Workers Solidarity Movement

Although Faceless Resistance as a concept has been discussed among radical circles in Sweden for several years, it has only recently begun to be noticed in the English speaking world, primarily due to delays in texts being translated. In this article I will look primarily at the work of Kämpa Tillsammans, who developed the core ideas of Faceless Resistance, but I will also situate these ideas in their historical and social context and introduce other tendencies that have been influenced by and adapted some of the theory.

Links to all the issues of Red and Black Revolution from No1 published in 1994 onwards. Includes links to PDF files of each issue.

Back issues of Red and Black Revolution

Red & Black Revolution 15 - Spring 2009 - [PDF file]
Capitalist crisis - Women of the IWW - Feminism in the Muslim world - Imperial Finance - Practical Organising - Global Game

On the 24th of November something extraordinary happened. Some 250,000 workers acted together in a day-long strike against the public sector wage cuts planned by the government. The vast majority of these workers had never gone on strike before, yet across almost all workplaces the strike involved 90% or more of those working.

The Spring 2008 issue of Ireland's anarchist magazine Red & Black Revolution is now available. Articles include “No Justice, Just Us” Interview with Larry Wheelock, Financial Weapons of Mass Destruction, How free can you be if you can’t even control your own body?, Book Review: “Sweatshop Warriors: Immigrant .

Download the PDF of RBR 14

The book seamlessly alternates between the direct testimony of the ‘Sweatshop Warriors’ themselves and analysis of the growth and spread of globalised capitalism. This book was published in 2001 but 7 years later its strength still lies in its simplicity.

It gives voice to “immigrant women workers who are barred from rooms where deals get cut…who get punished for telling the truth; who are asked to speak only as victims…” And by giving a platform to these too often unheard voices, the book demonstrates that self-organisation is the key to successfully fighting back against the exploitation and abuse faced by those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

A running theme of this issue of Red & Black Revolution has been the question of how we as anarchists should orientate ourselves towards the non-revolutionary elements of our class and towards non-revolutionary social struggles. We have suggested that we cannot remain peripheral to our class defending the purity of our ideals, rather we, as anarchists, need to be at the centre of working class social struggles. It is only thus that we can create a movement capable of abolishing class society.

The recently launched Scottish platformist group 'Praxis' offers an example of this type of anarchist activism. They have been deeply involved in trying to develop working class community organistions in Glasgow. Here we ask one of their members a few questions about what they are up to.

Anarchism is today finally emerging out of its long held position as ‘the conscience of the workers’ movement’, as the eternal critic of Leninism and state centred politics. It long took the side of the working class against the Party, a position Lenin mocked when he wrote: “The mere presentation of the question—"dictatorship of the party or dictatorship of the class(1); dictatorship (party) of the leaders, or dictatorship (party) of the masses?"—testifies to most incredibly and hopelessly muddled thinking....to contrast, in general, the dictatorship of the masses with a dictatorship of the leaders is ridiculously absurd, and stupid.”(2) Interestingly this was not written about anarchists, but rather about the position held by a Dutch-German Marxist tendency that was part of the Comintern.  This tendency and others comprise what is known as ‘left-communism’.

Over the weekend of November 24-25, protesters clashed with police in Sucre, Bolivia - they were demanding that the capital of the country be moved to Sucre. Three people died and over some 100 were wounded in the clashes. Yesterday Morales announced plans for a nationwide referendum to resolve a deepening political crisis in the country. A few months ago, two recent works on Bolivia were given a look over for the WSM's Red and Black Revoltuion 13. The review now appears on line for the first time.

Turkey has been under the spotlight this year, due to the threats of the Army against the possibility of an Islamist party taking the presidency. This move came to pose a number of questions to the European establishment, as Turkey has been negotiating its entry to the EU. The apparently uneasy two alternatives of government in Turkey are political Islam or the old fashioned authoritarian Kemalist secularism, which has the army as its vigilante sector of the ruling block. The European bourgeoisie has been quite keen to support the ruling AKP Islamist party, instead of the military, sending a clear message that they won’t favour a dictatorship in the vein of that of 1980. Actually, they have compared the authoritarian tradition of Turkey to Greece, saying that entry to the EU would eventually help to democratise it.

 The Autumn 2007 issue of the Irish Anarchist Magazine Red & Black Revolution.
Red & Black 13

• A System in Need of a Cure
• Turkey: Modernisation, Authoritarianism & Political Islam
• Left Communism and its Ideology: Notes towards a critique
• Community Organising in Glasgow: A discussion with Praxis
• Bolivia: Social Movements on Fire

 [PDF file of this issue]