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SEWER SYNDICALISM: WORKER SELF- MANAGEMENT in PUBLIC SERVICES Eric M
\\jciprod01\productn\N\NVJ\14-2\NVJ208.txt unknown Seq: 1 30-APR-14 10:47 SEWER SYNDICALISM: WORKER SELF- MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC SERVICES Eric M. Fink* Staat ist ein Verh¨altnis, ist eine Beziehung zwischen den Menschen, ist eine Art, wie die Menschen sich zu einander verhalten; und man zerst¨ort ihn, indem man andere Beziehungen eingeht, indem man sich anders zu einander verh¨alt.1 I. INTRODUCTION In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, municipal govern- ments in various US cities assumed responsibility for utilities and other ser- vices that previously had been privately operated. In the late twentieth century, prompted by fiscal crisis and encouraged by neo-liberal ideology, governments embraced the concept of “privatization,” shifting management and control over public services2 to private entities. Despite disagreements over the merits of privatization, both proponents and opponents accept the premise of a fundamental distinction between the “public” and “private” sectors, and between “state” and “market” institutions. A more skeptical view questions the analytical soundness and practical signifi- cance of these dichotomies. In this view, “privatization” is best understood as a rhetorical strategy, part of a broader neo-liberal ideology that relies on putative antinomies of “public” v. “private” and “state” v. “market” to obscure and rein- force social and economic power relations. While “privatization” may be an ideological definition of the situation, for public service workers the difference between employment in the “public” and “private” sectors can be real in its consequences3 for job security, compensa- * Associate Professor of Law, Elon University School of Law, Greensboro, North Carolina. -
Workers of the World: International Journal on Strikes and Social Conflicts, Vol
François Guinchard was born in 1986 and studied social sciences at the Université Paul Valéry (Montpellier, France) and at the Université de Franche-Comté (Besançon, France). His master's dissertation was published by the éditions du Temps perdu under the title L'Association internationale des travailleurs avant la guerre civile d'Espagne (1922-1936). Du syndicalisme révolutionnaire à l'anarcho-syndicalisme [The International Workers’ Association before the Spanish civil war (1922-1936). From revolutionary unionism to anarcho-syndicalism]. (Orthez, France, 2012). He is now preparing a doctoral thesis in contemporary history about the International Workers’ Association between 1945 and 1996, directed by Jean Vigreux, within the Centre George Chevrier of the Université de Bourgogne (Dijon, France). His main research theme is syndicalism but he also took part in a study day on the emigration from Haute-Saône department to Mexico in October 2012. Text originally published in Strikes and Social Conflicts International Association. (2014). Workers of the World: International Journal on Strikes and Social Conflicts, Vol. 1 No. 4. distributed by the ACAT: Asociación Continental Americana de los Trabajadores (American Continental Association of Workers) AIL: Associazione internazionale dei lavoratori (IWA) AIT: Association internationale des travailleurs, Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores (IWA) CFDT: Confédération française démocratique du travail (French Democratic Confederation of Labour) CGT: Confédération générale du travail, Confederación -
9. Notes and Index.Pdf
- NOTE rn NoI NOTES ,i I cccnt .rSarrlst i \ t:t tC. i l. cloes Preface l. J:rnres Joll, The Anarchisls,2nd etl , (C)ambridge, Nlass.: H:rn'artl llnivet'sin Press, 'i:tlike 19tt0), p viii. .r .rl istic: 2 Sinr:e the literature on this oeriod of soci:rlis( ernd cornrnunist intertrationalism is i.rlizccl immense, it is possible to rite onlr solne rcprL\r'ntJti\c titles here Julius BtaLnthal's ()eschir.hte der Internationale, 3 r'oirs (Flarlno\er: Dietz, l96l-1971 I has bccornc standarcl ' lllrl)l\ on a ccnturl of internationalisrn, though the emphasis is alrnostexclusivclr uporr politir:al . )|S [O :rnd not trade union intern:rtionalisrn. IIore sper:ifir:rllr, on the Setoncl Internatioral, sce Jarnes Joll, The Second InternatiormL, 1889-1911. rcr ed. (l-rtrrdon ancl Boston: r.hil)s, Routledge ancl Keean Paul, 197'1). On the International Federation of Trade flnions before ,11( )ln1C the rvar arrd on its post-rvar rerival. see Joh:rnn Sasst:nbach, I'inlundzuanzig Ja.lLre internationaLer Geuterksthaf tsbelDegung (Anrstcr(1arn: IrrtcrrraIionalcn C]cterlschaf tsbun- .Li aucl dcs, 1926), and Lervis Lonvin, Lobor and Inlernatiortalisrn (Ncl York: N'Iacrnillan, 1929). iltloIls, C)n the pcrst-war Labour and Socialist International, see John Ptice, Tlrc Intcrttational Labour Llouernent (London: Oxford l-iniversitl Press 19.15) On the so-callecl Trro-ancl- ;, lile, a-Half Internationzrl, scc Andr6 Donneur, Hi.stoire de I'L'nion des Pttrtis SetciaListes (tour I'Action InternationaLe (Lausanue: fl niversit6 de ClenEve, Institu t l-n ir crsi Lairc dcs FIaLrtes :;r otlet n -L,tudes Internat.ionales, 1967). -
The Anarchist Collectives Workers’ Self-Management in the Spanish Revolution, 1936–1939
The Anarchist Collectives Workers’ Self-Management in the Spanish Revolution, 1936–1939 Sam Dolgoff (editor) 1974 Contents Preface 7 Acknowledgements 8 Introductory Essay by Murray Bookchin 9 Part One: Background 28 Chapter 1: The Spanish Revolution 30 The Two Revolutions by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 30 The Bolshevik Revolution vs The Russian Social Revolution . 35 The Trend Towards Workers’ Self-Management by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 36 Chapter 2: The Libertarian Tradition 41 Introduction ............................................ 41 The Rural Collectivist Tradition by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 41 The Anarchist Influence by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 44 The Political and Economic Organization of Society by Isaac Puente ....................................... 46 Chapter 3: Historical Notes 52 The Prologue to Revolution by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 52 On Anarchist Communism ................................. 55 On Anarcho-Syndicalism .................................. 55 The Counter-Revolution and the Destruction of the Collectives by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 56 Chapter 4: The Limitations of the Revolution 63 Introduction ............................................ 63 2 The Limitations of the Revolution by Gaston Leval ....................................... 63 Part Two: The Social Revolution 72 Chapter 5: The Economics of Revolution 74 Introduction ........................................... -
Fernand Pelloutier and the Dilemma of Revolutionary Syndicalism1
ALAN B. SPITZER ANARCHY AND CULTURE: FERNAND PELLOUTIER AND THE DILEMMA OF REVOLUTIONARY SYNDICALISM1 "nous voulons que l'emancipation du peuple soit 1'ceuvre du peuple lui-meme." (L'Organisation corporative et l'anarchie.) Advancing under socialist banners, the labor movement in Western Europe won such success by the end of the nineteenth century as to produce a deep moral and intellectual crisis in European socialism. Internecine quarrels over revisionism, participationism, and anti- political syndicalism reflected the malaise of a "revolutionary" move- ment that each year bound itself more closely to the system it had vowed to destroy. For socialist theoreticians, the crisis was cognitive or "scientific" - it had to do with issues of adequate historical analysis and prediction - but for the theorists of French revolutionary syn- dicalism it was essentially a moral crisis. In their eyes the socialist parties had already failed because they were the instruments for manipulation and betrayal of the workers by leaders whose ambitions could be gratified through the capitalist establishment. They identified a practical and moral alternative to political socialism in the revolution- ary general strike prepared and carried out by autonomous proletarian organizations. Such organizations were necessary to the idealists of the general strike if their programs were not to degenerate into a strictly verbal revolutionary Coueism and they therefore put great stock in the development of militant working-class associations. Among these, the Bourses du Travail, which flourished from 1895 to 1901 under the dedicated direction of the anarchist intellectual, Fernand Pelloutier,2 seemed the most promising. Fernand Pelloutier came to revolutionary syndicalism out of a background of provincial republican politics. -
Louise Michel
also published in the rebel lives series: Helen Keller, edited by John Davis Haydee Santamaria, edited by Betsy Maclean Albert Einstein, edited by Jim Green Sacco & Vanzetti, edited by John Davis forthcoming in the rebel lives series: Ho Chi Minh, edited by Alexandra Keeble Chris Hani, edited by Thenjiwe Mtintso rebe I lives, a fresh new series of inexpensive, accessible and provoca tive books unearthing the rebel histories of some familiar figures and introducing some lesser-known rebels rebel lives, selections of writings by and about remarkable women and men whose radicalism has been concealed or forgotten. Edited and introduced by activists and researchers around the world, the series presents stirring accounts of race, class and gender rebellion rebel lives does not seek to canonize its subjects as perfect political models, visionaries or martyrs, but to make available the ideas and stories of imperfect revolutionary human beings to a new generation of readers and aspiring rebels louise michel edited by Nic Maclellan l\1Ocean Press reb� Melbourne. New York www.oceanbooks.com.au Cover design by Sean Walsh and Meaghan Barbuto Copyright © 2004 Ocean Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN 1-876175-76-1 Library of Congress Control No: 2004100834 First Printed in 2004 Published by Ocean Press Australia: GPO Box 3279, -
Ida Mett – the Kronstadt Uprising
Ida Mett was born as Ida Markovna Gilman on July 20th, 1901 in Smorgon in the Russian m!ire "now Smarhon#, Belarus)& 'redomin( antly Jewish, the small industrial town was a hotbed of radi*alism& Ida be*ame an anar*hist while studying medi*ine in Moscow& She was soon arrested )or +anti(Soviet a*tivities’ and was e,!elled )rom the *ountry with her -rst husband, .avid /ennenbaum, in 1920& In 1921, Ida was in 'aris& Here she be*ame involved with the Grou! of Russian 3nar*hists 3broad, whi*h in*luded the great -ghter Neestor Makhno, his sometime *ollaborator 'eter 3rshinov, and )ellow anar*ho-syndi*alist Nei*olas 5a6ar7vit*h, who she later married& 3s well as editing the journal, Dielo Truda "9orkers’ :ause%, Mett was one o) the *o-authors of the Grou!#s *ontroversial but infuential +Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft)# < the 'lat)orm& 19=1 )ound her *elebrating May .ay with anar*hist heroes Buenaventura .urruti and >ran*isco 3scaso in $ar*elona& 'resent at this meeting were also the veteran Russian anar*hist ?oline, 3ugustin Sou*hy "author of With the Peasants of Aragon, available )rom this !ublisher% and :amilo Berneri "murdered by the :ommunists during the Bar*elona May vents of 19=@%& Ba*k in 'aris, Ida served as se*retary o) the local gas workers’ union, all the time writing and agitating, being arrested many times. It was in this !eriod that the booklet you are reading now was written& 3Aer the >all o) >ran*e in 1900, Mett was briefy interned by the ?i*hy regime in Rieu*ros *am!, be)ore the renegade :ommunist Boris Souvarine su**essfully arranged her release& She spent the rest of the war, with her husband and their ten year old son Mar*, in 5a Garde(>reinet, a quiet mountain village near the :ôte d#36ur& Returning to 'aris, !ost(war Ida worked as a nurse in a sanat( orium )or Jewish *hildren in Brunoy, and later as a translator& She was never able to !ra*ti*e as a doctor be*ause her Buali-*ations were not re*ognised by the authorities. -
Rebels with a Cause: Revolutionary Syndicalism, Anarchism, and Socialism in Fin-De-Siècle France
Rebels with a Cause: Revolutionary Syndicalism, Anarchism, and Socialism in Fin-De-Siècle France Andrew P. Miller History In his influential book, Revolutionary Syndicalism and French Labor, Peter Stearns presents the fin-de-siècle syndicalist movement in France as “a cause without rebels.” Stearns asserts that syndicalist leaders and intellectuals “produced distinctive and abundant rhetoric…yet they did not characterize French labor in their heyday and they did not set an enduring trend.”1 For Stearns, the revolutionary syndicalists failed to meet the workers’ material needs and paralyzed the unionist movement because they did not have a centralized leadership dedicated to pragmatic business and organizational practices. Bernard Moss comes to a similar conclusion, stating that the workers’ shift from “a cooperative strategy in alliance with the reformist middle class” to “a revolutionary strategy of class struggle” through loose federations and autonomous trade associations hampered the centralized discipline and political power of unions at the turn of the century.2 Stearns and Moss engage the French labor movement from very different perspectives, but in the end, both either discount or fail to recognize the specific ideals and moral tradition behind revolutionary syndicalism. Stearns’s concern with the importance of higher wages and job security conceals the fact that narrow, short-term gains were not the main objectives of the skilled labor force in the syndicalist movement. Moss, on the other hand, recognizes the ideological character of the movement, but fails to acknowledge that political socialism, as a path into twentieth-century industrial politics, eventually embedded the French syndicalists in the capitalist system they sought to overturn. -
Practical Anarchism: the Makhnovist Movement in the Ukraine, 1917Â
Phi Alpha Theta Pacific Northwest Conference, 8–10 April 2021 Zion G. Flores, Eastern Washington University, undergraduate student, “Practical Anarchism: The Makhnovist Movement in the Ukraine, 1917–1921” Abstract: Anarchism was one of the most prominent revolutionary left-wing movements in 19th and 20th century Europe, even contending as a philosophy with Marxism in many socialist circles. However, anarchism is generally believed today to be unrealistic and impractical as a political ideology. When looking at the modern historical record though, this does not always seem to be the case. I plan to explore whether the Makhnovist movement in the Ukraine from 1917-1921 provides an exception to the idea that anarchist movements are never viable. This movement, guided in large part by anarcho-communist Nestor Makhno, was one of the first to take modern anarchism from theory into practice. Although its existence was brief and its ability to fully realize anarchist ideals was limited by the circumstances of the time, the question must be asked: does the Makhnovist movement serve as an example of practical anarchism? Practical Anarchism The Makhnovist Movement in the Ukraine, 1917-1921 Zion G. Flores Eastern Washington University [email protected] Undergraduate 1 On March 2, 1917, Nestor Makhno took his first steps outside the Butyrki Prison of Moscow in over eight years. As Russia was being delivered from the chains of Tsardom, so too was Makhno delivered from his imprisonment as a part of the emancipation of prisoners during the February Revolution.1 His body emerged weak and weary from the debilitating conditions of his imprisonment.2 His commitment to anarchism, his rebellious spirit, and his fervor to emancipate toiling people from “slavery under the yoke of State and Capital” however had only grown stronger despite the seemingly hopeless prospects. -
LEON TROTSKY: from "COMMUNISM and SYNDICALISM" the Trade Union Question Is One of the Most Important for the Labour Movement And, Consequently, for the Opposition
LEON TROTSKY: FROM "COMMUNISM AND SYNDICALISM" The trade union question is one of the most important for the labour movement and, consequently, for the Opposition. Without a precise position on the trade union question, the Opposition will be unable to win real influence in the working class... 1. The Communist Party is the fundamental weapon of revolutionary action of the proletariat the combat organisation of its vanguard that must raise itself to the role of leader of the working class in all the spheres of its struggle without exception, and consequently, in the trade union field. 2. Those who, in principle, counterpose trade union autonomy to the leadership of the Communist Party, counterpose thereby – whether they want to or not – the most backward proletarian section to the vanguard of the working class, the struggle for immediate demands to the struggle for the complete liberation of the workers, reformism to Communism, opportunism to revolutionary Marxism. 3. Prewar French syndicalism, at the epoch of its rise and expansion, by fighting for trade union autonomy actually fought for its independence from the bourgeois government and its parties, among them that of reformist-parliamentary socialism. This was a struggle against opportunism – for a revolutionary road. Revolutionary syndicalism did not in this connection, make a fetish of the autonomy of the mass organisations. On the contrary, it understood and preached the leading role of the revolutionary minority in relation to the mass organisations, which reflect the working class with all its contradictions, its backwardness, and its weaknesses. 4. The theory of the active minority was, in essence, an incomplete theory of a proletarian party. -
Anarchist Modernism and Yiddish Literature
i “Any Minute Now the World’s Overflowing Its Border”: Anarchist Modernism and Yiddish Literature by Anna Elena Torres A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Joint Doctor of Philosophy with the Graduate Theological Union in Jewish Studies and the Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Chana Kronfeld, Chair Professor Naomi Seidman Professor Nathaniel Deutsch Professor Juana María Rodríguez Summer 2016 ii “Any Minute Now the World’s Overflowing Its Border”: Anarchist Modernism and Yiddish Literature Copyright © 2016 by Anna Elena Torres 1 Abstract “Any Minute Now the World’s Overflowing Its Border”: Anarchist Modernism and Yiddish Literature by Anna Elena Torres Joint Doctor of Philosophy with the Graduate Theological Union in Jewish Studies and the Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality University of California, Berkeley Professor Chana Kronfeld, Chair “Any Minute Now the World’s Overflowing Its Border”: Anarchist Modernism and Yiddish Literature examines the intertwined worlds of Yiddish modernist writing and anarchist politics and culture. Bringing together original historical research on the radical press and close readings of Yiddish avant-garde poetry by Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, Peretz Markish, Yankev Glatshteyn, and others, I show that the development of anarchist modernism was both a transnational literary trend and a complex worldview. My research draws from hitherto unread material in international archives to document the world of the Yiddish anarchist press and assess the scope of its literary influence. The dissertation’s theoretical framework is informed by diaspora studies, gender studies, and translation theory, to which I introduce anarchist diasporism as a new term. -
An Anarchist FAQ — Section I Contents
An Anarchist FAQ — Section I Contents Section I: What would an anarchist society look like? 4 I.1 Isn’t libertarian socialism an oxymoron? 12 I.1.1 Is socialism impossible? ................................ 17 I.1.2 Is libertarian communism impossible? ........................ 27 I.1.3 What is wrong with markets anyway? ........................ 39 I.1.4 If capitalism is exploitative, then isn't socialism as well? . 45 I.1.5 Does capitalism efficiently allocate resources? .................... 48 I.2 Is this a blueprint for an anarchist society? 62 I.2.1 Why discuss what an anarchist society would be like at all? . 66 I.2.2 Will it be possible to go straight to an anarchist society from capitalism? . 68 I.2.3 How is the framework of an anarchist society created? . 72 I.3 What could the economic structure of anarchy look like? 79 I.3.1 What is a "syndicate"? ................................. 83 I.3.2 What is workers' self-management? ......................... 90 I.3.3 What does socialisation mean? ............................ 96 I.3.4 What relations would exist between individual syndicates? . 102 I.3.5 What would confederations of syndicates do? . 106 I.3.6 What about competition between syndicates? . 113 I.3.7 What about people who do not want to join a syndicate? . 118 I.3.8 Do anarchists seek "small autonomous communities, devoted to small scale produc- tion"? .......................................... 119 I.4 How would an anarchist economy function? 123 I.4.1 What is the point of economic activity in anarchy? . 127 I.4.2 Why do anarchists desire to abolish work? . 129 I.4.3 How do anarchists intend to abolish work? .