Anarcho-Syndicalism 101: newswire/217

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The W.S.A.'s Origins
by Workers Solidarity Alliance	23 Sep 2005
A short history of the Workers Solidarity Alliance
The W.S.A.'s Origins Some members of the WSA can trace their roots to the 1974 effort to establish an anarcho-syndicalist "Committee of correspondence for an anarcho-syndicalist liaison group". In their June 2, 1974 circular the Committee established its basic approach to moving forward. The Committee was to be the "clear expression of syndicalist principles in the face of 'do your own thing' anarchist movement drifting away from [the] class struggle'." We, therefore, wanted to clearly establish an organization that was both structured and accountable. Another aim of the Committee was to form a US Section of the International Workers Association (IWA). Although the Committee effort did not immediately succeed, new contacts were made and a new and mainly younger generation of anarcho-syndicalists began to come together. Further contacts and networks were also established through involvement in the Anarchist Communist Federation of North America (ACF, 1978-1981), the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and various workplace campaigns. Many of the founding members of the Workers Solidarity Alliance met and worked together during this time. In 1978 the New York City based Libertarian Workers Group (now NY-NJ WSA) affiliated to the IWA. Soon to follow was the Syndicalist Alliance (SA) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. According to the former IWA Secretary General Fidel Gorron Canoyra, we became the "first [US] IWA section in the history of the IWA." While a formal "national" anarcho-syndicalist organization was not formed until 1984, a network of anarcho-syndicalists decided began to work together. By 1981 we came together to publish an explicitly anarcho-syndicalist magazine titled "ideas & action". "ideas & action" later went on to become the magazine of the WSA. Also during this period we worked with like-minded folks on the US and Canadian newspaper "Strike!" and the informal network publishing it. The informal "Strike!" network also engaged in some activities aside from publishing the paper. These mainly consisted of various solidarity campaigns in the US, Canada and abroad. Our internationalism has always been strong and we engaged in many internationalist activities. During this time period, many Latin American countries were under US supported military dictatorships. A number of these countries also had a rich tradition of anarchist or anarcho-syndicalist activity as well. Given our own proximity to Latin America, we cooperatively set up the Libertarian Aid to Latin American Workers (LALAW) committees with others in the "Strike!" network. Our various LALAW committees worked on a number of campaigns and published an impressive journal "No Middle Ground". Additionally some of our members, mainly in the New York area, were also engaged in activities in support of the underground struggles of workers to establish independent unions in the former "socialist" East Europe, as well a trying to organize the Needle Trades Workers Action Committee of rank-and-file workers. Members in West Virginia were particularly focused on the coalindustry and rising unemployment and its effects on the rural coal mining communities. Californian members were active with publishing tasks, community activities and workplace outreach and activity mainly in the emerging high tech sector. [It is also worthwhile noting that it was the WSA that first made contact with the anarcho-syndicalist Awareness League in Nigeria and recently donated it the equipment to set up its own radio station in Enugu! So the WSA's internationalism has had a strong African connection, too - note by ZACF international secretary] During this time period, the main areas of network activity consisted of distributing various informational leaflets, newsletters, newspaper and magazine ("On The Line" in NYC, "Strike!" and "ideas & action"), and solidarity activities. Network participants were also involved in their workplaces, labor unions, on picket lines and in various social issues and student movements. Particular attention and focus was also given to anti-militarist and anti-nuclear power and weapons struggles as well. These events bring us to the period preceding the formation of the W.S.A. in November 1984. A Brief History of the W.S.A. 2009 marked the 25th anniversary of the W.S.A. Never a large organization, we have always made up for it in spirit. As we enter our second quarter century, WSA has begun a period of growth. Much of this has come in the past few years. This growth among comrades in their 20s and 30s and represents a real and meaningful change in our organization. Originally a network of anarcho-syndicalists and class struggle anti-authoritarians in the early 1980s. The network included the magazine "ideas & action", began in 1981, and the Libertarian Workers Group organized in New York City in the 1970s. It was flexible in its approach to workplace organizing, which was integrated into the WSA when it was founded in New York City in November 1984. Identifying with the syndicalist tradition, the WSA affiliated with the International Workers Association in 1984 - until 1999. However, some WSA members continue to remain sympathetic to the traditions and Principles of the IWA. Today's WSA's ideological "three pillars" are anarcho-syndicalism, libertarian socialism and anarchist-communism. Although the WSA's main strategic focus is on the labor movement, the WSA also believes that a working class-based movement needs to be broadly based in working class communities, not just in the workplaces, and that the movement needs to be anti-racist, anti-sexist, and internationalist in character. These concerns are expressed in the WSA's "Where We Stand" statement developed in the 1980s. A revised edition was completed in April 2009. Surely the WSA can not claim credit for the adaptation of other workers' organizations alternative approaches to workplace and community organizing. On the other hand, we have seen others draw similar conclusions as we have in developing a variety of alternative and self-managed movements and ideas. Many very similar to the ideas we envision and have been advocating for. Examples of this can be seen in the growth of workers centers; the concept of "solidarity unionism"; "flying picket squads"; independent organizing against sweatshop conditions and other forms of workers themselves organizing on their own and in their own name. In 2008 WSA co-initiated the first "Class Struggle Anarchist Conference" (CSAC)held in New York City. Since then, WSA has worked hard at building cooperative and meaningful relation- ships with the growing North American class struggle anarchist movement. We look forward to continuing those inter-organizational efforts, as well as solidifying our own efforts at building a strong, comradely and effective organization. The Workers Solidarity Alliance believes that"[t]hrough organization activists can avoid isolation, participate in discussions with other activists who have different experiences, and get together for common political work. Through organization we can pool resources and sustain publications and other efforts to build a visible presence for our ideas. As we have written in our main document, "Where We Stand": "We advocate an approach where activists work to spread widely within the rank and file of movements and mass organizations the self-confidence, knowledge, skills and opportunities for decision-making participation needed to make self-management an effective reality. We want mass organizations to be self-managing and we work for this aim in such organizations and to counteract bureaucratic or authoritarian tendencies. "...We do not claim to have the final “correct line” or all the answers." We have a lot of ideas and a desire to agitate and work towards implementing those ideas. Forward into the next 25 years! [Edited April 2010]
See also: http://www.workersolidarity.org