IWW Shops Hold May Day Rally

Posted Fri, 05/04/2012 - 9:30am by IWW.org Editor

By John Reimann

The boss was sweating bullets. The IWW was in the house, his workers were about to stop work for May Day, and he wasn’t happy about it at all. But there was nothing he could do about it since all his workers were IWW members and they support the union. This was at Buy Back recycling in Berkeley, which functions under an IWW contract as does Curbside Pickups, the work place next door, whose workers were also about to stop work for May Day, 2012.

IWW organizers and union members on the job had been organizing a stop-work rally for the previous two weeks and here it was.

Workers from both work places stopped work for about an hour to celebrate International Workers Day in a work place rally. Most of those who spoke were the Curbside and Buy Back workers themselves, and they spoke about the conditions of their jobs and the attacks on their health benefits and other such concerns. A worker at Curbside had recently had a very serious injury (which resulted in having to have a foot amputated). Several Curbside workers commented on this and the belief that the long hours of overtime may well have been related to this, because when workers are tired accidents are more likely to happen. There were several speakers from outside the work place including Boots Riley, the revolutionary Oakland rap artist, who spoke among other things about his experiences with workers in Italy. Other fellow workers spoke on a number of issues including the history of May Day, issues for grocery workers, and on privatization and the union busting in the Oakland public school system. One noteworthy message of greeting was read from a representative of the Pakistan Labor Party. The message referred to some of the strikes in Pakistan recently and concluded by calling for the workers of the world to unite. The rally concluded with a speech from a fellow worker who called for revolution (and got a good hand of applause for that).

We all gathered round for a group photo taken by one of our members. The executive director of the Curbside operation just “happened” to be on hand and came running over, a big s___t-eating grin spread over his face. He offered to take the photo for us so that we could all be in the photo at once. We sent him packing.

It was the perfect end to a great event. We started the event by making one boss sweat. We ended it by telling another to get lost. What better way to celebrate International Workers Day?

May Day

Posted Mon, 04/30/2012 - 7:42pm by IWW.org Editor

By Noam Chomsky - Sunday, April 29, 2012, originally published at Common Dreams

Noam Chomsky is a dues paying member of the IWW. This editorial is republished in accordance with "Fair Use" guidelines.

If you’re a serious revolutionary, then you are not looking for an autocratic revolution, but a popular one which will move towards freedom and democracy. That can take place only if a mass of the population are implementing it, carrying it out, and solving problems. They’re not going to undertake that commitment, understandably, unless they have discovered for themselves that there are limits to reform.

A sensible revolutionary will try to push reform to the limits, for two good reasons. First, because the reforms can be valuable in themselves. People should have an eight-hour day rather than a twelve-hour day. And in general, we should want to act in accord with decent ethical values.

Secondly, on strategic grounds, you have to show that here are limits to reform. Perhaps sometimes the system will accommodate to needed reforms. If so, well and good. But if it won’t, then new questions arise. Perhaps that is a moment when resistance is necessary, steps to overcome the barriers to justified changes. Perhaps the time has come to resort to coercive measures in defense of rights and justice, a form of self-defense. Unless the general population recognizes such measures to be a form of self-defense, they’re not going to take part in them, at least they shouldn’t.

If you get to a point where the existing institutions will not bend to the popular will, you have to eliminate the institutions. May Day started here, but then became an international day in support of American workers who were being subjected to brutal violence and judicial punishment. Today, the struggle continues to celebrate May Day not as a "law day" as defined by political leaders, but as a day whose meaning is decided by the people, a day rooted in organizing and working for a better future for the whole of society.

For a comprehensive collection of Noam Chomsky's writings, see www.chomsky.info.

Industrial Worker - Issue #1745, May 2012

Posted Mon, 04/30/2012 - 7:31pm by IWW.org Editor

Headlines:

  • General Strike, Mass Protests Engulf Europe
  • Picket Against Unpaid Labor In Glasgow
  • Polish Ironworkers Walk Out In Wildcat Strike

Features:

  • Some Objections To Occupy May 1st
  • Review: Who Bombed Judi Bari?
  • Sex Workers: “We Ask For Solidarity, Not Salvation”

Download a Free PDF of this issue.

Happy May Day!

Some Objections To Occupy May 1st

Posted Sat, 04/28/2012 - 3:11pm by IWW.org Editor

By Juan Conatz - April 23, 2012

By now you’ve probably heard about how in various cities Occupy has called for a general strike on May 1. The call seemed to originate from a number of different circles, although the most influential circle seems to have been a group of people involved in several anarchist organizations and/or the IWW. Their influence can be seen in how widely the call was circulated, in the websites set up for Occupy May 1st, and in some of the decent looking posters and images they put out.

Regardless of the source of the call, it has been taken up in a variety of ways by Occupy groups in New York, Los Angeles, Oakland, Minneapolis, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Long Beach, Detroit, and Oklahoma City, among other places. The media has been reporting on it and it’s probably fair to say that this could be the biggest May Day since the immigration protests of 2006.

As the call has spread around and become something inseparable from Occupy as a movement, there have been a number of objections or concerns about a May 1st general strike. Some of them even come from people in the IWW or those in the radical left who we would presume would be on board. Here is my attempt to quickly address some of the most common ones.

“A general strike is irresponsible and will make people lose sympathy with Occupy.”

This comes more from the perspective that movements are about publicity and a battle of positions, primarily though the mainstream media. I don’t want to lessen the role that media plays in affecting our movements and efforts, but this shouldn’t be a main consideration of what we do or how we do it. The media is composed of mostly large businesses that are tied to numerable other large businesses and rely on them for their existence. It is largely a reflection of the interests of the rich or politicians, and it very rarely will be in favor of groups or actions which undermine this. Look at much of the coverage of Occupy; a lot of it is neutral or even positive up to a point where Occupy calls into question the pillars of our society, then the typical associations with violence, “Communism” or “hippies” are trotted out to delegitimize what the movement says. Let us also not forget how they ignored us until the police viciously attacked Occupiers in New York.

“Organized labor was not/is not being consulted.”

In a number of cities our friends in Occupy are talking with the larger mainstream unions and there is some level of participation, even if unofficial, between the two. But let’s be clear, the mainstream unions are tied up in labor law and contracts that were specifically developed to prevent such a linking between them and social movements and to dish out major consequences (including massive fines and jail time) for exceeding the restrictions put upon them.

From Wisconsin to Wall Street: The Role of the IWW in Recent Popular Uprisings

Posted Sat, 04/28/2012 - 1:02pm by IWW.org Editor

Since its founding over a century ago, the IWW has played a crucial role in every major social movement in American history. This has been especially true for recent mass uprisings around flashpoints of class struggle.

When politicians launched an assault on the rights of workers in Wisconsin, there was an outpouring of working-class solidarity centered around the occupation of the state capitol to stop a bill to cripple working-class power.

It was clear that this solidarity was best manifested in the form of a general strike, so the IWW began a campaign to build one; getting a resolution passed in the state labor council endorsing a strike , forming strike committees within business unions, and agitating for a strike through soapboxing and canvassing.

The prospect became so popular that when the bill was illegally passed, activists in the state capitol immediately began chanting: “General Strike!”

Though the Democrats directed the energy of the revolt into recall elections, the IWW managed to bring the idea of a general strike into the forefront of conversation as a means of winning class demands.

Wobblies have also played a crucial role in the the Occupy Movement, participating in its formation and evolution into bigger and more direct forms of class struggle.

David Graeber, an active IWW member, played an essential role in helping to organize the first General Assembly in Liberty Plaza, and coined the terms “99%” and “1%,” a class-conscious framing of the economic crisis that workers across the country have come to identify with.

When the movement faced its most severe instance of repression in the violent eviction of Occupy Oakland, the IWW, along with other Occupy activists, moved to retaliate with a general strike. Wobblies were part of the group of Occupiers that brought a proposal to organize a general strike on November 2 at the General Assembly held on October 26.

The Bay Area Branch of the IWW mobilized to build the strike by printing flyers, canvassing workplaces and communities, and agitating workers to avoid going to work by any means possible.

On the day of the strike itself, wobblies participated in the organization of flying pickets to shut down businesses that threatened workers trying to participate in the strike with repression.

The IWW is continuing to play an active role in Occupy and other working-class movements, promoting the philosophy of organizing workers to take direct action at their workplaces, and building working-class power through mass retraction of labor in defiance of the capitalist-class. Wobblies have played a crucial role, and will continue to play such a role in mass movements until wage slavery is a thing of the past.