Chomsky on anarchism IRA: Hungerstrikes to - The Struggle Site

36 Pages·2001·2.08 MB·English

Red & Black Revolution (1)
Red & Black
PDF version prepared
March 2001
www.struggle.ws/wsm.pdf
Revolution
£1.50
A magazine of libertarian communism Number 2
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Chomsky on IRA: Hungerstrikes
anarchism to Ceasefire
ARed & Black Revolution (2) A
Comment
Welcome to issue two of Red & Black Revolution.
The idea of revolution is central to anarchism. In this issue we look at just what a successful
revolution requires and in what conditions it is likely to occur. We bring news of work being done
now to build a new anarchist movement in Russia and of the links being forged between anarchist
organisations in Europe.
Anarchism however does not sit and wait for the revolution. It fights today against all aspects of
capitalist oppression. This means working alongside people who do not share our world view but
who do wish to tackle some of the worst aspects of capitalism. We look at the way broad based
projects, aimed at combating the worst elements of capitalism can become part of the mechanism
ensuring social stability.
Unions, community groups and unemployment centres all represent at least in part peoples' desire to
fight back. Capitalism in recognising this has adopted two strategies. The earlier one was of direct
attack, attempts to smash these organisations. As capitalist control mechanisms have developed and
the need for stability increased new methods have been devised, ones that aim to incorporate
activists into the control mechanisms of capitalism itself.
So we have unions that argue for competitiveness, unemployed groups that argue for funding cuts
and community groups in partnerships with the same companies that are devastating their
communities. Anarchists involved in fighting alongside fellow workers today have to be aware of
where these problems arise and how we can start to tackle them.
About the WSM
Back Issues
The Workers Solidarity Movement was members are involved in their trade unions;
PDF version prepared
founded in Dublin, Ireland in 1984 following we’ve fought for abortion rights and against
March 2001 discussions by a number of local anarchist the presence of the British state in Northern
groups on the need for a national anarchist Ireland; we’ve also been involved in cam-
www.struggle.ws/wsm.pdf organisation. At that time with unemploy- paigns in support of workers from countries
ment and inequality on the rise, there seemed as far apart as Nepal, Peru and South Africa.
see site for back issues
every reason to argue for anarchism and for a Alongside this, we have produced nearly fifty
revolutionary change in Irish society. This issues of our paper Workers Solidarity, and a
has not changed. wide range of pamphlets. In 1986, we organ-
ised a speaking tour of Ireland by an anar-
Like most socialists we share a fundamental
Red & Black Revolution 1 chist veteran of the Spanish Civil War, Ernesto
belief that capitalism is the problem. We
Nadal, to commemorate the 50th anniver-
featured articles on the collapse believe that as a system it must be ended,
sary of the revolution there.
of the left, the new organisations that the wealth of society should be com-
monly owned and that its resources should be As anarchists we see ourselves as part of a
needed, Russia 1917-21, Marx &
used to serve the needs of humanity as a long tradition that has fought against all
the state, syndicalism, the EZLN whole and not those of a small greedy minor- forms of authoritarianism and exploitation, a
ity. But, just as importantly, we see this tradition that strongly influenced one of the
& more
struggle against capitalism as also being a most successful and far reaching revolutions
struggle for freedom. We believe that social- in this century - in Spain in 1936 - 37. The
Reprints ism and freedom must go together, that we value of this tradition cannot be underesti-
cannot have one without the other. As Mikhail mated today. With the fall of the Soviet
Bakunin, the Russian anarchist said, “So- Union there is renewed interest in our ideas
Permission is given for revolutionary
cialism without freedom is tyranny and bru- and in the tradition of libertarian socialism
publications to reprint any of the articles tality”. generally. We hope to encourage this interest
contained in this issue. But please do with Red & Black Revolution. We believe that
Anarchism has always stood for individual
two things anarchists and libertarian socialists should
freedom. But it also stands for democracy.
debate and discuss their ideas, that they
We believe in democratising the workplace
should popularise their history and struggle,
• Tell us you are re-printing and send us and in workers taking control of all industry.
and help point to a new way forward. If you
a copy of the publication it appears in. We believe that this is the only real alterna- are interested in finding out
• If you are also translating an article tive to capitalism with its on going reliance on more about anarchism or the A
hierarchy and oppression and its depletion of
please send us a copy of the translation WSM, contact us at PO Box
the world’s resources.
on computer disk so we can add it to our 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland.
electronic archive. In the years since our formation, we’ve been
involved in a wide range of struggles - our
Red & Black Revolution (3)
Contents
Why is it that many single issue campaigns and community groups which
start out with a radical program soon end up as little more than service
Incorporation Pages 4
groups? Conor Mc Loughlin, an activist of the now defunct Portobello
Unemployed Action Group investigates.
Union activists are facing new management attacks but the trade union
leadership speaks only of partnership with the bosses. Des Derwin, member
The two souls of the
of the Executive of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions and of the Dublin Page 7
trade unions
Private Sector Regional Executive Committee of SIPTU gives his personal
view on the two souls of the unions.
The road to A complete transformation of society, revolution, is the goal of anarchism.
Ray Cunningham looks at what is meant when anarchists talk about Page 13
revolution
revolution, and what can be done to bring it closer.
Noam Chomsky is widely known for his critique of U.S. foreign policy, and
Chomsky on for his work as a linguist. In a special interview with Red and Black
Page 17
Anarchism. Revolution, Chomsky gives his views on anarchism and marxism, and the
prospects for socialism now.
Patricia McCarthy examines the history of Irish Travellers' struggle for
civil rights and ethnic recognition. Their struggles have much in common
Travellers fighting
with those of Indigenous people worldwide and with the struggles of Native Page 22
back
Americans and Australian Aboriginals and also with the struggles of
Gypsies, Travellers and nomads against racism and oppression.
Although many classical anarchist theorists and figures came from Russia,
the advent of the Soviet State effectively crushed the movement. Now
Russian Anarchism:
anarchism is reborn in Russia. Laure Akai and Mikhail Tsovma write from Page 26
After the fall
Moscow to tell us a little about the trials and tribulations of the new Russian
anarchist movement.
In August 1995 an international gathering of libertarian communists took
place in Ruesta, Spain. A week of discussions took place and at the end a
Rebels at Ruesta Page 28
declaration was drawn up. We present here extracts from the WSM
delegates' report on the week and the agreed declaration.
The 'Irish peace process' is now well into its second year. It has brought
The IRA cease-fire
respectability for Sinn Féin but little of consequence for the Irish working
and republican class - North or South. Gregor Kerr, a member of the National Committee Page 30
politics. of the Irish Anti Extradition Committee in the late 1980s, looks at events
leading up to the cease-fire and Sinn Féin's pan-nationalist strategy.
1995 - 1996
PDF version prepared
March 2001
www.struggle.ws/wsm.pdf
Red & Black Revolution is published by the Workers Solidarity Movement. The deadline for the next issue is
June, 1996. Submissions are welcome and should be sent either as 'text only' files on Mac or PC format computer
disks or typed on plain white paper. Disks are preferred. Letters are also welcome. All correspondence should
be sent to Red & Black Revolution, PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland.
Red & Black Revolution (4)
Incorporation
such they must have been delighted to see
a group claiming to represent the unem-
ployed telling them how they should take
their medicine. The INOU and nearly all of
its affiliates had proved to be classic cases
of incorporation in action.
A Spoonful of Sugar... Partners in Progress?
The Dublin Inner City Partnership is an-
other such example. It is one result of the
PESP deal (see footnote 1) signed in 1991.
There are many ways in which governments can prevent opposition. Some
It was established to “take a fresh and
are more open and obvious than others. When police attack protests, when
radical approach to the issue of long-term
pickets are broken up, when opposition is imprisoned it is clear what the
unemployment”3 . The stated aim was to
State is up to. However there are subtler tactics, one is the way in which
bring together employers, government
opposition movements are 'incorporated' and made part of the system. agencies and community groups to co-op-
This article looks at some examples, mostly from Ireland, but the same erate on job creation. The real deal goes
process can be seen at work internationally. back to the idea of social partnership and
So what is incorporation and how does it announced a 15% cutback in Community keeping areas of the inner city (where
happen? It is the process by which radical Employment Schemes2. There was no op- generations of unemployment and depri-
individuals or groups are integrated into position from the parliamentary 'social- vation could explode into anger) stable and
the State structure thus neutralising them ists' of Labour and Democratic Left as both under control.
as an effective opposition. Incorporation is were part of the government that was im-
The 'partnership' is part of the whole gov-
integral to the operation of most advanced plementing the cuts! There was, of course,
ernment strategy of agreement and alli-
Capitalist countries. It is a mechanism by some opposition from unions, church groups
ance between bosses and workers. This is
which, day to day, opposition can be di- and community groups. One small group,
the idea of social partnership put forward
luted and disarmed. the Scheme Workers Alliance, even at-
in successive national agreements since
tempted to organise a scheme workers'
Incorporation is mediated through an or- 1987. In the past real struggles have
strike to coincide with the European week
ganisation’s needs for funding. Whoever emerged from Dublin inner city, e.g. the
of action against unemployment.
pays the piper calls the tune. This old Corporation rent strike in the 1970s. The
saying is well understood by the State and Publicly the INOU were loud in their oppo- powers that be are prepared to be generous
the bosses who are prepared to pay a lim- sition to the cuts. But in their April 1995 or so it would appear. The partnership’s
ited amount in order to ensure social sta- bulletin they published their more consid- programme for action 1992-1993 was hop-
bility. ered response. They had carried out a ing for £10 million 4. But addressing the
survey among all their affiliates. The pur- real problems would cost a hell of a lot
Basically an incorporated opposition group
pose of this was to ask members how they more. For example, a massive programme
rather than fighting against the State has
thought the cutbacks should be imple- of State housing and a Corporation rent
become a quasi-independent arm of that
mented. freeze would go some way towards solving
State. They are the spoonfuls of sugar
Dublin’s housing crisis but it would cost
which aid the medicine in its passage down-
many times this figure.
wards. Some are born incorporated, some While everyone
become so. One example of an organisa- The 'partnership' has incorporated poten-
tion conceived and born as incorporated is was busy making tially radical groups like the Larkin Un-
the Irish National Organisation of the employed Centre, the Building Allied Trade
friends
Unemployed (INOU). Union and the National Painters Union
and companies like Guinness who have
The INOU is a federation of anti-unem- unemployment in
been responsible for the loss of hundreds of
ployment groups and union funded advice
jobs in the inner city. The State too gets
centres. They also have individual mem- the inner city has
well represented with FAS, CERT (State
bership for any unemployed person who
wants to join. The INOU claims that it increased by 30% training agency for catering) and the East-
ern Health Board on the board5. Everyone
represents the unemployed in the 32 coun-
is supposed to have a shared interest in
ties. Hence the by-line in all their publica-
helping the unemployed.
tions; “the unemployed-speaking for
The report found that there was a high
ourselves, fighting for our rights”. In prac- As a policing exercise it has worked. Un-
degree of consensus among the affiliated
tice they answer mainly to their funders ions, unemployed groups and community
groups that responded. There was a pref-
rather than to their members. groups keep the peace in some of the most
erence for selective cutbacks. They were in
deprived areas of Dublin. In some cases
More directly the State may enter what the favour of eliminating some projects at the
this policing aim was quite specifically laid
Irish government describe as “social dia- end of their 12 month period and “targeting
out. A community leadership course has
logue arrangements” in the PCW (Pro- specific projects for protection against any
been set up. The aims are given as:
gramme for Competitiveness and Work.) cutbacks”. The survey showed
This is the latest in a series of national “ To enhance the skills and expertise of local
“That there was a clear agreement that less
wage agreements signed between employ- community activists and to develop an ef-
effective projects should be 'weeded out',
ers, unions and government in Ireland fective response by local organisations to
this method was seen to be in the interest of
that tie the unions into wage moderation the growth of the complex problems with
the participants on the weak project and to
and a promise of industrial peace.1 These which they are faced.”
the benefit of other projects”.
agreements have wider pretensions to bring
Reading between the lines the desire is to
about a form of consensus politics selling It should be said, in fairness, that not all
take out effective, active community lead-
the lie that we’re all in the same boat. It groups went along with this. Some felt
ership and re-educate them in the new
gives the bosses the stable conditions they that the approach was “divisive” and
realities of 'partnership'. While everyone
need to keep raking in the profits. wanted no role in setting criteria for cuts.
was busy making friends unemployment
In April 1995, the Irish Minister for Enter- As it happened, on this occasion, the gov- in the inner city has increased by 30%
prise and Employment Richard Bruton, ernment was just testing the waters. As between the launch in 1991 and July 1994.6
Red & Black Revolution (5)
Other groups do not start off incorporated. to involve ordinary people in art with a tions (within the INOU) reported that their
Community groups, tenants’ organisations, view to using it to help effect social change. development had been limited by restric-
women’s groups and other such groups are Increasingly they became obsessed with tions placed on them by funders”.
often founded with an agenda for change. funding especially from the British Arts
The INOU is a good service provider. The
These groups result from people organis- Council. He describes how
advice supplied in the centres is good and
ing to better their lives. They wish to
“naively community artists thought they professional. As a campaigning organisa-
educate and organise but usually arise
could take the money and run.” tion it is utterly useless. It confines itself
from people agitating around a particular
to ineffectual media stunts often bringing
issue. Those who want change find them- This led to:
in groups like Machnas (a professional arts
selves opposed by those who wish to keep
“a progressive loss of control over the direc- group who put on shows for campaigns like
the status quo. They are drawn into strug-
tion of the movement and its ability to that for the release of the Birmingham 6) to
gle with existing power groups, especially
construct a programme to put its aims into put on a good show “on behalf” of the
the State.
practice.” unemployed. These are not seen as a group
As these community based organisations to be mobilised in defence of their own
Any debate on ideas or long-term direction
grow and develop, their need for funding rights but 'a deprived section of society' to
was seen as utopian. Later, incorporated
often leads them away from their original be helped by professional do-gooders.
groups begin to worry about any debate
goals. The funders, be they the church,
seeing the danger of public splits. They The consequences are seen in cases such as
charities, the State or transnational
become terrified of scaring funders. the proposed CE cutbacks. The INOU did
funders like the European Union begin to
little to mobilise scheme workers. But on
impose their ideas. The purse comes with
hearing of the Scheme Workers Alliance’s
strings attached. This immediately leads
(SWA) attempt to organise a strike and
to professionalisation. Funders always
march they sprang into action. They told
like a manager, co-ordinator, administra-
their co-ordinators to close the INOU cen-
tor or some such leader they can deal with.
tres and organised a march an hour earlier
Most funders (especially the state) are
The groups become less democratic, also than the SWA march. They refused to co-
clever enough never to provide anywhere
they begin to water down their original ordinate with SWA and managed to dis-
near to the amount of funding asked for.
aims. While lip service is still paid to the rupt and split a potentially good protest.
The cash dosage is kept deliberately low.
founding goals in reality they become a
This keeps the organisations constantly In another case a campaign was fought
dead letter. Anyone raising the original
begging like addicts who can’t score enough within the INOU in 1991 against the then
policy is seen as utopian, out of touch or
to feed their habits. The funders drop and new national deal, the PESP (Programme
even as a danger to funding! Such groups
take up groups according to the public for Economic and Social Progress). Accord-
lose sight of the idea of social change. They
profile of the group and the trendiness of ing to an ex-member of its executive the
often lose any sense of having a long-term
the issue. If it is international year of the INOU were told, unofficially that if any
aim or direction.
disabled those groups do well and so on. anti-programme motions were passed their
Incorporated groups become grant-ad- centres would lose union funding. This is
Destructive fights for funds may break
dicted. Extra funding buys new premises, how incorporation functions to police and
out. In order to keep a good vein open for
computers, offices and workers. However stifles protest and dissent.
supply members get on to funding commit-
then bills for rent, electricity and wages
and so on begin to mount up. A vicious tees themselves and so get in on the game Fighting back
of dividing the cake.
spiral is created where funding assumes Incorporation by its nature is very difficult
top priority. This means, firstly, that more to fight. As anarchists we know that it is
Incorporation in practice
time is wasted looking for funding. Sec- not enough to be back seat drivers in the
The INOU shows clearly how the mecha-
ondly and most importantly the funders struggle for social change. We know that
nism of incorporation functions. It is funded
get a veto over activity they don’t like. we have to become involved in campaigns
by FAS, the unions, church and State.8 It
Activity is dictated by them and by what and struggles; to test our anarchism in
has two members sitting on government
they will tolerate. practice. This means becoming involved in
committees doling out E.U. cash.9 It is
real campaigns and groups and pointing
This process of becoming incorporated is registered as a limited company. The
out and trying to fight incorporation on the
described very well in the book “Commu- main voices in the organisation are its full-
ground.
nity, Art and The State” 7 by Owen Kelly. time paid officers and the full-time “co-
This book describes the development of the ordinators” of advice centres. According to This is not easy. Those within a group that
community arts movement in Britain. In figures on page 15 of its own 1991 report feel it must be fought will find themselves
the late 1960s and early 1970s many wished (see footnote 8) “Almost half the associa- isolated and without funds. So they may
Red & Black Revolution (6)
have to fight a double fight both for their This only applies to voluntary service and would have gone in anyway regardless of the
rights as women, unemployed, Travellers groups. Genuine political or campaign programme. At present (according to a source
or whatever and against the 'professional groups should never accept State money. within the partnership) they are budgeting for
core' of the group. about £3.5 million over the next 4 years.
Above all the group has to be clear in its 5 ibid. page 36.
There are some steps that new groups may aims and direction and know when it is 6 ibid. page 1
take to fight or minimise incorporation. It compromising and how far it can go. It 7 Co-Media, London 1984
is important to be open, democratic and must be prepared to debate out compro- 8 According to its own publication “Organising
entirely transparent (to members) in or- mises on a case by case basis. It must also against Unemployment” (Pat Mc Ginn and
ganisation. It is important that the group be realised that, short of a revolution, most Michael Allen INOU Dublin 1991) the Projects of
reflect a real need and is set up and control- long-term campaign and community groups INOU centres were funded as follows;
led by the people effected. Nothing will can only go so far and that isn’t far enough. FAS/SES 29%
come out of parachuting in activists to DED/ACE 3%
'help' others. Footnotes Trade unions 14%
Local authorities 9%
1 The Programme for National Recovery (1987),
It is also vital that members know and Irish American/Ireland funds 9%
Programme for Economic and Social Progress
understand fully the shared aims and long- Religious bodies 7%
(1991) and the Programme for Competitiveness
term direction of the group. A group must Other government agencies 5%
and Work(1993).
be fully democratic and be open to continu- 2 These schemes are government sponsored Voluntary trusts 5%
ous debate and education so that all mem- training where one works for a sum roughly European Community 3%
bers have a say in where it’s going. equivalent to the dole (similar schemes exist in Combat Poverty Agency 3%
Other sources 12%
England and Northern Ireland and throughout
It is possible to distinguish two types of FAS is the Irish State Employment service. DED/
Europe). Though they are voluntary and not
community organisation. One is set up to ACE were the employment schemes in the North
workfare as such the training is often quite limited
provide services such as an unemployed when the report was published.
and they are usually a source of cheap labour and
centre or tenants’ rights advice centre. are often used to replace full-time jobs . 9 The total amount available through the EU is
The other specifically to campaign to im- 3 Turning the Tide; A Review of Progress and huge (though community groups see very little of
prove things. Some groups claim to do both Future Plans. (Dublin Inner City Partnership it). In 1993 the amount of social funds paid to
Ireland alone was £312 million along with
but there will be a clash and a choice must 1994)
Regional Development Funds of £464 million. A
be made. Any group which relies on money 4 This included; £2,531,000 from the European
grand total of £8 billion was promised between
from institutions like the State will, inevi- Union (money from the Global Grant, Community
1994 and 1998. Other funders include; the Ireland
tably, be compromised in fighting against Reserve, Horizon, Euroform, N.O.W) and
Fund (set up after the Anglo-Irish Agreement on
that State. Genuine campaign groups can- £6,922,000 through FAS and the VEC. Private
Northern Ireland and mainly funded through Irish/
not afford to accept this compromise. Enterprise held its side of the “partnership” with a
American business and the US government), the
measly £218,999.
Any community group will have to face SES = Social Employment Scheme (A former European Investment Bank, the World Bank,
funds realised under the Programme for
compromises in its day to day operations. particular scheme now grouped under the general
Competitiveness and Work and other direct grants
It is important that these are made with Community Employment banner).
from government departments.
the consent and understanding of all the FAS = The Irish State Employment Service.
members. Decisions on funding, taking on VEC = Vocational Education Committee.
Thanks to Aileen O'Carroll for help in writing this article.
Community Employment workers and NOW = New Opportunities for Women scheme.
other potential compromises must be made It should be pointed out that these figures were
in an open way and on a case by case basis. expectations and proved wildly optimistic. Also
in fact a lot of this money was already committed
The main stumbling block will always be
funding. One idea is a tithe. This is a small
voluntary subscription from members and
supporters. Basically this is how unions
were originally built. Tithing means that
the money comes from within the group
and is totally independent and it gives
members a sense of involvement. Cam-
paign groups can sometimes get money
from unions. However it is important to
appeal directly to workers through their
branches. Any approach to the bureauc-
racy would be avoiding the chance to build
genuine solidarity and probably doomed to
total failure anyway.
Other fund-raising events such as con-
certs, pub-quizes, race nights etc. also have
the advantages of involving members di-
rectly in raising money and deciding how it
is spent.
Usually and unfortunately, this won’t raise
enough money. For service based groups
external funding will have to be sought.
This should not be rushed into on a 'grab it
where you can' basis. The funding with
least strings should be looked into first.
Funding should be sought for individual
planned projects rather than becoming
dependant on a regular income. Where
possible multiple funding for projects
should be sought to minimise the control of
any one funder.
Guest Writer
Red & Black Revolution (7)
The Dunnes Strike &
Managing Change
— the two souls of Irish trade unionism.
For three weeks, in June-July, nearly 6,000 mostly young and part-time would be a devastating blow to trade union
workers struck against Ireland’s largest private sector employer, the strength and what place have generals
firmly anti-union Dunnes Stores, over Sunday trading, zero-hours con- without an army? On top of that Dunnes
tracts, the proportion of full-time jobs and other issues. But the principal, would have scored this triumph outside of
and unstated, issues were probably union recognition and the organisa- the carefully built-up industrial relations
tion of the newly emergent semi-casual, part-time, young (and mainly machinery to which officialdom is so com-
female) section of the labour force. The result, while disappointing on the mitted.5
concrete ‘economic’ issues, was generally greeted as something of a break-
Why the Dunnes strike won
through on the latter ‘political’ issues.
tric workers. Different sectors interpreted the victory in
Power in the darkness.
different ways. Two remarkable features
The Dunnes Stores strike came upon a Preceding elation was relief, on all sides of of the strike were the professional public
sickly, scared and handcuffed trade union the movement. The left dreaded another relations campaign of MANDATE and the
movement with the healing touch of resto- defeat.3 Even the Congress leaders could overwhelming support of shoppers in re-
ration. It stood in sharp contrast to the see that a defeat for MANDATE4 in Dunnes fusing to enter the stores. Michael Foley,
grim series of industrial disputes that pre-
ceded it. Previous disputes at Packard,
TEAM Aer Lingus, Irish Steel, Pat the
Baker, Nolans resulted in demoralising
defeats which seemed to deliver further
body blows to a downwardly debilitating
movement.
Everybody in the labour movement seems
to agree on the positive significance of the
Dunnes strike. The Biennial Conference of
the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU)
in Tralee, which overlapped last July with
the final week of the strike, was reportedly
overjoyed at the outcome. Peter Cassels,
ICTU General Secretary, congratulated
the Labour Court on its recommendation.
At the other end of the spectrum responses
were even more enthusiastic if with a dif-
ferent focus. “The Dunnes strike was a
turning point”, said Socialist Worker1.
Militant declared: “The Dunnes strike can
be the start of a general fight back by the
working class” and “In many ways it has an
historic significance.”2
The Dunnes strike revealed to all that not
alone was there still fight left in the trade
union movement, but it was present where
it was widely unexpected, among young,
unorganised, part-time workers. It pro-
vided almost the first example in the last
three years of a sucessful strike. Further-
more the Dunnes workers received the
almost universal support of the general
public, the media, the political parties, the
Church, the state (which paid them the
dole!), celebrities (even Boyzone!) and the
trade union leadership. What refresh-
ment, after the pillorying of the Irish Steel
and TEAM craftworkers, the isolation of
the Pat the Baker and Nolans Transport
strikers, the (varying) sympathy for, but
apparent helplessness of the Packard Elec-
Red & Black Revolution (8)
The emphasis here is on shop floor or-
WANT TO HELP OUT? ganisation, militancy, industrial solidar-
ity and the mass activity of the members
themselves (rather than token
picketlines) as the key essentials to the
Like most of the publications of the left, Red and Black Revolution is not success of the strike.
a profit making venture. It exists in order to spread ideas and
contribute to the process of changing the world. Managing Change
If the Dunnes strike was a ‘turning point’,
If you would like to help out in this work there are a couple of things
there was also another turning point (or
you can do. One option is to take a number of copies of each issue and
rather, another turn of the screw) at the
sell them. We are also looking for bookshops or stalls that will sell this
same time. The Biennial Conference of
magazine on a commercial basis. the ICTU showed the second of the two
souls of Irish trade unionism. The ICTU
Whatever you can do, you will be sure of our gratitude. If you want to
planted yet another milestone in the road
help, write to us at Red & Black Revolution, P.O. Box 1528, Dublin 8,
of ‘partnership’ and ‘consensus’ with the
Ireland and indicate how you can help out.
adoption of the document Managing
Change and Motion 19.
Managing Change is the latest develop-
Subscribe to Red & Black Revolution ment of what Peter Cassels, ICTU Gen-
eral Secretary, refers to as “the trade
union agenda for a new century”.10 It
Send £5 (Europe) or $10 (outside Europe) to the address above
follows a long line of Congress documents
and we will send you the next three issues as they appear. including “New Forms of Work Organisa-
tion” from the 1993 Conference.
The 1993 paper advised a new co-opera-
tive or participatory approach to such
the Media Corespondent of the Irish Times, ing was encouraged. ICTU was pressu- things as human resource management,
under a sub-heading stating, “the Dunnes rised into calling for a boycott of Dunnes world class manufacturing and total qual-
Stores strike was fought and won on televi- and urging workers with their suppliers ity control: precisely the kind of new man-
sion, radio and in the newspapers”, wrote: not to pass pickets. They didn’t hide behind agement techniques that lay-activists had
“The picket line in the Dunnes Stores dis- the need to call ballots before doing this as hitherto been warned about as undermin-
pute was not a way of ensuring that the they have claimed to be the case in other ing trade union organisation. Comment-
stores remained closed or a method of con- disputes. A glimpse of the real potential ing on the paper Peter Cassels said, “to
vincing others not to trade with the com- power of the trade union movement was innovate effectively... requires a high trust
pany, but a media event, a photo opportunity shown, and at the same time the fact that environment with workers and their un-
and an opportunity for sound bites".6 all the weaknesses of the unions to-day, the ions accepted by companies as partners in
so-called decline in solidarity,8the inability the enterprises.”11
On the same page it was reported, in rela-
to organise serious struggles comes from
tion to “the success of the strike”, that “sen- Local consensus was taken some steps fur-
the top.” 9
ior members of the ICTU took the ther at this year’s conference, where 1995’s
opportunity of the organisation’s biennial
conference in Tralee this week to hammer
home repeatedly to members the impor-
tance of using industrial relations proce-
dures to the maximum and the necessity of
mobilising public support, as well as in-
dustrial muscle, if disputes were going to be
fought and won.”7
Here the accidental is emphasised over the
essential. The Dunnes strike revolved
around two issues. The first is that MAN-
DATE had the numbers and used them,
not least in legally dodgy mass pickets.
The second is that the refusal of the com-
pany to use the industrial relations proce-
dures underlined the irrelevance of any
mediating machinery to the workers with-
out industrial action.
A more satisfying analysis was given by
Dermot Connolly writing in Militant as
follows: “In contrast (to the half-hearted
conduct of previous disputes by the unions)
the Dunnes strike was superbly organised.
They (MANDATE’s officials and executive)
knew that Dunnes were out to break the
union and worked non-stop for six weeks to
prepare the membership and counter every
attempt by management to sow confusion
and split the ranks. A national shop stew-
ards committee was formed along with
strike committees in the shops, mass picket-
Red & Black Revolution (9)
theme paper was Managing Change. The year at the ESB14 and Telecom Eireann. the ‘Soviet’ bloc, towards which many un-
Irish Times précised its contents thus: “Ac- ion leaders and backroom gurus sidewardly
cepting that global markets and the speed A new world? looked. 17
of technological change now make com- The motif of ‘competitiveness’ running
Just how far into the business ethos things
pany restructuring an almost constant proc- through workplace partnership and the
have gone is illustrated in the ICTU 1995
ess, Congress wants member-unions to current union-employer-government agree-
Pre-Budget Submission, which declares:
become pro-active in this situation. Tradi- ment (the Programme for Competitiveness
“Improved competitiveness is crucial for
tionally unions have resisted change and and Work) does not make a good match
economic growth and job creation and must
have focused on defending members’ rights. with trade unionism, which one was led to
be protected from upward pressure on pay
ICTU wants to reverse that role.”12 believe arose as an antidote to competition
and inflation.” Once it was the employers
between companies and between workers
Plainly Congress has no problem with the and government ministers who said that
themselves.15 It blends well though with a
logic of redundancies and worsened condi- wage rises cause inflation and unemploy-
revamped world-view placing the trade
tions. As the trade union leadership en- ment. John O’Dowd, General Secretary of
union eggs in the basket of the EU, the
tered into a joint economic, social and (on the Civil and Public Services Union (CPSU),
Maastricht Treaty, a strong currency and
many issues) political strategy with the writing in the Sunday Tribune in August
the European Social Charter. A world
government and the employers through about the need for confidence in the “change
view that sees itself getting behind the
the National Programmes, embracing aus- process” in Telecom Eireann (i.e. the cut-
perceived dawn of new technology. A world
terity in the ’80s, it has now accepted a ting of several thousand jobs) said, “compe-
views that seeks to sail with a restructur-
consensus approach to new management tition is here to stay and Telecom staff
ing capitalism and the ascendancy of new
techniques and ‘rationalisation’, in the in- depend on achieving, and sustaining com-
right ideology. One which compensates for
dividual firm, embracing competitiveness petitive advantage within this new envi-
the decline in labour militancy by seeking
in the ’90s. At both levels the same strat- ronment.”18
to place trade union relevance elsewhere
egy is applied: accommodation rather than
than in the class struggle. This results in As with much of the unions' thinking over
resistance. At both levels the same justi-
a half- belief in the end of the working class the past decade Managing Change is a
fication is given: let us get in on it, in order
as an entity and the transformation of its legislation of existing practice. There is
to influence it!
members into consumers. nothing new about union officials arguing
Myth and Reality It is a political economy based on the OECD, for an employer’s proposals - or a compro-
mise version of them - on the job. Congress
The reality of the workplace is remote the ESRI and the NESC16. Once, and not so
brought this to a high point in 1994, the
from the myth of cosy partnership. Re- long ago, the economic policies of trade
centenary of its foundation, by becoming
lentlessly employers have continued to ‘ra- union leaders was based largely on state
the ‘persuader’ in Irish Steel and TEAM
tionalise’ and ‘restructure’ with enterprise and the public sector. This
Aer Lingus alongside employers, politi-
redundancies, natural wastage, conversion underlying doctrine has been replaced with-
cians and the media. Actually, Managing
to contract labour, new ‘yellowpack’ start- out acknowledgement. A discredited
Change and Motion 19 arose directly out of
ing rates, flexibility and new work prac- statism has been replaced by a fatalistic
a review group established by Congress to
tices often gained by threats of closure. It’s adoption of the market; a loss of belief in
investigate ‘what went wrong’ in these two
not just at Packard that things thought any kind of ‘socialist’ alternative replaced
cases (where some workers were hard to
long-buried, like straight wage cuts or with a ‘new realism’ that contends there is
persuade).
longer working weeks, have returned from no basic alternative.
labour history. The very unions them- Managing change - never had a policy a
This creeping conversion has to some ex-
selves are being undermined by their ‘so- more apt title. The system requires regu-
tent been fuelled latterly by the collapse of
cial partners’ through the dismantling of
shop floor organisation, ‘no-strike’ clauses,
generosity to non-union people and, of
course, ‘human resource’ techniques.
Matt Merrigan, former President of Con-
gress, says it in his own inimitable style:
“Trade unionists in the workplace see no
evidence of the shared duties, responsibili-
ties and decision-making that are inferred
in the texts of these programmes. Consen-
sus and partnership are not in the lexicon of
individual employers at plant level, rather
it is: comply or else.”13 Perhaps the current
President of Congress might give us a
lexicon of the companies with a “high trust
environment”. Aer Lingus, Allied Irish
Banks....Zoe Developments?
This year’s model, Managing Change de-
velops workplace partnership from the
general operation and development of the
firm into the specific area of ‘change’. Thus
Congress addresses a current concern of
the pundits of capital: the globalisation of
capital and the consequent ‘need’ for ra-
tionalisation and ‘downsizing’ as general
and constant features rather than just in
the odd ailing company. It also addresses
the continuing restructuring, part privati-
sation and exposure to competition of the
semi-state sector - as seen in the past at An
Post, Irish Steel, TEAM and in the coming
Red & Black Revolution (10)
lar change, to ensure competitiveness and £7O,OOO per annum, according to the ‘framework agreement’ that emerges
profitability. There’s a need for an appara- Sunday Independent. 19 That’s before car should go to a ballot and be campaigned
tus - complete with apparatchiks - for its and expenses.) against.
smooth operation. The rough edges of the
employers’ proposals may have to be Bureaucrats as policemen. Furthermore Motion 19 calls for a measure
that you might, if you were not up to speed
trimmed. The workforce will be delivered Managing Change extends the domain of
with the charge to the right of the ICTU,
up to accept the essence of the changes all the persuader and of the police officer within
have expected union leaders to denounce if
systematised through a prepared proce- the industrial relations process. Peter
IBEC, the employers' organisation, pro-
dure. No more cliff-side ballots, no more Cassels, answering criticism20 that the
posed it. This is the introduction of manda-
embarrassing blockades on the Airport ICTU might “whip the trade unions into
tory use of third party machinery in
Road, no more ‘workers vote for sucide’ line”, said: “And if that requires us telling a
procedures and disputes24. The first con-
newspaper articles, no (perish the thought) trade union they’re off-side we’ll say they’re
sideration is the fatal delay and sidetrack-
importation of Air France-type direct ac- off-side. And if it requires telling union
ing that can be involved in processing
tion resistance. members they’re off-side, then we’ll tell them
urgently needed industrial action through
they’re off-side.” 21
In the new schema, of course, it is the rank the labyrinth. The second is the bias and
and file who live with the changes, while In defending the proposal for ‘a pro-active the malleability of the Labour Relations
the leaders enter the corridors of power approach to changes in work-practices’ he Commission and the Labour Court.
and increase their salaries. (The three said: “We have a choice, we can leave it to
Compulsory conciliation is, of course, well
General Officers of SIPTU receive the employers to set the agenda and do
established in Irish industrial relations: in
what trade unionists have been doing in
SIPTU (in practice), in the public service
other countries and react. Or we can try
and legally for ‘individual’ disputes under
Pamphlets from the and shape the future.” The Irish Times
the 1990 Industrial Relations Act. What
report continues: “He cited the fight to save
Workers Solidarity Movement Motion 19 would do is to extend and
jobs at Waterford Crystal and the Cost and
copperfasten it into (here it comes again)
Anarchism & Ireland Competitiveness Review in the ESB and
national arrangements with government
(3rd reprint) Telecom Eireann as situations in which
and employer organisations.
unions have seized the initiative in shaping
change".22 Finally, the Motion establishes aggregate
ballots where in certain situations Con-
These citations were unfortunate and upon
gress can insist on a single vote on a change
them any ‘traditionalist’ can rest his or her
package. This is Congress’ response to the
case. The instance at Waterford Crystal
Irish Steel crisis in which the craftworkers
was a signal defeat, the breaking of argu-
rejected the company’s ‘survival’ plan which
ably the strongest and most class con-
the majority (mainly SIPTU) general work-
scious group of Irish workers at the time.
ers accepted. Congress and SIPTU sup-
The ESB and Telecom reviews are all about
ported the plan and will support similar
the loss of thousands of the best (and best-
plans in future situations. So Managing
unionised) jobs in the country and the
Change infers that the rejection of wors-
unions’ happy cooperation with same!
ened conditions by an independent section
Motion 19 puts Managing Change into is perceived, not as an opportunity upon
specific points of policy. And here alarm which to build stronger opposition, but as
Ireland & British Imperialism
bells ring as Congress once again ties the a problem to be overcome by the majority
hands of its members. Motion 19 proposed votes of the already persuaded. This
“the conclusion of a Framework Document
with employer bodies on how change in the
workplace should be negotiated.”23 Con-
..it is the rank and
gress not only want to “lead the charge for
change” (Peter Cassels again) but it wants file who live with
a centralised agreement to govern how it is
approached. The local element as a feature the changes, while
of workplace partnership didn’t get very
far, did it? the leaders enter
This codified procedure would, without the corridors of
doubt, lay down how, when and where to
negotiate and, above all, what to negotiate. power
Also: Anarchism in Action: Any pre-cooked negotiation schedule would
The Spanish Civil War have to give an assurance to the employers
that the unions would not rule out negotia-
pseudodemocracy takes no account of valid
Other pamphlets: tion, at least, on any proposal from local
craft demarcations or cases where one sec-
employers. Then the matter would go to
tion are asked to take more odious changes
Sex, Class & Womens' oppression the Labour Relations Commission (as speci-
than another.
fied in Motion 19) after which workers
Stalin didn't fall from the Moon! would be expected to ballot (or the Editori-
Two Souls
als would want to know why not) on a
Overlapping as it was with the ICTU Con-
‘compromise’ third-party recommendation.
ference, the Dunnes Stores strike (and its
PDF version prepared
As the National Programmes have, since resolution) provided a special occasion to
March 2001
1987, removed the (offensive) power of view the two souls of Irish trade unionism
www.struggle.ws/wsm.pdf workers to put claims to their own employ- together. Connections between the two
ers, this new centralised departure would were real enough, and some others were
remove, or severely undermine, the (defen- made by Congress leaders adopting the
sive) power of workers to reject adverse Dunnes experience and by journalists jux-
changes in their own employment. Any taposing two major industrial events.