Interview with a CNTista

By Deric Shannon

Over the summer I had the pleasure of staying in Madrid with my brother. Most of my time was spent relaxing and recovering from work, but I did take some time to meet up with local comrades while I was there.

The second time I got together with the CNT folks there, they were doing roving pickets of Hotel Vincci. As a result of an unfair firing (Is there ever a “fair” one?), they were exerting pressure on the hotel by paying a visit to its Madrid locations. My compa, Abbey, and I tagged along for three of the locations where we stood outside the hotel and fliered, informed patrons and prospective patrons about the hotel’s bad labor practices, stickered the outside of the hotels, and got the cops called on us once (they never showed).

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Posted on August 31, 2010

25th Anniversary of the Hormel Strike

Some 25 years ago, the workers at the Austin, Minnesota plant of the Hormel Corp. embarked on a long and brave fight. A fight which was not only right but fought “from below”. This fight and the rank-and-file efforts to wage and control the struggle captivated the attention of all militant workers.

In the Workers Solidarity Alliance’s print version of ideas & action Steve Boyce, Jake Edwards and Tom Wetzel penned an excellent, article, “Slaughterhouse Fight: A Look at the Hormel Strike” In recognition of the 25th Anniversary of the struggle, we are re-publishing the article below.

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Posted on August 31, 2010

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Let’s Talk About Another Burning Color: Black Flame vs. Red Fire Extinguisher?

A red fire extinguisher

by Nate Hawthorne

In this article I discuss the treatment of marxism in a recent book on the anarchist tradition, Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism. I argue that the book’s treatment of marxism is not up to the book’s otherwise high standards. This is not simply a matter of historical interest. This relates to how left libertarian revolutionaries define the intellectual traditions we draw on and learn from. More importantly, this relates to what contemporary left currents we see as fellow travelers – who we talk to and who we see ourselves alongside. I call for more discussion between anarchists and marxists, particularly for discussion of particular works and ideas rather than speaking in generalities about capital ‘M’ capital ‘A’ Marxism and Anarchism and debates over which is better. Read more

Posted on August 24, 2010

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Vacant Hotel Occupied

by Tom Wetzel

On July 19th members of Direct Action to Stop the Cuts occupied a vacant 41-room hotel in San Francisco’s Mission District. The action was intended to demonstrate the city’s inaction on housing. While thousands of people sleep on the streets or live in very crowded living conditions in small apartments, potential housing units sit vacant.

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Posted on July 26, 2010

Black Bloc-Headed

By Steven Fake

In the wake of the G8/G20 economic summit protests in Toronto, Canada this past weekend, black bloc demonstrators have once again sparked discussion on the left and hysterics in the corporate media. Closely linked to anarchism, the continued popularity of the black bloc tactic colors the reputation of protesters, particularly anarchists, and merits a response with greater clarity from anarchists.

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Posted on July 7, 2010

Victory in Fight for Union Freedom in Germany

The German Free Workers Union (FAU) has won its appeal on the right to call itself a "union". The appeals court based its decision on freedom of speech, that people have a right to express their opinion of what a "union" is. The FAU points out, however, that they are still up against the German laws that make it illegal to engage in any direct action if you can't prove you have the power to negotiate contracts with employers. For this reason, members of the FAU in Berlin previously were fined and jailed for their boycott campaign against Babylon Cinema.

More on FAU here and here.

Posted on July 7, 2010

Review: International Socialist Review on “Contemporary Anarchism”

by Tom Wetzel

The word "anarchism" is a rather vague word that covers such a wide variety of political views and approaches it is often hard to see how they have anything in common. This means it is also probably not very productive to produce "critiques" of anarchism that lump the many different viewpoints together. This problem is on display in the most recent critique of "contemporary anarchism" offered up by the International Socialist Organization in their magazine ISR (("Contemporary Anarchism," July-August 2010, p. 38)). A weakness of the article is that it offers only brief pit stops at the various anarchist or libertarian socialist tendencies.

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Posted on July 3, 2010

The BP Oil Spill

By Kevin Limiti and Frank Rizal

Sometimes we spend so much time focusing on past events that we forget the alarming and most damning evidence against Capitalism and the State is right in the headlines of the New York Times. The BP oil spill is a perfect example of this.

In case you haven’t been following the news recently, here is a brief summary of the crisis: America’s largest offshore oil spill and one of the world’s biggest, with some 10 million gallons of oil polluting the gulf, resulted after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, which left 11 workers dead and 17 injured. The blowout at BP’s oil rig has affected commercial fishing and service industries reliant on tourism all the more while continuing to harm the rich and vibrant cultures that are interconnected with many workers that make a living fishing and as service workers in the tourism industry. The economic devastation of capitalism’s invasive oil industry will not only harm the Gulf Coasts workers but will serve in the dispossession of many generations of cultural heritage that are a part of the fragile ecosystem being destroyed by capitalist encroachment.

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Posted on June 29, 2010

Workers Solidarity Alliance Holds Continental Conference

By Frank, Kevin & Mike Harris

Over the weekend of May 21-22, 2010 the Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA) held its 1st Continental Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The conference was hosted by the Twin Cities WSA local and held in the IWW local office located at the historic Grain Belt Bottling House in Northeast Minneapolis. In attendance were members from California, Canada, Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

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Posted on June 23rd, 2010