Workers Solidarity Movement

Responses to the economic crisis and the bank bailout in Ireland, Greece and Portugal, and reflections on recent revolutionary events in the Arab world will feature among the many topics up for discussion at the 6^th Annual Anarchist Bookfair which will be held in Liberty Hall, Dublin on Saturday 14^th May.

The editorial group for Irish Anarchist Review 3 are seeking a volunteer to produce the cover art for Issue 3 on the theme 'imagining the future' in a positive and pro-revolutionary sense (i.e. not a dystopia!).  3,000+ copies of the issue will be printed to be distributed at the Dublin anarchist bookfair and other nodes.

In the last week of February two WSM members travelled to London to take part in the second conference of Anarkismo organisations in Europe.  Anarkismo is a global network of anarchist organisations united around the Anarkismo.net website, the Anarkismo statement and the Anarchist Black Cat discussion forums.  WSM sees Anarkismo.net as the centre of our international work.

This article from Red & Black Revolution 15 describes and explains the internal organizational structure of the WSM as it was in 2008. See the WSM Constitution to get an idea of any changes that may have been made since. This article was originally a box in the article Practical Anarchist Organising.

Over the last few years, the Workers Solidarity Movement, the anarchist organisation that publishes this magazine, has grown considerably. We went from being an organisation with only a dozen members or so, to an organisation six times that size. As part of that growth we have had to reassess our internal workings and devise a range of new processes and structures for communicating, coordinating and democratic decision making. This article describes this process of change. It is hoped that it may serve as a useful case-study for other groups facing similar problems and as a small demonstration of the how anarchist organisational principles can be applied in practice.

This is the Spring 2009 issue of Ireland's anarchist magazine Red Black Revolution, issue 15.  You can read the articles online or download the PDF file.

The Workers Solidarity Movement is very pleased to announce the second issue of The Irish Anarchist Review. This magazine is dedicated to understanding the contemporary political, economic and social situation that confronts us, and finding ways to advance alternatives.

Download The Irish Anarchist Review Issue 2

Our first issue was released in the aftermath of major strikes across the public sector. Despite decades of partnership, a deflated union movement and an intense barrage of media bile, Irish workers showed their willingness to take to picket lines to fight the Government.

Now, however, we can see that the union leadership were not willing to fight - they quickly demobilised strike action to return to the bargaining table, squeezing out a disgraceful deal in Croke Park negotiations. Now, without opposition, the Government calmly talks of four-years of ‘hair-shirt’ budgets to restore the national finances.

The WSM is one of 108 organisations internationally that has signed a statement in support of today's general strike in the Spanish state.   Spain like Ireland is one of the countries where the capitalist crisis is hitting the working class hardest, unemployment has reached 20%, but in Spain unlike Ireland large sections of the working class are organising to resist the crisis.  Spain has a long history of militant anarchist unions, this statement was prepared by one of them, the CGT, in opposition to the partnership approach taken by most of the unions.  It's is preceeded by an analysis by Manu García, a member of another of the unions, the CNT, about the importance of today's general strike.