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Solidarity Federation

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Solidarity Federation
AbbreviationSF or SolFed
Established
  • 1950; 74 years ago (1950) (as SWF)
  • 1979; 45 years ago (1979) (as DAM)
  • 1994; 30 years ago (1994) (as SF)
HeadquartersManchester
Location
Membership (2016)
250
PublicationDirect Action
AffiliationsInternational Workers' Association
Websitesolfed.org.uk
Formerly called
  • Syndicalist Workers' Federation (until 1979)
  • Direct Action Movement (until 1994)
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The Solidarity Federation (SF; SolFed) is a British anarcho-syndicalist organisation. It advocates for the abolition of capitalism and the state through industrial action, which it agitates for in industrial networks and local groups.

Originally established as the Syndicalist Workers' Federation (SWF) in 1950, it became the British section of the International Workers' Association (IWA). In 1979, it reorganised into the Direct Action Movement (DAM), which participated in a number of industrial disputes during the 1980s and organised a short-lived couriers' union. Splits of anarchist communists from the organisation preceded its reorganisation into the Solidarity Federation, which it took the form of in 1994.

History

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Background

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During the Spanish Civil War, many British anarchists moved towards anarcho-syndicalism and formed syndicalist organisations to support the Spanish National Confederation of Labour (CNT).[1] After the defeat of the Spanish anarchists in the war, the British anarchist movement attempted to reorganise itself, culminating in the establishment of the Anarchist Federation of Britain (AFB), which included anarchists of various different tendencies.[2]

Syndicalist Workers Federation

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By the end of World War II, syndicalists had risen to the leadership of the AFB, causing a split in the organisation.[3] In August 1950, the syndicalists that were left over in the AFB reorganised into the Syndicalist Workers Federation (SWF).[4] The SWF affiliated itself to the International Workers' Association (IWA), a syndicalist political international, as the organisation's British section.[5] The SWF was broadly syndicalist in orientation, rather than specifically anarcho-syndicalist.[5] Many of the initial members of the SWF were pacifists, who rejected violence as a means of class conflict.[6]

The SWF experienced a period of growth through the 1950s and 1960s.[5] In 1965, an estimated 150 syndicalists were organising in Britain; 100 were affiliated with the exiled CNT and 50 with the SWF.[7] During the late 1970s, the structures of the SWF began to change under the influence of new members, who had filtered into the organisation from the punk subculture.[8] By the end of the decade, it only had one remaining local branch, located in Manchester.[5]

Direct Action Movement

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In 1979, the remaining members of the SWF reorganised themselves into the Direct Action Movement (DAM),[9][10] which experienced a period of growth throughout the early 1980s.[8] The DAM initially sought support from the international syndicalist movement, but its organisational capacity was weak and British trade unionism was comparatively strong, so it was only capable of supporting existing industrial unions in Britain.[11] The DAM participated in the Miners' Strike as well as a series of industrial disputes later in the 1980s, including the Ardbride dispute in Ardrossan, Scotland, involving a supplier to Laura Ashley, for which the DAM received international support. From 1988 in Scotland, then England and Wales, the DAM was active in opposing the Poll Tax.[12]

In the late 1980s, the DAM began attempting to establish its own anarcho-syndicalist unions as an alternative to the reformist unions.[13] Its main success was the establishment of the Dispatch Industry Workers Union (DIWU), which organised delivery couriers from 1989 to 1992.[13][14] This change in policy provoked a number of splits from the organisation, as some members thought all unions were inherently reformist, even if they were anarcho-syndicalist in orientation. In 1986, the group Syndicalist Fight (SyF) split off and later merged into the Anarchist Communist Federation (ACF); and in 1987, the Anarchist Workers Group (AWG) split off and later merged into the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP).[15]

Solidarity Federation

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In 1994, the remnants of the DAM reorganised into the Solidarity Federation (SF), which adopted a new strategy.[16] Rather than attempting to establish independent anarcho-syndicalist unions, the SF instead seeks to create networks of workers within existing industrial unions, with the intention of participating in workplace struggles and propagandising for anarcho-syndicalism.[17] After its formation, the SF became the British section of the International Workers Association (IWA), an anarcho-syndicalist political international.[18] It also took over publication of the magazine Direct Action, which was previously published by the DAM.[19]

In Nottingham, the local SolFed group has participated in the Nottingham Association of Subversive Activists (NASA).[20] On International Workers' Day, in 2000, SolFed participated in an anti-capitalist demonstration in London, during which a statue of Winston Churchill was vandalised.[21]

Campaigns

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SolFed End Unpaid Work 2012 campaign logo

Solidarity Federation's 2012 national campaign against workfare initially focused specifically on Holland and Barrett, a health supplement corporation making use of placements staffed by unpaid benefits claimants. On 5 July 2012, after a sustained series of pickets at Holland and Barrett stores across the UK, the company announced via social media and its website that it was pulling out of the workfare scheme, citing negative publicity.[22][23]

Organisation

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The Solidarity Federation is organised into industrial networks and local groups.[24] SolFed favours federalism as a means to organise decentralised and autonomous groups, which it sees as both a means and an end.[25] Following the organisational principles of anarcho-syndicalism, SolFed upholds participatory decision-making, in which individuals have the right to self-determination and decisions are driven by popular consensus.[26] SolFed also opposes participation in political parties, as exemplified in its slogan "The union not party".[27]

Its industrial networks are organised as non-hierarchical and federal structures, which they intend to act as a synecdoche of post-capitalist social structures.[27] Unlike other anarcho-syndicalists, who see their organisations as a prefiguration of a post-capitalist society, SolFed has resisted characterisations of their organisation as a universal form for organising society.[28] Through its industrial networks, SolFed has organised in several economic sectors, including in the communication, education, public administration and transportation sectors.[16]

Although their primary focus is on organising industrial workers, in the 21st century, SolFed has increasingly emphasised other forms of organising outside the setting of the workplace.[29] SolFed has established a number of local organisations, which engage in community organising and social activism, alongside support for workplace activities.[30] By the 2010s, SolFed counted 14 local groups, including some in formation.[31]

SolFed refuses to pay for professional union officials, as it believes their interests would become separate from those of the rank-and-file and therefore make them more likely to seek compromises with employers.[32] All official positions in the SF, whether taking minutes, chairing meetings or negotiating with other organisations, are temporary and unpaid positions, in order to keep their interests in line with that of the rank-and-file.[26]

Ideology

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The Solidarity Federation desires the abolition of the state and capitalism and their replacement with an industrial economy based on workers' self-management, in which individual needs are prioritised.[33] SolFed sees the industrial sector as its main venue for revolutionary activities, which include various different direct actions, from strike actions to workplace occupations and sabotage.[34] SolFed considers the general strike to be a means to achieve a social revolution.[35]

In a break from traditional anarcho-syndicalism, which upholds "strategic centralism", SolFed argues for a diversity of tactics in order to oppose all forms of oppression and hierarchical power.[36] While agitating against economic oppression, SolFed also proposes the establishment of organisations to oppose other forms of oppression, including sexism, racism and transphobia.[37] SolFed is also opposed to existing institutions of mass media, which it considers to be a mouthpiece for the ruling class, and has called instead for the establishment of independent media.[38]

As a means to achieve workers' self-management, SolFed historically preferred workplace occupations over strike actions; they believed that in order to deny the managerial class access to the workplace, the workers themselves would be required to have a higher level of solidarity and cohesive self-organisation than any strike action.[39] In his book Rebel Alliances, historian Benjamin Franks criticised this argument against strike actions, which he said constituted a "hierarchy of industrial action, which freezes methods according to their predetermined position".[40]

References

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  1. ^ Franks 2006, p. 50.
  2. ^ Franks 2006, p. 51.
  3. ^ Franks 2006, p. 53.
  4. ^ Barberis, McHugh & Tyldesley 2000, p. 168; Franks 2006, p. 53.
  5. ^ a b c d Barberis, McHugh & Tyldesley 2000, p. 168.
  6. ^ Franks 2006, p. 145.
  7. ^ Franks 2006, p. 361n164.
  8. ^ a b Franks 2006, p. 74.
  9. ^ Barberis, McHugh & Tyldesley 2000, pp. 167–168; Franks 2006, p. 74.
  10. ^ M.H. (1993). "The Direct Action Movement". KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library (4). Kate Sharpley Library. ISSN 1475-0309. OCLC 499869298. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  11. ^ Franks 2006, p. 81.
  12. ^ Meltzer, Albert (2001). I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels. United Kingdom: AK Press. ISBN 978-1873176931.
  13. ^ a b Franks 2006, pp. 81–82.
  14. ^ Patchrider, Des (2000). The Couriers are Revolting: The Despatch Industry Workers Union 1989-92. London: Kate Sharpley Library. ISBN 1873605676. OCLC 44617997 – via Libcom.org.
  15. ^ Franks 2006, pp. 82–83.
  16. ^ a b Franks 2006, p. 82.
  17. ^ Franks 2006, pp. 82, 238.
  18. ^ Barberis, McHugh & Tyldesley 2000, p. 167; Franks 2006, pp. 19, 82.
  19. ^ Franks 2006, pp. 82, 115–116.
  20. ^ Franks 2006, p. 258.
  21. ^ Franks 2006, p. 348.
  22. ^ Hern, Alex (7 July 2012). "Workfare goes underground as Holland and Barrett pull out". New Statesman. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  23. ^ Malik, Shiv (6 July 2012). "Holland & Barrett pulls out of jobseekers' scheme". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  24. ^ Barberis, McHugh & Tyldesley 2000, p. 167.
  25. ^ Franks 2006, p. 225.
  26. ^ a b Franks 2006, p. 237.
  27. ^ a b Franks 2006, p. 241.
  28. ^ Franks 2006, p. 235.
  29. ^ Franks 2006, pp. 244, 296.
  30. ^ Franks 2006, p. 244.
  31. ^ Franks & Kinna 2014, p. n51.
  32. ^ Franks 2006, pp. 236–237.
  33. ^ Franks 2006, p. 394n174.
  34. ^ Franks 2006, pp. 115–116.
  35. ^ Franks 2006, p. 277.
  36. ^ Franks 2006, p. 279.
  37. ^ Franks 2006, p. 245.
  38. ^ Franks 2006, p. 301.
  39. ^ Franks 2006, p. 285.
  40. ^ Franks 2006, pp. 285–286.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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