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Workers Solidarity 109 now online

category ireland / britain | anarchist movement | link to pdf author Thursday May 14, 2009 00:45author by Workers Solidarity - WSMauthor email wsm_ireland at yahoo dot com Report this post to the editors

The May/June issue of Ireland's anarchist paper, Workers Solidarity, is now online for you to read or download.
ws109southernwebfinalsmall.jpg

Click on one of the links below for a PDF version of the northern or southern edition of Workers Solidarity 109.

PDF of Workers Solidarity 109 Southern Web Edition 1.6 Mb
PDF of Workers Solidarity 109 Northern Web Edition 1.6 Mb

Anarchism and the WSM


April saw Workers Solidarity Movement members from around the country meet for their twice-yearly conference. As the WSM has a much fuller concept of democracy, it organises itself quite differently to the way Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, the DUP or Labour do. The conference is open to every member and every member can put a motion for consideration. Decisions are made by majority vote. As well as setting out policy, the conference also elects officers and discusses how to put our policies into action in our day-to-day political activity.

Of course, not all decisions can wait until the next conference, so each branch sends two delegates to a monthly Delegate Council (DC) to set policy between conferences and co-ordinate between branches. An agenda is circulated in advance, so that members can discuss the pros and cons of suggestions. A branch can vote on a motion and have their delegates bring those votes to the DC, e.g. 9 for and 7 against. Sometimes a branch will give their delegate a ‘flexible mandate’ to decide which way to vote after hearing the debate at DC.

When we need to make a really quick decision about something where we have no existing policy, we have an Interim Decisions Committee made up of one elected member from each branch.

So that every member can always know what’s going on, minutes of all meetings and records of all decisions are posted on our internal website, where members can also engage in political discussion and debate.

The most important body in the WSM is the local branch where members meet (weekly or fortnightly) to discuss political matters and organise the work of the organisation. This is where power lies in the WSM, we have no time for domineering leaders or all-powerful committees. In a small way we hope that how we organise ourselves gives some indication of what anarchists mean by real democracy.

If you like the idea of a socialist and freedom-loving society you can do your bit. Get in touch and find out more about the WSM, we have members throughout the country and are happy to meet up with you. Take a bundle of 20 (or more) copies of this paper to give to friends, work colleagues or to put through neighbours’ letterboxes. Readers are already doing it in Belfast, Cork, Derry, Dublin, Greystones, Letterkenny, Sligo, Galway, Bray, Bushmills and Limerick. Just drop a note to our address or email wsm_ireland@yahoo.com.

In This Issue

Resist To Win, Rollover & Lose

A bully is strolling across a schoolyard in Clara. He steals from, humiliates and hits the other kids. Whatever you decide is the best way to deal with him, there is one thing you probably won’t do. You won’t sit down with him over tea and biscuits and try to hammer out an agreement about how to convince everyone else that bullying is inevitable and might even be good for them.

There's Plenty of Cash For The Rich

If waged employees today do practically all real work, then the capitalist has no role other than collecting dividends, living the high life, and gambling on the Stock Exchange. The big banks, all of which are now kept afloat with our tax money, and most of which are now majority state-owned, are still paying massive “bonuses” to their top people.

Anarchists Take Over Liberty Hall

Around 1,000 people attended the 4th annual Dublin Anarchist Bookfair in March for a day of meetings, films, debates and - of course – lots of books. One of the organisers, Colette O’Reilly, felt the “growing interest in anarchist politics is reflected in the larger attendence and bigger book sales than last year”.

Why We Celebrate on Mayday

The struggle against capitalism and authority is constant but each year on May Day the labour movement takes time out to celebrate its history and achievements. Rather than dwell on the hardships of struggle we take to the streets and remember what it is we are aiming for - the emancipation of our class. Climbing a mountain means paying close attention to the ground you walk but it's important to look up now and again in order to focus on exactly where it is you're headed.

UCC Censors Pro-Choice Students

Any excuse will do for the University College Cork “Societies Guild” in order to suppress the freedom of speech of pro-choice students.

London Calling to the Faraway Crowds

At the beginning of April, the G20 group of major world economies met in London. Media attention focused as much on the confrontation between police and demonstrators outside the conference as on what was going on between the suits inside. The London police were their usual charmless selves and even managed to kill an uninvolved man, Ian Tomlinson, on his way home from work.

Thinking About Anarchism: What Can a Strike Achieve?

People often pose the question, what can a strike achieve? The WSM policy on trade unions states the following: “What is anarchism? When we get down to basics, it is workers collectively running a free society. Instead of taking orders from the boss and serving his/her mad rush for profit at any cost, it is about working together for the common good.

Book Review: Living in an Abnormal Society

The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett (Allen Lane) £20.00 / €23.65

Government Gives Away €315bn!

Long-term Rossport campaigner, Sean Mallory, gives his views on the give away of Ireland’s natural resources and the recession.

That's Capitalism

Young Fine Gael just can't get away from their Blueshirt roots. Trinity College YFG vice-chair, Thomas Broe, has called for everyone between the ages 18-25 who has been unemployed for a year to be conscripted into the army.

The Budget - Where's the Reaction?

When Brian Lenihan announced his budget last October, two of the measures in particular were met with howls of outrage and his government was forced to back down post haste. The first of these - and the one most people remember because of the dramatic pictures of the Age Action meeting in Westland Row church where Minister of State John Moloney was booed off the stage – was the attempt to take away the automatic entitlement of over-70s to medical cards.

Taking Direct Action - Visteon Workers Occupy

The Visteon occupations show that we are far from apathetic when it comes to defending our jobs, wages and standard of living. Workers began occupying the Finaghy plant on March 31st, after administrators announced the loss of around 600 jobs at Visteon/Ford plants at Belfast, Basildon and Enfield in England. Davy McMurray, from the Unite trade union, said the way the job cuts were announced was "brutal." Workers were given six minutes notice of their sackings, being treated like mere commodities to be bought and sold, then discarded by our bosses when necessary.

Related Link: http://www.wsm.ie/ws

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