strategy for industrial struggle

We have published a new pamphlet ‘strategy for industrial struggle’, a reprint of a 1971 solidarity pamphlet with a new introductory essay by Chris Kane.

The solidarity pamphlet explores different forms of working-class action (strikes; occupations and sit ins; sabotage; work-to-rules and go-slows; etc.) and looks at how different tactics used relate to rank-and-file involvement and control over struggles. Similarly, Chris’s introduction examines the lessons and relevance of these ideas for today, and stresses the centrality of self-organisation, democracy, and resistance to the conservatism of the trade union bureaucracies when faced with draconian anti-union laws.

The 24-page pamphlet, the third we have produced, costs £1, or you can click here to download it: industrialstrugglepamphlet.pdf

If you would like to be posted a printed copy of the pamphlet, email us at uncaptiveminds@googlemail.com or write to The Commune, 2nd Floor, 145-157 St John Street, London EC1V 4PY

‘uncaptive minds’ forum 13th october: new methods of organising

The next of our ‘uncaptive minds‘ forums on class struggle in the 1970s takes place from 6:30pm on Monday 13th October.

Anton Moctonian will be leading off a discussion on ‘new methods of organising: a critical comparison of the unions’.

The venue is in central London: email uncaptiveminds@googlemail.com for further details.

Anton has suggested that people attending the meeting may be interested in reading this document on shop steward organisation during the era.

For a report on the meeting on the ‘upsurge 1968-74’ click here; click here for a report on the meeting on the 1970 leeds clothing workers’ strike; and click here for Andrew Fisher’s report on the meeting on workers’ control and management.

stitch-up of rmt rep on metronet

Metronet management is currently pursuing a vicious disciplinary process against RMT Health & Safety/Union Rep Andy Littlechild.

changes in ‘uncaptive minds’ discussion series on the 1970s

We have made a couple of changes to the running order of our ‘uncaptive minds‘ series of discussion forums on class struggle in the 1970s.

Ian MacDonald, who had been billed to speak at the Monday 29th September meeting on the debates on workers’ control, is now unable to attend but Andrew Fisher from the Left Economics Advisory Panel, which has recently produced a pamphlet on social ownership, has kindly stepped in at short notice. He will be speaking alongside David Broder from the commune.

Furthermore, we have moved the discussion on new methods of organising: a critical comparison of the unions, with guest speaker Anton Moctonian, from October 27th to October 13th.

There will now be no meeting on October 27th, due to an unfortunate clash with a meeting in London about the Shrewsbury Six, who were jailed for their role in the 1972 building workers’ strike. Since this strike was of great importance and is of course of direct relevance to the subject of our discussion series on 1970s class struggle, we thought it best (and in the spirit of non-sectarianism) to defer. Therefore we would urge our readers and supporters to attend this meeting. It takes place at the Welsh Club, 157-163 Grays Inn Road, WC1 London, from 7:30pm on Monday October 27th. The confirmed speakers are Ricky Tomlinson and Terry Renshaw; Arthur Scargill has also been invited.

the cost of living: it’s time to act

a leaflet by the commune

A mere 22% of a typical household’s monthly income is left after tax and essential bills, down from 28% since 2003. The situation is getting worse.  Costs have gone up across the board:
 
Increase of    10%      for Electricity
Increase of    15%      for Gas  
Increase of    6.6%     for Food                
Increase of    20.2%   for Petrol  
Increase of    6.5%     for Water             
 
The government says wages must be kept down to stop inflation – but it’s not wages that are to blame.  In May, over 90% of workers got wage rises beneath inflation.  In fact the share of the overall economy going to wages has gone down this year, as it has every year since 1995.  Wages are nowhere near enough to meet the rising costs.  To make it worse, unemployment, which has never gone away, is rising fast.

morales, the bolivian oligarchy and the workers’ movement

by David Broder

The social crisis in Bolivia is deepening as the oligarchy and the far right step up their struggle to break off chunks of the country and lay their hands on its natural resources. Yesterday (Thursday 11th September) eight people were killed during a fascist attack in Cobija, at the same time as the right continued its occupation of municipal buildings, government treasury offices and natural gas regulators. They also set fire to the house of Lucio Vedia, the leading trade unionist in Santa Cruz, the country’s largest city. However, although Evo Morales has sent troops into the natural gas extraction plants and has now dismissed the United States ambassador for his role in supporting right-wing coup attempts, he still refuses to organise any effective action to stop the violence waged by the oligarchy and militias such as the fascist Union Juvenil Cruceñista. Instead, the Morales government offers talks on a “negotiated re-distribution of power” and has called on what it calls the “violent minority” on the right to “return to the negotiating table”. As he seeks the reconciliation of the “Andean” and oligarchic strata of the bourgeoisie, workers and indigenous people under attack from the UJC are having to organise against the violence themselves, once again showing that the class struggle underlies the near-civil war in Bolivia.

hal draper: anatomy of the micro-sect

reproduced with the kind permission of ernest haberkern: available to buy at amazon.com or socialisthistory.org.

There is a terminological problem. “Sect“ is often used as a cuss-word to mean a group one doesn’t like. “Movement” is often used to describe something that does not exist in organized form; as when “the American socialist movement“ is used as an abbreviation for scattered socialist elements that often do not “move” at all. We shall use these terms with more precise meanings.