Workers Solidarity Movement

Toda nuestra solidaridad con el pueblo de Oaxaca en su lucha en contra del corrupto Estado federal

Una mirada libertaria sobre la gran lucha del pueblo costarricense en contra del TLC.

The Irish Socialist Republican Party was set up by James Connolly in May 1896, the initial meeting was held in the snug of Pierce Ryan’s public house at 50 Thomas Street. This Inaugural Manifesto was issued in September 1896 and was probably distributed at the places where the ISRP held regular public meetings; the Customs House, the Fountain in James st, in the Phoenix Park and at Forster place. They also had a Club room at 67 Middle Abbey street

At the Dublin May Day rally, the guest speaker from the Belfast & District Council of Trade Unions quoted from an article, Direct Action in Belfast, written by Connolly and published in the Irish Worker, September 16th, 1911.

“We have just had, and taken, the opportunity in Belfast to put into practice a little of what is known on the Continent of Europe as ‘Direct Action’.

“Direct Action consists in ignoring all the legal and parliamentary ways of obtaining redress for the grievances of Labour, and proceeding to rectify these grievances by direct action upon the employer’s most susceptible part – his purse. This is very effective at times, and saves much needless worry, and much needless waste of union funds.

“Direct Action is not liked by lawyers, politicians, or employers. It keeps the two former out of a job, and often leaves the latter out of pocket. But it is useful to Labour, and if not relied upon too exclusively, or used too recklessly, it may yet be made a potent weapon in the armoury of the working class.”

The victory of Evo Morales in the presidential elections in Bolivia in December has underlined once more that across Latin America there is a demand for change. The first significant victory came back in 2002 when Lula, the leader of the Brazilian Workers Party was elected to power after a long and arduous campaign that stretched back almost two decade. It is claimed that Lulu’s victory and his pronouncements about making Brazil a fairer society sent ‘shivers’ through world stock markets.

Anarchism essentially sees a free society where everybody has the opportunity to live as they want as achievable. But what does that mean in practice, and how do we get there.

Theoretically Marxists and anarchists have the same goal. A stateless, classless, communist society. Both of us realise that this state of affairs won’t come about spontaneously through revolution or through the intercession of Lenin’s or Bukarin’s ghost. Rather it requires organisation and work. And it is on this question, the manner of organising society, of fighting for change, and of organising as revolutionaries that major differences emerge

Over the summer of 2005 the Zapatistas surprised their supporters by suddenly declaring a Red Alert out of the blue. After a couple of days of near panic it emerged that this was just because they were undergoing a consulta (a discussion and referendum) which would decide on a new path for the movement. This new path is to once more turn outwards and to aim to build a new alliance across Mexico and beyond

The Situationists are mostly known to anarchists as a group that had something to do with the May 1968 Paris Uprising. However, the Situationists played a relatively peripheral role in the disturbances. Although much of the graffiti that appeared around the city (some famous ones included : "Never Work" and "All Power to the Imagination") were taken from Situationist works, the group did not play a major role in initiating the revolt themselves.

I joined Sinn Féin in the mid eighties with many others on the back of what we saw as a radical shift to the left and a commitment to build a 32 county Democratic Socialist Republic. I find myself outside that movement now, thoroughly disillusioned with it and its shift to a left nationalist and social democratic electoralist future.