Issues of the Irish anarchist paper Workers Solidarity published in 1991

Workers Solidarity No 31 - Summer 1991

Class
WHY IS THE concept of class so important to anarchists? Why are we constantly talking about classes and class struggle? Some of our opponents accuse us of living in the past, they claim the working class is dying out.

A fresh look at Lenin
Lenin knew too much about socialism to simply drop all talk of workers eventually running the economy. As he once said "The liberation of the workers can be achieved only by the workers' own efforts".. He was too little of one to actually allow them to do so.

1916: What are you celebrating?
THIS YEAR marks the 75th anniversary of the Easter Rising. There will be all sorts of commemorations throughout the country, organised by forces ranging from Fianna Fáil to Sinn Féin. We will hear a lot of talk about the "spirit of 1916", what does it mean today?

Still to be added: Lots of articles, but we'll have to find a printed version first as they are not online.

Workers Solidarity No 32 Autumn 1991

Church power in the south...
The Catholic church in Ireland has always been massively supported by the State and allowed a huge say in the running of the country. This article will attempt to cover the facts of church power in Ireland and the long history of State support beginning hundreds of years be fore the establishment of the 26 county state

Labouring for what?
There was no glorious period of Labour Party socialism, and never will be. It is a bosses' party which at times of crisis is every bit as willing to attack the working class as the Tories.

If voting could change anything...it would be illegal
We are used to being promised the sun, moon and stars in elections only to receive cuts, cuts and cuts. Is this just because all politicians are liars or are there deeper reasons? Abstention from elections has been an anarchist tactic from the time of Bakunin. In this article we look at some of the reasons anarchists advocate abstention/spoilt votes.

Revolution
A revolution essentially is a sudden upheaval in society which fundamentally alters the way that society operates or who that society is run by. It occurs when the mass of the people desire change that their rulers are unwilling or unable to grant.

Break this law
A BAN on strikes in 'essential services'. That was the call from the bosses and conservative politicians in the wake of the ESB workers dispute. The PDs and the Greens made reference to treating the ESB workers 'like the army', TDs from the main parties talked of a ban on strikes in 'essential services'

Laughing all the way to the bank
ALTHOUGH workers have been getting a bad deal out of the PNR and now the PESP in terms of pay the same can hardly be said for Irish bosses. In 1989-90 many executives got increases of 20% according to a recent Irish Management Institute survey.

Articles still to be added

For starters
That's capitalism
Striking back
Castlereagh falls out with God
What a trade off!
Acting up
Review: Ireland and British Imperialism

Workers Solidarity No 33 - 1991

Anarchism in Action : the collectives in Spain
Throughout the history of the 20th century ordinary working people have succeeded in taking things into their own hands and making a go of it. Nowhere, however, has come closer to a fully self-managed anarchist society then large areas of "republican" Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

How Lenin led to Stalin
Points that many would consider characteristic of Stalinism include, the creation of a one party state, no control by the working class of the economy, the dictatorial rule of individuals over the mass of society, the brutal crushing of all workers' action and the use of slander and historical distortion against other left groups. How many of these policies came into effect under Lenin?

What about human nature?
We are constantly being told that there will always be leaders and led, rulers and ruled. These ideas are powerful because they seem to make sense. We do live in a nasty, competitive society.

Why half the world's children go to bed hungry
It's hard to know how any one can consider capitalism a viable system when looking at the situation of the less developed countries. A recent UN report estimates that 30 million people face starvation. Yet EC beef, butter and wine mountains rot in European warehouses, farmers are ploughing crops back into the land, in US corn belt fields of wheat are burnt.

How do we fight back?
Over the Summer unemployment reached an all time high. It would have seemed fair enough to expect some kind of militant response to this by the unemployed organisations in Ireland but in fact very little happened. In this article we look at why these organisations are so unable to mobilize unemployed people, either to demand work or to fight for improved social welfare.

When the unemployed elected their own TD
A survey of three labour exchanges showed that 90% of respondents would vote for an unemployed party if there was one running. Is this a way forward in the fight for decent jobs for all who want them? It is worth taking a look at what happened in 1957 when an unemployed candidate made it into the Dáil.

Why the bosses system can't sort it out
The ruling class will never invest in lower than average profit making businesses simply because they don't need to. And it is in their interests to keep people unemployed and hungry. The only sizable gains that are made for the workers are when they fight for them and win them against the ruling classes' wishes.

Articles still to be added

For starters
That's capitalism
The 'Training scam'
Union finances religious magazine
Australian jobless hammered by Labour government
Peace Train runs out of steam
Dumped on
The hostage takers

Supplements

Trade Unionists and Unemployed Against the Programme (PESP)