(en) Australia, Sydney, Where to next for the anarchist movement in Sydney? by Sean M.

An Irish anarchist and migrant worker in Sydney, Sean M. reflects on the recent Sydney 
anarchist bookfair, the anarchist movement more broadly and the relevance of the platform 
in terms of building a popular movement. ---- ?At a time when the intensity of the ruling 
class attack on our living standards, on our wages and conditions, on free speech and 
assembly, are increasing at a frightening pace, Australian anarchism must heed the wake-up 
call. Either it undergoes a renaissance, with the possible emergence of grass roots 
struggle and relates to that struggle, or it consigns itself to continued irrelevance.? 
---- The recent Sydney anarchist bookfair highlighted both the strengths and weaknesses of 
the ?movement.? For the curious the event offered a rare opportunity to listen to 
Anarchists political analysis of how society is and how it could be and what struggles we 
are involved in. For the committed it provided a useful space to network, share ideas and 
experiences. As someone who has lived and worked in Australia for three years what struck 
me is that apart from the talk on the revolutionary impact of global anarchism there and 
the usual anti-capitalist rhetoric there was very little debate as to where the anarchist 
?movement? is going in Sydney and across Australia.

We know that, in order to get there, it will be necessary to tear down capitalism and the 
state and all other forms of oppression. Our struggle for a self- managed free and equal 
society throws up many areas of controversy and debate. One of these has always been, and 
always will be, how do we get build a mass movement that moves from the margins to a 
threat to the status quo and is not just about personal liberation but liberation in all 
it forms? How do we organise for change? What is our composition and support base? I 
believe the anarchist platform may open up some of these contradictions if we are ever to 
build a collective movement that provides a voice for the voiceless in our society.

Over Eighty years have passed since the publication in the pages of the Russian anarchist 
monthly Delo Truda of the Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists 
(Draft), but the question of anarchist organisation remains an open one even today, a 
question which sparks off ferocious debates with frightening ease.

Yet in reality it is a question which has long been solved: either we accept the need for 
anarchists to come together in their own specific organisations so as to allow greater 
unity and strength with which to face the struggles; or we don?t accept it, and are happy 
to remain part of the world of ?chaotic? anarchism which rejects such a need for one 
reason or another, considering it pointless or dangerous, or which accepts it, but choose 
anarchist unity in name, where the various hues of anarchism come together under an 
umbrella organisation without any serious political unity or strategies. Although in the 
city there are many anarchists involved in a range of struggles from the workplace to 
tacking gender inequality to environmental campaigns to supporting refugees, I am struck 
as to how we seem to run from one action to the next without any serious consideration 
given to as to how we join the existing diverse jots together in terms building a serious 
political praxis and movement that can link all these struggles with a long term vision.


The Organisational Platform (often known in English-speaking circles as the 
?Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists?) was the first attempt since the 
days of Bakunin to formulate a theoretical and practical platform of the positions and 
tasks of anarchists, which could provide anarchism with the necessary political and 
organisational unity to increase the influence of anarchist ideas within society in 
general and the workers? movements in particular, after the defeat of anarchism in the 
Russian Revolution made the grave faults of (what had by then become) ?traditional? 
anarchism all too evident. The Platform not only deals with organisational questions. It 
tackles a whole range of problems: it clearly sets out the class nature of anarchism; it 
defines the role of anarchists in the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary periods; it 
establishes the role of syndicalism as an instrument of struggle; it sets out the basic 
tenets of anarchist theory such as anti-capitalism, the rejection of bourgeois democracy, 
the State and authority, and more. Today there are anarchist organisations from Ireland, 
to South Africa. The Especifismo conception of anarchist organisation, coined by the 
Uruguayan Anarchist Federation or FAU, has many similarities with Platformism.

Like Bakunin, and the Platform itself, it advocates theoretical and tactical unity, 
collective responsibility, and federalism. In its opening paragraph it begins by pointing 
out that,

?It is very significant that, in spite of the strength and incontestably positive 
character of libertarian ideas, and in spite of the facing up to the social revolution, 
and finally the heroism and innumerable sacrifices borne by the anarchists in the struggle 
for anarchist communism, the anarchist movement remains weak despite everything, and has 
appeared, very often, in the history of working class struggles as a small event, an 
episode, and not an important factor.?

This contrast between the positive substance and incontestable validity of anarchist ideas 
and the miserable state of the anarchist movement can be explained by a number of factors, 
the chief one being the absence in the anarchist world of organisational principles and 
organisational relations. This is referred to in the platform as:

?In every country the anarchist movement is represented by local organisations with 
contradictory theory and tactics with no forward planning or continuity in their work. 
They usually fold after a time, leaving little or no trace. Such a condition in 
revolutionary anarchism, if we take it as a whole, can only be described as chronic 
general disorganisation. This disease of disorganisation has invaded the organism of the 
anarchist movement like yellow fever and has plagued it for decades.?

So this is strong stuff for some, a wake up call for the anarchist movement. It is a call 
that we still seriously analyse in Australia. Despite the virtual collapse of almost all 
other left wing tendencies, anarchism is still not in a position of strength. In Sydney 
although there are many individuals involved in important struggles from Sydney uni strike 
to unions and environmental campaigns not to mention two important spaces we have here at 
Black Rose and Jura Books which provide some form of foundation we remain too much 
marginalised and isolated from one another and this is where is my opinion a class 
struggle anarchist group can fill the gap. Even though the Trotskyist organisations have 
shrunk drastically in size or moved to social democracy, it is a sad fact, that if there 
was a radical social upheavel tomorrow, they still would be in a better position to have 
their arguments heard and listened to than we would. As a migrant worker in the country 
who has been active in the anarchist movement from his teens, I am struck as how little we 
organise collectively for mass demonstrations in terms of a visible presence with leaflets 
etc. Instead we are individualised and isolated on the margins. This does mean we need to 
show up at every demo to swamp it as others on the left do but we need do to identify 
based on our resources what struggles we can have an impact on because people will not 
come to us like a drop of the hat. This fact alone should give us pause for thought.

We cannot be complacent, and rely on the hope that the obvious strength and rightness of 
our ideas will shine through and win the day. The world we live in is the product of 
struggles between competing classes and ideas of how society should be organized. If the 
anarchist voice is weak and quiet, it won?t be heard, and other arguments, other 
perspectives will win the day. Organisation is essential in explaining and building 
support for anarchism. We must recognise that the society we want can only be built by a 
politically conscious movement of the working class of all stripes and colours, unwaged 
and waged, using its power. This basically means getting active in day to day struggles in 
your workplace and communities. It means asking ourselves questions like what struggles 
are we involved in? What do we want to achieve? What is our objective beyond some vague 
public talk? There is no other way round it or else we might as well be banging our heads 
up against a brick wall.

It is not my intention to go through The Platform with a fine-tooth comb nor is it a bible 
without criticisms. It is merely intended to be an organisational tool than we need to 
apply to our own political context. It was never intended to provide all the answers, in 
the introduction they make this clear.

I have no doubts that there are gaps in the present platform. It has gaps, as do all new, 
practical steps of any importance. It is possible that certain important positions have 
been missed, or that others are inadequately treated, or that still others are too 
detailed or repetitive.

It was hoped, however, that it might form the beginning of a debate about how anarchists 
could escape from the doldrums they were in in countries such as Australia. Instead I will 
look at some of the document?s underlying principles, in particular the problems which 
they identify in anarchist organisations, which they describe as follows.

In all countries, the anarchist movement is advocated by several local organisations 
advocating contradictory theories and practices, leaving no perspectives for the future, 
nor of continuity in militant work, and habitually disappearing hardly leaving the 
slightest trace behind them. (my emphasis). This is as relevant in Australia and in Sydney 
as anywhere else.

Their solution of the platform is to create a certain type of anarchist organisation. 
Firstly the members of these organisations are in theoretical agreement with each other. 
Secondly they agree that if a certain type of work is prioritised, all should take part. 
Even today within the anarchist movement these are contentious ideas so it is worth 
exploring them in a little more detail.

The Platform?s basic assumption is that there is a link between coherency and efficiency. 
Those who oppose the Platform argue that this link does not exist. To them efficiency has 
nothing to do with how coherent an organisation is, rather it is a function of size. This 
position argues that the Platform, in its search for theoretical agreement, excludes those 
not in absolute agreement, and thus will always be smaller than a looser organisation. As 
size is of more importance than theory, practically these organisations will not be as 
effective. In terms of my own personal experience of the anarchist movement from Ireland 
to Australia I would rather be in a room with 10 people with a common direction and 
purpose than 40 all over the place because it is a waste of everyone?s time and effort.

This debate takes us to the centre of one of the most important debates within anarchism. 
How does a revolutionary change of society occur? What can anarchists do to assist in the 
process of bringing such change about? We have two anarchist social centres in the city. 
Are they merely a comfortable space for the converted? What role can they play in actually 
building a wider movement and not just a scene? Again these are the type of questions we 
need to debating and critically analysing.

Capitalism is an organized economic system based on violence and exploitation. Its 
authority is promoted by many voices, including the parliamentary political parties, the 
media and education system (to name but a few). A successful revolution depends on the 
rejection of those voices by the majority of people in society. Not only do we have to 
reject capitalism, but we also need to have a vision of an alternative society. What is 
needed is an understanding both that capitalism should be defeated and that it can be 
replaced. For an anarchist revolution there has to be the recognition that we alone have 
the power and the ability to create that new world.

The role of an anarchist organisation is to spread these ideas and actively get involved 
in struggles around us. Not only do we need to highlight the negative and injurious 
aspects of capitalism (which is obvious to many anyway), we also need to develop 
explanations of how the system operates. This is what is meant by theory, simply it is the 
answer to the question ?why are things as they are?? We need to be able to put our theory 
into practice, our understanding of how things work will inform how we struggle.

Returning to the Platform, the key problem with anarchist organisations as they existed is 
that they were not only incapable of developing such an approach, but didn?t even see it 
as necessary. Because there was no agreement on theoretical issues, they could not provide 
answers to the rest of the class. For example, They could agree that women?s oppression 
was wrong, but not explain why women were oppressed. They could agree we need to smash the 
state and destruction, but how do we get from A-B. Such agreement is important because 
without it cooperation on activity, agreement on what to do, is unlikely. This is how the 
Platform?s authors described such an organisation;

?Such an organisation having incorporated heterogeneous theoretical and practical 
elements, would only be a mechanical assembly of individuals each having a different 
conception of all the questions of the anarchist movement, an assembly which would 
inevitably disintegrate on encountering reality?

By a ?mechanical assembly of individuals? they mean a group of individuals meeting 
together, yet not united in mind or in action. This undermines the entire meaning of 
organisation, which is to maximise the strength of the individuals through co-operation 
with others. Where there is no agreement, there can be little co-operation. This absence 
of co-operation only becomes obvious when the group is forced to take a position on a 
particular issue, a particular event in the wider world.

At this point, two things happen. Either, the individuals within the group act on their 
own particular interpretation of events in isolation, which raises the question, what is 
the point of being in such an organisation? Alternatively the group can decide to ignore 
the event, thus preventing disagreement.

This has a number of unfortunate side effects for anarchist politics. Most seriously, it 
means that the anarchist interpretation of events still will not be heard. For no matter 
how large the organisation, if all within it are speaking with different voices, the 
resulting confusion will result an unclear and weak anarchist message. Such an 
organisation can produce a weekly paper or bulletin, but each issue will argue a different 
point of view, as the authors producing it change. Our ideas will not be convincing, 
because we ourselves are not convinced by them. The second side effect is that our ideas 
will not develop and grow in depth and complexity because they will never be challenged by 
those within our own organisation. It is only by attempting to reach agreement, by 
exchanging competing conceptions of society, that we will be forced to consider all 
alternatives. Unchallenged our ideas will stagnate.

Without agreement on what should be done, the anarchist organisation remains no more than 
a collection of individuals. The members of that organisation don?t see themselves as 
having any collective identity. Too often the lifetimes of such groups are the lifetimes 
of those most active individuals. There is no sense of building a body of work that will 
stretch into the future. Considering that in these times the revolution is a long term 
prospect, such short term planning is a tragic waste of energy and effort.

Often the experience of anarchists is that they are energetic and committed activists, but 
fail to publicize the link between the work they do and the ideas they believe in. One 
example of this is the successful anti-Poll Tax Campaign in England, Scotland and Wales in 
the early 1990s. Although many anarchists were extremely involved in the struggle against 
this unjust tax, when victory finally came, anarchists didn?t come out of it, as might be 
expected, in a strengthened position. Im sure you know relevant struggles you been 
involved in Sydney where you can relate to this. Again we need to ask ourselves why this 
is so.

Firstly we need to develop and prioritise and strategic direction, moving away from one 
action to the next towards long term work. Building counter-power will require militants 
to choose sectors and struggles of importance and to stay involved in them in ways which 
build capacity and confidence without reliance on ?activists? and politicians. What our 
are current realities both in terms of where our strengths are and that of the rest of the 
left and working class, as well as our opponents?

Returning to the question of efficiency and size, organisations in the ?Platform? 
tradition agree that size is important and they all seek to grow so that they are in a 
position of importance in society. However, they emphasise that all the positive 
attributes of belonging to a larger organisation, the increased work that can be 
undertaken, the increased human potential that can be drawn on, are undermined if such an 
organisation is directionless. The key point is that it is not a case of choosing between 
size or coherency, rather we should aim for both.

The importance of the Platform is that it clearly highlights the serious problems caused 
by the disorganised nature of loosely based anarchist organisations. It exposes a problem, 
it highlights how fatal this flaw in anarchism can be, it emphasises the urgency with 
which we must deal with it and compels us to come up with some answers.

What then can we do? If we are serious anarchists we must look at how we can grow our 
influence and numbers. As already cited there has been some useful local work in 
neighbourhoods and several interesting attempts to set up Solidarity Networks. There has 
been some work around workplace issues and strikes, and some valuable work around asylum 
seekers and environmental campaigns. This work is not enough, it needs to be multiplied. 
We need to develop a serious class struggle anarchist practice and theory. We need to move 
away from amateurism and lack of seriousness and locate antagonisms in our daily lives. 
Instead of going ?out there? to ?do actions? with fellow ?activists?, we need to intervene 
in our schools, our workplaces, our neighbourhoods?places where we actually spend most of 
our daily lives. We have to develop a willingness and practice of coordinated activity 
wherever we can, and that includes coordinated blocs on demonstrations. We must turn away 
from the outlook of organisational patriotism and look for practical unity wherever 
possible. We have to reject populism, electoralism and anti-organisationalism.

At a time when the intensity of the ruling class attack on our living standards, on our 
wages and conditions, on free speech and assembly, are increasing at a frightening pace, 
Australian anarchism must heed the wake-up call. Either it undergoes a renaissance, with 
the possible emergence of grass roots struggle and relates to that struggle, or it 
consigns itself to continued irrelevance.

Above is edited version of a recent talk given at Black Rose on building an anarchist 
organisation by Sean in a personal capacity, who was one of the organisers of the Sydney 
anarchist bookfair and involved in Sydney solidarity network.

From www.anarchistaffinity.org/2014/06/where-next-anarchist-movement-sydney/

Boycott of major arts festival and migrant detention infrastructure‏

Dear friends,

You might be interested in these links.

Beyond Borders, Boycott the Biennale video callout
http://vimeo.com/86482655

Collated links on the Boycott of the 19th Biennale of Sydney
http://xborderoperationalmatters.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/biennale-boycott-links/

Crossborder Operational Matters
http://xborderoperationalmatters.wordpress.com/

(en) Australia?, Sydney, Book Reviews From Rebel Worker, Vol.32 No.3 (218) Nov.-Dec. 2013 http://www.rebelworker.org/ - Paper of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Network

Sewing Freedom: Phillip Josephs, Trans-nationalism & Early New Zealand Anarchism ---- By 
Jared Davidson AK Press 2013 ---- A Review Brief by Graham Purchase ---- I knew nothing 
about the development of Anarchism in N.Z. before reading this well-researched and ably 
produced study. ---- This book is a brief, readable and informative piece of Anarchist 
historical scholarship examining movements, organizations and personalities active at the 
cusp of the 20th Century. ---- The book is nominally an account of the life of Josephs 
whom from his little tailor shop organized the distribution of anarchist literature that 
he imported wholesale from London and America. Josephs was an anarchist disciple of the 
category perhaps best described as the Kropotkinite-Freedom Group (London) tradition.
Josephs migrated to Glasgow from Latvia in 1897.

Here he married a cigarette-factory worker, fathered 4 children and toiled as a sweatshop 
machinist before moving to Wellington in 1904. Here he set-up as a self-employed tailor 
cum anarchist bookshop, becoming involved in local revolutionary and anti-capitalist 
groupings, particularly the N.Z. Socialist Party, then a broad based organization 
attracting many Syndicalists. Activities focused around Socialist Hall wherein lectures on 
such topics as Socialist Economics were delivered. Josephs contributed articles to the 
Commonweal and the Maoriland Worker, newspapers published by the NZSP and the Federation 
of Labour.

Strikes were illegal under an obsolete and bankrupt Arbitration system whose courts 
invariably favoured employers despite low wages and increasing living costs. The first 
challenge to the Arbitration system was an ?illegal? strike by Tram-workers in 1906, 
followed by Slaughtermen, Miners (Blackbull strike) and culminating in the General Strike 
of 1913. The ?Red-Fed? (Federation of Labour) was an I.W.W. affiliate and the most 
revolutionary. The Federation split with the N.Z. Socialist Party because its members 
rejected parliamentary politics and Trades Unionism in favour of direct workers? action. 
The Syndicalist surge within the class struggles of 1908-13 was bolstered by a stream of 
noted revolutionaries and labour leaders who stepped of the ship and onto the soap box. 
Transnational radical tourism created a melting pot of ideas which spurned a minority 
movement of anarcho-syndicalists within a radicalized and militant labour movement.
Jacobs founded the Freedom Club which organized well-attended weekly discussion meetings 
on a wide variety of subjects. The group collapsed or was suppressed following the failure 
of the Great Strike of 1913. Jacobs was elected secretary of the Anti-Militarist League (a 
broad based non-revolutionary grouping including Christian pacifists etc.) that opposed 
compulsory military training and conscription.

War Legislation was used extensively to stymie revolutionary syndicalism and a 
state-sponsored campaign against Wobbly-Anarchist-Socialism continued after the conclusion 
of the Great War. Fascination with Bolshevism after the Russian Revolution (1917) and the 
founding of the N.Z. Labour Party in 1916 corresponded with a decline in Revolutionary 
Syndicalism.

Jacobs migrated to Australia in 1921 and little is known about his life thereafter. In 
truth not much is known about his life in N.Z. But, Jacobs? life usefully serves as an 
anchor upon which to elaborate a modest but extremely competent and cogent account of 
early anarchism and syndicalism and its relationship with the wider Labour movement in 
N.Z. between 1900-21. The author acknowledges his great debt to previous scholarship 
undertaken by Bert Roth and Frank Prebble. The book ends with an appendix containing two 
newspaper articles on the failure of trades unionism, conscription and the General Strike.

Democracy, Trade Unions and Political Violence in Spain: The Valencian Anarchist Movement 
1918-1936 by Richard Purkiss, Published by Sussex Academic Press.

In countries such as Australia in the Anglo world, the so called anarchist milieu, in 
recent decades has been characterised by congeries of sects, in some cases cults and tiny 
subcultures based around the left sub cultural hot houses of book shops.
As a result of the predominance of mass Stalinism to the left of social democratic labour 
parties from the 1930's to the 1960's in the labour movement, those drawn into this milieu 
are often consciously and unconsciously drawn into authoritarian ways and all manner of 
shady behaviour e.g. stacking meetings, psychological manipulation of particularly 
inexperienced young people by swell headed "gurus", general duplicity, underhandedness, 
and hypocritical navel gazing of "safe spaces policies", introversion associated with the 
unwholesome focusing on such sectlets "precious" internal life - structures/processes, etc.

Often, such groupings with their associated micro bureaucracies are engrossed in creating 
some macro bureaucracy of a "federation". In which they can delight in the formalism of 
the "clockwork" operation of its structures and associated rituals which can provide 
excuses for social occasions and a salve to the oppression mongering, of its middle class, 
student and workers with high levels of autonomy in their jobs, which provide its 
membership and social base.

Certain of these sectlets are drawn into the ad antics of creating "papier-mache unions" 
favouring red & black colour schemes, to impress the credulous members of similar overseas 
and interstate sects, with fake syndicalist organising and even "international solidarity 
campaigns" on bogus grounds via the medium of the internet and web sites, etc. Whilst 
others are drawn into tail ending of workers struggles and picket support, little 
different from the various Trotskyist sects. Leading nowhere, in regard to achieving major 
defeats of the employer offensive and helping turn the tide in the class struggle. These 
groupings lack any concept of a long term serious program of industrial work and 
associated strategy.

Most of those drawn into this milieu feature a lack of any conception of how to reach the 
average worker with anarchist ideas and practices, and realise the transitional steps to 
achieve mass syndicalist unionism. This work place strategy has proven to be only way to 
create mass working class interest in anarchism and the workers movement which could 
achieve an anarchist society. Through encouraging and practicing direct action on the job 
in its various forms, the direct democracy of mass meetings and the strict mandating of 
delegates with limited tenure of office procedures for officials.

In sharp contrast to the often laughable, bizarre antics and absurd pretensions of 
existing syndicalist and anarchist sectlets in the Anglo World, the book under review, 
focuses on a genuine mass anarcho-syndicalist workers movement in Valencia, Spain. It 
played a central role in innumerable strikes and general strikes from its emergence until 
the outbreak of the Spanish Revolution and Civil War of 1936-39, when it was the key force 
behind widespread collectivisations of industry in rural and urban areas.
This book throws important light on key factors contributing to the emergence of mass 
anarcho-syndicalist unionism in Valencia and its dynamics. Most significant is the 
important contribution of the Republican movement, in particular the "Blasco" current in 
nurturing the early anarchist influenced unions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 
These unions went on to affiliate to the anarcho-syndicalist CNT (National Confederation 
of Labour) in 1910. This support stemmed from competition between Republicans and the 
Socialist party for votes in elections at various levels.

Republican control of local government, led to the provision of offices for the anarchist 
unions, lawyers who were republicans provided legal help to these fledgling unions. 
Whilst, the Republican controlled media, provided a mouth piece to these unions and its 
publishing houses published anarchist texts. In contrast to the Anglo world and in the 
case of Australia, such a phenomena as Republicanism and the associated electoral 
rivalries were missing. Colonial Labour Parties, since the 1890's and then subsequently 
the ALP founded in 1901, having overwhelming working class electoral support and control 
of the bureaucratic unions, up to today. The author sees the CNT's surge to predominance 
in Valencia, as explained by a range of factors: the Spanish industrial boom during WWI 
and rising employment levels, spiraling inflation, the revolutionary enthusiasm following 
the Russian Revolution of 1917, a national propaganda and organising campaign launched by 
the Catalan CNT and most significantly the transfer of the publishing of the CNT's daily 
newspaper Solidaridad Obrera from Barcelona to Valencia in 1919. (In say the Australian 
context, the development of such mass circulation workers media must also be connected 
with the emergence of a mass syndicalist union movement in terms of providing a mass 
readership, raised workers morale, a network of worker correspondents, full time editorial 
staff, subsidies, printing facilities, etc. Such a mass circulation paper is not going to 
eventuate from a tiny paper appealing to the student/middle class leftist subculture with 
all manner of oppression mongering and "political correctness" displays, gradually getting 
bigger and bigger circulations.) This explosive expansion was also associated with the 
winning of a series of strikes by CNT affiliates at this time. Resulting in the CNT 
securing a majority position in most Valencian urban industries.

The author emphasises the importance to the winning of strikes by workers in less 
industrially strategic sectors who could be easily replaced with scabs by employers was 
the industrial solidarity of CNT workers in the most strategic sectors such as the 
transport union via boycotts.

The book focuses on the rivalry of major tendencies i.e. those who identified with the FAI 
(Iberian Anarchist Federation) and the Trientistas in the Valencian CNT following the end 
of the Primo Rivera Dictatorship in the early 1930's. These tendencies, the author shows 
were interconnected to CNT unions of differing strategic importance. The radical FAI 
pushing for "revolution around the corner" and constant calls for general strikes and 
insurrections had a base in unions within industries with a high level of unskilled and 
the unemployed. Whilst the Trientistas considered to be moderates, but representing a 
range of different positions with a long term union building perspective, were based among 
the most strategic sectors such as transport, metal, public utilities and wood 
manufacturing unions. They particularly opposed the idea that the CNT and FAI being 
complementary organisations, working together in different spheres.

The author shows how ineffectual were FAI attempts to impose general strikes in industries 
in which they had influence, due to often unskilled labour in such sectors as catering and 
construction, which could be easily replaced by employers. Whilst, the Trientista or 
moderate unions such as the Transport union in the port area of Valencia were able to 
rapidly and effectively close down all work during a general strike call. The author shows 
that an important ramification of the failure of strikes by FAI influenced CNT unions in 
Valencia was a move by militants toward individualist "direct action" in the shape of bank 
robberies, sabotage, bombings, etc. Associated with the both the FAI influenced CNT unions 
and Trientista unions were cultural/educational centres supported by the unions. The 
author examines the different emphasis of these centres. The Trientista centres being much 
more open to speakers from other left groups. In the Australian/Anglo context, lacking any 
mass syndicalist movement to interact and support, such centres easily become transformed 
into left subculture "hot houses", where the poisonous weeds of the middle class/student 
leftist subculture flourish.

The author looks at how the rivalry between these different CNT factions led to a major 
split in the CNT in the early 1930's which continued until 1936. With the Trientista 
unions breaking away to form their own confederation, the ?Opposition Unions?. The 
?official CNT unions? became swept up into support of a series of insurrections/general 
strikes encouraged by the Barcelona based FAI in the early 30's which led to massive waves 
of state repression, enormous membership losses and a rightward shift in the Spanish 
ruling class. Culminating in the military coup of July 1936.This rightward shift and the 
rise of Fascism in Europe the book shows encouraged the re-unification of the CNT in 1936, 
just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.

In conclusion, the book under review throws important light on the various factors 
contributing to the emergence of mass anarcho-syndicalist unionism in Valencia in the 
early 20th Century. A movement which failed to develop on this scale in the Anglo world 
and continues to be the case. Most significantly the book provides an excellent 
examination of the factional struggle in the Valencian CNT in the early 30's which led to 
a major split at this time and the layers of workers which supported the different sides. 
The book does a very good job in discussing the outcome of the "official" CNT being 
dominated by the FAI faction, with the organisation being transformed into an "anarchist 
workers association" and embarking on a disastrous course of "revolutionary gymnastics".
Mark McGuire

Pistoleros: The Chronicles of Farquhar McHarg Volume 1: 1918 By FarquharMcHarg
Introduced by Stuart Christie. PM Press, Calif., 2011.

Review Brief by Graham Purchase.

In 1918 an 18 year old Glaswegian boy named Farquhar McHarg arrived in Barcelona by boat 
in which he worked as an apprentice engineer. Already an anarchist convert a chance 
meeting with young anarcho-syndicalist (CNT) activists led him to jump ship and throw in 
his lot with the Spanish revolutionaries.

Whilst there are numerous studies in English on anarcho-syndicalists during the Spanish 
Civil War (1936-9), their historical role in the First World War era is much less widely 
known. To most people the tragic events of a century ago are now distant and poorly 
understood. McHarg?s mastery of autobiographical narrative allows readers with little 
historical knowledge to effortlessly transcend the haze of history, entering and relating 
to the social and political concerns of the last year of the Great War. This crisply 
written story contains all of the most common or quintessential ingredients of a romance 
or spy novella or movie, but without the saucy bits: Love, comradeship, intrigue, 
adventure, exotic locations, seedy cafes, baddies, secret agents, sabotage, war and 
revolution.

Pistoleros exploration of revolutionary Barcelona in 1918 is comparable to George Orwell?s 
Civil War autobiography Homage to Catalonia. But McHarg?s simple storytelling is a 
considerably more readable, lucid, heartwarming, complete and elegant yarn than Orwell?s 
confused and scrappy notebook.

McHarg?s engaging, authentic, personal work of creative non-fiction is followed in the 
second half of Pistoleros by a more objective or conventional approach and analysis of 
(revolutionary) politics in 1918 from an anarchist standpoint. The politics of Western 
Europe and North Africa are examined as well as the aftermath of the Russian Revolution 
(1917) which altered the trajectory of the War and led to the Anarchist (Makhnovist) 
resistance to the tyranny of Bolshevism/State-Communism.

European politics is always complex and McHarg does an excellent job of succinctly 
covering the key personalities and concerns of 1918. The particular emphasis and reference 
to neutral Spain, examines areas of WW1 that are not often visited by historians and, 
almost never by documentary makers or school text book writers.
This book is obligatory reading for all anarcho-syndicalists.
(To be continued.)

(en) Australia, Sydney, The relevance of anarcha- feminism today

On Sunday around 30 people attended a talk by Wendy Bacon organised by Jura Books im 
Sydney on the topic of anarcha-feminism and women's liberation. What did anarcho-feminism 
mean to 1970s feminists? Does it still have relevance for today's feminists? ---- Wendy is 
the only person in Australia (to Jura's knowledge) to have turned up to court to facing 
charges of obscenity whilst dressed in a nun's habit. As well as beating those charges, 
Wendy helped distribute the infamous 'Little Red Schoolbook', was involved in The Push, 
and won a Walkley Award for her work as a journalist exposing corruption in NSW. ---- She 
taught journalism at UTS for many years from 1991 onwards, and is now the Professor of 
Journalism at the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.

On top of her journalistic achievements she's also taken part in many social movements, 
and nowadays is most interested in climate change, censorship issues, miscarriages of 
justice and the Northern Territory Intervention into Aboriginal affairs.

The key themes covered in the talk included:

Wendy's own political development and influences including references to Emma Goldman.

The development of the anarchist movement and wider left in the late 1960s/ early 70s in 
Sydney.

The contribution of feminism and women's liberation to anarchism both past and present.

The relevance of anarcha-feminism today particularly around struggles against censorship 
and abortion rights.

There was an intensive subsequent discussion concerning the common fight by the Builders 
Labourers front (BLF)and squatters in preserving much of Sydney's heritage by imposing a 
green ban, and the role of feminists in broader workplace struggles. Other areas debated 
included fighting patriarchy and and sexism within the left and anarchist movement and the 
importance of class and gender. There was also a heated intervention from an Iranian 
leftish dissident whose family suffered immensely under the Islamic Republic on the need 
to both oppose imperialism and supporting the women's and any workers movement.

"Being an anarchist feminist means becoming conscious of all struggles for liberation, not 
letting the struggle for women?s liberation become the struggle for white, middle-class, 
able-bodied, straight heterosexual women?s equality under capitalism.

The relevance of anarcha- feminism today - Wendy Bacon at Jura Books by Workers Solidarity 
on Mixcloud 
http://www.mixcloud.com/workerssolidarity/the-relevance-of-anarcha-feminism-today-wendy-bacon-at-jura-books/

While as feminists we are aware of male privilege, we need to be aware of our own. The 
eternal difficulty with feminism, and all politics/activism, is that it tends to be 
exclusive. It is more likely to be the educated, the white, the middle-class, the 
able-bodied, the non-marginalized, the young, the straight, the child-free, the 
cis-gendered, the settled, that get to participate in these groups."
? from What the fuck is Anarcha-feminism anyway?

International Day of Solidarity with the Drivers of Dominos Pizza

September 15 was an international day of solidarity with the drivers of Dominos Pizza in
Brisbane, called by the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation of Australia. These workers, who
deliver pizza, are in a struggle against the arbitrary abuse of the firm, which cut their
salaries by 19%. The campaign was supported by the International Workers Association and
actions were carried out in many countries around the world. - History of the Conflict --
The drivers from Dominos Pizza in Brisbane, Australia, including members of the
Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (ASF), have been confronting the company which cut their
salaries by 19% since April 9. >From that time they have been struggling to regain their
former pay. This struggle has been not only with Dominos, but also with the right wing
hierarchy of the SDA union, which also includes some Dominos employees.

In response to the inaction of the SDA, the drivers formed the General Trasport Workers
Association (GTWA, connected to the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation) and actively
coordinates the struggle to reinstate the salaries on the national level. Other employees
of the firm joined the ASF's branch union seeing that the other union functioning in
Dominos is concilliatory and does nothing to improve the situation of the drivers.

The union SDA, is one of the main ones in Australia, with approx. 230,000 members. SDA is
run by a right-wing Catholic hierarchy (bureaucracy) headed by Joe de Bruyn, who is not
against using the union to propagate clerical ideology.

ASF Brisbane organized a meeting with Tim Van Schyndel, director of labour relations for
Dominos in its Australia headquarters, demanding to regulate the question of the drivers
salaries. But the meeting did not bring results. Then the ASF-B organized a picket at the
headquarters, which was warmly received by local residents. They appealed to the ASF
Melbourne for support and they unanimously decided to support their comrades and picket
every weekend in front of Dominos, supporting the pickets in Brisbane.


The drivers had the following demands:

1) The basic wage should not be lower than the official minimum wage set by Fair Work
Australia and casual and part-time employees should also be guaranteed this minimum

2) This norm should be observed irrespective of the collective agreement

3) Workers should be paid for training and meetings they have to attend (in the restaurant
or on the Internet)

4) All tips from clients should go to the employees in their entirety and under no
circumstances should Dominos take any part of them

5) All casual and part-time workers should be paid public holiday rates in ratio to those
entitlements currently received by full-time, and part-time employees to the extent that
by 2014, all casual workers including drivers be paid at the rate of double-time for all
hours of work performed on public holidays.

Solidarity Action on September 15

Australia. Pickets and solidarity meetings with the drivers are organized in Brisbane,
Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.

?rgentina. The Society of Resistance of FORA in Rosario translated and distributed the
appeal of the Australian comrades.

Great Britain. The Solidarity Federation called for people to send solidarity protests
through the firms page on Australian Facebook and on September 17 to flood the Australian
office with protest faxes and letters of protest, so as to paralyze the company's
communications for a while. SF organized protests in front of restaurants in London,
Manchester, Leeds, Brighton, Bitterne Southhampton and other places.
http://wessexsolidarity.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/solent-solfed-picket-do...

In Manchester, activists from SF from the city and West Yorkshire, together with members
of the Anarchist Federation and other libertarian comrades picketed Dominos near the
university. The manager called the police but they did not intervene. The action was
successful: during the picket only one group of customers went in.
(http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=manchester/dominos-solidarity-in-manchester)

In Bristol, an Australian woman approached the picketers and thanked them for solidarity
with Australian workers. She promised to inform about the action on local radio in
Melbourne when she returned home. In New Cross members of South London SolFed delivered a
protest letter to Dominos Pizza and spoke with the drivers there; the area was posted with
leaflets and stickers supported the Brisbane drivers.
http://solfed.org.uk/?q=south-london/solidarity-with-australian-dominos-... A picket in
Sheffield in front of Dominos was organized by the Industrial Workers of the World. And in
Leeds, members of the IWW and the AFed also picketed.

Brazil. The Brazilian Workers Confederation (COB) organized solidarity actions in Sao
Paolo and Porto Alegre.

Germany. Members of the Free Workers' Union (FAU) picketed Dominos restaurants in Bonn,
Cologne and Langenfeld. They gave leaflets to the workers, passersby and residents which
explained the basics of the labour conflict in the firm. On a placard in Cologne was
written "19% wage cut in Dominos! Today Brisbane, tomorrow Cologne?
(http://allgemeinessyndikatkoeln.blogsport.de/2012/09/15/protest-bei-domi...)

Spain. There were different solidarity actions with the drivers of Dominos organized by
members of the CNT-AIT in different cities. In Mataro, activists from Premia and Mataro
held a picket at a restaurant on St. Antoni St.
(http://www.cntpremia.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/concentracio-dominos-pizza-...)

In Gijon, a banner was hung on one restaurant and different graffiti against the company
was made.

In Cornelia de Llobregat there was a picket in front of Dominos when they have the most
customers there. They read a communique a few times and gave out about 300 flyers to
passersby, customers and workers.

In Salamanca, members of the CNT (from the CNT union in Telepizza) informed workers about
the campaign and called on workers in the branch to follow the example of the Australian
colleagues, chosing the path of self-organization
(http://quienparteyreparte.blogspot.com/2012/09/dominos-pizza-explotacion...). In Elche
there was a picket in front of Dominos Pizza which lasted about one hour. The participants
gave out leaflets and brochures to passersby, customers and workers and they put up some
posters. (http://cntelx.blogspot.com/2012/09/jornada-mundial-de-lucha-contra-domin...)

Canada. ? protest against Dominos was held in Vancouver.

Netherlands. The Amsterdam group of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Union made a picket in front
of Dominos. The participants explained the situation to pizza delivers and they expressed
sympathy with their Australian colleagues. One of them openly expressed solidarity with
them. (http://anarcho-syndicalisme.nl/wp/?p=1779)
New Zealand. ? protest against Dominos took place in Auckland. It was organized by
activists from ?Action against Poverty? and Auckland anarchists and supporters. Another
action took place in the capital in Wellington.

Norway. ?ctivists from the Norwegian Syndicalist Federation distributed leaflets at a
Dominos in Oslo.

Poland. Members of the Union of Syndicalists, Poland visited the office of the company in
Warsaw on September 14 and delivered a protest. On September 15, then hung banners on the
restaurant on al. Jerozolimskie, which drew the attention of many passersby. They gave out
leaflets explaining the struggle of the drivers from Dominos Pizza in Australia and about
the situation of workers in the food service industry in Poland. The police and manager of
the restaurant showed up. He made photographs of the picket to send in to the head office
and tried to make an impression by offering the protesters
pizza.(http://cia.media.pl/miedzynarodowy_dzien_solidarnosci_z_kierowcami_domin...)

Russia. For the international solidarity day, stickers were put up at the entrance of a
Dominos restaurant reading ?September 15, international day of solidarity with drivers
from Dominos Pizza in Brisbane. Shame on the company that lowered wages by 19%! No to
exploitation! International Workers Association". Leaflets with a similar text were left
on cars, including the ones for delivering pizza.

Slovakia. Since it that country there are no Dominos, Priama akcia sent letters of protest
to the company.

USA. Solidarity actions took place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Long Beacg,
Cleveland, Providence, Tampa, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Minniapolis/ St. Paul and other cities.
Most of them were attended by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Workers'
Solidarity Alliance and other local activists. Members of the Workers' Solidarity Alliance
took active part in the campaign in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Long Beach and
Providence (together with the group ?Common Struggle?. In Missoula (Montana) there was a
picket in front of Dominos organized by the Workers Solidarity Alliance and the Zootown
Solidarity Network. In Ann Arbor the action was organized by Lansing Workers' Center.

France. French anarcho-syndicalists held pickets in front of Dominos in Caen,
Clermont-Ferrand, Paris, Toulouse, Pau and other places. Leaflets were distributed in 4
restaurants in the Paris region (in Nanterre, Besonne, Sartrouville and
Enghien-les-Bains) entitled "Why the pizza delivers get only pennies? and they spoke with
the workers. They discussed with workers about their conditions and what is happening in
Australia. In Toulouse about 200 leaflets were given out in front of a Dominos restaurant
and they spoke with the workers. In Caen there was a picket and leaflets were given to
residents, customers and passersby. An administrator came out and demanded an explanation
and declared that the situation in Australia does not concern him and that he would inform
the management of the company in France. In Pau a picket was made and the comrades talked
to the workers, asking them to deliver leaflets to the company headquarters.

Activists of the union of retail and services of SUD delivered a protest letter to Dominos
on Boulevard Saint-Marcel 40 in the center of Paris.

Translated from the website of KRAS-IWA: www.aitrus.info

(Information in this article based on news sent Sept. 15-18. Updated Sept. 18.)


www.iwa.ait.org

Bron :  a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

Australia, Sydney: anarchist campaign against the NSW council elections

 In the weeks preceding the NSW council elections, some anarchists and anti authoritarians
in Sydney mounted a campaign against the coerced ritual of voting. ---- A couple thousand
posters and stickers were pasted on walls, bins, electricity boxes, telephone booths, and
bus shelters mostly throughout the electorates of Ashfield, Leichardt, Marrickville,
Rockdale, Hurstville and Sydney city. ---- Low lying politician signs from every party
were torn down, numerous high ones were hit with paint bombs and at least 20 anti voting
slogans were sprayed across walls, mostly throughout the inner west. ---- In the days
before the election a number of pre-poll party tables of various parties were raided of
all available propaganda. While we focused on Labor, Liberals and Greens we also targeted
the propaganda of various independents and small nationalist and Stalinist sects such as
the APP and the Socialist Alliance.

Before sunlight on Saturday the 8th, a number of polling booths were targeted in
Leichardt, Marrickville and Rockdale with polling booth banners taken and the areas
covered in paintbombs and anti voting counter info. A banner was also dropped from the
Hathem St bridge over Parramatta Rd in Lewisham, reading ?VOTE FOR NOBODY?.

Once the polls opened, some of us chose to hand out leaflets encouraging self-organisation
and informal voting at a couple different poll booths in Kogarah and Hurstville while
others raided party tables of all available propaganda.

Though many of us risked the fines by refusing our citizens duty, some of us chose to vote
informal, filling the ballots with anti politician messages for the vote counters, while
also scrawling anarchist and anti-voting slogans across the walls inside the booths.

As polls closed at 6pm some anarchists gathered in an abandoned lot in Ashfeild, piled our
political booty and made a bonfire of party propaganda while planning ongoing resistance
to any public officials, their laws and the pigs who enforce them.

We will not accept the authority or mandate of any politician, we will not petition or
lobby these scumbags for scraps or concessions. We seek the complete liberation of our
mutual desires, the destruction of all hierarchy and the establishment of libertarian
communes in harmony with the native environment. These options are not available on any
ballot paper and we encourage widespread disruption and sabotage of these enforced
spectacles of ?democracy?.

Any hope for a better world must stem from the self organised initiatives of marginalised
communities acting outside the paradigm of parliamentary representation. By occupying
territory, communizing property, and rejecting the lies of police protection and political
representation we can take back our lives from bosses and bureaucrats.

AGAINST POLICE, PRISONS & POLITICIANS
FOR TOTAL LIBERATION
FOR ANARCHY

Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca