All across the UK there is now a renewed sense of optimism and public alignment
with the movement for increasing workers' rights, union rights, pay increases andgeneral improvements in working conditions. As the vast majority of people aroundthe countries wages and pay remains stagnant or face a real terms pay-cut, the 1%are the only group whose economic position is increasing. But it's always thisway - that's how capitalism functions - especially the financialised, neoliberalmodel of capitalism which we live under today which restricts the bargainingrights of workers, destroys the public sector, and strives towards a dystopiansociety where all services, social relationships and ideas are marketized - or asconservative, lib dem and ‘labour' politicians call it - ‘modernisation'.Action is being taken or is being proposed by workers and their unions intransport (RMT, ASLEF), Health (BMA, Unison), Education (NEU, NASUWT), CouncilWorkers, Royal Mail, Open Reach/Broadband workers and as time goes by, asconditions worsen with no negotiations offered - even more. Some of the worstreal-terms pay-cuts show Junior Doctors being slapped with a 22% pay-cut since2008-9, as well as the even worse paid Nurses who will walk out if their demandsfor a 5% pay increase above inflation are not met "But the Government has so farrequested to cap any pay increased for 2022-2023 at 3%" (The Independent).This illustrates the essential collaboration between state and its capitalistallies, both depend upon each other for the maintenance and furtherneoliberalisation of society.This ‘cost of living crisis' isn't new - there has always been a cost-of-livingcrisis under capitalism for the vast majority. Those within the middle and upperclasses have not experienced the choice between ‘heating and eating' as aterrifyingly existential choice they face on a daily basis. However, it is truethat things are exponentially getting worse for working people - both due tounforeseen factors such as the pandemic and the disruption to supply chains foressentials which the war in Ukraine is bringing about, but also, more importantlypurposeful, concerted efforts by the ruling class and the political system whichthey prosper from and exploit, to make workers even worse off. By denying rightsto collective action against employers, de-funding social services and all theclassics from the Thatcherite rulebook.It is the fundamental understanding of any anti-capitalist or class-consciousworker that"Everywhere you will find that the wealth of the wealthy springs from the povertyof the poor" (Pyotr Kropotkin)The Russian Anarcho-Communist Kropotkin wrote down these words in 1892, andwhilst many aspects of capitalism have changed since then, the fundamentalsremain the same - that the existence of poverty and the subsidiary position ofthe working class in relation to the ruling class is maintained by theirexploitation.And so today we see that the ruling class are heating up their iron sticks topierce the working class and their movement for decent wages, conditions, andfundamental democratic rights. It's no surprise that the new unelected primeministers to be chosen by the conservative party members are both supportingbanning strike action within essential services such as transport and health,just as the biggest wave of strike action in decades is quickly fomenting amongstworkers of the country. If such legislation is successful, it means that theentirety of the movement for workers rights and the unions will be pushed intounofficial strike actions, to operating outside of the already draconian,restricted and undemocratic confines of what the British state deems acceptable.Legislation on workers rights are designed to quash worker and societalsolidarity with disputes, for example, striking in solidarity with anotherexploited workplace is illegal, the legalisation and further utilisation ofscab-labour is increasing, all to divide and rule the workers movement, todestroy disputes in their stride. Unofficial action, under an increasinglyauthoritarian and nakedly pro-bourgeoise system becomes the only effectivemeasure against the increasing control of the capitalist state.For many in the ‘mainstream' or reformist labour movement, this is unthinkable -everything to them, particularly the bureaucrats and aspiring campaigners, mustbe done within the official channels, by asking their oppressors for permissionfor a protest or being deferential to the archaic people, institutions andprocesses that this semi-feudal, class-based, elitist & white supremacist systemreproduces and protects.Working people are not getting a pay raise, whilst the ruling class are getting apay rise, so workers respond by mobilizing and uniting, the ruling class respondby moving to restrict their rights to such an extreme level that the leaders ofright-wing banana republics would blush. This is class war, pure and simple. Itsclass war now, it was class war under the post-war years, and it has been classwar since before the days of capitalism proper.As Anarcho-Syndicalists, what the Solidarity Federation will do and always hasdone, is to support the disputes the unions and their workers are taking upagainst their employers. We do not agree that the hierarchical, leadership-based,business model of many trade unions is the most effective - as any movement ororganization that replicates the unequal power-divisions of broader capitalistsociety are doomed to replicate its unequal social conditions. As a comradewithin SF puts it:"... Union leaders are powerless unless members are organising unofficial actionfrom belowThe left needs to get real about this. We didn't get the rights we have nowbecause of legal or peaceful industrial action. The laws were put in place toSTOP unofficial action, that's the only reason union leaders have power asmediators - they are expected to be a speed bump on direct actionSo long as we depend on legalised action to win, the government will take awaythose rights the second we start to use them effectivelyRestriction on ballot numbers were just the beginningAs a bare minimum, even official action needs to be coordinated from below. Sothe government requires us to ballot before we go on strike? In response, weshould have the same turn-out thresholds when it comes to going back to work!If the decision to end a strike and go back to work had to be voted on at massmeetings, that would give us the experience to be able to pull those things offwhen our unions are made illegal. The leaders aren't just going to hand thatpower over to us, but even they have to see that without that kind of measure,their days on a union salary are numberedAs a starting point, learn how to organise unofficial action. Learn about thekind of methods we used to use - the lightning strike, the go slow, marching onthe boss. The SolFed workplace organiser training is an excellent place to getall of that."Therefore, we support all workers in their struggle for better pay, conditions,and in the long haul - liberation from exploitation.We can see that a concerted effort from the workers movement to unite allsectors, especially against the business-government duopoly and thequasi-fascistic call by our next potential Prime Minister to ban strikes inessential services - is essential. When the ‘labour' party bans itsrepresentatives from supporting picket-lines or even whispering the words‘socialism' or ‘collective bargaining' we know that party-politics and the wholeideology of relying on the powerful and the officials to protect our rights andlivelihoods is a sham. We need a general strike, a general strike to paralyze thepower-dynamics of late-stage, neoliberal capitalism. We need a mass-mobilizationof workers into free, non-hierarchical movements of working people, who succeedthrough their autonomy from union bosses, party leaders and the like. We need tooffer the alternative strategy and the new society that the bureaucrats wont.The Solidarity Federation offers its full support and solidarity with workers allacross the country fighting for better rights, work and pay!http://solfed.org.uk/bristol/solidarity-with-workers-on-strike_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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