tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64571902921043682892024-03-05T14:40:26.732-08:00Two Rivers General Membership BranchMontana Industrial Workers of the WorldMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-20809827644569526922010-05-16T22:39:00.000-07:002010-05-17T06:55:08.325-07:00Interesting Labor Write-UpJessica Mayrers piece in the Independent highlights exactly why The Wobblies are the only ones with a coherent perspective on today's labor struggles. We want to thank FW Bostrom for putting himself out there in this very public forum and articulating a structural analysis that no one else interviewed came anywhere close to. I also want to critique some of the other points of view as they demonstrate perfectly why industrial unionism is the only way forward for worker power.<br /><br />Many of us know and like Mark Anderlik and appreciate the efforts he puts into the Central Labor Council ( and his participation at our recent May Day Event) but when the article states that only two members of Unite Here took part in the Wells Fargo demonstration you get a sense of how desperate the decline of private sector organized labor really is.<br /><br />As I see it the problem lies in their limited politics and set of demands. For far too long all these AFL-CIO unions did was bargain for wages and benefits. They settled contracts. They got theirs and cared little about the plight of the worlds exploited workforce until that workforce began to take the jobs, the good manufacturing jobs, and did them well at low wages. These same unions mocked the IWW for it's criticism of the capitalist system and it's goals of true worker power but of course, just as we predicted, global labor has been set against each other to every ones detriment.<br /><br />Ex-Congressman Pat Williams, posing as a labor supporter, inadvertently explains why the mainstream approach is flawed when he quotes his business- owning father's philosophy: "I'm trying to protect my profits. But I'm trying to do so in a way that I know there will be a little jingle in the pockets of our workers because they'll spend in our restaurants."<br /><br /> We don't want "A Little Jingle"! while the boss gets the business and the profit. And parasites like Montana Chamber of Commerce Pres. Webb Brown wouldn't be able to say inanities like "I think most folks want to do what's right for employees" if workers actually controlled the means of production. Presenting a sentimental picture of "Mom and Pop shops" is a canard. Ask yourself who was really better; the nice slave owner or the cruel one? The "nice" one was actually more effective at perpetuating an evil system and "mom and pop" worship the same capitalist system as Halliburton.<br /><br />It is time for Anderlik and Houseman and Williams to understand the historical dynamic driving unionism into decrepitude. Workers are in an ideological battle for real power and they can no longer pretend they can "cooperate" with capitalism. They must drive it out of existence or continue their decline.<br /><br />Dave JonesMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-81499557743249535612010-04-11T18:49:00.000-07:002010-04-11T19:04:01.322-07:00That Time AgainMayday is not just a celebration of international workers solidarity. It is also a universally recognized signal of distress. In these times of high unemployment, huge wealth and wage disparity and general disregard for unionism, I think it fitting we incorporate both these meanings in this years event.<br /><br />Saturday May 1 at 12:00 noon Wobblies and other working class members and allies will gather at Kiwanis Park in Missoula (South of the Library, on the river) to enjoy some music by local bands ( to be announced)and some fiery oratory urging direct action now! It is also possible we may get a sighting of Sir Michael Smurfits $70 million dollar yacht as he gallantly sails by.<br /><br />Join us to celebrate our proud heritage of struggle for control of the wealth WE and WE ALONE create. Learn what you can do to help sink Sir Michaels profit driven boat once and for all.<br /><br />For more info call Dave at 363 5292Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-51118539189851784562009-12-01T11:14:00.000-08:002009-12-01T11:46:53.922-08:00Dreams of His Father?The announcement tonight that President Obama will escalate the war in Afghanistan will leave a lot of people depressed and cynical. Combined with the administrations over-all lack of progressive policy, much less a shift in capitalist-imperialist ideology, this latest blow can have several effects on those who were invested in the " Hope for Change We Can Believe In" slogans of so-called "democratic" politics. They will either retreat into apathy and dissociation or they may be shocked into a further radicalized analysis. Much depends on the organization of those with positive, alternative narratives such as the IWW.<br /><br />Combined with the economic shock of failed Market dogma and the realization that climate catastrophe is inevitable, this continuation of a War Without End on Terror should be the final blow, the final betrayal, that lifts the veil behind which too many American workers have been willing to blindly dream for escape. A general disgust with political parties, spectacularized culture and grotesque consumerism may coalesce into positive transformation if we can find the energy and the courage to engage everyday people in dialogue and if we inspire others through loud, risky, direct action which challenges illegitimate, corrupt, venal authority head on.<br /><br />Unemployment, home foreclosures, falling wages and foreign wars are all connected in ways that the IWW has been talking about throughout it's proud history. At every kitchen table, in every workplace lunchroom, on every street corner and local gathering place, people will be asking hard questions about their core beliefs. They will be confused, frightened and worried and we need to share our ideas about Industrial Unionism with folks and welcome them to a safe community committed to real justice.Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-11606311753162022562009-10-06T08:30:00.000-07:002009-10-06T10:36:00.460-07:00We're Back!I thought the commemoration event came off great. We had good participation, good press and some solid gains in terms of recognition, new members, new collaborations and the promise of an actual monument celebrating some proud Wobbly history. Lots and lots of credit has to go to FW Vicki Watson for her untiring efforts and organizational skills. That is another good reason to do these kinds of events, in my opinion, the capacity it builds in our members to do the actual work of day to day organizing. That means showing up for meetings, returning phone calls, sending out emails, meeting with people from all walks of life in the community and showing them we are reasonable radicals.<br /><br />Some might wonder at the connection between free speech and labor organizing but I don't think it is too much of a stretch to say building democratic workplaces and a democratic society are linked by the necessity of building a democratic culture. Power is afraid of free speech, it wants weak citizens willing to let others think and speak for them. Actively engaged citizens and a lively discourse are the last things Capital wants to see! Workers who have re-learned how to think and speak will be way harder to keep under the bosses thumb.<br /><br />Moving forward, we have a new Secretary/Treas. ,Me, troutsky (aka Dave Jones),and hopefully two new delegates, John from N Carolina (sorry I don't remember your last name) and Brent. Casey has volunteered to work on a new, more user-friendly listserve platform and Fig and Dustin agreed to deal with merchandise. I would like to express my appreciation for the incredible job Jay Bostrom has done as interim Sec/ Treas., a job that fell into his lap by de-fault.<br /><br />Lets all step up this winter and keep momentum and energy level high. Show up at First Friday Free Speech, attend meetings and provide input, make this YOUR GMB. In solidarity, DaveMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-4178383173740316022009-09-08T08:19:00.000-07:002009-09-20T11:58:01.141-07:00The Upcoming CommemorationOn Friday October 2nd the Two Rivers General Membership Branch of the IWW will celebrate the one hundred year anniversary of Missoula's most important historical event, our nations first struggle over the exercise of free speech rights.<br /><br />in 1909 the city began enforcing an ordinance preventing labor organizers and others from speaking on street corners. As the famous Wobblie organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn describes in her autobiography "Rebel Girl", "We sent out a call to all foot-loose rebels to come at once- to defend the Bill of Rights."<br /><br />As each of the "rebels" took to the soapbox on the corner of Front and Higgins they were immediately arrested, soon filling the jails of Missoula, where they "disrupted the citizenry with their ruckus". On Oct. 2nd the city capitulated and declared that IWW orators could speak wherever and whenever they chose. Following this victory Flynn and her fellow agitators took the fight to Spokane and Aberdeen Wash.,Kansas City and Fresno Calif.,where they taught a young nation that rights are only as strong as the hearts of those willing to stand up for them.<br /><br />The Two Rivers chapter will start the festivities with an open soap box at 5:00 pm on the corner of Front and Higgins Street Missoula and followed with a re-enactment beginning at 6:00. From there we will go to the upstairs theatre at the Union Hall on East Main Street to view the film "Jailed for Their Words" beginning at 7:00 pm. Following the screening there will be a short discussion on the current work of the IWW. The public is invited to attend and participate.<br /><br />For more information contact Dave Jones at 363 5292 email at flyfeverdj@hotmail.comMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-53543286533127502272009-03-13T07:57:00.000-07:002009-03-13T09:36:44.402-07:00This Time Around- A Response to ProgressivesIt is not just"free market" capitalism which has failed us in this current global crisis. It should also be recognized that social democracy has also failed to do what it promised, that is , empower the state to protect it's citizens from the deprivations of capitalism and redistribute it's product equitably. After the last great Global Depression, when laissez faire capitalism proved itself both unstable and brutally savage, social unrest brought upon a compact between governments and markets. Unfortunately for those who still believe a social democratic solution will again save society, I believe history is a lesson in how capitalist ideology will always work to successfully undermine this compact and the Right will forever insist on it's "free markets" until we once and for all bury the profit system.<br /><br />Opposed to social democracy stands the proud tradition of democratic socialism which always stood by the Marxian tenet that capitalism would end in crisis and that it is the socialists job to organize and articulate the possible forms of the new society which will replace the old. This does not mean a socialist cannot work for pragmatic goals such as pensions or health care within the "shell", only that we must always keep the eventual goal clearly in our minds as we do so. The problem for us to solve is how we divide our energy between the two projects. I also don't think it is necessary to say "this crisis is the definitive end of capitalism" as we explain the values we think would make the new society superior. It might be the next crisis or the next, it might come through a ballot box or it might come through a strike, but eventually the system is unsustainable from the point of profit, from the point of ecosystems and from the point of justice.Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-12577536122856702012009-02-02T07:37:00.001-08:002009-02-02T08:30:18.635-08:00What Is To Be Done?The crisis of economic collapse will affect everyone but it is workers who will bear the brunt of the pain. They will be asked to work harder, to expect less, and to be patient in their misery. Many will be searching for answers as to "what went wrong?". After all, they played by the rules, they bought into every aspect of the American Dream as it was advertised, they did just as they were told and their reward is standing in line at a food bank and knowing they could lose everything over a health emergency for which they have no insurance. They look to the "experts" for answers and hear the same message reinforced over and over again. "It is just another recession" say the pundits and media,"after all the over-capacity is cleared out of the system and the bubble deflated we can get back to capitalism as usual."<br /><br />What workers don't understand ( their heads filled with "liberal" and "conservative" mush) is that HUMAN LIVES are the "over-capacity" that is to be eliminated and bubbles and imperialism are the engines of a state-capitalist economy. Attempts will be made to create a "kinder, gentler" house of cards so as to avoid social unrest but the only real innovation will be the creation of a more elaborate facade to hide the theft perpetrated by one class from another.<br /><br />So what can workers do? All the decision making seems to be in the hands of politicians and academics and the corporate pirates who made off with the last thirty years worth of wealth. Should workers want the "bailout" to succeed? Should workers support the "Stimulus Plan"? Should workers fight other workers to keep their jobs and be happy it is not THEM getting the pink slip?<br /><br />I say NO. I say Workers should organize and force an end to the system which only serves to exploit them. Because they are not organized they are powerless and don't sense any possibility for determining their own future. Because they are not organized they thought voting for Democrats was their only possibility for exercising their power. A united force that was unwilling to "work harder" or "sacrifice more" could at this crucial moment demand full ownership and control and get it. They could scrap the absurd system of thievery, barbarity and inefficiency known as capitalism and design their own system of production, distribution and allocation. One that was fair, sustainable, and democratic. If not NOW,... WHEN ?<br /> Dave Jones aka TroutskyMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-30922329783640524882008-12-20T16:45:00.000-08:002008-12-20T16:47:51.925-08:00Article on Employee Free Choice Act<input name="prefix" id="prefix" value="www" type="hidden"> <div id="wrapper"> <a href="http://www.zmag.org/znet/" id="logo"> <img src="http://www.zmag.org/graphics/zNetLogo.gif" alt="ZNet" id="imgLogo" /> <img src="http://www.zmag.org/graphics/zNetLogoThin.gif" alt="ZNet" id="imgLogoSlim" style="display: none;" /> </a> <div class="infoBox zVidBox" id="infoBoxZVid"> <div class="infoBoxBottom"> <a href="http://www.zmag.org/zstore/index/categories/5/latest"><img src="http://www.zmag.org/images/siteSettings/CracksDVD-bannerthumb.jpg" alt="ZVideo" style="margin-top: 10px;" border="0" /></a><h2>Newest Z Videos</h2> <p> <a href="http://www.zmag.org/zstore/96"> Student Movement </a><br /> <a 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</tr> </tbody></table> </form> </div> <p style="float: left;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('formArticleDiv').style.display = '';"><br /></a></p> <br /> <br /> <img style="padding: 10px 0px 0px 3px;" src="http://www.zmag.org/images/memberspics/784_medium.jpg" alt="" class="articlePic" /> <br /> <h1 style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 90pt;">Unions: A Surprise American Favor</h1> <p class="byLine"> <span id="date"> December 20, 2008 </span> By <b>Dick Meister</b> <br /> <br /><br /> <a style="margin: 0pt 400pt 0pt 0pt;" href="http://www.zmag.org/zspace/dickmeister">Dick Meister's ZSpace Page</a> <br /><br /> <a href="https://www.zcommunications.org/zsustainers/signup">Join ZSpace</a> </p> <div id="allContent"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">You certainly wouldn't think that most Americans approve of unions. After all, only about 12 percent of those who work for a living are union members.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">But despite that low percentage, and despite the frequent anti-union messages delivered by some of the country's most influential corporate and political leaders, a new Gallup poll shows that almost 60 percent of the people surveyed approved of unions. Less than 30 percent disapproved.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Most of the support for unions comes from Democrats and independents. It works out to 72 percent of Democrats favoring unions, 63 percent of independents favoring them - but only 38 percent of Republicans in favor.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Almost two-thirds of those polled believed that unions should have more influence, or at least the same amount of influence, as now. Only about one-third said they wanted unions to have less influence.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Other polls have also shown strong public support for unions. One of the most significant showed that more than three-fourths of Americans support enactment of strong laws to protect the right of workers to decide freely on whether they want their workplaces to be unionized.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">The National Labor Relations Act is supposed to guarantee that, but the law is only barely enforced and is greatly in need of strengthening.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Studies show that thousands of employers regularly intimidate workers who support or attempt to organize unions. They often fire or threaten to fire them or otherwise punish them, despite the law.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Employers order supervisors to spy on organizers. They force workers to attend meetings at which employers describe unions as evil dues-grubbing outsiders. They often claim - falsely- that unionization will lead to pay cuts, layoffs, outsourcing of work or even force them out of business.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">The legal penalties for such actions are slight - usually small fines at most. Often the fines are not even imposed. And workers fear complaining to the government about violations because it usually takes months - if not years - for the government to act, and the complaining workers could meanwhile be fired.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">That keeps many workers from even trying to exercise their union rights. Surveys show, in fact, that more than 60 million non-union workers want to unionize but won't try because they fear employer retaliation. And for good reason: Every year, more than 60,000 workers who do try to organize unions are punished, half of them fired.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">There's a remedy for that - the Employee Free Choice Act that's been before Congress for several years. It would greatly increase the penalties on employers who violate workers' union rights, fining them up to $20,000 per violation. And employers who stall in contract negotiations with workers who vote to unionize - another common tactic - would have the contract terms determined in mediation or dictated by an arbitrator.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">The key provision of the proposed law would grant union recognition on the showing of union membership cards by a majority of an employer's workers, rather than holding an election, as is now done in most cases. The law was like that originally, with no lengthy election campaigns and thus less opportunity for employers to intimidate workers.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Opponents of the Free Choice Act have seized on that so-called card check provision as a violation of democratic principles. They claim it would deny workers the basic democratic right of a secret ballot. But there are at least two major flaws in that argument:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">The Free Choice Act says if a majority of an employer's workers ask for unionization to be determined by a secret ballot election rather than by a card check, an election will be held. Secondly, those union representation elections that opponents of the proposed law like so much are in themselves serious violations of basic democratic principles.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Employers now openly violate the provisions of the Labor Relations Act that govern election campaigning. They electioneer among voters at their workplaces any time they wish, while prohibiting organizers from entering the premises or even posting pro-union material. And they require voters to attend pre-election meetings at which only the employer's side is presented.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">What's more, the voting is held on the employer's property, with voters escorted to the polls by employer representatives. And employers who lose elections can delay recognizing the results for years. That's democracy?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">The Free Choice Act passed the House handily last year, but failed to get the 60-vote majority to overcome a Republican filibuster in the Senate. Chances seem much better this year, in part because of strong support by President-elect Obama, who was a co-sponsor of the measure in the Senate and has pledged his continued strong support, as have most Democratic members of Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">The AFL-CIO's campaign for the law is one of organized labor's biggest ever, involving millions of dollars and millions of members. But the opposition is waging what's shaping up as an even more expensive effort, the biggest anti-union campaign in many years. It's being waged by many powerful corporate employers, the entire Republican establishment, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other influential stalwarts of the anti-union right.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">They may think they have a majority of Americans on their side, since such a small percentage of workers belong to unions. But even should they win their battle with organized labor, the polls make clear that a significant majority of Americans nevertheless support the unions that the powerful opponents of free choice would destroy.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Dick Meister is a San Francisco-based journalist who has covered labor and political issues for a half-century. Contact him through his website, <a href="http://www.dickmeister.com/">www.dickmeister.com</a>.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <hr /> <br /> <p class="articleLinksBox" id="AddComment"> <a href="javascript:%20void(0);" onclick="oComment.addCommentNotLogged();">Comment On This Article</a> | <a href="javascript:%20void(0);" onclick="oDOMHelper.toggleObjDisplayById('allComments');">See All Comments (0)</a> | <a href="http://www.zmag.org/znet/preferences/20007">View sustainers that like this article</a> </p> <br /> <br /> <div id="newComment" style="display: none;"> <form name="formComment" id="formComment" action="/itemCommentary/saveItemCommentary" method="post"> <input name="articleId" value="20007" type="hidden"> <input name="url" value="/znet/viewArticle/20007" type="hidden"> <table width="600" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td width="100">Title:</td> <td><input name="title" id="title" value="" size="50" type="text"></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"><div><input id="body" name="body" value=" " style="display: none;" type="hidden"><input id="body___Config" value="" style="display: none;" type="hidden"><iframe style="position: absolute; z-index: 10000;" src="javascript:void(0)" scrolling="no" width="0" frameborder="0" height="0"></iframe><iframe id="body___Frame" src="http://www.zmag.org/FCKeditor/editor/fckeditor.html?InstanceName=body&Toolbar=Basic" scrolling="no" width="745" frameborder="0" height="350"></iframe></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p><input onclick="document.getElementById('formComment').submit();" value="Save Comment" type="button"></p> </td> <td> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </form> </div> <div id="newCommentNotLogged" style="display: none;"> <div class="message" style="margin: 0pt;">For this feature, you must be logged in as a sustainer, please. 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To become a sustainer go <a href="https://www.zcommunications.org/zsustainers/signup">here</a>!</div> <form name="formLogin" action="/login/checkLogin" method="post"> <div class="loginMenu" style=""> <input name="url" value="/znet/viewArticle/20007" type="hidden"> <p> <label>E-mail:</label> <input name="loginUsername" size="18" type="text"> <label>Password:</label> <input name="loginPassword" size="18" type="password"> <input name="submit" value="Login" type="submit"> </p> </div> </form> </div> </div> <div id="smallRightWhite"> <h2>Recent Meister ZNet Articles</h2> <ul><li> <a href="http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/20007"> Meister: Unions an American Favorite </a> </li><li> <a href="http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/19945"> Meister: 80 Workweeks! </a> </li><li> <a href="http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/19871"> Meister: Women Union Strength </a> </li><li> <a href="http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/19788"> Meister: Bonds' Grand Adventure </a> </li><li> <a href="http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/19729"> Meister: Gay Workers </a> </li><li><a href="http://www.zmag.org/zspace/search/znetarticles/dickmeister">All ZNet Recent </a></li></ul> </div> <div id="footer" style="font-style: normal;"> <a href="http://www.zmag.org/znet">ZNet</a> | <a href="http://www.zmag.org/zmag">ZMagazine</a> | <a href="http://www.zmag.org/zspace">ZSpace</a> | <a href="http://www.zmag.org/blog/writers">ZBlogs</a> | <a href="http://www.zmag.org/znet/writers">ZWriters</a> | <a href="http://www.zmag.org/zmi/zmi.htm">ZMI </a> | <a href="http://www.zmag.org/zeo/zeo.htm"> ZEO</a> | <a href="http://www.zmag.org/zvideo/main">ZVideo</a> | <a href="http://www.zmag.org/zcontacts.htm">Contact Us</a> </div> </div>Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-20753859227188291892008-12-18T10:23:00.000-08:002008-12-18T10:35:28.537-08:00Tis the Season of Sadness<div><br /></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica">I have never been very fond of the Xmas season. It is not a very socially acceptable, and verboten with the kids, to have a negative attitude about the season of giving. I have struggled mightily to reform my attitude, but to little success.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica; min-height: 24.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica">But this holiday season many people are struggling not with bad attitudes about Xmas but with a dark mood. The families in Iraq and Afghanistan who are living under a hail of death from the sky, and those of us here who extend them our vigilant compassion, feel the weight of sadness acutely. The growing ranks of the homeless, many of them families, will have little to lighten their mood. The growing number of folks struggling without, or with inadequate, medical coverage, many (19,000 last year) who face avoidable deaths as a result of lack of access to needed medical care, face a crushing sadness. The hundreds of thousands of workers being fired and laid off on the eve of Xmas have little to celebrate. The victims of Katrina who STILL are without help must struggle with bitterness rather than inviting joy. The vast numbers of young people who watch their futures foreclosed for lack of jobs or affordable education may be tempted to find joy in a bottle or a syringe. And no such list can be a complete inventory of those who's Xmas stocking is filled with sadness due to the tidal wave of injustice that is crashing over the world. The majority of whom will never reach our attention. And such a list is being added to by the moment as the forces of greed consume the earth and its people. But individually we can summon the gumption to seek some happiness of some kind, hopefully from the companionship of family and friends, and if out of nothing more than spite, spit in the face of adversity and suffering and enjoy some good feeling. I certainly hope so.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica; min-height: 24.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica">In the mean time the news, known and less known, relentlessly pounds us down. I feel especially for all those folks who invested their hope for better times in recent presidential politics. Personally, I had little hope that the verbiage about CHANGE was little more than window dressing for the reality of LITTLE OR NO CHANGE. Expect little, disappointed less. But I feel for those who sincerely hoped and worked for a better government in Washington. How can it feel to these people to watch the daily parade of appointments of high level administrative officials who's record is one of support for the same policies that have so stricken the country over the last several decades of corrupt leadership?</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica; min-height: 24.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica">But hope is an irrational feeling. It's purpose is to allow us to continue on in spite of it all, and in situations of great stress, such as we are experiencing now, it is the main and last defense against despair and depression. So I say to those who still cling to hope of short term salvation, keep it up, its good for you and its good for me to see you exercising your defenses. I too have hope, but it is the paradoxical sort that expects things to get better only after they get as bad as we can possibly imagine. It is not the kind of hope that most people need or wisely want.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica; min-height: 24.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica">Who knows? Maybe Obama is some kind of wizard who will charm the dragons of destruction that he is inviting into government and surprise us all. Go ahead and have such irrational day dreams, but while you are at it I suggest that you do what you can to protest. For instance I just signed a petition against the appointment of former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack to be the next Secretary of Agriculture at the Organic Consumers Association's web site ( <a href="http://www.care2.com/news/go/989157">http://www.care2.com/news/go/989157</a> ). Any such forms of resistance, whether or not they can be seen as effective, can be considered an Xmas gift to everyone. So, ultimately in this season of giving the best gift is to give a damn and keep stubbornly giving.</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica">Happy holidays,</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica">herb</p> </div>Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-39148601315667586642008-12-09T12:06:00.000-08:002008-12-09T12:08:40.105-08:00Proposal From FWs Del DucasOur Organizing Approach Isn’t Working; So Let’s Try Something Radical<br /><br />By Kristin and Jim Del Duca<br /><br />Have you ever wondered why our union, which we consider to be the most valuable in the history of the planet, has become so small in numbers? With capitalism running rampant across the globe, slavery and exploitation at an all time high, our planet’s life support systems starting to melt down, and workers losing their jobs and homes at a record breaking pace, why aren’t we IWW members numbering in the tens of millions instead of a couple thousand? Wouldn’t you say these questions are vitally relevant?<br /><br />We won’t waste time restating the OBU’s philosophy, history, or how time has proven that we, of all the unions in the world, understood long ago what needs to be done before the workers will enjoy their fair share of this earth’s bounty. There is no point in preaching to the choir. What we will put before you members is our observation that WE ARE FAILING to make measurable progress towards achieving our goal of a Worker’s World. We have the vision, experience, and organizational structure to accommodate and empower MILLIONS of workers. The fact that we only have a few thousand card-carrying Wobblies means that our current approach to organizing and recruitment simply isn’t working and should be scrapped A.S.A.P. I don’t know who said it originally, but some smart person once offered, “Insanity is repeating the same behavior and expecting a different result.” Well, we are crazy to continue what we have been doing when the results are worse than miserable.<br /><br />When this union of ours was most powerful and admired, with hundreds of thousands of members and supporters, they didn’t have the Internet or cell-phones for communication. They had to stick a stamp on a letter or spend a day’s pay on an operator-assisted long distance telephone call. There was no such thing as a DVD. If they wanted to witness a speech they had to travel, wait, brave the cops, and hope they had train fare to get home. The list of inconveniences is a long one, but the point we want to bring up here is that despite all the trouble they got the word out to those who wanted to hear it and welcomed every worker who was ready to carry the Red Card and practice Direct Action. We’ll say this again: They got the word out so everyone knew about what the IWW is, and they welcomed everyone who wanted to be a part of our movement. So why aren’t we doing this today? We can hear the whines now…”But we’re doing everything we can….” To those spouting weak excuses for poor performance we must respectfully say “Like Hell we are!”<br /><br />Our train of thought about this situation got started when we weren’t able to attend an Organizers Training seminar a few months ago. Yes, we had been puzzled before then about why practically no one had heard of the IWW and what we are fighting for. We had heard about the One Big Union from our elders and from references in old radical literature, but thought that the IWW had closed up shop half a century ago. It was a Google search on the Internet that led to our becoming members. Pure serendipity. We don’t think that depending on luck is the way to build a union. So the story goes back to how we missed the organizing seminar and thought “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a DVD that we could learn this information from?” Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? With the Internet and You-tube we could be empowering thousands of workers a day, with exponential growth in our unions membership. Even more importantly, we could be teaching Direct Action and Worker Solidarity on a worldwide scale, with the time-tested methods of the Old IWW, the union that was about RESULTS, and getting the goods NOW.<br /><br />We promptly wrote to the Organizing Committee and GHQ, certain that an idea like this would catch fire like a dry forest in July. Much to our surprise, they didn’t like the idea. The most positive feedback we got from the Main Office folks was, (paraphrased) “A DVD to augment our organizing seminars might be good, but we feel that the skills of organizing are too complex to be communicated in any way other than in person.” Furthermore, if we wanted to make it we would be on our own. It is tempting to speculate that power and control is very important to some people within the very union that is founded upon de-centralization of power and individual self-determination within the collective. Ironic, isn’t it?<br /><br />We were not only shocked at this stone-age attitude, but we also couldn’t believe that this view reflected that of the general membership. So we sent about a hundred emails out to Branches all over the world. Guess what? Those folks who wrote back were 100% in support of the idea. This would suggest that the elected officials in charge of organizing and recruitment are out of touch with current needs and wishes of the rank and file. That is why this article is being offered in the GOB. The Capitalists are no longer relying on door-to-door salesmen to disseminate their message. They use the most up to date marketing strategies and methods and they are kicking our collective tails in the propaganda and organizing arenas. For us to continue to rely upon Guru-to-disciple organizing will only yield more success for Capital.<br /><br />The strategy that we are proposing is that of producing a radical recruitment/organizing video for free electronic and other distribution. A working title could be “How to be a Successful Wobbly and a Labor Radical”. It would teach who we are, where we came from, where we are all going together, and how to implement Direct Action, Worker Solidarity, and Getting the Goods. These principles apply to every worker around the globe and do not need to be country specific at all in terms of laws, etc. It is our heart-felt belief that there are literally hundreds of thousands of workers who will join the IWW if they can be made aware that we exist and MEAN BUSINESS! We also assert that hundreds of thousands of other workers who will not become IWW members would nevertheless use our strategies and tactics to better there own conditions if only supplied with the tools. What are we waiting for?<br /><br />Maybe this idea is a lousy one and won’t produce the hoped for results. If it doesn’t prove successful we’ll dump it, learn from our mistakes, and try something else. The important thing here is that we have to become aggressive about achieving our goals and producing recognizable results. If we want to burn down the theoretical Capitalist forest then we have got to set ten thousand little fires in every part of it so there will be no chance of their killing the flames. Every DVD or download would be a match set to kindling. We want to see those little sparks flying all over the world, and soon.<br /><br />Please contact us at <a href="mailto:delducja@gmail.com">delducja@gmail.com</a> if you want to be part of this project. There is no question that we will need plenty of help. In Total Solidarity for the One Big Union, Kristin & Jim.Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-72465725426412516232008-12-04T08:32:00.000-08:002008-12-04T08:46:41.991-08:00The conundrum of extreme wealth<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I often find myself puzzling about why the general public, including many in journalism and academia who should know better, have such a hard time noticing that the plutocracy is in the process of dismantling the US and the rest of the world's economy and condemning the world to generations of poverty, disease, despair, death and decay. An objective look at the predictable effects of extreme wealth concentration, neglect of basic services, education, agricultural fertility, ecological destruction and induced stupidity by means of mass media manipulation, indicates that we are nearing the bottom of a deep hole with no hope of climbing out any generation soon. Historically the current phase of world civilization resembles most the period when Europe was headed into the Dark Ages. Some perceptive academics have caught on, but very, very few. The only candid portrayal of the situation being the one presented by Jane Jacobs in her last book, Dark Age Ahead (</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Age_Ahead"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Age_Ahead</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">)</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica; min-height: 24.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Then it came to me this morning while doing the washing. We have a pervasive fundamentalist belief that is so strongly held across the world that no one is really aware of its blinding effect. It is a religious belief in Progress. People find it impossible to believe that we could be led deliberately into decline. Something like this happened toward the end of the Roman Empire. Pax Romana was such an amazing success, on a scale, in terms of general improvement of standards of living and personal security, comparable to the Industrial Revolution, that even as the institutions of the Roman state were becoming hollow caricatures of themselves, even as banditry, pestilence and war were depopulating large swaths of the Empire, even as barbarian tribes were routinely sacking great Roman cities, the general population continued to believe in the glory of Roman civilization. Then, as now, the vested interests of a very narrow, hyper-wealthy segment of the Roman citizenship, were working actively against the interests of the general population as they savaged the machinery of the empire in the process of concentrating their personal wealth at the expense of everyone else.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica; min-height: 24.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These days it is nearly impossible to read any progressive screed without encountering advice about what we need to do, as a world wide society, to ward off climate destruction, bring the population explosion under control, improve the lives of the poor and bring an end to war. The brilliance of many of these proposals is startling and the conclusion, that at least I come to, is that saving the world is not a technical problem. It is a political problem. It is a problem of concentrated power that, in every instance, is working against positive change and for a regression to a feudalistic form of order, euphemistically referred to in the inner sanctums of power as the New World Order.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica; min-height: 24.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Great wealth and power seems to have the effect of transforming otherwise well educated and modern people into stone cold troglodytes content to see the rest of humanity suffer in the extreme in order to glorify their unopposed dominance. The spiritual decay induced by wealth was hinted at in the biblical parable of the camel and the eye of the needle. Our fortune lies not in our stars but in our hearts, and in our quest of avarice we abandon hope in the future in favor of the coin of the present.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica; min-height: 24.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The single most powerful predictor of a societies health and longevity is economic equality. Though pockets of equality still exist, generally secondary, as with Western Europe, to their ability to parasitize the third world economies, the overall, worldwide reality is of rapidly increasing inequality and the emergence of mass abject poverty. The dominant reality, in our age of splendid achievements and excesses for the few, is of an accelerating downhill course that is headed for the edge of a steep cliff, and no realistic possibility of a reversal of this trend is easily imagined.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:28px;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A Short History of Progress is a book-length essay by Ronald Wright published in 2004. In this insightful, and I think little appreciated study, Wright contemplates just what I am talking about here. I highly recommend it for any thoughtful reader. He lays out in a concise and scholarly way the facts of past misadventures of civilization, their paths to eventual collapse and the lost opportunities that could have saved them from destruction. But I guess, not surprisingly for the author of a popular book, he ends up challenging us to not make the same mistakes. He, like all the progressive thinkers, prescribes a choice of intelligent innovations that can save us from falling off the cliff. But of course the real situation is not that we lack the ability to make intelligent choices, it is who is making the intelligent choices. The troglodytes of extreme wealth may be primitive in their mental stance, but they are far from being unintelligent. For greatly concentrated power the intelligent choice, the best service of self interest, is the promotion of a general decay that leaves them high and dry, secure in their castles defended by their armored knights and supremely superior to the groveling rabble at the gates. The primitive human animal lusts for the adoration of a court and impunity of action. Once you have nearly everything the only thing left is to see that no one else has anything at all.</span></p> </div>Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-34363532142178158662008-12-02T11:53:00.000-08:002008-12-02T12:01:21.159-08:00Lemons Into LemonadeFellow workers, Here is the Op Ed piece I worked up. I would appreciate comments, suggestions and discussion and if I get three yeas I will send it off to Missoulian with suggested edits.<br /><br /> Dave Jones<br /> aka www.troutsky.blogspot.com/<br /><br />While the global economic meltdown and resulting recession will undoubtedly be a time of challenge and hardship for working citizens all around the world, it also presents opportunities for deep, lasting change not seen for generations. Due to it’s spectacular failure,the very logic of neo-liberalism is being questioned and new models discussed. Issues like fairness and sustainability are rising to the forefront. Here in the US, the country with the most responsibility for precipitating this collapse, the working class also carries a responsibility. It is incumbent on us to see that solutions for recovery go beyond mere re-regulation and involve a fundamental re-ordering of relative power in society. The larger political questions we face are: what form will a rescue take and who will pay for it?<br /><br />Because the burden for any rescue will fall, as it always does, on the backs of the workers, it is time to make three demands in return. The first is single payer health care for all citizens. For too long the US has lagged behind the rest of the developed world in providing comprehensive care for all its citizens. The second is a public pension system for all. A dignified, secure retirement with defined benefits should await each worker who has contributed. The third demand should be for a jobs creation program directed at building public infrastructure. Creating a green energy system, localized food systems and carbon free methods of transport will both provide jobs and be an investment in the future.<br /><br /><br />Of course taking advantage of this opportunity for change will depend on citizens’ ability to correctly identify their interests as workers and to mobilize with a unified voice. This is why we see such an aggressive attack on unions by Big Business and the media which serves them as this crisis unfolds. Only through solidarity will we see not just a bailout for financial markets but a re-invigoration of true democracy and a society which works for all of its citizens. Instead of top-down decrees we call for public discussion. It is time for workers to have a say.<br /><br />Two Rivers Branch IWWMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-86756780119678985952008-10-10T14:12:00.000-07:002008-10-10T15:36:33.454-07:00Rupture- PossibilityThe economic meltdown has generated responses and analysis from many positions but what do the workers have to say? Hard to tell because there exists no medium for worker opinion to surface into the mainstream. Even twenty years ago labor would at least have had a say in negotiations. Economists such as Walden Bellow have made attempts to go beyond the usual CNN-style simplistic platitudes ( Mainstreet vs Wall Street etc.) and look at underlying causes, the contradictions and limits of capitalism such as over -accumulation and the declining rate of profit. He argues persuasively that such 20th century strategies as globalization, financialization and primitive accumulation (expropriation such as US occupation of Iraqi oilfields) are but symptoms of the historic crisis of capital.<br /><br />Others, such as Naomi Klien, see this as a classic case of the "Shock Doctrine",a convenient disaster for increasing the neoliberal agenda, and certainly the "bailout" provisions seem to be openings for increasing control and monopoly. But what to make of recent nationalizations of banks and the increasing calls for socialization of institutions? Pundits and politicians assure us that "the American worker" will get us out of this mess by WORKING HARDER and increasing their productivity and the unorganized and disoriented masses do seem vulnerable to this rhetoric of national exceptionalism. Many are caught up in the promises of politicians who have no desire whatsoever to disrupt the current structure of power relations but pander to workers concerns and fears.<br /><br />This is why a response from those organized in the IWW and other unions is imperative. We need to demand an end to the power of capital to dictate the terms and install worker run and worker controlled institutions and structures. We need to "design political projects that can be called post-neoliberal." While we may not be ready to challenge capitalism directly, we can restore democratically controlled state functions such as the regulatory capacity to curb the barbarity of capital and carry out universally inclusive social policies. By "creating new mechanisms of political participation and redefining the links between the social and the political" we can balance the hegemony of the state through "cohabitation with a sizeable private sector" and with socialized properties taking many forms- cooperatives, worker managed and community owned. We are talking about a unique opportunity to rehabilitate the public domain with the universilization of rights and a thoroughgoing de-marketization. Only we, the workers, can make this happen.<br /><br />quotes are from an essay by Emir Sader<br /> This post is from Dave Jones (again) aka TroutskyMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-63831981934300732622008-09-14T20:32:00.000-07:002008-09-17T08:11:30.930-07:00Smell of SulpherThose of you who read the Sept. IW may have noticed the unsigned opinion piece on page 11 titled Nationalization Controls Venezuelan Workers. And if you know anything about the history and current situation in Venezuela you may, as I certainly did, have problems with the main thesis of the piece and with some of the "facts" as presented. Take for instance this analysis concerning the re- nationalization(and socialization) of many key industries, industries that not so long ago ,in fact, belonged to the people( that is, the State) of Venezuela.<br /><br />"However,the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of the President is worrisome." Well, it would indeed be worrisome were it true, but the fact that many industries and banks are being nationalized does not automatically transfer "economic power" into one mans hands. It should be mentioned that there is also a legislative body, courts, and a huge electorate which share power in a balanced fashion. Witness Chavez's loss at the polls with the last referendum. And his acceptance of that loss. Were he the dictator he is here made out to be would he call for elections on each of these reforms? Does the (unknown) author assume Chavez makes Castro like decisions over every aspect of economic planning or holds personal title to all these industries?<br /><br />Then there is this observation: "His rhetoric and actions have polarized Venezuela into the unfortunately familiar 'us and them','patriots and traitors' model of social control." Anyone with the slightest historical knowledge would know that Venezuela's "polarization" began in colonial times and is very much a socio-political split between haves and have nots, light and dark skinned, in other words between those who controlled the oil wealth (with the blessing of the USA) and those who were left hungry and illiterate in the barrios and favelas. The flames of polarization are fanned daily by the hard-right and their American allies.<br /><br /><br />The really troubling aspect of this critique, from a Wobbly point of view, is the analysis of the 2002-3 CVT (oil workers union) strike which was designed to bring down the fledgling Bolivarian Revolution and restore right wing, privitized ownership of the oil sector. This is the authors take:<br />" The crushing of the strike sent a message to the rest of theVenezuelan working class:be an ally of Chavez or face overwhelming repression."<br /><br />I have been fortunate enough to have been able to travel to Venezuela with a Witness for Peace delegation and to interview leaders of the CVT as well as academics, human rights activists and other non-partisan observers of the strike and as hard as this might be for the editor of the IW to face, the reality is that sometimes the workers can act in allegiance to reactionary, regressive forces. They may act out of bourgeois self-interest, they may aid in upholding an oppressive regime, they may, like Mr. Block, just be ass kissers for the boss. The cops beating the strikers are workers! What is missing from the article and the authors perspective is any historical context, any mention of CIA involvement in the strike, any mention of the right-wing orchestrated coup attempt just one year before or the atmosphere which led to the strike. What I heard from my conversations with Venezuelans was that the oil workers were a very elite sector,making many times the average wage,and that their union was top-down bureacratic and very much in support of the status quo. Far from a message of fear, what was sent to the working class was a message that a new economic as well as social order was being built, an order which promised a much fairer distribution of wealth for the multitude that had been excluded up till then. What was promised was a revolution which would turn the entire continent upside down, one with a much broader democracy to include indigenous people and those of African descent.<br /><br />I would hope that our organization would encourage a more nuanced, particular, and historical analysis of current events and not rush to reflexive, doctrinal judgements such as these. What do others think?<br /><br /> Dave Jones aka troutskyMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-86592213447366618792008-07-31T07:46:00.001-07:002008-07-31T08:04:44.372-07:00Thoughts from Raoul Vaneigem on the Spectacular-Commodity System<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.estuaire.be/fileadmin/estuaire/photo_haute_def/vaneigem_caiti300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 381px; height: 412px;" src="http://www.estuaire.be/fileadmin/estuaire/photo_haute_def/vaneigem_caiti300.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Haven't you ever felt like flinging your pay check into the face of the pay clerk? In that case, you have realized that:<br /><br /><ol><li>The wage system reduces the individual to a bookkeeper's digit. From the capitalist point of view, a wage slave is not a man but an index of the overheads of production and a certain degree of purchasing power in terms of consumption.</li><li>The wage system is as much the keystone of global exploitation as alienate labor and commodity production are the keys to the spectacle-commodity system. To improve it would be to improve the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeois-bureaucratic class. One can, therefore, only do away with it entirely.</li><li>Wage slavery requires that we sacrifice over eight hours of our days for eight hours of work: in return we receive a sum of money which covers only a fraction of the work done. The rest is retained by the employer for his own benefit. In its turn our wage has to be exchanged for polluted, junk products, household goods sold at ten times their real value, alienating gadgets (the car that enables us to get to work and consume, pollute, destroy the countryside, and save some empty time and kill ourselves. Not to mention the dues owing to the State, to experts, and to the trade union racketeers...</li><li>Anyone who believes that wage demands can endanger private or State capitalism is mistaken: employers award to their workers only that increase which the unions need if they are to give evidence of their continuing usefulness: and the unions demand of the employers (who can, in any case put up prices) only sums that pose no threat to a system of which they are the greatest beneficiaries but one.</li></ol>So you see, you have had a bellyful of living most of your life as a function of money and of being reduced to obedience to the dictates of economics, of merely existing and not having the leisure to live life to the full. Already, consciously or otherwise, you are fighting for a reallocation of useful goods which will no longer have anything to do with the pursuit of profits and which will, instead, answer people's real needs."<br /><br />"Contributions to The Revolutionary Struggle," Raoul VanegiemMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-77145685266457671232008-07-16T05:57:00.000-07:002008-07-16T07:21:49.832-07:00Look For Me In ButteOne of the reasons for my joining the IWW was to challenge the dominant notion that, to qoute Margaret Thatcher, "There are no alternatives". I find the rigid, thoughtless, conformity of Americans to be a terrifying threat to democracy and justice for workers and so was heartened to find a group willing to step out of the mold and proudly proclaim it's difference. Therefore, when I walked up to the Union Corner in Butte last Friday and saw the IWW banner hanging there and my Fellow Workers wearing the Black and Red, I reflected on just how far we had come in so short a time.<br /><br />Here was the very "alternative" Margaret said didn't exist! And what a perfect backdrop for our message of worker solidarity to resonate in, Butte America, with both it's historical connections to the IWW and it's present-day economic woes. Due to the predatory, boom and bust nature of advanced capitalism, the boarded up buildings and ever-present "for sale" signs spoke volumes about the struggle the people of this mile-high city face to put food on their tables.And here in the middle of it was a group of folks ready to talk about alternatives, resisting that conformity, unwilling to "go along to get along".<br /><br />Whether sitting at the table selling shirts and books or sitting listening to the great old songs or just wandering the festival grounds those three days, I was constantly approached by people who wanted to learn more about what we stood for and what I thought and how the world might be changed for the better.People who saw us proudly wearing our Frank Little shirts (fantastic job, Dennis!)were inspired to tell us their stories and talk about unions and think about WORK. One shy young teenager approached me and said he had just started reading about socialism.Another guy came up to say he had seen our booth and gone home to dig up his grandfathers old union card, which he then proudly showed us. As my wife and Vicki were headed for the gospel tent a man called out "hello Sisters" and showed them his IWW pin. All weekend people tapped me on the shoulder and asked me "who was Frank Little?" or said "I didn't know the Wobblies were still around" and were genuinely interested to hear of our activities.One guy even wanted to talk about Gramsci and Guy Debord! (a theory wonks dream come true!) It is because there is a latent but ever-pressing yearning for deep, structural change that working folk are relieved to see we are still around. As the crisis of capitalism worsens (and it is going to worsen),this yearning can be channeled into organized effort if we stay on task, keep improving our own democratic processes and build our capabilities. Keep up the good work, Wobblies!<br /><br />From DaveMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-20662996863445771762008-05-17T11:46:00.000-07:002008-05-18T07:43:46.099-07:00Fire the Boss and Get to Work!Coordinators, facilitators, and leaders have a tendency to coordinate, facilitate and lead. Well, therein lies a problem. What do we do when we begin to <span style="font-style:italic;">depend </span>on others to ensure that the difficult work of organizing society gets done? Well, do we <span style="font-style:italic;">depend </span>on others? Please note that I'm playing around with self-evident, rhetorical ideas. That is because I'm curious about the quiet manner in which we slip into roles as we organize for a future where we hope to be more relevant. As a Wobbly, I was attracted to the Industrial Workers of the World because I hoped it would <span style="font-style:italic;">give </span>me more power over my own life. In many ways it did, but it hasn't be <span style="font-style:italic;">given </span>to me by the IWW. In the end, I realize I had to become more self-aware, take risks and I had to get the work done instead of waiting for others to do it for me. <br /><br />My experience with leadership within grassroots organizations has shown me that a tendency in our society is to be "party" but rarely "participant." The "party" version usually comes in the form of donations. That is because members of grassroots groups often assume the work is going to get done by someone. That is because visible leaders, coordinators, and facilitators emerge to reassure us that someone out there is taking care of business. Perhaps a lack of powerful, identifiable leadership helps explain why the Industrial Workers of the World may seem disorganized. However, the IWW intentionally avoids a monolithic directorate...that is because it's up to us to educate ourselves, organize ourselves, and most importantly, to act for ourselves. <br /><br />So what do we do to address the lack of historical agency prevalent in our society? Someone's got to bring the ideas forward, right? Or do we wait until people can no longer tolerate the way things are to spring forward with an alternative? It would seem to me that waiting would run a massive risk of inviting reactionary ideas to come to the aid of desperate people. But getting motivated, staying motivated despite constant setbacks and disillusionment, and taking a role doesn't have to be someone else's reality. Can't it be our reality too?<br /><br />Of course, this doesn't mean acting in an individualistic, self-centered manner, but one that honors and respects one's own interest while appreciating that an injury to one is an injury to all. Therefore, collective harmony will more often than not result in individual harmony. How could it not when one appreciates the inter-dependent nature of life?<br /><br />Another fear that often prevents us from acting, speaking out, etc. is the fear that we don't know what the best course of action is and we fear the judgments of others. The IWW is often dismissed as an irrelevant response to the problems we face, yet something draws us to it. But it is massively important that we move beyond an intuitive sense that the IWW is offering something unique, or something that sounds ideal, and actually study it. We should know what the IWW is trying to do. We should know what the historical basis for its plan is. And, we should agree that, while not perfect, this plan for organizing society is worth our best efforts and continued sacrifice. <br /><br />Finally, we need to be reassured that the people with whom we are struggling--and taking risks--are people we know and can trust. So working on our personal relationships within our organization becomes tantamount to a genuine, cohesive and solidaritous struggle. <br /><br />All of that said, we are brought back to the original point of this discussion: what about leaders? I do believe some people sometimes emerge as something we have termed "natural leaders." But why is this? Does this imply that the rest of us are "natural followers"? I'm curious about human history and our limited understanding of human nature. Is it natural for some to lead and others to follow? Or is this the result of thousands of years of human evolution based on the idea that hierarchy is natural? Is there a natural necessity for some to lead and some to follow? Can we imagine and reflect on this concept outside our intuitive reactions to this idea?<br /><br />I'm not convinced that leadership is natural. And even if it were, is it desirable? Either way, the tasks at hand affect us all and I would think that one would relish the reality that their life is not pre-determined and that one has the opportunity to make their own history and shape their own life and construct their own knowledge. But developing such agency requires taking some risks and realizing that <span style="font-style:italic;">saying </span>we need to work together to accomplish our hopes of a brighter future is much easier than <span style="font-style:italic;">actually </span>picking up the tools and getting to work.<br /><br />Edward Gibbon, the author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, once wrote "<span style="font-style:italic;">Augustus was sensible that mankind is governed by names; nor was he deceived in his expectation, that the Senate and people would submit to slavery, provided they were respectfully assured that they still enjoyed their ancient freedom.</span>"<br /><br />I believe one of our amazing unions most fundamental roles is to smash hierarchy! Perhaps even before we talk of tackling capitalism. Of course, we should work on both concomitantly. But I honestly believe capitalism is born from the historical role of domination that springs forth from hierarchy. We must look at our social relationships. We must look at our dominion over nonhuman nature. We must look at our social interactions. We must look at the ease with which we slip into roles that we rarely determine are necessary and ethical. <br /><br />So let us begin a discussion of the need for each of us to accept our ontological vocation of becoming subjects not subjugated. Let us enjoy the fruits of mutual aid as we become agents in the shaping of our own lives and no longer be the slave objects of the powerful forces to whom we've relinquished our agency. In other words, pick up a machete and start clearing your own path.Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-15296542631488609372008-05-06T12:31:00.001-07:002008-05-06T12:57:31.271-07:00CarlaCool,<br /><br />I just figured out about how to get in here. So now that I am here, I guess I had better think of something intelligent to say.<br /><br />So, we get so busy talking about how to save the world and going in so many different directions, as we all are, that it is easy to forget about our own real life battles. I just love the meetings and the energy. It has been a whole lot of fun so far, but I am wondering what the Heck I am doing here, and already I am chairing meetings. Whooooa horsseey. I am not so sure yet. First of all, I am the boss and the worker. My wage is being set by the market, which I am not sure about. I am a massage therapist. I am trying to figure out if there is a way for me to utilize this group. The truth is, as I see it, that there is a massage school in town that does massages for CHEAP! So I don't know if there is anything to do about it.<br /><br />So, I am not sure I have a group to bring together.<br /><br />I am not so sure if it is in my own best intrest to be putting tons of time and energy into a cause that I am not so sure that I am going to benefit from.<br /><br />I am not saying I am bailing, but I need to make sure that I get the bills paid, and that I am networking where it will do me some good.<br /><br />I know that this sounds awfully egocentric, but it is also realistic. After all, How can I save the world if I can't save myself?<br /><br />I guess that this is part of the new direction and vision. Maybe I am not alone questioning, what the hell I am doing, all of the sudden identifying myself with this eclectic, strange, awesome group of people . Especially,if we don't have a teacher's union, or a electrician's union, or a carpenter's union to protect.<br />I feel like I am not really ready to jump totally into the fold with all four feet. I need more time to be able to be a part of the group with full integrity. <br /><br />Like I took years to gather the information I needed to decide whether or not we should go to war with Iraq. I feel like I am mainly there for because I feel like there are a lot of very worldly people who have a lot of first hand information. I feel like a new born baby, just opening my eyes for the first time to a whole new world.<br /><br />You will have to be patient with me while I decide whether I want to wear Wobblie all over me all of the time, or even some times. I don't like the shirts. Saying I'm a wobblie feels exilerating and very odd at the same time. <br /><br />Just a reality check.<br /><br />CarlaMontana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-43785065803146547192008-05-02T08:32:00.001-07:002008-05-02T08:38:20.815-07:00Argentina's Recuperation Movement: The struggle to work without a boss continues<h1><span style="font-size:85%;">Apr 30, 2008 By <b>Marie Trigona</b></span><br /></h1><a title="http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/marietrigona" style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-family: Gill Sans,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/marietrigona">Marie Trigona's ZSpace Page</a> / <a title="http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace" style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-family: Gill Sans,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace">ZSpace</a><br /><p> </p><p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >Who wants to work for a boss? I'm guessing that most people would say no. Since the birth of capitalism, workers' movements have pondered the utopian dream of liberating the working class from exploitive bosses. Argentina has been home to a phenomenon called recuperated enterprises. When the owner decided to shut down a factory or business, workers decided to save their jobs and physically occupy their workplace. Overtime the worker takeovers caught on. Today more than 200 worker run businesses are up and running. In the very heart of Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, workers at a 20 story hotel are making this utopian dream a reality.</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >Walk into the BAUEN Hotel, and most guests are astounded by the 70's inspired d?r. The BAUEN hotel operates like any other hotel, but with one big difference. There is no boss or owner. Guests appreciate the hotel's convenient downtown location and cultural events. Locals also enjoy the BAUEN's newly renovated front caf?alled Utopia. </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >But things weren't always bustling at this starlit hotel. Mar?del Valle, a BAUEN worker recalls the workers' decision to occupy the abandoned hotel. "Sometimes, I ask myself why am I here? We were able to recuperate a 20 story hotel, 220 rooms, 7 salons, a theater-bit by bit. The first carpets we cleaned with scrub brushes on our hands and knees. A very small group of companeros."</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >In the midst of Argentina's worst economic crisis in December 2001, the hotel was ransacked and remaining workers were fired by the former owner Mercoteles. A group of 15 workers along with supporters took over the hotel on March 28, 2003. </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >Arminda Palacios is a seamstress who has worked at the hotel for over 20 years and was there when the workers who decided to cut off the locks on a side entrance into the hotel during the initial occupation. "Us workers and all of our supporters we entered the hotel through the entrance on Corrientes Ave. The workers' entrance was on Corrientes. We simply entered. There was a small lock. They cut the lock off and we walked in. We went to the reception area. When we saw there was electricity, we didn't think there was going to be electricity....we started to hug and cry." </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >The BAUEN Cooperative recently celebrated their 5 year anniversary of workers' self-management. But the celebrations were bittersweet. The BAUEN cooperative, like many of the recuperated enterprises, was forced to set up shop without any legal backing whatsoever. </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >After 5 years, the Cooperative still has no legal standing and faced a court ordered eviction notice last year. Manuel Benitez, a cooperative associate at the hotel says that despite legal support, the public still supports the workers rights to defend their jobs. "A judge has ruled that the hotel should be handed over the original owner Marcelo Iurcovich. With the eviction notice, they gave us 30 days. We did many actions with organizations. We're still here thanks to the organizations and demonstrations held in the street in front of the hotel. We've appealed the eviction notice, but the appeal has been delayed. Once the appeal decision comes, I don't know what is going to happen. We're here because of our support from the public."</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >When the eviction notice arrived in July, 2007 - thousands mobilized not only against the eviction, but for a long term legal solution for the hotel. 150 workers are currently employed at the BAUEN cooperative. "During my 20 years working at this company, I got to know the bosses well. For us negotiation has been a bad word, and much more right now. We don't have to negotiate with them! Because the BAUEN is ours, even if the bosses don't like it!" That was Arminda Palacios again, a 68-year old worker and cooperative advocate, at an assembly held shortly after the eviction notice was delivered. </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >The eviction notice came in response to a petition by the Mercoteles group, which the court recognizes as the legal owner of the property. Appearing in court in 2006, Marcoteles Director Samuel Kaliman was unable to provide the court with Mercoteles' address, board member names and other legal information. </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >The federal court has accepted a appeal on behalf of the BAUEN cooperative which has temporarily delayed the eviction order. According to Federico Tonarelli, Argentina's worker-occupied factories which provide jobs for more than 10,000 people need a definitive legal solution. "The recuperated enterprises don't have a definitive legal framework. A national expropriation law would not only provide workers with the legal right to the buildings, but a framework for all the recuperated enterprises."</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >Back at the hotel, the 150 BAUEN cooperative associates continue to reinvent social relations and reverse the logic of capitalism. Marcelo Duharte has worked at the BAUEN for over 20 years. He says that the workers are accomplishing what capitalists are not interested in doing, creating jobs. "Even though the recuperated enterprises are just a grain of sand, we're changing small things, not everything that we would like to. Slowly were incorporating a new concepts. Not just workers taking over property, but we're creating another economy and making our lives more dignified through work. If the state doesn't implement policies to create jobs, there are workers with their humility, transparency and honor implementing a new philosophy for work."</span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >Despite market and legal challenges, the BAUEN cooperative continues to improve services and open its doors to other workers challenging the system. Human rights activists, unionists and community organizers regularly use the hotel's facilities for meetings and events. Argentina's worker occupied factory movement is rallying across the country for a national expropriation law in the face of eviction orders and legal uncertainty. At a massive rock concert held last year, thousands voted to resist against a forceful eviction of BAUEN and other occupied factories. </span></p> <p><br /><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >Marie Trigona is a writer, radio producer and filmmaker based in Buenos Aires. She can be reached at </span><a title="mailto:mtrigona@msn.com" href="mailto:mtrigona@msn.com"><span title="mailto:mtrigona@msn.com" style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >mtrigona@msn.com</span></a></p>Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-35350852110102845372008-04-15T06:10:00.000-07:002008-04-15T07:17:59.858-07:00Reform or Revolution?We have been having some great discussions at the last few meetings ( this is subversive activity in itself!) about some aspects of the IWW program and the classic question keeps cropping up. To what degee can we work within the current system for change and to what degree should we totally reject the systems processes and mechanisms? After all, we are plenty aware of capitalisms ability to devise ways to reproduce itself and co-opt attempts at radical change. Control of popular culture, the media, education ,religion, even the boundaries and limits placed on permissible debate or discourse in civil society , all these things subtly align a dominant narrative which sustains capitalism. Can we change things through electoral politics? Should we work for social justice through non-profit organizations? Will incremental change do any good? Can we build a popular movement or just a dedicated vanguard?<br /><br />Better minds than mine have wrestled with these questions for two centuries but I believe modern times require what is now called "multi-tasking". We should work to build a "popular front" on many levels with allies all along the political spectrum but I believe the most necessary, critical ,and presently lacking political identity in such a front is the left-Left and those with the courage should strive to re-fill this niche. By staking out a radical position, uncompromisingly anti-capitalist, we create political space for everyone, the very thing capitalism hates. If you wish to vote and it helps build trust with allies, fine, but be ready to argue in every conversation that direct action is the only real way individuals become agents of change and that the economic system is the thing that must be replaced.<br /><br />I say we reject the either-or constraints and work for both reform and revolution, dividing our precious time among those tasks which will bear the greatest fruit. Reform is easy and many choose that road of quick results. Lets get food to poor people. Lets get health care for all. But building the foundation for deep, structural, long term change requires patience and energy for which regrettably few have either the stamina or courage. This is where we are most needed. Let this be our primary task.Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-68260213971441416442008-03-24T09:51:00.000-07:002008-03-24T14:16:54.733-07:00IWW Back in Montana!WE'RE BACK!<br /><br />Actually, we never fully went away. Even though the 1980's were some lean years for the <a href="http://www.iww.org/">Industrial Workers of the World</a> in Montana, vestiges of our militant union have persisted since we first arrived shortly after the founding of the IWW in 1905. Wobbly organizers came to help organize the exploited miners and timber beasts of the rugged old west.<br /><br />Missoula, Montana can proudly proclaim itself to be the site of one of the first <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_fights">free speech fights</a> in the U.S. IWW organizers like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gurley_Flynn">Elizabeth Gurley Flynn</a> came to Missoula in 1909 to speak out on the streets and to announce to the world that "the working class and the employing class have nothing in common." For exercising their rights to free speech, hundreds of Wobblies and working class men and women were jailed in Missoula. After overfilling the jail cells and having no where to put the overflow of free speech fighters and no way to feed them, a decision was made to just let them out. And that is how free speech as we actually understand it was born in this country, not through the U.S. Constitution! (Perhaps we have even more rights than we know, we just have never effectively exercised them...?)<br /><br />Fast forward to July, 2007 when a couple of Wobblies met in the Break Expresso coffee house on Higgins Avenue and simply said: "Let's start a General Membership Branch!" And so, in six short months this goal was realized. We now have a branch and we are finding people everywhere that are interested in our work and ready to get organized. We are finding job sites to organize and we are finding enthusiasm for our radical critique.<br /><br />Over the past few months we've increased our visibility to the public by participating on a panel of international labor rights, a labor film festival, and a university film series. A standout event was hosted in Butte, America at the site of some of the IWW's most important history. This IWW social was recognized by the mainstream press on television, and state-wide papers. The IWW carries with it a great deal of meaning in the state of Montana, and so our return is big news.<br /><br />On May 1 and 2, 2008 in Missoula we will be putting on two days of commemoration and celebration. On May 1, we will be participating in what is recognized around the world as the actual Labor Day. We will be meeting in Kiwanis Park at 5:30 PM for a commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre and International Workers' and Socialists' Day. From the park we will march to the University of Montana to watch a film appropriately titled "The Wobblies."<br /><br />On May 2, we will gather at the site of the 1909 free speech fights in front of the Florence Building on Higgins Avenue for a re-enactment of those speeches and the reaction of the police. We will be joined by historians, poets, musicians and Wobblies that want to speak out! From there we are going to the Union Hall to host a Utah Phillips Benefit Concert. The headliner is "America's most famous unknown folksinger," Mark Ross.<br /><br />Join the One Big Union today! If you are in Missoula, come to one of our meetings on the first Monday of every month at the Union Hall at 7 PM.<br /><br />Don't wait any longer to wage slavery and take control over your own life.Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6457190292104368289.post-8040090976211401562008-03-24T09:00:00.000-07:002008-12-11T19:36:08.062-08:00Wobblies Launch New Chapter<img src="http://www.billingsgazette.net/i/logo.gif" border="0" height="52" width="358" /><br /><br /><p class="tiny">Story available at http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/03/02/news/state/32-wobblies.txt</p> <p class="date">Published on Sunday, March 02, 2008.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaphH9THcbRKp7H_V-kTgTLMm2DoJYIpQYgwvwr6yV7niOO8lko08jMTogULTGh1PWQkNljlOrPs8YBYTgtLRTZaxiwSA3sc7-MGbxjkcYwAzKXQskeiuT0SKKrXQ6XdV4XV8Bl3KpETk/s1600-h/32-wobblies.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaphH9THcbRKp7H_V-kTgTLMm2DoJYIpQYgwvwr6yV7niOO8lko08jMTogULTGh1PWQkNljlOrPs8YBYTgtLRTZaxiwSA3sc7-MGbxjkcYwAzKXQskeiuT0SKKrXQ6XdV4XV8Bl3KpETk/s320/32-wobblies.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181371593327280114" border="0" /></a><br />Last modified on 3/2/2008 at 1:40 am</p> <div style="font-weight: bold;" class="storyhead"><span style="font-size:180%;">Wobblies Launch New Chapter</span></div> <p class="byline"><b>By John Grant Emeigh<br />Montana Standard</b></p> BUTTE - With an old, worn broom, Dennis Georg swept off nearly a foot of February snow that had accumulated on the grave of Frank Little.<br /><br />It was just a small favor from one Wobbly to another Wobbly: Solidarity to the end.<br /><br />Georg, as was Little, is a card-carrying member of a small but controversial union known as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). It was started in Chicago by a group of socialists and anarchists who wanted to unite all the workers of the world. They were reviled by many as subversives and Communists.<br /><br />"It was once very dangerous to carry an IWW card," Georg said recently while in Butte.<br /><br />The evidence of that danger was at Georg's feet in Little's final resting place at Mountain View Cemetery. Little came to Butte in 1917 to recruit miners to join the IWW. For his efforts, Little was kidnapped by masked men, beaten, dragged out of town and hung by the neck from a railroad trestle.<br /><br />Little's grave is somewhat sacred ground for Wobblies. This is why the grave is one of the stops over the weekend for a gathering being held in Butte to celebrate the recent formation of an IWW chapter in Missoula.<br /><br />"They want to come here because of all the labor history in Butte," he said.<br /><br />Georg, 60, works as an electrician and has been a Wobbly for 17 years.<br /><br />Kevin Curtis, 37, of Butte, who works in TV production and freelance movie filming, is one of six members of the IWW in Butte. He said the IWW requires at least 15 members in one city before headquarters will allow a local chapter. Curtis estimates that there are about 2,300 Wobblies worldwide.<br /><br />He said membership tends to fluctuate. "The IWW's numbers seem to go up when the middle class is under attack," Curtis said.<br /><br />Curtis and Georg say they would like to get enough local workers to join the IWW, so Butte can have its own chapter like Missoula. Curtis believes workers in a blue-collar town like Butte would benefit from the IWW's support.<br /><br />"Like our motto says, 'An injury to one is an injury to all,' and we want to give workers a voice in the workplace," he said.<br /><br />The IWW always has been known for its hard-line stand on worker solidarity. Members believe that all laborers should be united and that the real power should be in the hands of the worker.<br /><br />Georg was wearing an IWW T-shirt that stated the union's uncompromising stance in plain English: "The working class and the employing class have nothing in common."<br /><br />The early Butte Wobblies used to be the victims of violence in the early days of the movement, according to Georg. He said they had to be secretive about getting a copy of the IWW's newspaper, the Industrial Worker.<br /><br />Georg said the carriers would keep a copy of the IWW newspaper folded in a copy of the Butte Miner.<br /><br />"If a guy wanted the Industrial Worker, he would tell the paperboy, 'Paper, paper,' and he knew he wanted a copy of the Industrial Worker," Georg said.<br /><br />Georg and Curtis still hand out fliers and try to interest people in joining the IWW. They say they are glad Missoula was able to organize a local chapter.<br /><br />However, they would like to see the IWW allow them to form a regional chapter in Western Montana. Curtis said that because Montana isn't as populated as other states it is difficult to set up a local IWW charter.<br /><br />"Montana is so sparse it (a statewide chapter) would be better for us," he said.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,Helv;font-size:78%;"> Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of <a href="http://www.leeenterprises.com/">Lee Enterprises</a>.<br /></span>Montana Wobblieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13806076081064077508noreply@blogger.com2