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is a political organisation aiming to build workplace and community democracy through direct action and struggling with all those fighting for change.
We stand for the power of workers and local people against the bosses and politicians in order to bring about radical social change, to build a society based on freedom, democracy and cooperation.
Whilst organising closely with politically like-minded comrades may seem like an obvious instinct, it is worth evaluating what role a political organisation can or should play. In this essay I will build a model of working class organisation, as a means of comparing the nature and functions of the political organisation and the mass organisation. Like all such models, this will be idealised, and more of a statement as to how things perhaps ought to be, than how they are at present.
This year Swedish syndicalist union the SAC (Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation – trans. ‘Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden’) celebrates its centenary and IWW BIROC were invited to the celebrations as international guests, along with delegates from the Spanish CGT, USI in Italy and SKT in Siberia.
Activists from the small militant Polish union Workers’ Initiative (W.I.) recently visited the UK for a mini-speaking tour. The story of their organising achievements against corrupt employers in public healthcare is both impressive and thought-provoking, and far-removed from most of our own daily experiences. It deserves maximum exposure to the labour movement here.
Last weekend the fourth national Liberty & Solidarity conference took place in Birmingham. The two day event saw both more formal debate around motions as well as informal discussion, especially surrounding our industrial strategy and how best to take it forward. Participating in the conference were L&S members from across the country, from Edinburgh to Reading, along with a representative of Ireland's Workers Solidarity Movement.
15 IWW members and supporters in Edinburgh turned out today to support victimised cleaner Alberto Durango and his fellow workers who have faced cuts in their pay by their employer, Lancaster. Alberto was fired by Lancaster for daring to organise cleaners and fight for better treatment for them. Lancaster are contracted by Swiss bank UBS for cleaning in London where these workers are facing attacks and intimidation from management.
