Workers Solidarity Movement

Many people would agree that the anarchist principle "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs" is a nice idea. A self managed society with everyone having a real say in how things were run is a lovely ideal. They might nod along to the lyrics of "Imagine" by John Lennon but then equally shake their heads and tell you that such a thing could never work "in the real world". You would probably be told that people are just naturally greedy and self-centred and such a thing would end in chaos.

AS THIS ARTICLE is being written, George Mitchell has flown in to Belfast and begun a round of meetings with political parties in the North in a supposed "review" of the Good Friday Agreement. Needless to say this "review" is unlikely to address any of the fundamental flaws in that agreement. Nor are we likely to witness an outbreak of concern for the working class people of the 6 Counties from any of the participants in this review.

IRISH WORKERS are undervalued by 50% according to an international study published earlier this year. By comparing wages and productivity in 28 different types of job throughout all 15 European Union countries it found only Portuguese workers did more and received less.

THE DISPOSSESSED is a classic of science fiction, and also one of the few novels, of any description, which deals honestly and openly with anarchist ideas, and, for this reason, is one of the most oft-cited influences on anarchists today. To be honest, I wouldn't bother reading this review, if I were you, I'd just go out and read the book now.

"FU AEEU LEADERSHIP" said Dagenam and Enfield members in September. Following Amalgamated Electrical & Engineering Union leader Ken Jackson's 'partnership' fantasy comments about a "strike free Britain" at the Trade Union Congress, workers showed him what they thought of his 'roll over and play dead' attitude by walking out as part of pay negotiations at the AEEU represented Ford car works.

Source: Anarchist Trade Union Network, Britain

ANTI-UNION REPRESSION IN KAZAKHSTAN

SPIKE LEE, famous for his film about Black American radical Malcolm X, is often thought of as some sort of a 'radical'. This cleverly cultivated but insubstantial image has taken a big knock. Lee has decided to help the US military recruit young black men and women.

SOVIETSKY, Russia - On July 9th 1999, eighty masked, uniformed gunmen accompanied by the local prosecutor and other officials tried to storm the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill, under occupation by its workers for the past eighteen months.One special police unit, normally used to put down prison riots, is reported to have been particularly vicious. At the same time, another private armed militia linked to the mill owners captured the workers elected director Vantorin and tried to force (and offered him a substantial bribe) him to call off the strike. He stood firm and the workers, using the mill's own alarm system managed to mobilise enough people, including local residents who support their struggle, to beat off the attack. However, the fighting was fierce, and two workers are seriously injured.

TODAY JAPAN BRINGS to mind high tech corporations, stressed out primary school students and a gruelling work ethic that demands loyalty to the company. One hundred and thirty years ago it was a very different place, predominantly agricultural and ruled over by a fuedal elite. In 1868, these rulers decided to industrialise the country and create a highly centralised state. For this reason, the Japanese experience of capitalism is different from that in many European countries.

IT HAS BECOME increasingly fashionable to use the term globalisation as a description of the international economy and international political relations. Globalisation is meant to have taken over from imperialism, when a handful of large states openly and directly ran most or the world. [In Spanish]

WHEN ANARCHISTS TALK about change, they inevitably come around to the subject of revolution. Anarchists argue that the present social system is incapable of real reform - that a complete overhaul is needed if we're to change the fundamental wrongs in this society. But, as most people know, revolution is not an everyday occurrence. Revolution is about a large number of people coming together at the one time. The aims of a revolution are often radical and far reaching.In contrast to a period of reform, the agenda for social change expands rapidly during a revolution. Suddenly unobtainable aims come within the grasp of ordinary people. Revolutions are great opportunities to re-organise society. As such they're not to be squandered.