An irrepressible veteran of international workers struggles over the last 60 years; he was a bridge between the last great wave of class struggle and those to come. Partisan yet non-sectarian, he is widely known and respected throughout the movement. More than this, he was a friend to many. As one of his lifelong friends and fellow comrade remembers:
“He was kind and solid. He cared about people. When Bob died, he rang me twice a week every week. He lost a son to cystic fibrosis. He had a rescue greyhound who used to break into the fridge. He was a mensch. He always turned up looking clean and smart in light shirts and a bomber jacket. He wasn’t afraid to get stuck in when it was needed…I miss him” (Dreyfus)
Another comrade remembers Ron:
“I met Ron when I first joined SolFed many years ago, he was a solid comrade who could talk for hours, the joke was never ask him a question as you won’t get away for the rest of the day. He was a friendly, supportive comrade who cared deeply about everyone, his campaigning on the issue of asbestos was never ending, he will be sorely missed” (Mikey Dredd)
We miss him too and honour his contribution extending to his family and our comrades in SolFed our love and solidarity. Thank you, Comrade Ron, for all you gave and did, thanks to you the struggle continues.
Dear friends of the Olga Taratuta initiative for solidarity with deserters, refugees, and draft resisters from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine:
Exiled Russian comrades and deserters have informed us that they are organizing a rally this Friday, July 17, at 4:00 PM at Place Saint-Augustin in Paris. The event is in support of Daniil Mukhametov, a young Russian draft resister whom France is preparing to extradite to Lithuania—a country that, in turn, risks expelling him to Russia. If you have the time and energy to attend, we would be pleased to see you there.
If you are not based in Paris, we still invite you to share this call for solidarity with Daniil.
International statement against the NATO summit to be held in Ankara on July 7–8.
From Israel’s ongoing genocidal policies against Palestine to the devastation caused by the war in Syria that has been continuing for years, and the escalating regional tensions fueled by U.S. and Israel’s attacks on Iran, West Asia has today turned into a battleground where imperialist competition has intensified. This picture reflects not only regional conflicts but also the crisis of the global capitalist order.
Under these conditions, it is no coincidence that the 36th NATO Summit will be held in Ankara on July 7–8. NATO, which has played an active role in interventions stretching from Palestine to Afghanistan, from Libya to Syria and Kurdistan, continues to function as one of the fundamental tools of imperialist power relations and the militarist order. The fact that Turkey is hosting this summit clearly illustrates the position of the country’s ruling classes within this war system.
Despite all the differences in rhetoric, Turkey’s ruling class is not outside this order of war. While on the one hand “peace” and “opposition” rhetoric is produced, on the other hand NATO membership is maintained, military cooperation is intensified, and active integration into regional imperialist strategies is pursued. The contradiction between the rhetorical opposition to Israel and the ongoing economic and military relations is, indeed, merely a manifestation of the same class interests. Therefore, for us, the struggle against NATO is not a matter of national defense; it is a front in the attack on capitalism and the bourgeoisie.
From the perspective of us workers, both NATO and the other capitalist blocs competing with it such as Iran, Russia, China etc. are parts of the same system of exploitation. Aligning workers behind any of these powers means reserving them for the reproduction of their own exploitative relations. For this reason, the struggle against NATO is not merely a struggle against a military alliance, but a class struggle waged directly against the capitalist system of war.
This struggle also necessitates an internationalist line. Workers, youth, and all the oppressed share a common interest in opposing nationalism, militarism, war policies, and patriarchy. The fate of all workers in Palestine, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Kurdistan, and all over the world is intertwined; borders are ideological lines that conceal these exploitative relations. With this understanding, we must raise international solidarity against nationalism, militarism, and war policies everywhere in the world.
For this reason, we are raising our voices against the NATO summit to be held in Ankara. We call on workers, youth, women, queer people, and all anti-war advocates to strengthen the struggle against militarism, imperialist interventions, and the capitalist order of war.
Our side is neither NATO nor the other dominant powers opposing it. Our side is the possibility for common liberation of all workers in the world.
No to NATO!
Class War Against War!
Otonom İşçi Birlikleri (Turkey)
AnarCom Network -ACN (UK)
Anarchist Communist Groups, ACG (Great Britain)
Black Rose / Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation (USA)
Coordinación Anarquista Latina Americana (CALA) :
– Cordenação Anarquista Brasileira, CAB (Brasil)
– Organização Socialismo Libertário, OSL (Brazil)
– Federación Anarquista de Rosario, FAR (Argentina)
From Saturday in Durham town, as community and worker organisations assist Pride to continue after the local council tries to pull the plug – it’s solidarity with comrades from Organise! on their current days of action! Victory to the working class. Internationalism and emancipation.
Solidarity with the Obsidian and Echo Workers in Belfast – Fired on the eve of May Day for organising!
Organise! IWA express our solidarity with our members who fought for their rights but were fired in retaliation!
Support the workers!
Background: On the eve of International Working Women’s Day (Saturday 7th March) workers – all members of Organise! – IWA – employed at Obsidian and Echo Body Piercing Studios walked out of an unsafe work environment.
Their boss and owner of the piercing studios, Pamela W., had refused to move on Union recognition and demands from workers that included issues around unvaccinated workers being made to carry out fittings and piercings. Anyone exposed to bodily fluids and blood as part of their work must be vaccinated against Hepatitis B. When customers declared that they had HIV or Hepatitis B employees were put under pressure to do piercings and fittings regardless – “just double up your latex gloves” they were told. Pamela and her management have been given numerous opportunities to meet with their employees to resolve issues but instead they chose to ignore their workers and put them in danger despite claiming to be a “family” that values everyone equally (of course managers in both of Pamela’s shops are immunised). Issues were first officially raised by the workers through their Union when a demand letter was handed to management on Saturday 31st January. With no movement workers refused to subject themselves to risk of disease for a minute longer.
The workers returned to work when their employer made the necessary changes to ensure them a safe workplace, and paid them for the duration they were absent. But now, all the workers have been sacked on egregious charges.
Organise: International Workers Association writes:
“The first indications that the employer was out for ‘revenge’ against workers who had the temerity to ensure their own safety came when two of the workers were informed that their contracts as apprentice piercers would not be honoured. Then on 1st April a part-time worker showed up for their first shift having been told to expect a back to work chat and retraining, which they were asked to attend half an hour early to complete. Instead she was left on her own to cover the manager’s lunch break and after about an hour discovered she had been brought back to work only to be used as cover before being handed a letter informing her that she was being immediately suspended on pay. As other workers attended subsequent shifts they were handed similar letters. They were then informed that they would be given notice of disciplinaries.
As workers were provided with ‘evidence’ it became clear that they were facing disciplinaries for the walk out on safety grounds under the guise of ‘damaging trust’ with their employer!”
More information is available on the crowdfunding page given in the links and on the Organise! IWA website!
As (ex) workers we are in it for the long haul as is Organise! and below is the link to the crowdfunder for hardship and campaign costs:
Pics from over the weekend. As well as the dramatic local history dimension that interested people, and discussions about the hopeless TUC echelons and the role of the LP etc, back then and now; there was also some talk about the Action Councils.
Whether they could have ever developed into becoming revolutionary councils or other bodies and a proto non-state? And whether such a thing maybe eventually on the horizon?
Good to see some youngsters along, especially on the Sunday centenary anniversary, as well as those with longer memories.
Some pics from weekend. Some literature given out to comrades / potential comrades and accepted by a few places – Barnsley, Rutland-Sheff, Sage-Gateshead inc putting out on main desk by Cramlington Train Wrecking Remembrance Crew (Derailing of scabbing Flying Scotsman in 26)
As opposed to the electoral bourgeois farce on 7th May, the 1st of May and any ensuing weekend has for nearly a century and a half been a time for working class celebration. This encompassing organising, actions, catch ups with friends and comrades, community events and remembering the past with a determined optimistic look to the future. This is particularly the case for us as anarchists.
For those who don’t know, the modern incarnation of May Day began as a day of remembrance in the 1880s. This is the case from the start for fallen anarchist comrades and then over the years, more generally, for workers facing the wrath of the capitalist system.
For in 1887, in reaction to an explosion at an event in Chicago’s Haymarket Square the year before, attended by an enormous number of (40,000) striking workers during an increasingly mass bitter struggle for an eight-hour day, the state used the event as the pretext to sentence comrades of ours to death in cold blood. This was despite no evidence whatsoever having proven a link to the bomb’s manufacture or consequent explosion. The consequent killings which shook the world, took 5 of our comrades’ lives, including 4 who had the death penalty enacted upon them and 1 who committed suicide before they could be hanged. 3 more were convicted before being later pardoned. The funeral procession of the slain was followed by thousands upon thousands of workers. They became known as the “Haymarket Martyrs”.
“There will come a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.” (August Spies – often cited as his final and bravely defiant words on the scaffold.)
There have been attempts by some political party and trade union officials in the West to muddy the reasons for celebrating May Day as International Workers’ Day. There have been entire May Day cancellations by governments, including in Spain (particularly Barcelona) in 1937 in order to crush anarchist inspired workers resisting an onslaught upon them in street battles. There have been hideous parades of military might in state capitalist Soviet Eastern Europe on May Day until the 1990s, which continue on to this day in Stalinist states.
In the face of all this, we continue to remember the real origins of this day and look to a time of serious potential challenges to and then emancipation from state and capital. This, a time of resistance and joy. A time when we can really begin to live in harmony with the planet and the incredible other species that inhabit it. A time to end conflicts over resources. A time for internationalism and real solidarity. A time to gain control over our own lives. A time when this system can finally be flushed down the toilet. A time for history to finally begin.
Class struggle anarchists have often taken to the streets and attended events on this important day and weekend for us over the years – at both official labour movement events, where we have ducked and dived the dull stultified atmosphere and ludicrous Mao and Stalin banners, to bring our revolutionary message of emancipation for all. And at unofficial events, where we have danced, celebrated, shared literature, marched and directly challenged those who defend the current, yet in reality, obsolete system of capital and state.
This year as a group, though small in number, following a stall at the Hull Radical Bookfair on 25th April, we will be at events in South Yorkshire (Barnsley, 2nd May) and the Northeast (Gateshead, 4th May) as well as Manchester and Salford. We may yet be at further events too over the May Day weekend?! We will be chatting, celebrating and trying to learn lessons from the past, whilst talking to others about our potential futures.
It is the centenary of the General Strike of 1926 in the UK. Many leftists will be showing degrees of simplistic nostalgia over this. For us, whilst noting some impressive local examples of determined working class unity and direct action at that time; we will point out that this event revealed the hopeless nature of official, capital friendly, trade union perspectives and of those claiming to represent us (the Labour Party and so-called Communist Party at that time but not restricted to them). For in reality, any early enthusiasm or claims of workers potentially having any real power through this event quickly abated as its limited nature became apparent and as it failed to shake the base of the society and profit system in each we live. We need to be honest about this but not despondent.
For our class can still challenge and potentially overcome the present system. Be it through, for example, autonomous networked direct action, strike and community committees, popular assemblies and workers’ councils, or / and novel new bodies that display a development of genuine revolutionary content.
Emancipation and liberation are not guaranteed or in any way inevitable. There is also much despondency currently, many recent defeats, a horrendous international conflict situation and a quietism too often displayed by our class in the social war. However, despite all this, with the mass of resources available to humankind now and for us to thrive (moreover, as well as survive?), they need now be closer than ever.
As such, we wish to convey with hope and a determination based upon real potentials, revolutionary May Day greetings to all friends, comrades and workers throughout the world.
“I am an anarchist: I have no apology to make to a single man, woman or child, because I am an anarchist, because anarchism carries the very germ of liberty in its womb” (Lucy Parsons, anarchist organiser – on both anarchism and on our fallen comrades, murdered in 1887 by the state).
“Does this rising generation know that those who inaugurated the eight-hour day were put to death at the command of capital?”
AnarCom Network 