. A factory is
part of nature. Even false concepts are part of nature, since
human minds are parts of nature. But while Nature is Everything,
it is not all-powerful in the same way that religious people imagine
their gods to be. Once a species is extinct, for instance, there
is no way to re-create it. Once an ecosystem is destroyed, Nature
has no magic wand to restore it. Nature has many limits; the atmosphere
is only so high, it contains only so much oxygen, and if green
plants are destroyed what oxygen there is will disappear and then
all animals will die as well. We learn the limits and laws of
nature through experience; science is the deliberate, systemic
learning of the laws of nature.
Anarcho-syndicalists live in the natural world and should not
make up fantasies as the religions do. We accept that before we
were born we did not exist, but that before we were born nature
(and our ancestors) did exist. We accept that at death we come
to our natural ends, but that nature and society will continue
after our deaths. We not only accept these facts, we take joy
in them. Accept these facts, and you are free. Life is a free
gift to you from nature.
Since we love life, human life, and see that we share this
gift of nature with plants and animals, we wish to protect life.
We have learned that you cannot turn a land into a desert and
then expect to harvest plentiful fruit. Ecosystems must be protected.
We must keep ourselves, our human race, in harmony with nature
or people will suffer. There are limits to the amount of food
we can extract without harming the environment; there are limits
to the number of people who can live on this earth, and there
are limits to how much in the way of material things each person
can have. These limits are set by Nature and natural law. Every
anarcho-syndicalist should study as much about nature and natural
law as is possible. With this deep knowledge we can build better
lives, a better society, and a sustainable future.
Many people have already begun this process, including many
who have never heard of anarcho-syndicalism or met a member of
an anarcho-syndicalism organization. Love of Nature, and its political
expression, environmentalism, put people on a course towards anarcho-syndicalism.
It is true that many environmentalists have not yet adopted anarcho-syndicalism
as a social philosophy, but their acceptance of Nature will create
a strong pull in that direction.
Elements of Salvation: Anarcho-syndicalism in the
Real World
"We at once see that those animals that acquire the habit
of mutual aid are undoubtedly the fittest." — Peter
Kropotkin in Mutual Aid, a Factor of Evolution
Anarcho-syndicalism already exists in the real world.
One of the traditions of white settler culture in the United
States of America was communal barn building. At barn raisings
the entire community would come and help out, often erecting an
entire barn in a single day. Unfortunately this particular tradition
is more remembered than practiced today, but many other examples
can be found. In a society that says people are, and should be,
motivated only by money, many volunteer fire departments exist
in rural communities and small towns. In a society where "non-profits"
like the Red Cross pay their managers yuppie salaries, people
volunteer. Even most religious groups have some core practices
in common with anarcho-syndicalism. With the exception of the
paid parasites who run the religions, people form communities
where some of the most basic tasks of society, like caring for
those who cannot care for themselves, is done without pay.
People don't like to feel alienated. Most people don't like
to feel that they are mere money-grubbers, or not liked by their
community. Capitalists even take advantage of people's natural
cooperative sentiments to further capitalist ends. I worked at
a bank as a teller for a while. Much of the training as a bank
teller was in "customer relations." We were there to
serve the customers. And why not? It wasn't the customers who
only paid us $7.00 an hour. It made us feel better that at least
we were helping people. Of course if we had tried to form a union,
or even asked for more pay without a union, the bank would have
fired us. They wanted us to work for the common good, while the
stockholders grabbed the profits. In effect the stockholders wanted
us to help build their barns, but did not want to help build our
barns.
When I was younger I misinterpreted this lesson in life. Corporations,
to benefit their stockholders, cheated me out of the products
of my labor. So I often did my job poorly, or even sabotaged my
employers. I was sometimes mean and unhelpful to customers; what
did it matter to me if they ended up hating the corporation that
employed me? The problem was this attitude came to permeate my
life. I became spiteful to people to whom I should have been friendly.
In trying to hurt the capitalists, I became like them: I wanted
to give nothing and get something for it. You can't beat capitalism
by adopting its welfare psychology. Capitalists want to socialize
their costs (pawn them off on society) while privatizing any profits.
Anarcho-syndicalism should lead to a desire to privatize the costs
of society while socializing (sharing) the goods that are produced.
But in the real world people often develop bad attitudes because
of the way they are treated by their capitalist bosses (or parents,
or teachers). Then they carry over that anti-cooperative attitude
to the rest of their lives, often adopting the capitalists' predatory
mindset. You see this sometimes in anarcho-individualists (anarchists
who define self-gratification to be the highest end), and it will
be a problem for anarcho-syndicalists even though it goes against
our philosophy.
We have to build an anarcho-syndicalist society out of our
current situation. We can build it from the principal pillars
that already exist: our closeness to Nature and love of life,
the human joy in cooperation, and the practice of mutual aid.
Anarcho-syndicalist organizations like the IWW and IWA provide
good examples of how these pillars already have begun to function.
However, since few people's lives have been touched by these organizations
yet, I will use more common, if less consciously anarcho-syndicalist,
illustrations of mutual aid.
Anarcho-syndicalists take joy in cooperation and mutual aid.
Many people think any anarchist system is all about individuality
and selfishness. But one of the ways we manifest our individuality
is through voluntary cooperation with members of our community.
Things that individuals want to do can be impossible with one
set of hands, possible with a helper, and easy if many people
pitch in and help. Mutual aid is a form of cooperation where aid
is given to someone in need.
Many communities in the United States and around the world
have been destroyed by the economic practices of large predatory
corporations. Many functions that every community needs (food
storage and distribution, trading useful commodities like tools
and building supplies) can be done through local cooperation.
That keeps money (or the value of human labor) in communities,
rather than draining it off to benefit the super rich. Local cooperation
keeps small, humane-sized communities economically healthy. The
same principles can be applied even to any human productive activities
that require a larger scale of cooperation than might be possible
in a small town or rural area.
It will always be necessary to deal with predatory individuals
and groups. Predatory instincts arise out of the nature of humans
and society. I doubt they will disappear just because we set up
an anarcho-syndicalist society. But at least human predators won't
be running the world as they are today. Mutual aid and cooperation
are the basis of how we will take power away from the corporate
and government predators. When that transition is made, keeping
further predatory instincts in check should require considerably
less effort than defending ourselves against them requires at
present.
How do we build on the elements of anarcho-syndicalism that
already exist in the world? This question is being asked when
global capitalist organizations are putting great effort into
destroying our remaining cooperative instincts. Labor unions and
social groups, including charitable and activist groups, are the
main examples of cooperation and mutual aid today. The problem
is that in most areas of the U.S. the population ranges from openly
anti-union to utterly apathetic. Partly this is from bad experiences
with the AFL-CIO, but mostly it is a result of pervasive anti-union
propaganda. With regard to labor unions, two tactics have been
tried repeatedly: reforming the AFL-CIO, and building the IWW.
Neither has been very successful to date.
We must continue to expand our resource base and bring more
people into our networks, groups, and anarcho-syndicalist unions.
That's easy to say, but how do you do it? Since our basic principles
have not changed in 100 years, do we have to look to our principles
as well as our practices? What have we been doing wrong? Mainly,
we failed to respond to changes in the economy and tactics used
by capitalist predators and their Marxist cousins. Additionally,
the realistic, naturalistic, action-oriented organizations that
looked at reality and dealt with it (the IWW of 1905-1925 and
CNT up until its defeat in the Spanish Civil War (1937), gradually
turned into tradition-bound groups with religious, hair-splitting
mindsets. In the 1990's the IWW has become more realistic and
action-oriented, but since it had such a small number or members
in 1990 it has a very long way to go.
As more people realize the world has serious problems, like
environmental destruction, poverty created by globalization, and
the destruction of our communities and human values, we must be
able to demonstrate that anarcho-syndicalism is the best way to
solve these problems. Anarcho-syndicalists have sometimes assumed
that this process is a sort of revolution versus reform shouting
match. For that reason, the reason that they already know the
answer, they don't feel they need to know details about how the
capitalist system functions. But most people, confronted with
economic and political problems, cope in a haphazzard manner,
looking for the best immediate solution for themselves. They may
see that the system is not fair or good for them, but they mainly
are open to the idea that some specific reform would fix their
problem. We need to be able to explain why the system has not
been reformed (for the good of the people; it is often and easily
reformed for the good of the wealthy and their corporations) and
cannot be reformed. The legal and economic structure of the United
States has made reform impossible; we need to be able to explain
that in enough detail to give people a clear view of the situation.
We need to know enough about the details of the current system
to argue effectively that the only solution for working-class
people (including micro-business owners) is to form defensive,
cooperative, mutual aid groups. These will allow people to survive
their short term difficulties while preparing them to fight for
the radical changes necessary for long term survival.
Getting There: General Strategy
"Workers, the storms are approaching. Facing the emergency
the FAI advises the workers of the CNT, since it is they who control
the factories and production sites, not to abandon them. They
should stay close to the machines." — Buenaventura Durruti
Anarcho-syndicalist resources, today, are miniscule on a global
scale. Yet they are not insignificant. Many of the best, most
experienced, hardest working activists all over the world are
anarcho-syndicalists, and many others are close enough to anarcho-syndicalism
to be of great assistance. Anarcho-syndicalism groups exist in
the two most predatory nations in the world, England and the United
States. They exist in most European nations, in Russia, and other
former communist countries. Latin America once was an anarcho-syndicalism
stronghold and may well be the first area to build an anarcho-syndicalist
society. In Africa several large groups of activists have joined
the IWW or AIT (aka IWA) during the 1990's. In Islamic and Asian
countries anarcho-syndicalists are beset by even greater problems
than in other areas of the globe, but even in these areas the
movement grew in the 1990s.
What can be done in a particular country or community at a
particular moment depends on local conditions. How we organize
during a recession might be different than how we organize during
a boom. How we organize successfully in a small town might not
work as well in a large city. But general principles and a general
strategy should apply.
We need to abandon our failed policy of discouraging workers
from voting and participating in the standing political process
in democracies. The original idea behind this policy was good,
coming out of observations of reality. Political parties diverted
workers' energy from the necessary task of building anarchist
labor unions. But that was at the beginning of the 20th century.
Today it is a tradition out of touch with reality, especially
in the USA. Apathy reigns, and the apathy about politics has spilled
over into apathy about unions. That apathy has been a powerful
weapon against workers, anarcho-syndicalism, and the environment.
Workers should be encouraged to know as much as possible. Real
knowledge comes from practice. Workers should be encouraged to
vote, just as they must be encouraged to attend union meetings
and help organize the unorganized. At the same time they have
to be educated about the meaning and potential of voting. What
does it mean to vote for a pro-labor Democrat, what would change
if there were a majority of pro-labor Democrats in Congress? What
would it mean if the Green Party or Labor Party (or some other
pro-worker third party or bunch of independent workers) were elected?
Can the current system of government dissolve itself in favor
of an anarcho-syndicalist society?
By abandoning the electoral field anarcho-syndicalists have
allowed the capitalists to adjust the legal and economic system
to make organizing workplaces almost impossible. We decided in
1910 to concentrate our energy on workplace organizing, thinking
this would lead to a revolution. It did not, and now it is harder
to organize workplaces than ever. By aiding those in the electoral
politics arena who want to help unions (both AFL/CIO and anarcho-syndicalist)
it should be possible to change the legal rules under which organizing
takes place. If the right of workers to unionize without interference
from their employers were a reality, it would be far easier to
achieve our goal of organizing all workers and to abolish wage
slavery altogether. The election of anarcho-syndicalists or sympathisers
to local offices, in particular, can allow us to build base areas
where we are protected from the worst practices of capitalists
and their governments.
U.S. anarcho-syndicalists must be (and already are) active
in issues like the environment, women's rights, reparations for
the economic damage from Jim Crow, slavery, and anti-union activities,
American Indian rights, and reparations for the people the US
has murdered or harmed in the 3rd world, like the Vietnamese,
Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Filipinos, Hawaiians, etc. Sometimes this
means voting. Sure direct action is great, and so are demonstrations.
But to encourage people to go to a demonstration against the destruction
of a forest, and then telling people not to vote when there is
a choice between an environmentalist politician and anti-environmentalist
politician, is stupidity, not anarcho-syndicalism. (I must explain
that some anarcho-syndicalists, the ones with the high-priest,
dogmatic mindsets, will say that anyone who advocates voting in
a government-sponsored election, for any reason, cannot be an
anarcho-syndicalist).
We must, at the same time, re-invigorate the practice of direct
action. Direct action is when we do what is right regardless of
the capitalists' laws and the possible legal consequences. Direct
action need not be illegal; it may be as simple as forming a food
coop rather than shopping at Safeway or Walmart (which mostly
sell poisoned food. To find poison-free food in a corporate store
in the USA, look for food marked "organic.") Direct
action is the building of the anarcho-syndicalist system. We are
the workers, the people who actually produce the world's food,
clothing, shelter, labor-saving devices, and entertainment. We
can make a new society in much the same manner as we make a new
bicycle. If someone is kicking you in the head when you are trying
to make a bicycle, what would you do? You'd have to stop him from
kicking, and if he isn't someone open to rational, peaceful discourse,
you need to get together with your friends, restrain the guy,
and maybe put him in an insane asylum. Which is where the capitalist
predators belong: their actions, ideology, and policies are insane.
They are destroying the earth. You have a right to take direct
action to restrain them. Tell your friends. (The IWW has some
good pamphlets on direct action at the workplace. Earth First!
and ELF have good ideas for environmental direct action. And feel
free to be creative.)
We need to create and build upon liberated zones. These are
areas where solidarity is so high that the capitalists and their
government have no real power. They might be city neighborhoods,
small towns, or rural areas. At the same time we need to beware
of ghettoizing ourselves. Liberated areas that do not expand will
ultimately be crushed or become irrelevant.
Workplace organizing will remain the core of anarcho-syndicalist
strategy, but we must benefit from a re-definition of work and
workplaces. Housework and child-rearing are work. Keeping your
residential neighborhood clean, safe, and environmentally friendly
is work. All of our work is interconnected. There is no particular
reason that a business establishment should have priority over
organizing on some other basis, such as a local community.
Workplace organizing is very well discussed in pamphlets published
by the IWW, so I'll just outline the basics here. I'll start with
the current National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and AFL/CIO
framework, with which some readers may be familiar. To become
a union a majority of workers must vote for the union in an NLRB
sponsored election. If they win the employer is supposed to negotiate
in good faith (but there aren't any real penalties for not doing
so). The union usually signs a contract regarding hours and working
conditions.
Anarcho-syndicalist unions may follow this NLRB procedure,
but we don't feel obligated to follow it. It's flawed in a vast
number of ways. Corporations usually feel it is better to fire
any union organizers and (perhaps) pay the minor fines for doing
so rather than allowing a vote to ever take place. Corporations
aren't required to have a vote to incorporate, they merely have
to notify the state; why should workers be required to have an
election to form a union? Since the AFL-CIO acts as a dues-collection
machine to give executive-style salaries to top union official,
and most workers are too-short sighted to pay dues unless a union-negotiated
contract makes it worthwhile, when elections are lost the workers
are left unorganized.
An anarcho-syndicalist worker is in a union whether it is legally
recognized or not. One syndicalist at a workplace is a union waiting
to grow. A group of syndicalists at a workplace, who may not be
legally recognized, have the long term goal of abolishing wage
slavery, as well as the short-term goal of reducing the boss's
power by setting up a solid union. Such a union may prefer not
to sign a contract if the contract diminishes the worker's right
to strike or otherwise do whatever they feel is right and just.
Bosses have no rights, in our eyes: they are the inheritors and
possessors of stolen property. They may be human beings, if we
were born in their places we might be in their places, but they
are human beings who are thieves. One of our jobs is to get our
property back.
They Aren't Trying To Kill You, They Are Trying To
Kill Everyone
(Including Themselves)
"The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before
it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world here, in
our hearts." — Buenaventura Durruti
Historically, anarcho-syndicalism is rooted in the theory and
practice of class warfare. But we now know things are not that
simple. The concept of class warfare should not be abandoned:
there should be no doubt that the ruling class is making war upon
the rest of us, and upon nature. But we should not allow either
the concept or the reality of the situation to blind us to its
complexity.
Classes as concepts imply dividing lines and shades of gray.
There is little point to saying exactly how much a family must
own in assets before it is in the ruling class. The IWW traditionally
limits membership to persons who do not have the power to hire
and fire workers; while usable as a guideline, this rule does
not exactly include every member of the working class or exclude
every member of the ruling class. In modern societies almost everyone
works for the ruling class either directly or indirectly. Is a
$100,000.00 per year computer programmer with no employees under
her a better candidate for an anarcho-syndicalist group than the
assistant manager at a convenience store making $14,000 per year
who is allowed to fire cashiers?
Is an ardent environmentalist in the ruling class more of a
danger to the earth than a pro-corporate, anti-environmentalist
worker?
Despite the complexity, seeing the big picture means seeing
the necessity for worker control of industry (that is, any economic
human activity). This means distinguishing the current class of
owners of corporations. They are enemies, in the minimal sense,
in that they have no interest in giving up their ownership or
the privileges that come with it. They become enemies in the maximal
sense when they try to thwart the power of working people or make
environmentally unsound decisions. But keep in mind that the workers
themselves, out of ignorance, are capable of making bad environmental
decisions. Environmental awareness is essential to the anarcho-syndicalist
movement and to the future society we will create. There will
be many enemies of the environment within the working class; they
must be converted or defeated, just like the ruling class itself.
We know there are other issues that make the reality of class
warfare a complex issue. Notably there is the question of women's
liberation. In countries where racism is present, or religious
intolerance, these realities will weigh heavily on the question
of how to best build anarcho-syndicalism and defeat the ruling
class. Even the stratification of the working class itself, often
seen in the envy of unskilled labor for the perks of skilled laborers,
must be taken into consideration. But the primary question is:
how do we build anarcho-syndicalism to the point where it can
defeat the ruling class?
The key is to keep in mind that everyone, even the ruling class
itself, is objectively the enemy of the ruling class. The ruling
class, the owners of the giant corporations and their political
servants, aren't just trying to kill those workers who are in
open rebellion. They are trying to kill everybody. Capitalists
aren't trying to kill themselves on purpose: but their short-sighted
greed will have the same effect. The ruling class had long ago
proven it was incapable of economic or political fairness or human
compassion. In the 20th century it proved that is was willing
to destroy the very earth that humanity lives on in order to make
a short term profit. And for what? Nature, the heritage not just
of all mankind but of all living creatures, has been destroyed
so that socialite princes and princesses could snort cocaine,
drive $100,000 cars, act as manikins for $10,000 dresses, and
buy expensive political offices.
Sadder still, nature has been destroyed so that a small proportion
of the world's workers, living mostly in imperialist nations,
could commute to mind-numbing work in gas-guzzling cars from mind-numbing
suburbs.
The ruling class may on occasion (especially under pressure
from voters in affluent, "democratic" societies) ameliorate
the harm they do to the environment, as has been seen with clean
air and water standards being established in the U. S. A. and
other nations. But they have neither a plan nor a desire to turn
their industrial machine around and drive away from the cliff
of oblivion. In the 1990s the problems of deforestation, global
warming, use of poisons (pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides),
etc., have become worse, not better. Despite the destruction of
the earth, many working class people suffer from hunger and debt-slavery
because the distribution of income and wealth has become worse,
not better.
Do not expect many members of the ruling class to admit that
their system cannot be made to work (though some already admit
that it does not work). But they are trying to kill everyone.
Part of that effort is trying to censure information about the
environment and its relation to the economic system and the government.
It is one of the tasks of conscious anarcho-syndicalists to make
sure that people know the truth about reality, including that
there is still hope. There are solutions to the world's problems.
But we must overthrow the ruling class, its system of corporate
dominance, and its authoritarian governments if we and our earth
are to live.
Getting There: International Strategy
"I used to dream of becoming a Judith and visioned myself
in the act of cutting off Holofernes' head to avenge the wrongs
of my people. But since then I had become aware that social injustice
is not confined to my own race. I had decided that there were
too many heads for one Judith to cut off. " — Emma Goldman
The ruling class is international. Major corporations have
sales in most countries and production plants (if they produce
actual physical products) in several. They order national governments
about like so many Girl Fridays. Through organizations like the
World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, and World
Trade Organization they plot their enrichment and the rest of
the world's destruction.
Anarcho-syndicalists have always had an international component,
but we've never had a genuine international strategy. Internationalism
has generally been expressed through solidarity. Workers send
money or words of encouragement to strikers or political prisoners;
at times international strikes have been coordinated. But we have
never said: what would be the best country to concentrate resources
in, or the best country to aid in setting up an anarcho-syndicalist
group.
Partly this is because we favor keeping power in the hands
of the workers, rather than concentrating it in the hands of bureaucrats.
Largely it reflects our own failure in the past to take a genuinely
internationalist outlook. Reality now demands, however, that we
find ways to create and implement an international strategy in
an anarchist fashion.
At minimum we should take three obvious steps:
1. We must help set up anarcho-syndicalist groups in everywhere
in the world.
2. We must concentrate some of our forces in one nation, state,
or region to make it the first to be liberated and set up as a
model anarcho-syndicalist society.
3. We must organize unions on an industrial and international
basis so that capitalists are not able to circumvent our offensives
simply by moving factories and offices around.
There are already two anarcho-syndicalist groups, the IWW and
IWA, that operate in more than one country. There is also a loose
alliance of anarcho-syndicalist groups that have split from the
IWA that engage in some cooperation. There has been some cooperation
between the IWW, IWA, and unaffiliated groups. Are these groups
capable of taking the three first steps outlined above? It remains
to be seen. Possibly networks of individuals and local groups
will have to take on these tasks, or supplement the efforts of
the international organizations.
Talking Points
Talking points are one tool we have for spreading anarcho-syndicalism.
They can't substitute for organizing efforts, but they can both
strengthen organizing and, if successfully put into circulation,
prepare people to organize themselves on anarcho-syndicalist principles.
Talking points have some of the characteristics of propaganda,
but our purpose here is to spread an understanding of reality.
Talking points are easy to remember and repeat. They form the
basis for a deeper insight into the natural world and human society.
If people hear the same basic idea expressed in different words
each time, they may not remember it clearly. But if they hear
the same words repeated, they can grasp it, and it they think
it is true, easily spread it themselves.
The anarcho-syndicalist talking points listed here are not
meant to be authoritative or exclusive. They are suggested. Some
are traditional, others have only come into circulation recently.
Certainly this is a short list that should be expanded by anarchists
in practice.
Anarchism is the practice of individuals living together without
the interference of human authorities.
Anarcho-syndicalism is the solution to the problems of the
21st century.
Abolish wage slavery.
Capitalists are out of touch with reality, a condition psychologists
call insanity.
The workers of the world must take possession of industry and
economic activity, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony
with the Earth.
Corporate property is not private property. Property is a human
concept; everything is part of nature, we can only act as Nature's
stewards.
Capitalism isn't trying to kill you. It's trying to kill everyone.
Everything is nature, and nature includes everything.
There's no such thing as a free market.
An injury to one is an injury to All.
Industry that destroys more than it creates is of no benefit
to humanity.
Anarcho-syndicalism extends the practice of democracy to the
workplace and economy.
Contacts
Unfortunately the anarcho-syndicalist groups tend to move around.
Here are the basic contacts as of January 1, 2001:
Industrial Workers of the World
P.O. Box 13476
Philadelphia, PA 19101 USA
telephone: 215-763-1274
web site: www.iww.org
U.S. Section of the International Workers Association
323 Fourth Street
Cloquet, MN 55720-2051 USA
email: aitminnesota@hotmail.com
Secretariat of the International Workers Association
Avda. de la Constitución 21 cp. 18014 Granada ( España
)
Tlfn. +34 958289009 +34 958289039
Fax: +34 958288992
www.iwa-ait.com
The author, William Meyers can be contacted at:
III Publishing
POB 1581
Gualala, CA 95445
email: bill@iiipublishing.com
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