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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 W hi c h w a y t o t h e R evolution? 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.

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Unions, community groups and unemployment centres all represent at least in part . Revolution, Chomsky gives his views on anarchism and marxism, and the.
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