238 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
238 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
from Workers Solidarity No 34
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paper of the Irish anarchist
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Workers Solidarity Movement
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Anarchist organisation
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One of the greatest myths that has been fostered about
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anarchists is that they are disorganised. Since the
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anarchist movement first emerged in the International
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Working Mens' Association in the 1870's it has
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developed many trends. Each with its own method of
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organisation.
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>From the mass unions of the anarcho-syndicalists which today
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include important unions like the General Workers
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Confederation (CGT) and the National Confederation of Workers
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(CNT-AIT) in Spain and the Central Organisation of Swedish
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Workers (SAC) to the anarcho-communists in tighter, more
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closely knit organisations.
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In Ireland, the Workers Solidarity Movement is an anarcho--
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communist organisation. The structure our organisation is
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based on the way we would like to see society structured, and
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the structure of any organisation reflects the politics that that
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organisation holds.
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Firstly democracy. Any anarchist organisation must be based on
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the principle of true workers' democracy. The WSM is a
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platformist organisation.
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WHAT IS THE "PLATFORM"
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The Platform or "The Organisational Platform of the Libertarian
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Communists" was written by famous anarchists Nestor Makhno,
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Peter Arshinov, Ida Mett and others in 1926, following their
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experiences in the Russian Revolution.
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Despite the fact that there were over 10,000 active anarchists in
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Russia in 1917, they were quickly wiped out by the Bolshevik
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Red Terror. As early as April 1918 the anarchist centres in
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Moscow were attacked. 600 anarchists were arrested and dozens
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killed.
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Not all anarchists were clear about what needed to be done. A
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few even went to the Bolsheviks but others fought on to defend
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the gains of the revolution against what they saw was a new
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developing ruling class. The Makhnovist movement in the
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Ukraine and the Kronstadt uprising were the last important
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battles. By 1921 the anti-authoritarian revolution was dead.
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This defeat has had deep and lasting effects on the international
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workers' movement.
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It was the hope of the authors of the platform that such a
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disaster would not happen again. The platform looks at the
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lessons of the Russian anarchist movement, its failure to build
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up a presence within the working class movement big enough
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and effective enough to counteract the tendency of the
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Bolsheviks and other political groups to substitute themselves
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for the working class.
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The Platform states for example that it is ludicrous to have an
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organisation which contains groups that have mutually
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antagonistic and contradictory definitions of anarchism. It also
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says that we need formal agreed structure covering written
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policies, the role of officers, the need for membership dues and so
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on; the sort of structures that allow for effective and at the
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same time large democratic organisation. And it says that we
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must have fully worked out and agreed policies that we can
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argue for as an organisation. We need to become a "leadership
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of ideas".
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These views are in contrast to the anarcho-syndicalist view
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which is that all that is needed is one massive revolutionary
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union. The problem with this is that people with widely
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differing views are in the union and so when a crucial decision
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comes up there will be a split or at least confusion as to what
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way to go.
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The best example of this is the action of the National
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Confederation of Workers (CNT) in the Spanish revolution who,
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while supporting the revolution of the working class of Spain
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had no plan of what to do. They ended up joining the
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government instead of smashing the state, and they did not
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have any worked out policy of how the workers could defend
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themselves from the backstabbing attacks of the Bolsheviks
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directed by Stalin.
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We call any group that agrees with the basic outlines of the
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Platform a "Platformist" organisation.
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STRUCTURE OF AN "ANARCHIST ORGANISATION"
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Following the ideas of the platform, we want to build an
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anarchist organisation. An "anarchist organisation" would be
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organised on a branch level. There would be a regional
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committee composed of delegates from the branches and there
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would be a national committee. The important thing about this
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structure is that control would come from the bottom up and not
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from the top down.
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To join, an individual or group must agree with the policies and
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aims of the "organisation" but once inside all members would be
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encouraged in a free atmosphere to question and develop these
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policies.
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The business of the organisation would be decided at regular
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conferences of all members. Perspectives on the future, long and
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short term, further policies and tactics would be decided and all
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members bound to them. The representatives of regions and
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national areas would also be elected and mandated to follow the
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conference decisions.
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In an anarchist organisation all representatives would be
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mandated and recallable. This means that if they start doing
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their own thing as people in positions of responsibility tend to
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do, they can be removed from that position. And nobody would
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be allowed remain in an important position for more than a few
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years.
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For us the position should never become a status symbol or a
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position reserved for 'senior' activists. It should better be seen
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as a temporary position that everyone could be expected to do at
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some time.
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But the most crucial aspect of an organisation of anarchists is
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the internal life of the branch. In order for an organisation to
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be truly democratic, education and development of all members
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must be encouraged. People must develop the confidence to
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speak at packed public meetings. The ability to question
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someone else's ideas only comes if you know enough about the
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subject being talked about.
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Books must be circulated and read, a library of left wing books
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used, articles and policies written by all. On the more physical
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side, all must be willing to do their fair share of the donkey
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work. Paper selling and postering, leafletting and picketing.
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The day to day running of the organisation must also be well
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organised; branch meetings must be attended, membership dues
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paid, etc.
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The best way to avoid an informal elite is to get everyone stuck
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in and knowing what is going on. The situation where some
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people do the "intellectual" stuff like writing articles and others
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do the "manual" stuff like giving out leaflets and yet another
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section are burnt out and don't do anything, must never be
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allowed. If that does happen you can be fairly sure that there is
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something wrong, politically, with such an organisation.
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As anarchists we do not believe that we are the PARTY with
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the TRUTH. We are quite happy to work with other anarchist
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groups as long as there is a basic level of agreement. So in the
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"organisation" of anarchists we expect that there would be many
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ideas, groups and factions, the only condition necessary would
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be agreement on the aims and policies of the organisation.
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Factions would have to support the majority position but would
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have full access to the internal bulletin and the organisation's
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journals to argue their ideas.
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THE ALTERNATIVES No.1- PARLIAMENT
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No other political groups organise in this way. Any
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parliamentary party is run on a hierarchical structure. The
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higher you are the more control you have. Real decisions are
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made by the elected TD's over the heads of the members and the
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most important decision are made by the leader of the party and
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a couple of cronies.
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Their way of organising reflects their politics of "leave it all to
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us" They encourage people to allow the bigger decisions that
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effect their lives to be made by the small elite of the ruling class.
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We are told to have faith in people who we are told know better
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than us.
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THE ALTERNATIVES No.2 - LENIN
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A similar method of organisation is used by Leninist
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organisations. Based on their failed tactic of "leading" the
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working class to socialism they develop a ruling elite within
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their organisations. Leninists do not believe that the working
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class can develop political ideas. So, instead a Leninist party
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must provide the leadership and the working class will follow.
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They see themselves as 'shepherds leading the sheep'.
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Within a Leninist party the future leaders of the working class
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are bred. Central and Political Committees are elected who are
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then given the right to make decisions for the whole
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organisation. The ideas and orders therefore come from the top
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down.
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Central control can go to absurd lengths. One Leninist
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organisation in Ireland is controlled from the USA. It has to
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have everything checked and agreed by the central committee
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across the Atlantic. This includes simple pamphlets which have
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to be printed in the states and mailed over.
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This formal leadership does the "intellectual" side of the
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business while the majority are left to selling the paper and
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going to branch meetings for their weekly orders. In these
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organisations a leader can be a leader for life. Look at Lenin,
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Stalin or Gerry Healey (English Leninist leader) for example.
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As far as education goes, most members are brought up on a diet
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of their own party literature which limits them to a low level of
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disinformation about other peoples ideas. Unless you are being
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trained for leadership there will be very little effort to develop
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debating or writing skills.
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This ties in nicely with their elitist and cynical view of politics.
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Namely the gaining control of the working class sometime in the
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future!
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WORKERS' CONTROL
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As anarchists we are committed to our democratic ideals. We are
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members of the WSM because we want to win the battle of ideas
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and fight for the control and self-management of society by the
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working class. We are in an organisation because we agree on
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our politics, have more resources as an organisation, are better
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able to put across our views and can combine our forces in the
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struggle to build an anarchist society.
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If you like our ideas we want you to find out more about us, and
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think seriously about joining us. We encourage everybody to
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find out more about anarchism, its ideas and its actions.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at
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PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland
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Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive
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by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
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or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")
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in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM
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