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Title: Anarchist Workers on Tour Author: Nicholas Robertson Date: 2003 Language: en Topics: NEFAC, Northeastern Anarchist, unions Source: Retrieved on March 24, 2016 from https://web.archive.org/web/20160324192511/http://nefac.net/node/1251 Notes: Nicolas Robertson works as the external coordinator for the Peopleâs Potato at Concordia University, and is a member of NEFAC-Montreal. Published in The Northeastern Anarchist Issue #8, Fall/Winter 2003.
In May 2003, NEFAC organized a speaking tour called âAnarchy at Workâ
featuring members of our organization who have had diverse experiences
in their workplaces and unions. The Canadian portion[1] of the tour made
eight stops in ten days through Quebec and Ontario. In all, over 250
people attended the talks; they were young and old, workers (unionized
and non-unionized alike), the unemployed, and students.
The âAnarchy at Workâ tour proved three things that we expected, or at
least we hoped, were taking shape in the North American class politics.
First, that anarchism, or rather the specific pro-organizational,
class-struggle tendency within anarchism, is gaining ground within the
various social movements of our class as a viable revolutionary
alternative. Secondly, that older unionized workers amongst the rank and
file feel betrayed by the union leadership, but havenât given up on the
union itself and are looking for ways to organize independently, instead
of abandoning labor activism as a whole. And thirdly, the arrival of a
new generation of workers to mostly non-unionized workplaces that lack
the working standards (pay, conditions) that their fathers and mothers
knew before them, has provoked a small but feisty movement for
unionization amongst younger workers.
Much energy and effort was put into the talks in order to dispel
stereotypical assumptions about what anarchists are (be it the mad
bomber or the primitivist living in a cave) which are broadly passed on
in society, as we knew that many in our audiences may not be so familiar
with what anarchism really is. Surprisingly, this wasnât as necessary as
we thought.
Most people attending were aware of the constructive work of class
struggle anarchists in the past years and laughed at references to the
19^(th) century mad bombers and todayâs primitivists. When you think of
it, this is not so far-fetched â be it through the anti-globalization
movement, the movement for social housing in Canada (in which
anarchists, amongst others, have played a key role in the past years,
bringing in direct action tactics, mostly through squatting) and even
through the labor movement in Ontario with
participation in rank and file âflying squadsâ and in Quebec with strike
solidarity â anarchists have carved themselves out a niche in the social
struggles of the working class, being active participants in the
struggles while propagating the libertarian alternative of social
revolution.
Obviously, many in attendance were anarchist sympathizers and others
were politicized on the left, but it is a refreshing start for anarchism
to become relevant again even though it doesnât yet have mass appeal
amongst the working class.
During the tour we met a fairly large number of older unionized workers,
mostly from public sectors organized within CUPE[2] in Ontario. These
workers were participants in the 1996 general strike and days of action
against the Harris government, and were amongst the ranks of the flying
squads who were seen everywhere in Ontario in those years, on pickets,
in actions, and at large mobilizations. They also were part of the
sector of the labor movement that strongly supported OCAP[3], a radical
anti-poverty group in Ontario. This support translated to a better
bonding between community-based struggles and labor struggles. But most
of this came to an abrupt end in the fall of 2001.
No, it wasnât September 11^(th) that stopped them, but rather union
leadership withdrawing their support for OCAPâs economic shutdown
campaign set for October 2001. Union leadership just couldnât accept
actual economic disruption, like the planned shutdown of the commercial
highways linking Windsor and Detroit, because in order to keep their six
figure salaries they are inclined to want to maintain capitalist rule
rather than challenge it. Simply if production plants stop running and
the unionized membership stops paying itâs dues, the bureaucrats will
then have a tough time finding the money to pay themselves.
The flying squads still played an important role in the days of October
2001, but were strongly reprimanded for flying union colors and logos on
their flags, as they werenât legitimate enough to use them, according to
the union leadership. Following this was a move by the leadership to
gain more control over the flying squads, going all the way to having
paid officials participate in them even though they were meant to be
autonomous bodies of the rank and file. Today, the autonomous flying
squads are, sadly, almost dead.
Obviously, the workers we met in Ontario who lived and struggled through
this feel betrayed by their union leadership, and rightly so. They are
now looking for ways to keep the leadership out of the flying squads and
out of what are supposed to be movements of the rank and file. A
cross-union, base network of rank and file workers may be the way
forward for them. This is one of the proposals that were on the table
during the âAnarchy at Workâ tour, and more than 100 people signed up
for it. Older unionists, having known a life of struggle against their
bosses and against their union leadership, were particularly interested
in this network which would serve as a means of communications between
themselves and with the unorganized, but also as a web of solidarity
able to bounce from one struggle to the next regardless of union
affiliation. If mainstream labor union leadership has betrayed its
membership and eroded their faith in unionism, that base of workers is
nonetheless still aware that a fight has to be fought against the boss
class and that the union remains the best vehicle to fight it. But it is
now more than ever essential to get the bureaucrats out of the driverâs
seat...
In contrast to the older unionists in the audiences, there was also a
good amount of young anarchists and anarchist sympathizers present. Most
of them were what is called âprecarious workersâ in Canada, working in
low-paid, part-time jobs with no security. Their workplaces are
supermarkets, restaurants, large bookstores and chic cafés. In these
workplaces there is a large amount of discontent but no palpable
tradition of organizing. But this new generation of workers is looking
to change that. They understand that their working standards are lower
than that of their parents and that the way to get back to that position
of (relative) power against the bosses is to organize and struggle
collectively, be it with affiliation to a mainstream union, an
alternative union (such as the IWW[4]) or simply with a non-affiliated
workers association (such as the Bike Couriers Association of Montreal).
The anarchists of this new generation of workers know that unions must
not only serve as a tool for gaining better working standards, but also
as rallying points for the planning of the overthrow of capitalism and
the building of a new (anarchist) world.
This move being made by younger anarchists getting involved in their
workplaces is encouraging in NEFACâs perspective. Not only are they
gaining a wider audience for their ideas than any protest movement can
give them (even the large anti-globalization one), they are closer to
actually challenging capitalism materially, as it is at the point of
production where everything starts in capitalist society, and hence
where everything could stop...
Without a doubt, the âAnarchy at Workâ tour was a success for NEFAC and
we hope it was just as beneficial for those who attended. From speaking
in a union hall in Quebec City to meeting a former Love and Rage[5]
member and his unionist father and friends in Hamilton, to speaking in a
packed café of beer and coffee drinking patrons in Montreal, to being
witnesses to the wonderful organizing being done by the Ottawa IWW and
ACCA[6], to speaking in Kingston in mid-afternoon at the Sleepless Goat
CafĂ© workers cooperative with itâs red and black flag out front, itâs
really the tour hosts that made anarchy work.
[1] There are plans for a U.S. leg of the same tour sometime in the Fall
or Winter of 2003. This article relates only to the Canadian portion of
the tour.
[2] Canadian Union of Public Employees
[3] Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
[4] Industrial Workers of the World
[5] Love and Rage was a North American anarchist organization that
existed from 1989â1998
[6] Anti-Capitalist Community Action