risk of infection: the strike wave in china

London public meeting on the 2010 strike wave in China, 7th April

In mid-2010 a strike wave rolled through China’s factories, the most widespread and militant expression of China’s internal migrant workers so far. Their struggle shook the Chinese regime and provoked a world-wide debate about the end of the low-wage-model that stands behind China’s rise to the “factory of the world” and provides Europe and other regions with cheap consumer products.

We will look at the social conditions that stand behind the militant outbreak – the situation and struggles of different groups of migrant workers, such as construction, factory, domestic and sex workers, before examining the strike wave and its implications and discussing the formation of a new working class movement in China.

resistance begins at home

Izzy Parrott reports on Hackney Housing Group’s fight against housing cuts

Unless we stop the changes, in April and October of this year we will see cuts to housing benefit make thousands of families homeless and effectively cleanse inner London boroughs of poorer households. We will also see the nature of social housing change, with government plans to allow social landlords to charge 80% of market rent and permit social tenancies in place of life-long security of tenure. Sadly these cuts will also be coming to a sector, which has already suffered from under-investment, poor quality and over-crowded housing and harsh ‘gate keeping’ practices at Homeless Person’s Units.

Hackney Housing Group plans to keep fighting for affordable housing, winning housing for its members and to fight the cuts at a local level. The group has been meeting regularly for the last two years and members have supported each other to win housing from the council through a range of tactics such as marching down to the housing office and refusing to leave until demands are met.

we don’t need the TUC!

editorial of The Commune

The 26th March demonstration called by the Trades Union Congress is likely to be the largest anti-cuts march yet. Since all cuts in public services are part of the same ruling-class offensive against our living standards, it makes sense that all working people should respond with a united fightback.

Of course, a single demonstration through the streets of London does not embody such a fightback. The protest strategy as planned by the TUC will not exert real pressure on the government. Union leaders hope a show of strength will force more consultation and negotiation over the manner and timing of the cuts. They are no champions of class struggle or meaningful defiance of the Tories.

what it says on the tin? memories of the NSSN

In January the National Shop Stewards’ Network fell apart when the Socialist Party declared the foundation of yet another national anti-cuts campaign. Sheila Cohen reflects on the deeper roots of NSSN’s failure

What follows will have to be taken as a personal account, given the fierce antagonisms and uncertain alliances involved in the split which took place at the National Shop Stewards’ Network (NSSN) conference on 22^nd January. Since that time, the comments of the NSSN majority have focused largely on the “democracy” of the debate, which saw a large vote for the proposal that the NSSN launch an “anti-cuts campaign, bringing trade unions and communities together to save all jobs and services”.

There is no point commenting here on the methods available for securing such large majorities. That would be to detract from the central issue which saw up to 100 people leave the conference – and the NSSN. Our spirited discussion at a nearby pub was not based on any lack of formal “democracy”, but on the fundamental irrelevance of the debate, if such it can be called, on the future of working-class politics in Britain.

from rebellion to reform in bolivia

The Commune spoke to Jeffery Webber, author of a new book From Rebellion to Reform in Bolivia, about the country’s social movements and the course of Evo Morales’ MAS government.

What kind of politics did the 2000-2005 movements in Bolivia express?

The politics articulated through the movements of the 2000-2005 revolutionary epoch in Bolivia are best conceived through what I call the “combined oppositional consciousness” of their leading layers of activists and organisers. This consciousness drew on the two most important popular cultures of resistance and opposition in the last few centuries in the Bolivian context – an eclectic politics of revolutionary Marxism and indigenous liberation. These traditions were adapted and combined – not without tension and contradiction – in novel ways to the twenty-first century environs of urban shantytowns, mining enclaves, and the largely indigenous countryside.

march 2011 issue of the commune out now!

Issue 21 of The Commune is now available. It features reports on local anti-cuts committees, discussion of the next steps for the movement in Egypt, Sheila Cohen on the implosion of the National Shop Stewards’ Network, and much more. See below for links to individual articles as they are posted, or click the picture for the PDF.

Contact us at uncaptiveminds@gmail.com if you would like to buy a printed copy (£1 + 50p postage) or set up a subscription. (£12 a year UK/£16 EU/£20 international.

anti-cuts news

we don’t need the TUC –  editorial in advance of the March 26th demo

where next for sheffield anti-cuts movement? – David Huckerby reports on developments in Nick Clegg’s backyard

holyrood and councils brandish cuts knife – Allan Armstrong on the cuts in Scotland

the bigger the society, the bigger the cuts – with the ‘Big Society’ project apparently on the rocks, Adam Ford asks what’s really behind the initiative

resistance starts at home – Izzy Parrott writes on the fight for housing provision in Hackney

‘we want to inspire other people to take a stand’ – interview with a Leeds City College student involved in the protests around education cuts and in the new Really Open Student Union

international

ireland after the election – Dara Hugh looks at the new political landscape

a new egypt: beyond mubarak – Taimour Lay looks at the deeper roots of the movement in Egypt, and what this means for where it goes next

on egypt, and revolutions – Joe Thorne asks what’s really changed in Egypt

from rebellion to reform in bolivia – an interview with Jeffery Webber about his new book on social movements and Evo Morales’ MAS government

theory, history, writing

trade unions: are they fit for purpose? – report on the third Global Commune day school

what it says on the tin? memories of the NSSN – Sheila Cohen on the failure of a once-promising initiative

bristol cuts: in and for the state? – Oleg Resin asks if we can do more than just defend existing services

sexism: from one prison to another – a personal account by Latife Faydali of the sexism underlying both sexual repression and violence

a hope unfulfilled: communists in WWII – David Broder looks at the disappointed revolutionary aspirations of the left in France and Italy, 1943-45

our network

china’s migrant workers rise – a 7th April meeting on last year’s strike wave in China

our platform

our meetings

holyrood and councils brandish the cuts knife

Allan Armstrong reports on the cuts in Scotland and the incipient resistance

The ConDem government is cutting back the Westminster block grant to Scotland by over £1 billion. A Holyrood general election will take place on May 5^th and the signs are that the SNP will lose out to Labour. Just as in the run-up to last May’s Westminster vote, the governing party here is being very coy about announcing exactly how the full cuts would pan out.

Of course there have already been many cuts, but so far only very piecemeal and partial fightbacks. In the SNP/Lib-Dem controlled Edinburgh Council, the 216-year old Blindcraft workshop for disabled people was closed down in January. The council cultivated division amongst their employees by suggesting moving to a three day week, with no longer term guarantees. Individuals were asked to sign up to this ‘deal’. The able-bodied staff saw this as a method to cut redundancy pay. Many of the disabled staff, with virtually no prospect of future work, felt they had little option but to agree. The 53 employees were divided between three unions, and the council was able to get away with a closure that hit the most disadvantaged workers particularly hard.

anti-cuts: room for concern and room for hope

Steve Ryan reflects on the progress of the anti-cuts campaigns

As we move towards spring and towards what is being billed as the biggest demo for years on 26th March, now is perhaps a good to time to reflect on the anti cuts “movement “ and where it is going.

So far it has looked very good. Hundreds of cities and towns now have anti cuts groups. There have been a series of demonstrations, events, public meetings stunts etc. Anyone who uses social networking sites will not have failed to be aware of this. It looks rich and diverse.

Before Christmas the student protests galvanised the movement with a series of imaginative demonstrations and occupations. There have been strikes, for example, the London Underground  and Department for Work and Pensions, and currently the UCU lecturers’ union is balloting over pay. Couldn’t be better. Could it?

Well yes, actually. There are clear signs that the movement is stalling.

reading group ‘the ignorant schoolmaster’ starts 28th february

The Commune has organised two reading group meetings, studying Jacques Ranciere’s book on radical education, The Ignorant Schoolmaster.

The meetings are on each of the next two Mondays, (28th Feb; 7th March) at the Really Free School @ The Black Horse, 6 Rathbone Place, London. The text is not over-long and is available online (see below), and should be an interesting read.

big society: all that is holy is profaned…

With the ‘Big Society’ project apparently on the rocks, Adam Ford asks what’s really behind the initiative

The political fraud that is David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ has been grabbing a lot of mainstream media attention over the last couple of weeks. The frenzy was kicked off when ‘Big Society Tsar’ Lord Wei cut his hours, after discovering that working for free on three days each weeks was not compatible with “having a life”. But what is the class significance of the Coalition’s crusade?

Wei – a ‘social entrepreneur’ – was ‘created’ a Tory peer by Cameron in May last year. He started work advising on the ‘Big Society’, but “at the last moment it turned out to be unpaid”. He committed himself to first two and then three days per week, but “in the autumn I asked to go back to two days”. Apparently, he had to balance “…making a living, seeing my family, and helping to change society.”

egypt beyond mubarak

Taimour Lay reflects on the origins and future of the Egyptian movement that toppled Mubarak

‘Politics and workers’ rights are inseparable. Work is politics by itself.’ – A striking worker at Mahalla, 2008

‘Call for a general assembly of all sectors and political trends of the people to develop a new constitution and elect real popular committees without waiting for the consent or negotiation with the regime.’ – Demand of Egyptian Iron and Steel Workers, February 2011

‘Immensely courageous and a force for good’ – Tony Blair defends Hosni Mubarak

Three thousand women garment workers left their stations and marched through the vast mill complex of the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company, only to find their male colleagues had failed to heed the call to walk out. ‘Where are the men? Here are the women!’ went the chant before 10,000 workers gathered in the main square of the Nile Delta town of Mahalla al-Kubra, the centre of Egypt’s militant labour movement for the last 8 years.

The four-day occupation that began on 7 December 2006 was no isolated uprising. Struggles at textile and flour mills in Alexandria and across the Delta had led to over 220 major strikes that year alone. The news of victories over pay created a resurgent politics of protest not seen the bread riots of 1977. Under extreme economic pressure, the balance of power between workers and government was changing but no one could predict what could come next.

where next for network x?

Daniel Harvey reports on the activist gathering in Manchester

Some members of The Commune joined a gathering of about 300 activists, anarchists and anti-capitalists at Manchester Metropolitan University to discuss ways forward in the struggle against austerity and cuts. Understandably, there was much enthusiasm for making connections with allied groups from around the country, finding ways of offering practical assistance, as well as moral support.

A large part of the gathering was taken up with discussions about what people thought Network X should be in terms of its organisation and aims. The facilitators gave an initial political basis in the form of the People’s Global Action hallmarks’. These rejected all forms of discrimination based on patriarchy and racism, but seemed to forget about class and disability (both of which became points of contention later on) as well as capitalism, imperialism and ‘feudalism’.

student occupations pamphlet: a call for contributions

The Commune is looking to produce a pamphlet about, and for, student occupations.  In our view, there are lessons to be learned, not only from the recent wave of occupations in November – December 2010, but from recent occupations at SOAS, Middlesex, Sussex, against the devastation of Gaza in Winter 2008-9, and many more besides.

We want the pamphlet to be based around contributions from occupiers recounting their experiences, and drawing some conclusions from them.  We therefore want to invite anyone with such experiences to get in touch with us and contribute something – be it a few paragraphs or a few pages.  Not all occupiers should have to begin at the beginning: there is a wealth of experience which future occupiers can learn from; it should not all be lost every three years as each generation of activists passes on.

feminism, organisation and class struggle

a day of mutual learning and exchange hosted by The Commune, 20th February, London

We believe that most of the left has a pretty poor record on gender. Even if overt sexism is less common than in the past, informal hierarchies and alienated, gendered relations run rampant. But this practice can –  and must – change if we are ever going to revolutionise society.

As against swallowing the old left traditions, we believe it is important that the left critically reappraise our theory, practice and organisation in the light of socialist feminist politics, as well as the experience of working women’s struggles more broadly.

This is not a day for The Commune to lay down any ‘party line’, but rather to create a space for discussion of the insights of anti-capitalist feminism and the inter-relation between class and gender struggles. We hope to exchange ideas in a participatory, un-dogmatic and inclusive manner. We have planned three workshops.