First of May Anarchist Alliance spoke to Erik D. secretary of the Twin Cities GDC Local 14 about the history and work of the General Defense Committee there. Erik is a father, husband, education worker, and wobbly,[1] who’s also been involved in the youth-focused intergenerational group, the Junior Wobblies.
Fellow Worker Erik – can you tell us about the origins and history of the General Defense Committee, its relationship to the IWW and how the militants who founded the current Local conceived of it?
As I understand it, the General Defense Committee (GDC) was first founded by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in 1917, in response to the repression of wobblies and anti-WWI draft protests. I haven’t learned eno... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The ongoing Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, encampment, and related actions around the country are a significant development. These events may well be the beginning of a 1960s style movement of great potential. Because of its focus on the economic crisis, the financial/corporate shenanigans that contributed to it, and, most important, jobs, the movement has the potential to strike a resonant chord in the hearts of millions of people who have been slammed by the events of the last few years and who are aching to do something about them. This is particularly true of those who have lost their homes and/or their jobs, as well as those who have little prospect of finding work.
The Occupy Wall Street movement, like the movement of the 60... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) For over a week now, in response to the draconian anti-labor proposals of the Republican Governor, the people of Wisconsin have rose up in the hundreds of thousands in militant and creative fashion in defense of public workers and the unions. The Capitol in Madison has been occupied.
The surrounding area has seen a sea of demonstrators. Teachers across the state have gone on unofficial strike and high school students have walked-out in support. Rallies of hundreds and thousands have occurred all over the state. This week support rallies will happen all over the country.
This movement - directly inspired, it must be said, by the heroic people of Egypt and the Middle East - with its contagious energy, determination, humor, and optimism has ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Summer’s here and that means celebrating; from annual Pride festivals and street parties to the recent Supreme Court’sstriking down of the Federal anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. There is a growing sense that people everywhere can be who we are, love who we choose, on our own terms and in our own ways. But a string of attacks and murders in New York Cityagainst gay men and women has shocked us!
No one thinks that homophobia and anti-Queer prejudices are gone, but the recent attacks should make us step back and take a close look at what is going on around us. In one horrible incident on May 17 of this year, Mark Carson, a young gay man was followed, harassed and then shot to death by a homophobe. This happened while Mark and a... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Note: This document was written, re-written, and “polished up” over several months, with the Final Draft completed in January 2011. It was drawn up before the tremendous uprisings across the Middle East, the stirrings of the workers movement in the U.S., or the horrible disasters in Japan. While we were as surprised as anyone over the particulars of these developments, in many ways these events have confirmed our attitude expressed in this document: The possibility of revolution, the decisive role of the working-classes, the importance of participating in the emerging mass movements as anarchists, the need to incorporate religious people into antiauthoritarian organization, the obligation to oppose Empire, etc. We cannot see the... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Introduction
The murder of Mike Brown at the hands of a police officer in Ferguson, MO evoked rage among the people, both in his neighborhood and across the country. The militant protests that followed were an understandable and appropriate response. In many communities where people are just struggling to get by, there is the additional constant worry of becoming a victim of police violence. This force has its roots in the brutal and racist institutions of colonial America, and still serves to enforce and maintain economic and racial inequalities. To deal with the problem of police violence we must rebel against police occupation, build the capacity to defend ourselves as well as our neighbors, and create alternative institutions where p... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Comrades,
This is an interesting interview with our comrade Miriam (M1 Detroit) on her history of “Industrialization” with her organization at the time the Revolutionary Socialist League. “Industrialization” was the term that the Left used to describe the strategy of getting mainly University and counter-culture youth activists to commit to point-of-production organizing in factories as part of the working-class. It was different than what is today known as “salting” – as “Industrialization” was not usually seen as a short-term stint around a specific campaign, but rather a long-term commitment to building a revolutionary presence in the class.
The organized entrance of a few hundred r... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) I. Introduction
At the moment, the Middle East (taken broadly, that is, the area from North Africa to Pakistan) is the part of the world experiencing the greatest political instability and undergoing the most rapid change. At the center of the turmoil is Syria, now in its third year of civil war with no sign of any resolution in sight. Given the centrality of Syria to global politics, it is essential that anarchists understand what is going on there and develop a critical attitude toward the events that are unfolding. Unfortunately, we are not experts on the history and current dynamics of Syria and of the Middle East as a whole. The following theses are therefore presented with humility. We would greatly appreciate input from others, pa... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The tendency to reduce conflicts and revolutions to the maneuvers of states or all causation to solely economic considerations are horrible characteristics of the Marxist-Leninist analysis of imperialism and something we must resist in a truly humanistic discourse about anti-imperialism and revolution.
A Revolution Against Neoliberalism
When Bashar Al-Assad came to power in Syria in the year 2000, any illusion that the dynastic authoritarian Baathist regime was “socialist” in any way should have been dispelled, if it already hadn’t when Hafez Al-Assad took power in a counter-revolutionary coup in the 1970’s. The younger Assad vigorously began liberalizing Syrian markets — notably food and agriculture &md... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Editors’ Note
We present here excerpts from a series of posts about Ukraine that originally appeared on the discussion site of the First of May Anarchist Alliance (M1), starting in April 2014, as members and supporters of that organization responded to the early stages of Russian intervention. They provide historical background and detail relating to Mike Ermler’s article “Defend Ukraine! Fight Russian Imperialism” appearing in Utopian 13, December 2014. The major posts are by Mike, with some contributions by others.
April 25 Introduction
It is critical that the First of May Anarchist Alliance (M1) discuss and develop our understanding of the recent events in both Ukraine and Venezuela. The left-wing position... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) First of May Anarchist Alliance (M1) is a new organization.
Formerly we had constituted ourselves as small proto-organization, the Michigan-Minnesota Anarchist Group (MMG). The MMG formed in 2005 with its members having a much longer history of collaboration, in some instances reaching back to the 1980’s through an array of revolutionary anarchist organizing. With the creation of M1 we move from the purely informal to a more public presence and engagement with the broader anarchist and revolutionary movements.
We are active in our communities and workplaces as individuals, as members of M1, trades unions, as well as through formations such as the Industrial Workers of the World and Solidarity & Defense.
We cohere ourselves as a... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)