Workers Solidarity No. 42 Irish Anarchist Paper Net addition This is the first part of the latest issue of Workers Solidarity, produced by the Irish anarchist group, the Workers Solidarity Movement. We are changing the format for this posting to two parts consisting of short articles and then posting longer related articles separately. They should arrive on this list/newsgroup over the next few days. Some lists/ newsgroups will only get postings relevant to them. To get other parts reply to this address with a request or watch out for them on alt.society.anarchy between the 13th and 24th of June. The parts and their contents are. Workers Solidarity 42 (Editorial and shorts) 1/6 <-This mailing For starters That's Capitalism Stake your claim to cash PLC students demand grants Telethon - A hypocritical sham If the cops don't like you French show how to fight... and win! Bosnia, Rwanda and UN intervention. Workers Solidarity 42 (More shorts) 2/6 Significant minority say NO to union leaders Don't vote...it only encourages them Letter Prepare to Sink the service charges Find Out More WS 42 Gay Pride 3/6 Loud and Proud The reasons Emmet Stagg should resign WS 42 Ireland, Sinn Fein and the peace talks. 4/6 Yes to peace WS 42 Year of the Family 5/6 Parents, puritans and poverty Gas masks and pantyhose WS 42 Evolution and revolution 6/6 For Starters THE CHANGE from a magazine to newspaper format reflects the increased readership Workers Solidarity is building up. It will take a few issues before we iron out all problems involved in changing our printing process but we hope you will bear with us. None of us is a professional journalist or designer. This issue was produced by a gardener, a couple of office workers, a teacher, a researcher, three unemployed people and a student. If you like what we are saying, we would like your help. We need your reports. Tell us what is happening on your job, in your neighbourhood. Write a report, or a letter. This paper will only improve if more of you write for it, sell it, show a copy to your friends. As we go to press final plans are being made for 'Revolution', a day of public meetings and debates in Dublin about libertarian socialism. With the collapse of both the Eastern Bloc and social democracy's radical pretensions it becomes increasingly important to explain that the ideals of socialism are not dead, that there is a libertarian alternative. The Workers Solidarity Movement is co-operating with Organise! (an anarcho-syndicalist group based in the Belfast/Bangor area), Red Action and the Class War Federation in this venture. We hope that it will be but the first such event where libertarian socialists of various traditions can discuss and debate turning our ideas into reality. In Cork we have been working with 'Justice Now', which is campaigning against the #1,600 worth of fines imposed on members of the Socialist Alliance for putting up Troops Out posters and ones with an abortion information telephone number. We also helped in the campaign to stop big business and hoteliers preventing the building of a new Simon Community hostel for the homeless. In Dublin the WSM has started a series of anarchist discussion meetings for readers. With the rise of far- right movements throughout Europe, and the disturbingly high vote achieved by the MSI/National Alliance in the Italian general election, it was appropriate that one of these was about fascism and how to beat it. Another marked the 75th anniversary of the Limerick 'Soviet', when that city was taken over by the workers as part of their fight against British militarism. In March we published a pamphlet about the fascist threat in Europe, which was sold in cinema queues where Schlinder's List was showing. We also participated in the Anti-Nazi League demonstration, which brought about 500 onto the streets to make it clear that while there are few fascists in Ireland we intend to keep it that way. That's Capitalism! ***** In spite of the Employment Equality Act and the Anti- Discrimination (Pay) Act many employers still get away with treating women workers worse than male employees. More than fifteen years after the introduction of equal pay laws in the 26 counties, women workers earn only 62% of men's average earnings. On an hourly basis they are paid, on average, #2 less. ***** 60% of the tax relief in the 26 counties on mortgage interest and VHI premiums goes to the top 20% of earners. Only 5% goes to the bottom half. ***** While workers' pay rises were kept down to the the PESP level, there were no restraints on the rich. Last year executive directors averaged 12% and shareholders 13.4%. The seven AIB executive directors averaged #526,666 each, earning more per hour than most workers get for a week. ***** Of the #530 million the Child Support Agency hopes to get from 'absent' fathers in Britain and the North, just #50 million will go to mothers and their children. The rest will go the government Treasury. So much for the Tories' claim last year that the Agency would be a major help to mothers and children ***** According to the Irish Times industrial correspondent, Jackie Gallagher, #250,000 was spent during the negotiations on the Programme for Competitiveness & Work. Twenty union officials turned up each day. Most of them "spent their time playing cards, having quizes and on one occasion having a sing song". Snacks included steak sandwiches. Wine was served with the meals. Indeed the drinks facility had to be cut off at one stage because so much was being consumed. ***** Having being conned into accepting wage rises that may not even keep up with inflation (the PCW), workers now see top professionals get much bigger increases. The current chief executive of Telecom, Fergus McGovern, gets #70,000 a year. The maximum laid down in the Gleeson guidelines for top public servants pay is #81,000 (six times the average industrial wage). The new chief executive will be hired as a 'consultant', which will allow him to be paid 'fees' of over #100,000. Peter Owen, the new Aer Lingus chief executive is also a 'consultant', and the same will probably happen at the National Treasury Management Agency which was set up outside the control of the Central Bank so that its senior employees would not be bound by the Gleeson guidelines. ***** According to the MSF union 14% of the workforce in the 26 counties earn less than #115 per week. Of full-time employees who earn less than #3 per hour 16% of them work in the very profitable banking, finance and insurance sector. Stake your claim to cash WAGES COUNCILS in Northern Ireland (and Britain) have been abolished by the Tory government. For years they set minimum pay rates in some of the traditionally low paid industries like catering. As of last February 7th they are no more. However the Wages Inspectorate will continue to investigate complaints and order payments of back money until August 6th of this year. After that date you will no longer be allowed to recover the wages that you were legally entitled to. Earlier this year the Law Centre in Derry helped a bakery worker to get #4,500 in back pay. If you suspect that you may have been covered by a minimum wage order but paid less than the legal rate contact the Belfast Law Centre (tel: 321307) or the Derry Law Centre (tel: 262433). They can advise you how to get your cash before it's too late. PLC students demand grants STUDENTS from low income backgrounds are having to drop out of their studies. If you are doing a Post-Leaving Certificate course you get no grant. Nothing at all. A survey in Ballyfermot Senior College found that 48% of these students have to work long hours after lectures to find the cash to keep them in college. 97% said that their jobs interfered with their course work. Not everyone can burn the candle at both ends. Some students are finding it impossible to study and then work twenty or more hours each week. Because these students are mainly working class the government cares even less about them than it does about other students. They are not all taking it lying down. There has already been a march of about 100 to the Dail. Students from Ballyfermot, Colaiste Dhulaigh, Portlaoise and six other colleges have kicked off a campaign. Students in RTC's, DIT and universities get grants. PLC students have a good case, they are the only post-second level students who are allowed nothing. In the autumn the campaign for grants should be re- launched. It has already gained support from the Teachers Union of Ireland and the Dublin Council of Trade Unions. Telethon - A hypocritical sham ON FRIDAY MAY 20th, starting at 3 pm., R.T.E. will broadcast over 10 hours of the "People in Need" Telethon. All over the country people will - with the very best of intentions - organise fund-raising events to raise money for "the poor". There are two main reasons why we feel the Telethon should be opposed Charity - no matter how well intentioned - cannot solve the poverty crisis. Poverty is caused by the unjust social and economic policies of successive governments which place profits before people. It cannot be challenged by any amount of charity but only through serious and thorough political change. Events such as the Telethon serve only to deflect attention from this fact and from the fact that essential services should not have to depend on charity provision for their survival. -> A glance at the list of trustees of the "People in Need" organisation is indeed very revealing. It includes such illustrious names as - Margaret Heffernan (personnel director of Dunnes Stores), Noel Gilmore (managing director of Gilmore Communications), Charles Kenny (chair, Clancourt Management), Norman Kilroy (managing director, Grafton Group). As directors of prominent private sector Irish companies, all of these people have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Margaret Heffernan, for example, contributes greatly to the creation of poverty through Dunnes Stores' policy of low wages and part-time workers. The involvement of these people is pure hypocrisy and an attempt to salve their own consciences and gain a few "brownie points" for "charitable deeds". Trade unionists should be asking themselves why the name of Billy Attley appears on this list of trustees, although it is no surprise to us that Attley would find more in common with these bosses than with their exploited workforces. This telethon is just a sham. If the cops don't like you YOU DON'T have to break the law to get hassled by the gardai. The Class War Federation planned a small public meeting, entitled "the politics behind the anger", in a Dublin pub last March. This group, who describe themselves as "communists", have gained lots of media coverage in Britain by organising publicity stunts like their 'Bash the Rich' marches (where no rich people got bashed!) and publishing a poster of a cemetery with the caption "we have found new homes for the rich". As soon as advertising for their meeting appeared Progressive Democrat TD Michael McDowell got on to the Evening Press demanding that the Minister for Justice investigate with a view to taking action against them under the Offences Against the State Act. The gardai then visited the pub owner and "advised" him that the meeting should not be allowed to go ahead. They also "advised" him that another small group, the marxist Red Action, should not be allowed to hire rooms. Not wishing to fall foul of the guardians of the peace he cancelled Class War's booking. [The meeting went ahead in another pub]. Class War is not a banned organisation. Red Action is not a banned organisation. They are every bit as legal as any other political grouping. But if the cops don't like you they are free to ignore your democratic 'right' to organise and explain your views. Hurrah for democracy! Meanwhile in Cork they prosecuted Sinn Fein member Paul Walsh on a charge of membership of the IRA. Their evidence was that he possessed a republican song book that is legally on sale and a republican calendar that is also legally on sale. Added to this was the word of a senior guard that he believed Walsh to be in the IRA, but he couldn't tell the Court why he believed this. This was good enough for the juryless Special Criminal Court. It found him guilty but then, in an unusual twist, deferred sentence. Why? Paul Walsh has been active in Sinn Fein in Cork for years. This was the real target of the Special Branch. Over the years harassment has been fairly routine. Now the Branch have been given a new licence. Walsh has been released but only on condition that he "considers his position and adjusts his way of life." Anytime the Branch want they can apply to have his sentence enforced. Which is the best of both worlds for them. They don't have to pay the cost of imprisoning him but they still have a hold on his political activity. A sign of what's to come? Another hurrah for democracy! French show how to fight... and win! PRIME MINISTER Edouard Balladur and his government have been in retreat over the last six months as the people of France take to the streets to demonstrate their anger at new policies. The government has backed down on Air France (see last issue of WS), on extra funds for church schools and with the fishermen. The turn of the students of France came when the government proposed to cut the miniumm wage by 20% for people under 26. The original plans were to have wages ranging from 30% to 80% of the minimun wage. It was a move caculated to pitch old against young. The bosses would now be able to make a saving of 20% by laying off anyone over 26 and taking on those younger. As one protest sign read "I've got a job, Dad, It's yours." In France over 750,000 people under 25 are without a job and one in four school leavers have no chance of finding work. The move to cut wages has now been dropped but the struggles continue. On March 29th a student union leader, Bob Injey, said of the government "Basically, they all end up trying to jusify lower pay for young people,". Balladur had to cancel a planned TV address on that day to 'celebrate' one year of the right being in power because of the unrest. Over 200,000 people marched in protest throughout France on March 26th. Calls have been issued by the Student Unions and the CGT Trade Union calling for further demonstations. The range of demands encompassed by the protesters has broadened. Two Arab students were arrested and deported to Algeria. The youth and student movement saw this as a racist attack on the right to demonstrate and called for their return. In Lyon as many marched as did in Paris. The demonstators said they were demonstating "opposition to the the youth minimum wage" and that they were " "marching against a police state." Signs were present reading "Solidarity with foreigners" and "Free our Comrades". Seven hours of street fighting took place with the police in Nante after a demonstration on March 24th. The cops poisoned the air with so much tear gas that they had to seek more from the city of Rennes. The protesters replied with "rocks, smoke bombs and flare pistols besides blocking the streets with burning barricades." (Le Monde 26.3.94) The rage and anger of the young is back where it belongs, on the streets. The support of the workers is coming onto their side and new demands are being raised. These are fearful times for the government in France and inspiring to those who have chosen to fight back. Balladur and his buddies are taking some blows. The people are delievering some heavy punches to his policy plans and if this level of action can be sustained,hopefully, the govenment will end up where they all belong, on the ropes. Dermot Sreenan Bosnia, Rwanda and UN intervention. The WSM has always said socialists should not support any intervention by the UN anywhere. What is currently happening in Bosnia and Rwanda demonstrates the reasons why we should not call on theUN to intervene. In Europe most people have favoured intervention from an early period in ex-Yugoslavia. Initially this would have been in the support of Croatia, now it would be for Bosnia. Yet despite the popular acclaim such intervention would receive (in its early days), it has not happened. Why? Because our rulers have decided it is not in their interests to do so. The TV coverage in Ireland of Bosnia and Rwanda has been horrific. It included footage of people being clubbed to death within about 300m of UN forces and also of an incident where a woman was dragged past UN soldiers to be hacked to death with a machette. They just stood and watched. The only role the UN has played has been to evacuate (white) Europeans. This is also an instance where UN intervention would have been very popular. Yet it has not happened. The UN did intervene in Somalia, to popular acclaim initially but now many would see intervention as having been a disaster. Apart from the direct killing of an estimated 10,000 Somalia's by UN forces (UN figure) it would seem that intervention has further de- stabilised the country. The UN intervened there, not because it was popular (intervention in Yugoslavia would be more popular for racist reasons), but because the ruling class decided. Intervention was in its interests. Basically the UN will only intervene when the various ruling blocks consider it in their interests to do so. It is not responsive to popular pressure in any real respect. Those who are calling for intervention in Bosnia are wasting their energy, it's like calling on Dick Spring to protect the working class. And like this, not only is it a waste of energy but it is also creating an illusion that the UN is a potentially neutral force rather than something owned & controlled by the ruling class. The price for this illusion will be paid in blood later, both by working class Western troops and the populations they will be sent to slaughter. If people believe that the UN is a neutral peace-keeping force (if a bit weak willed), which is the image being projected, then winning opposition to future Desert Storms will be that bit more difficult. Another reason why we should oppose all Western military intervention. So what is the solution? That's a fair question and it is one to which there is no simple answer. We'd like to be able to say form multi-ethnic workers militias in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and use these to smash the genocidal ruling classes and stop ethnic cleansing. Of course we know this is not going to happen in the near future. The left (or rather those living in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda) are paying the price for charging down the dead ends of Leninism and social democracy for the last 70 years. Let's be honest, a decade ago many 'socialists' would have seen those who engineered the Yugoslav war as being 'socialist' or at least being more progressive than rulers in the West. What we can do is give aid to the peace movements in the various republics and support the 'workers aid' initiatives that have been delivering medical goods and foodstuffs to some of the encircled towns. We can oppose all UN involvement, including the arms embargo. We can be sure that any settlement engineered by the UN would be in its interests alone. We can also counteract the racist portrayal of ordinary Serbians in the western press. In short our role is one of supporting the trade union and peace movements while opposing any intervention by our ruling class. Hardly satisfactory, UN intervention holds up the (false) promise of ending the war while we have no such quick solutions. This underlines the urgency for the left to reconstruct itself along new lines, one that takes workers' democracy as the central point of socialism. The best of that tradition is found in Anarchism. As long as capitalism exists we can be sure to see more Yugoslavia's and Rwanda's. Right now we have to work out and win support for methods that will really deliver an alternative. Joe Black +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18 or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu") in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help@anon.penet.fi. Due to the double-blind, any mail replies to this message will be anonymized, and an anonymous id will be allocated automatically. You have been warned. Please report any problems, inappropriate use etc. to admin@anon.penet.fi.