Benutzereinstellungen

Kommende Veranstaltungen

International | History of anarchism

Keine kommenden Veranstaltungen veröffentlicht

Comparing the Racial Politics of the IWW in South Africa and the United States, 1905-1925

category international | history of anarchism | opinion / analysis author Monday August 08, 2011 19:21author by Red and Black Action Report this post to the editors

This recent article in an academic journal examines how the revolutionary syndicalist IWW (an integral part of the broad anarchist tradition) sought to marry class struggles with struggles against racial and national oppression through the One Big Union. This story is an important part of the history of the global working class, but has been marginalised in the literature, in part because of the myth that left anti-racism started with Marxist communism in the 1920s. This paper recovers a history of revolutionary unionism and politics amongst workers of colour, and of their organisations, and it shows that the broad anarchist tradition played an important role in struggles for national liberation and racial equality.
kkkiww.jpg

Peter Cole & Lucien van der Walt

"Crossing the Color Lines, Crossing the Continents: Comparing the Racial Politics of the IWW in South Africa and the United States, 1905- ­1925," Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, January 2011, 69­-96

ABSTRACT

In two of the planet’s most highly racialized countries, South Africa and the United States, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or “Wobblies”), were remarkable. A key revolutionary syndicalist current operating globally, aspiring to unite the world's working class into a revolutionary One Big Union against capitalism, the state and economic and social inequality, the Wobblies operated in contexts characterized by white supremacy and deeply divided working classes. Yet they not only condemned racism and segregation in theory, but actively engaged in the challenging work of organizing workers of color including black Africans, African Americans, Asians, Coloureds and Latinos, against both economic exploitation and national/ racial oppression.

Although the literature on race, ethnicity, and labour in both countries is voluminous, remarkably little has been written regarding the IWW on race matters. Yet the Wobbly tradition’s impressive commitment and achievements largely unappreciated; the myth that left anti-racism started with Marxist communism in the 1920s remains pervasive. This article develops a comparative analysis of these two IWW experiences, bridging the North/South and industrialized/developing country divides in the (labor) historiography, and deepening our understanding of IWW politics and of labor, race and the left in countries with heterogeneous working classes.

Given the centrality of sailors and dockers in the Wobbly movement, particular attention is paid to Philadelphia (US) and Cape Town (SA). In short, this article seeks to correct omissions in the literature of both countries’ labor and left movements by exploring how and why the IWW did what so few other unions were willing or able to do―organize across the color line, reject working class and official racism, with both remarkable achievements (if some limitations) in its emancipatory project.

In doing so, this paper recovers a history of revolutionary unionism and politics amongst workers of colour, and of their organisations, like the General Workers Union, IWW, Industrial Workers of Africa, Industrial Social League, and the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union of Africa. The broad anarchist tradition, including syndicalism, thus played an important role in struggles for national liberation and racial equality.

Key words:

anarchism, Bakunin, Black struggles, Cape Town, communism, colonialism, dockers, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), global labour, labor unions, Kropotkin, longshore workers, Philadelphia, race relations, sailors, strikes, South Africa, syndicalism, transnational labour, United States

LINKS
Online at Scribd http://www.scribd.com/doc/61059412/Cole-Van-Der-Walt-Co...-1925
Online at Googledocs https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=...en_US

Verwandter Link: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B6VMYjoIi7nuNTkyNzYxMWEtYzA5Yy00NjJhLWExZWItZDE2YzliYTc2NzM3&hl=en_US
This page can be viewed in
English Italiano Deutsch

International | History of anarchism | en

Fri 29 Mar, 22:35

browse text browse image

textOctober 2014 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online 18:21 Wed 29 Oct by KSL 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 80, October 2014 has just been posted on our site.
You can get to the contents here http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/fn30cz or read the full pdf here http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/m6406g

ksl.jpg imageOctober 2013 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online 20:24 Sat 26 Oct by Kate Sharpley Library 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 76, October 2013 has just been posted on the site.

oldbakunin.jpg imageInternational conference for bicentennial of Mikhail Bakunin 21:20 Fri 08 Mar by Organizing committee of Pryamukhino Readings 2014 0 comments

On May 30, 2014 we will be celebrating 200 years of Mikhail Bakunin (1814 – 1876), a famous activist of the Russian and international revolutionary movement, a social thinker and one of the founders of the international anarchist movement. [Français] [Русский]

textFebruary 2013 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online 22:41 Sat 23 Feb by KSL 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 73, February 2013 has just been posted on the site. You can get to the contents here http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/qrfkm1 or read the full pdf here: http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/g4f5zm.

caferiocoverweb.jpg image"Revolution", by Carlo Cafiero 05:27 Fri 03 Aug by Black Cat Press 2 comments

Black Cat Press is pleased to announce the publication of "Revolution" by Carlo Cafiero for the first time ever in English (indeed nor has it ever been published as a complete volume in the original Italian!). The book brings what is certainly Cafiero's most complete, original work to English-speaking audiences for the first time. It is also an extremely important work in that it is one of the earliest attempts at compiling a complete theoretical view of the revolutionary ideal of anarchist communism. [Italiano] [Nederlands]

textA visit to the Kate Sharpley Library (2012) 20:48 Sat 21 Jul by KSL 0 comments

I’ve just come back from visiting the Kate Sharpley Library in California. Things have changed from the days when I could get there on the bus and we were buying our first filing cabinet. Lots of filing cabinets now, as well as boxes like the Left Bank Books archive. It’s good to look at the non-fiction shelves, seeing ‘old friends’ and new acquisitions.

ksl.jpg imageJuly 2012 Kate Sharpley Library bulletin (double issue) now online 18:02 Fri 20 Jul by Kate Sharpley LIbrary 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 70-71, July 2012 [Double issue] has just been posted on the site. You can get to the contents or read the full pdf too.

iron_column.jpg imageOctober 2011 Kate Sharpley Library bulletin online 18:37 Sat 05 Nov by Kate Sharpley Library 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 68, October 2011 has just been posted on the site.

cover2.jpg imageAnarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1870-1940 14:30 Sat 15 Jan by Steven Hirsch and Lucien van der Walt 0 comments

Narratives of anarchist and syndicalist history during the era of the first globalization and imperialism (1870-1930) have overwhelmingly been constructed around a Western European tradition centered on discrete national cases. This parochial perspective typically ignores transnational connections and the contemporaneous existence of large and influential libertarian movements in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Yet anarchism and syndicalism, from their very inception at the First International, were conceived and developed as international movements. By focusing on the neglected cases of the colonial and postcolonial world, this volume underscores the worldwide dimension of these movements and their centrality in anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles. Drawing on in-depth historical analyses of the ideology, structure, and praxis of anarchism/syndicalism, it also provides fresh perspectives and lessons for those interested in understanding their resurgence today.

archivesmall.jpg imageNestor Makhno Archive - update 21:29 Wed 07 Apr by Nestor McNab 0 comments

The Nestor Makhno Archive has now been updated, with the addition of over 70 new documents in Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, English, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Macedonian, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

more >>

imageTaking the Mick: Bakunin in the 21st Century Jul 11 by LAMA 2 comments

A short introduction to some of the basic ideas of Bakunin and their relevance in the 21st Century.

imageThe First International and the Development of Anarchism and Marxism Jun 11 by Wayne Price 5 comments

There are recent histories of the First International researched from anarchist perspectives, which balance the dominant Marxist narrative. Both sides had their strengths and weaknesses, but overall the anarchists had the better program.

imageJames Guillaume (1844-1916) & the birth of syndicalism, anarchist communism May 29 by Lucien van der Walt 2 comments

From Mother Earth volume 12, number 1, March 1917: OBITUARY : James Guillaume (1844-1916

imageBridges between anarchism and democratic confederalism – 2 Apr 04 by BrunoL 0 comments

Introduction to this particular issue, April 2nd Bruno Lima Rocha

In this part I will expose some basic historical information about the anarchist political organization model and in the end, make a comparison between these experiences and the nowadays mission of the political organization that intends to be the catalyst of a Democratic Confederalist social change. [Italiano]

imageThe Life of Bakunin: anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism, anti-statism Jun 01 by SAASHA 0 comments

We do not see Bakunin as a god who never made mistakes. Of course he was not perfect. was a man, but a man who gave his all for the struggle of the oppressed, a revolutionary hero who deserves our admiration and respect. “From Bakunin, we can learn much about revolutionary activism. We can learn even more about the ideas needed to win the age-old fight between exploiter and exploited, between worker and peasant, on the one hand, and boss and ruler on the other. The greatest honor we can do his memory is to fight today and always for human freedom and workers liberation.”

more >>

textOctober 2014 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online Oct 29 Kate Sharpley Library 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 80, October 2014 has just been posted on our site.
You can get to the contents here http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/fn30cz or read the full pdf here http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/m6406g

imageOctober 2013 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online Oct 26 KSL 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 76, October 2013 has just been posted on the site.

textFebruary 2013 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online Feb 23 Kate Sharpley Library 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 73, February 2013 has just been posted on the site. You can get to the contents here http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/qrfkm1 or read the full pdf here: http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/g4f5zm.

imageJuly 2012 Kate Sharpley Library bulletin (double issue) now online Jul 20 KSL 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 70-71, July 2012 [Double issue] has just been posted on the site. You can get to the contents or read the full pdf too.

imageOctober 2011 Kate Sharpley Library bulletin online Nov 05 KSL 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 68, October 2011 has just been posted on the site.

more >>
© 2005-2024 Anarkismo.net. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Anarkismo.net. [ Disclaimer | Privacy ]