Workers Solidarity Movement

En 1871 Francia fue a la guerra con Prusia y fue derrotada. La cabeza del gobierno nacional era Adolphe Thiers, él tuvo que negociar los detalles de la paz con Prusia. Después de hacer esto tuvo que afrontar el problema de volver a controlar Paris, de convencer a la ciudad de que la guerra con Prusia había terminado y del desarme de la Guardia Nacional. A Thiers sólo se le permitían 12.000 soldados después de la tregua, y con ellos tuvo que hacer frente a varios cientos de miles de guardias nacionales.

In English: http://www.wsm.ie/content/paris-commune

This is an archive of some talks given to WSM meetings between 1991 and 2007 on the general subjects of class politics, trade unionism and the changing nature of the working class.  For more articles and talks check the relevant subject indices

I am going to look generally at the issue of woman’s work. Initially a very quick survey of the global position – then some more specific stuff on wage differentials, house work, work conditions, child care in Europe and Ireland with some possible suggestions for some points for our new program maybe to be incorporated into a general section on work.

When the Irish education system is taken into perspective, from preschool to 3rd level, each period of transition is flawed in it’s own way. Strong ties between the church, the state and our primary and secondary schools affect the growth and education of children from the moment they enter the schooling system to the moment they leave.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
Oscar Wilde

If we are to envision this world as an improvement over our current one, it will be absolutely necessary to retain the advances made during the industrial, and even more importantly the recent agricultural revolution. To fail to do so would be no less than mass genocide. The productive capacity of the world in terms of food, goods and services is enormous. In order to feed the hungry and cloth the naked, we will need an efficient system of production allocation and distribution.

It has been said that the Irish are “obsessed with property”. Indeed the level of knowledge of the property market possessed by the average Irish taxi driver is Ireland is reputedly comparable to that possessed by full time real estate agents in some countries. In the run up to the 2007 election the various parties were scrambling to come up with an olive branch to offer the electorate in the property arena. The increasing difficulty faced by first-time buyers, and the pressure felt on the government was reflected to some degree in election promises including abolishing stamp duty entirely for first-time buyers and building more social housing.

William Thompson was one of the of the first people to critically engage with political economy and attempt to turn it around to defend the improvement of the condition of the working class and rural poor. He was from a Anglo- Irish landowning family from West Cork and was to become a leading figure in the early Co-operative movement. In this talk from the 2007 Dublin anarchist bookfair Paul Bowman talks about the importance of Thompson and the relevance of his ideas today

The second Dublin anarchist bookfair saw a debate between the Workers Solidarity Movement, Eirigi and the Irish Socialist Network on the topic of 'What sort of Ireland do we want?'. These are the speakers notes from the WSM speaker for that discussion

Audio from the 2nd Dublin anarchist bookfair of Emmet O'Connors talk on Syndicalism in Ireland and the discussion that followed it.

Edited extracts from the Class, Feminism and Revolution recorded at the 2007 Dublin anarchist bookfair. The meeting was organised by RAG (Revolutionary Anarcha-Feminist Group) and was based around a written text