International
What is the situation?
In the last 30 years, capitalism has truly gone global, with our economies relying on each other like never before.
In recent years, we’ve seen the creation of vast ‘free-trade’ areas (such as the European Union [EU] and the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA]) where products and workers can cross borders without any barriers. This results in local workers being undercut in terms of wages by imported labour (such as at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in 2008) and the foreign workers often living in sub-standard ‘barracks’ on site.
These free trade areas seek to unify whole areas as economic zones, where workers and businesses can go wherever the bosses need them to go. Thus we see traditional manufacturing jobs being outsourced to Eastern Europe due to cheaper wages and migrant workers moving across the continent in search of work, settling nowhere.
Although largely geographical (for example most free trade agreements are based on pre-existing continental boundaries), these economic zones also intend to incorporate everything needed for the successful running of an economy. For example, in the EU we see the food producing regions (grain and wheat in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, fruit and vegetables in Spain, and meat and dairy in Britain and France), we see the ‘producing’ and heavy industry regions (Eastern Europe), we see the energy production region (the Caucasus) and we see the high technology, financial and service industries (France, Britain and Germany). We also see a vast market for the products produced.
The Trade Unions and workers organisations have protested against this in their own states, but have very little international co-ordination.
Similarly, communities across Europe are facing attack. Neo-liberalism (the ideological need to reduce government budgets) has seen virtually any and all social care systems won in the past by our fore-runners being privatised and attacked, and this is increasing.
Co-ordination internationally between our community organisations is virtually non-existent.
What do we want?
The working class needs international labour organisation; initially on a defensive basis, but also to stand a chance of seizing the means of production on a large and planned scale.
International workers organisation should be grassroots in nature, being led and directed by union branches, from the base of organisations.
International organisation (if it is to mean anything more than symbolism) should be industrial in nature.
Rank and file international, industrial organisation should be organised regionally around economic zones. As history tells us any socialist revolution will face embargos, trade wars, and political and military attempts to destabilise, overthrow, or reverse its gains, control of economic zones by any new revolutionary society will be essential.
This vision (shared by the IWW) should not be implemented by just ideological union organisations, but by all organisations which are rank and file controlled, or are in that mould.
Furthermore, the working class needs international political organisation to co-ordinate influence across mass organisations, re-orientating them towards a revolutionary socialist outlook.
Truly effective international political organisation has a united plan and will have efficient and focussed departments, all working to achieve the success of the shared plans and strategic vision.
Effective international political organisation establishes shared standards for organisation across the member groups. Development and political education of militants is something where organisations across the world can share resources.