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Subject: Anarcho-Syndicalists of the World--Unite! Cc:
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Fellow Workers,
	The Workers Self-Education Foundation of the Philadelphia GMB is
happy to announce the printing of a collection of 4 of FW Lorenzo Kom'boa
Ervin's pamphlets under the title, "Anarchism and the Black Revolution and
Other Essays" (155 pages, $7.00 US).  Included, in addition to his
pamphlet Anarchism and the Black Revolution, are "The American Government,
the Best Argument for Anarchism", "A Draft Proposal for an Anarchist Black
Cross Network", and "Anarcho-Syndicalists of the World--Unite!"  Also
included are a handy index, a listing of ABC groups worldwide, and a
bibliography of related readings. In order to provide more information on
the upcoming referendum motion on his proposal for a Black/People of Color
Workers Organizing Drive, we are including the text of "Anarcho-
Syndicalists of the World--Unite!" so that you will be able to get a
broader understanding of FW Ervin's thoughts on the IWW and the Labor
movement in the coming years.  This text is arguably the most involved and
best articulated manifesto for organizing to come out of the IWW in
several decades, and though it should not be taken as a gospel, we hope
that it will be one of the first steps in regrounding the IWW as an
intellectually alive, vibrant, and growing movement.
	The 4 pamphlets will be issued separately over the coming months
as well, for use as organizing literature, so please contact us if you are
interested in ordering those individually.  Currently, we are offering a
discount to all IWW groups of 50% ($3.50) on orders of 5 or more of FW
Ervin's collection, prepaid (Please include $0.75 per book for shipping
and handling).  Also, we would like to remind you that the text following
is copyrighted by FW Ervin, and though we encourage you to copy and
distribute among your local IWW groups for discussion purposes, you should
not release it to the general public, nor charge for copies of it, without
first getting the permission of FW Ervin or the Philadelphia IWW.  You can
contact us by email at freevoice@igc.apc.org, phone (215) 747-0855, Fax
(215) 471-5284, or mail at 4722 Baltimore Ave, Philadelphia PA 19143 (If
you are sending a prepaid order please send it by certified mail)

Preface to the Second Edition When I first wrote this pamphlet as number
two of a series in 1979, which included Anarchism and the Black
Revolution, I called it "A Draft Proposal for the Founding of An
International Working Peoples' Association." This was for a number of
reasons, the IWA in Paris was in shambles, had lost its membership base
and was pretty much a non-entity. The IWW in the US and other countries
was likewise just about finished.  Also, I felt that most of the
Anarcho-Syndicalist organizations that I had dealt with did not have any
real serious grasp of issues concerning race and class, and had hostile
White Supremacist positions.  I wrote the pamphlets to try to spur the
movement on and to challenge some of the negative elements who I felt were
retarding the struggle. If it took a new IWPA or IWW to do this, then I
was in favor of it.  I felt the a newly founded IWPA or reorganized IWW,
as opposed to the old labor movements, would be a more militant
organization, and would be more of an anti-racist movement. Of course, due
to the weakness of any forces who would organize any such movement and the
fact that I was in prison and could not help to organize it, it pretty
much floundered as an idea.  As a member of the IWW also during the 1970s,
I tried to make it fit my new definition of an activist
anarcho-syndicalist group, but also found it to be very insensitive and
committed to the past rather than the future. Meanwhile the IWA had
started to get its heartbeat once again, and became a functioning
organization. Its existence started to influence development in countries
which had had little or no Anarchist presence, such as Africa.  The
Awareness League of Nigeria is an example of the impact of this
resurgence.  This can only accelerate if any good is to come at all. Our
movement is on the verge of rebuilding itself, perhaps on the verge of a
major breakthrough, but we will fail without organization and the contacts
we need to make with oppressed people of all nationalities. In all of
North America there is not one weekly Anarchist newspaper, and there are
very few Anarchist movements which can truly say they have major influence
on what happens in their workplaces, communities or nation.  Also, I must
sadly report that there are still an extremely small number of Anarchists
of color at this time.  And remember, this is a movement influenced by
Lucy Parsons, Martin Sostre, myself and others over the years.  Most Black
Anarchists still come into the movement through the prison movement, which
is highly regrettable. We need to not just recruit a few Blacks or Latinos
for window dressing purposes, we need to make the communities of color
feel that Anarchism and groups like the IWW apply to their struggles. Then
the question of not enough people of color within existing Anarchist
federations would not be an issue.  I talk about this more in Anarchism
and the Black Revolution, but I feel that a few words about it still need
to be said.  People of color will not join an all-White, self-interested
movement, which makes rationales for White racism in its own ranks. 
Racism must be smashed before unity is possible. I have never been shy
about saying this.  Finally, as has been said by others, the Anarchist
movement is still dominated by elements which are not working class, but
rather middle class dropouts, and youth "freaks."  We must convince the
average person about the utility of Anarchism generally, and its
revolutionary syndicalist tendency particularly.  If we cannot convince
the average worker, then we are fooling ourselves and we need to get out
of the way.  I still think Anarcho-Syndicalism is the way to go, but I
think much needs to be redefined, and new strategy and tactics must be
adopted if it is not to be rendered completely passe. 

Lorenzo Kom`boa Ervin Chattanooga, Tennessee October 1993 Introduction The
term "syndicate" is a term first used in Italy, Spain and the Latin
countries, and merely means labor union.  Anarchism means a form of
Socialism which does not depend on a government to rule over the people.
Thus Anarchist-Syndicalism is revolutionary labor unionism. Its
theoretical assumptions are based on the teachings of Libertarian or
Anarchist Socialism.  Anarcho- Syndicalism combines the day-to-day
struggle for the economic, social and intellectual development of the
working class within the framework of existing Capitalist society, with
the revolutionary preparation of working people for Social Revolution and
the overthrown of Capital, and for workers' self-management of the
economic production and distribution after the Revolution. Workers are
encouraged to act on their own initiative through organizations entirely
under their control, and to support their fellow workers in their common
struggle against the wage system. Anarcho- Syndicalism acts as a catalyst
to militant labor struggles and serves to counteract
class-collaborationist tendencies by union bureaucrats and other "labor
fakers."  Direct action tactics such as strikes, slowdowns, boycotts,
wildcats, sit-downs, sabotage and other protest actions will serve as a
means of struggle, leading ultimately to the revolutionary General Strike,
expropriation of industry, and a lock-out of the Capitalist class. Here is
what Emma Goldman, the famous 19th century feminist and Anarchist, said
about Anarcho- Syndicalism in a pamphlet called "Syndicalism: Its Theory
and Practice." Of course Syndicalism, like the old trade unions, fights
for immediate gains, but it is not stupid enough to pretend that labor can
expect humane conditions from inhumane economic arrangements in society.
Thus it merely wrests from the enemy what it can force him to yield;  on
the whole, however, Syndicalism aims at, and concentrates its energies
upon, the complete overthrow of the wage system. Syndicalism goes further:
it aims to liberate labor from every institution that has not for its
object the free development of production for the benefit of all humanity.
In short, the ultimate purpose of Syndicalism is to reconstruct society
from its present centralized, authoritative and brutal state to one based
upon the free, federated grouping of the workers along lines of economic
and social liberty. With this object in view, Syndicalism works in two
directions: first, by undermining the existing institutions; secondly, by
developing and educating the workers and cultivating their spirit of
solidarity, to prepare them for a full, free life, when capitalism shall
have been abolished...Syndicalism is, in essence, the economic expression
of Anarchism... Anarchist-Syndicalists advocate that it is the workers,
organized in their revolutionary industrial unions, factory committees,
Workers' Councils, and other labor formations, who will lead the
revolution in their own interests, not a "vanguard" party of elite
political theorists. Only the workers themselves can lead a revolutionary
General Strike to expropriate industry, the most important sector of the
economy. Without the seizure of the industrial means of production, no
successful revolution is possible in a highly technological country like
the United States. Industry can only be expropriated by an armed and
trained working class, armed not merely with guns or explosives, but with
real revolutionary theory and organization. That is the aim and goal of
the Anarchist-Syndicalist forces within the overall Anarchist movement. We
are "industrial guerrillas" waging class war at the point of production. 
In my opinion that may be the best way to make revolution in the
industrialized countries. What Does the Anarcho-Syndicalist Movement Stand
For? Anarchist-Syndicalism combines the daily revolutionary struggle for
the economic, social and intellectual development of the working class
within the framework of existing society, with the preparation of working
people for self-management of production and distribution.  So here is my
idea of what a program of revolutionary and radical reform (transitional)
demands would be like: l) International workers' solidarity and struggle
against the Capitalist class, regardless of borders or other barriers.  2)
The building of free workers' unions and an end to Governmental control or
influence over the unions. Repeal Taft-Hartley and all anti-labor laws. 3)
For the right to strike, including wildcat strikes, with or without union
sanction. 4) For full rights for Black, women and foreign born workers.
End racial and social discrimination.  Organize the unorganized. 5) An end
to class collaborationist unionism, and the adoption by the labor movement
of class struggle unionism. In addition to forming alternative workers
movements, the sections of the IWA should form militant rank-and-file
caucuses in all the existing trade unions in order to move them in a
syndicalist, class-struggle direction. 6) For full rank and file
democratic control of the unions, including the right to recall union
officers and delegates, and vote to ratify or reject contracts. 7) For
direct action struggles against the bosses, including the Social
Revolutionary General Strike to overturn Capitalism. 8) For the creation
of Community Economic Workshops, Workers' Assemblies, plant councils,
factory committees, and other autonomous workplace organizations, to
create dual power in industry, to educate and organize the workers to run
the industries themselves, and to serve as vehicles for their
self-emancipation. 9) For the abolition of the wage system and capitalism;
workers' self-management of society and the economy. 10) For the freedom
of all political/class war prisoners, and the right of prisoners to form
labor unions and engage in collective bargaining with their captors over
the conditions of their confinement. 13) We call for an end to runaway
shops to other countries, (NAFTA), and plant close downs. 14. We call for
a minimum wage to be set at the prevailing union wage in industry. 15. We
call for an end to scab labor and demand legislation to protect the rights
of striking workers.  International Workers' Association According to an
information sheet put out by the International Workers Association in
1990: Efforts to connect workers who are fighting for change in one
country with those in other countries are as old as the Socialist movement
itself. Anarcho-Syndicalists ...can trace their political legacy, as a
modern movement of the working class, back to the first effort at an
internationally organized workers movement, The "International
Workingmen's Association" of the 1860s-70s.  The International
Workingmen's Association was formed in London in 1864, and had not only
Anarchists, but Marxists, Social Democrats, and other "left-wing"
Socialists in it. It was badly split along ideological grounds, and many
of the same arguments which rage today among Anarchists, Marxists and
other Socialists began there.  But in 1868, when it held a Congress in
Brussels, Belgium, this original IWA had adopted the ideals of workers'
action, organized through mass associations based in the workplace, as the
strategy for advancing workers' interests, and even accepted the concept
of the "general strike" as their primary economic weapon.  Around these
issues the Marxists, led by Karl Marx himself, and the Anarchists,
primarily represented by the Russian Anarchist, Michael Bakunin seemed to
agree, but this unity of outlook was short-lived.  The whole question of
"revolutionary political parties" to lead the masses to Socialism, and the
building of a "Socialist state," undermined any further collaboration, and
led to bitter factional struggles, which have lasted to the present day. 
These factional battles crippled the work of the IWA, and by 1872 it fell
apart.  Many of its national sections and the various political
tendencies:  Anarchist, Marxist and Social Democratic, divided into
separate organizations and resurrected themselves in various countries. In
the 1880s, an American Socialist, Daniel DeLeon, and followers of his
Social Democrat tendency organized the Socialist Labor Party in the United
States, and shortly afterwards Marx's followers brought the remnants of
the IWA to New York.  Although they were the strongest in Spain, Italy,
France and the Latin countries, the Anarchists also arrived in the United
States and re-organized their wing of the organization, which they called
the "International Working People's Association"; the group was especially
strong in the cities of Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and St. Louis,
although it had adherents in a number of Midwestern industrial areas, and
as far West as San Francisco.  IWPA The International Working Peoples'
Association was first founded by the German Anarchist, Johann Most and
other immigrant anarchists in 1883. Among its membership and two of its
most active militants were August Spies and Albert Parsons, later hanged
in the notorious legal lynching known as the Haymarket case. It was the
IWPA which led the fight for the 8-hour day, and against any employer
discrimination toward women, Black or foreign-born workers.  IWPA was a
revolutionary labor organization which stood for the overthrow of
Capitalism and reconstruction of society on the basis of Workers'
self-management, but it did not limit itself to the general strike; it
also advocated armed struggle.  The Libertarian Socialist movement in
America at this time was split into various sections with diverse ideas on
Anarchism; Syndicalist, Individualist and tendencies. It was therefore
Most's foremost aim to bring them together under the wings of the IWPA, as
well as to organize the workers generally.  In 1883, the IWPA convention
was held in October at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was this meeting which
issued the new historical Pittsburgh Proclamation, with its declaration of
the following six principal points: By force our ancestors liberated
themselves from political oppression, by force their children will have to
liberate themselves from economic bondage. It is therefore your right, it
is your duty to arm [yourselves]!  What we would achieve is therefore
plainly and simply:  First: _ Destruction of the existing class rule, by
all means, i.e.., by energetic, relentless, revolutionary and
international action. Second: _ Establishment of a free society based upon
cooperative organization of production. Third: _ Free exchange of
equivalent products by and between the productive organizations without
commerce and profit-mongery. Fourth: _ Organization of education on a
secular scientific and equal basis for both sexes. Fifth: _ Equal rights
for all without distinction to sex or race. Sixth: _ Regulation of all
public affairs by free contracts between the autonomous (independent)
communes and associations, resting on a federalist basis Signed: October
16, 1883 The International Congress of Socialists The IWPA became the most
militant Labor organization in America during the early 1880s, especially
when the Knights of Labor more and more began to sink into the swamp of
reformism and class collaborationism, (even to the extent of the leaders
of the Knights praising the execution of Parsons, Spies, and the other
Haymarket frame-up victims.) The organization had a short, but sweet life;
it was finally crushed in 1888 with the Haymarket judicial murders and
other State repression. Such Labor militancy was not again seen until the
founding of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1905. We owe it to the
memory of our martyred comrades and to ourselves to re-establish such
organization, in this day and age. We must once again make Anarchism a
working class doctrine. Why do we need a revolutionary syndicalist
movement today? We need a group like the old Anarchist IWPA and the IWW
today because many of the same oppressive social and economic conditions
exist today as they did in 1883, when the organization was founded.
Blacks, women, and foreign-born workers (now called "illegal aliens") are
still the most oppressed workers, and there is still the same
contradiction between capital and Labor, demanding class struggle. This is
not to say that nothing significant has happened in the labor movement
since 1888 when the IWPA was crushed: the 8-hour day has been won, there
were the epic Labor battles of the IWW to win basic rights for workers and
organize the working class into One Big Union; the CIO organizing drives
of the 1930s and 40s, and so much more, and at one time over 30 million
workers, one-third of the American work force, was organized into unions.
And therein lies a large part of the problem, for the unions (with few
exceptions) have lost their fighting spirit and are now mere "business
unions," pimps of the workers labor power, and at best serve as minimal
protection against the employers' assaults. The working class needs a
return to the revolutionary labor movement which existed in the last part
of the 1880s-90s and the early part of this century. The working class
needs a group like the International Working Peoples' Association or the
Industrial Workers of the World, with a program for today's worker. We
must organize the most oppressed workers, but it is also our
responsibility to organize the entire working class, or more precisely,
serve as a vehicle for their liberation, since only the workers can
emancipate themselves.  The idea of a workers' international continued to
be alive, despite the break up of the first effort.  Anarcho-Syndicalist
movements sprouted up in one country after another during the 1900s, even
including the Industrial Workers of the World, which although calling
itself "revolutionary Syndicalist," included a number of
Anarcho-Syndicalists, along with DeLeon's SLP faction.  The IWW or
Wobblies, as they are also know, are probably the most famous radical
labor movement in American history. It was founded in 1905 by a coalition
of Socialists, Anarcho-Syndicalists and revolutionaries, such as Lucy
Parsons, an Anarchist and exceptional Black woman, whose contributions to
the founding of the IWW and the American radical movements have been
immeasurable. The IWW engaged in a number of strikes in Louisiana and
Washington State, where timber workers were abysmally treated, in the
mines of Colorado, and in Paterson, NJ, where a truly historical strike
was held by the textile workers which brought the bosses to their knees. 
The IWW was one of the first movements to fight for the democratic rights
of the workers, for instance freedom of speech, the right to organize, and
the right to political assembly_all won during the course of struggle. 
Almost from the first, the IWW stood for racial justice.  In fact, at the
founding meeting of the IWW, William "Big Bill" Haywood got up and asked
the almost all-White assembly, "Where are the Black workers?" So from the
first, the IWW, in contrast to most labor organizations before and since,
stood for racial justice and workers solidarity across race and ethnic
lines. In fact, the IWW was the first labor union to organize Black and
White together in the South, at a time when you could be denounced as a
"nigger- lover," and then jailed, tarred-and-feathered, run out of town,
or even lynched by racist authorities.  The IWW strongly fought lynch
violence in the South, racial discrimination in housing and jobs, and
racist exclusion of Black workers in the trade movement. Its main failure
seems to have been in not doing a more thorough analysis of race and
class, and how it shaped the working class in this country. But given the
class consciousness of the times, and the weakness of the Black movement
of the period, this may be somewhat understood. But Black workers did play
a serious role inside the organization, they led the timber strike in
Louisiana and was the backbone of the early labor movement in South
Africa, and there were a considerable number of Australian aborigines
amongst its ranks. The IWW itself had over 1 million members, before WWI,
but over 100,000, or 10% of its membership base world wide was non-white.
So historically, the IWW has been a true friend and political ally of both
the Black and White workers. This movement was strong, but was decimated
by the American federal government's repression of the IWW- led "peace
movement" during and after World War I.  The government used the
"espionage act" and various state syndicalism laws to crush the IWW and
Anarcho-Syndicalism generally.  Bloody, but not bowed, it had to regroup. 
 Though it has been stomped and beaten up, and is very weak today, it
still exists.  There is still a need for an organization like the IWW, if
it can get reorganized.  Since the working class is multinational today,
and Black and other non-white workers occupy a important role in
industrial production, the IWW should make an especial appeal to them, and
incorporate them into the struggle for workers power. Black workers belong
in a group like the IWW, which has a fighting history, and do not belong,
at all, in the racist AFL-CIO or the other craft unions. What the
Revolutionary Labor Unions Can Do We know what tremendous power Labor has
as the creator of all wealth and supporter of the world. If properly
organized and united, the workers could control the industrial situation,
be the masters of the economy. But the strength of the worker is not in
the union meeting, it is in the office, shop and factory, mill and mine.
It is there that they must organize; there on the job, the point of
production. There they know what they want, what their needs are, and it
is there that they must concentrate their efforts and will-power.  Every
shop and factory should have its special committee to attend to the wants
and requirements of the workers; not leaders, but members of the rank and
file, from the bench and furnace, to look after the demands and complaints
of their fellow workers. Such a committee could rally the whole work force
at a plant, mill or mine around safety issues, the shorter work-week, or
other issues, especially where the unions are weak or "sweetheart" company
unions. Such a committee, being on the spot, and constantly under the
direction and supervision of the workers wields no power, it merely
carries out the instructions of the workers. Its members are recalled at
will and others elected in their place, according to the need of the
moment and the ability required for the task at hand, or for their
misconduct or failure to act. It is the workers who decide the matters at
issue and carry their decisions out through the Shop Committee. That is
the character and form of organization that Labor needs, and it is why we
want to strengthen the IWW.  These shop and factory committees of the IWW,
combined with similar bodies in other factories, mills and mines,
associated locally, regionally, nationally and internationally would
constitute a new type of Labor organization which would be the virile
voice and effective agency of those who toil all over the world. It would
have the whole weight of the united working class at the base of it and
would represent a power tremendous in its scope and potentialities. In the
daily struggle of the proletariat such an organization would be able to
achieve victories about which the conservative union, as at present built,
cannot even dream. It would enjoy the respect and confidence of the
masses, would attract the unorganized and unite labor forces on the
principle of the equality of all workers and their joint aims and
interests. It would face the Capitalist masters of the economy with the
whole might of the working class back of it, in a new attitude of class
consciousness and strength. Only then would Labor acquire dignity, and the
expression of it assume real significance. Such a Labor association would
become something more than a mere defender and protector of the worker and
the struggle for a "living wage" but would become a vehicle for Labor's
emancipation. It would gain a vital realization of the real meaning of
unity and the power of Labor solidarity. The factory and shop would serve
as a training camp to develop the workers understanding of their proper
role in social life, to cultivate their self- reliance and independence,
teach them mutual help and cooperation, and make them conscious of their
social responsibility. They will learn to decide and act on their own
judgment, not leaving it to leaders or politicians to attend to their
affairs and look out for their welfare. The shop and factory would become
the workers' school and college. Not long would they be satisfied to
remain a wage slave, an employee and dependent on the "good will" of the
slave-master whom their toil supports. They will also grow to understand
that present economic and social arrangements are wrong and criminal, and
they will determine to change them. The shop committee, Syndicalist
unions, and Workers' Councils (Assemblies in the Anarchist sense) will
become the field of preparation for a new economic and social system, for
a new social life.  This will create a situation of dual power and put the
Capitalist up against the wall, as was done with the Soviets in the early
phases of the Russian Revolution.  In addition to Workers' Councils,
factory committees, and other autonomous workplace organizations on the
job, there should be Anarchist Labor Federations in every city, town and
region, which would unite independent union Locals, various factory
committees and plant councils, for joint Labor action in a specific
geographical area. After the Social Revolution, such federations will
become the social and economical administration of society, along with the
revolutionary syndicalist unions, producer and consumer cooperatives, and
Community Councils. This replaces the functions of the decrepit political
State, but would not lead to isolation or dictatorial fiefdom because such
local federations would in turn be federated into a national organization
of workers, and would still be in the hands of the worker rank and file,
with total recall power of any delegate or "official." The Strategic Role
of the Black Workers The demand for Black Labor has always been the
central economic factor in America.  Beginning with slave labor in the
South on plantations, farm labor, migration to the North and work in
mills, mines and factories, and on down to the present day, Black labor
has been extremely important. Almost from the beginning Black workers have
organized Labor unions and workers' associations to represent their
interests. Just a few examples are the National Colored Labor Union in
1869, the National Colored Labor Alliance (Populist) in the same year, and
on down to the present day with such unions and associations as the
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, the United Construction Workers
Association, the Black and Puerto Rican Coalition of Construction Workers,
and others. In addition, there were several thousands of Black workers in
the Knights of Labor and at least 100,000 worldwide in the IWW, and there
may be a few million in the AFL- CIO and other labor unions today.  About
9 million Black men and women are today part of the work force in the
United States. About 3 million Blacks are in basic industry, such as steel
and metal fabricating, retail trades, food-production and processing,
meat-packing, railroads, medical services and communications. Blacks
number one-third to almost one-half of the basic blue-collar workers.
Because of the role they play in production, Black workers are potentially
the most powerful sector of the Black community in the struggle for Black
liberation. At least 90 percent of the Black masses are workers.  Because
of their strategic importance to labor alone, it would be criminal or
racist to ignore these fellow workers. Yet there is no Labor organization
in America today which gives full representation and equal treatment to
Black workers. They receive significantly fewer union benefits than white
workers, and are trapped into the most tedious and dangerous jobs, even
though during the 1960s they made considerable economic gains as a result
of the pressure of the civil rights movement. In fact, the North American
trade unions wouldn't even exist today if it were not for the assistance
and support of the Black worker. Trade Unionism was born as an effective
national movement amid the great convulsion of the Civil War and the fight
for Black freedom from slavery, yet Black workers were excluded from
unions like the American Federation of Labor after the war. Only militant
Labor associations like the IWW would accept them on equal terms or at
all. This continued for many years, until the founding of the Congress of
Industrial Organizations (CIO) and its campaign of strikes, sit-downs, and
other protest actions to organize the unskilled industrial workers. Black
labor was pivotal in these battles, especially in the South during the
CIO's "Operation Dixie" campaign, but has never fully reaped the benefits
of their struggles.  In fact, they were betrayed by the conservative labor
bosses after they took over the organization in the 1950s.  No
Condescending Saviors!  Clearly, there will not be any future labor
victories which do not include Black and other non-white workers as a
strategic force. Yet the White Left, including regrettably some
Anarchist-Syndicalists, still think that the white workers are the
vanguard for the revolution and that racially oppressed workers should
just wait on them to move.  The face of the American working class has
changed. For one thing there are more women working, along with more
racial minorities and foreign-born workers, than ever before. They are all
subjected to oppression and exploitation on the dual grounds of race and
class, and thus have to fight the extra battles against racism and
discrimination. They are in labor unions, but also constitute the largest
number of unemployed, homeless and underemployed; and these workers
constitute the majority of unorganized workers.  As the victims of extreme
inequality in the economy, Black workers have already begun to organize
for their own interests and protect their rights on the job. Of course the
unity of Black and white workers is indispensable to combat and overthrow
Capitalism. But where white workers are privileged and Black workers are
penalized, Black unity must precede and prepare the ground for Black-White
unity on a broad scale. Black caucuses in the Unions can fight against
discrimination in hiring, firing and upgrading, and for equality of
treatment in the unions themselves, such as the Coalition of Black Trade
Unionists. Where they are part of organized Labor, they should strive to
democratize the unions, regenerate their fighting spirit, and eliminate
white job-trust practices. These Black caucuses in the unions should
demand: 1. Rank-and-file democratic control of the union. 2. Equal rights
and treatment for all Black unionists, and elimination of all racist
practices in the Labor movement. 3. Affirmative Action programs to redress
past racist employment practices. Preferential hiring and advancement of
Black workers and free access to apprentice training programs, the skilled
trades, and higher-paying supervisory posts. End racial discrimination
based on seniority and other ploys. 4. Full employment for Black workers
(and all workers) at union wage. 5. A thirty-hour week with no reduction
in pay; 30-for-40! 6. The right to strike, including wildcat strikes
without union sanction, and on-site picketing of construction sites which
discriminate against or exclude Black workers. 7. Speedy and fair
grievance procedures. 8. An escalator clause in all union contracts to
insure automatic wage adjustments to keep up with the rising costs of
living. 9. Full payment of Social Security by employer and government. 10.
Full unemployment compensation at 100 per cent of base pay (union wage
level) to be paid by the employer and the Government. A worker should be
paid until re-employed, at full salary in his or her line of work. 11. A
Public Works program to rebuild the Black Community and provide employment
for Black workers. 12. Workers' self-management of industry by factory
committees and Industrial Union Councils, elected by the workers
themselves. The IWW should encourage the Black workers to form their own
semi-autonomous labor and community organizations, in order to represent
and protect the rights of Black workers on the job, and most importantly
to organize in the Black community, because only Black workers can
effectively organize other Black workers, and also because Anarchists
believe in the self determination of all peoples.  It can form its own
locals, elect its own delegates and Officers, and organize in the Black
community and at the workplace in its own way. Although it will
participate in IWW on the grounds of workers solidarity, they cannot
interfere in the functioning of such an organization or try to "give
orders" to it.  Such is not the libertarian way.  But we call also for an
end to class and race discrimination in the labor movement generally, and
the use of racism by the bosses. This means first of all that not a single
member of the Labor movement may with impunity be discriminated against,
suppressed or ignored.  In other words the Labor organization must be
built on the principle of equal liberty of all its members. This equality
means that only if each worker is a free and independent unit, cooperating
with the others from his or her mutual interests, can the whole labor
organization work successfully and become powerful. The Libertarian
workers organization, formed voluntarily and in which every member is free
and equal, is a sound body and can work well.  Such an organization is a
free union of equal parts.  It is the kind of Labor organization that the
Anarchists believe in. We say that this must be overcome before Capital
can be successfully overcome. Racism must be fought vigorously wherever it
is found, even if in our own ranks, and even in one's own breast. 
Accordingly, we must end the system of white skin privilege which the
bosses use to split the class, and subject racially oppressed workers to
super-exploitation. White workers, especially those in the Western world,
must resist the attempt to use one section of the working class to help
them advance, while holding back the gains of another segment based on
race or nationality. This kind of class opportunism and capitulationism on
the part of white labor must be directly challenged and defeated. There
can be no workers unity until the system of super-exploitation and world
White Supremacy is brought to an end.  Women Workers For over a hundred
years, the percentage of women entering the work force has steadily
increased. Beginning with the work of Black women slaves and indentured
servants, the ruling class has forever sought ways to steal the fruits of
women's labor without paying them.  Still or the most part, the feminist
movement in North America is and has always been White and middle class,
but working women's liberation is a real necessity.  Millions of women of
color work at the lowest paid jobs, and also at the most dead-end,
unorganized (non-unionized) jobs.  But, whatever the job, women generally
earn far less than men, have fewer chances at promotions, and are some of
the most oppressed and exploited workers.  Not only are women low paid,
but for women of color especially, they are subjected to racial
discrimination and sexual harassment by their bosses and co-workers on the
job. A successful strategy for social revolution and for the liberation of
all women workers will necessarily be deeply rooted in the needs and
struggles of working class women_the overwhelming majority of women_who
own nothing but their labor power which they must sell to survive.  The
demands and needs of working class women are pushing forward the historic
choice for the women's movement of building either an essentially
bourgeois feminist movement or organizing a women's movement, based in and
led by the working class.  Of course, most of the white Leftist and
feminist movements do not want to acknowledge it; they want to claim that
the middle class white movement speak for all women. The initiative and
unity of African- American and other women of color is leading the class
stand of proletarian women, challenging the poison of racism, fighting
back against sexual harassment, challenging patriarchy, is how a
revolutionary syndicalist movement will be built.  It will require a
tremendous organizing campaign to organize women workers, since Capitalism
has such an enormous stake in maintaining the current exploitation of
women workers. This struggle will liberate the great potential of women
workers and thereby strengthen the struggle for emancipation for the whole
working class. Working women_in their day-to-day struggles for jobs, a
living wage, health and safety conditions, daycare and paid maternity
leave, opposition to racism and sexism_are fighting to get organized. 
There is great power in an organized work force, and women work in places
which are strategically vital.  In fact, in all of the most rapidly
growing sectors of the working class, women are the vast majority of the
workers.  Women workers present a potentially explosive threat to the
capitalist system.  Without the labor of women, the Capitalist system
could not function.  Capitalism depends on and thrives on the exploitation
of women workers.  Ninety percent of the women in the United States work
outside the home sometime during their lives. Women account for three
fifths of the increase in the civilian labor force in the last two
decades. Women Work? Women are forced into the work force by sheer
economic necessity and the Capitalist system's demand for labor. 
Conversely, they (along with non-white workers) seem to be some of the
first ones pushed out of the work force or held to the lowest paying jobs,
according to the needs of the profit system.  Women work in spite of the
lack of daycare facilities, lack of maternity provisions, lack of health
and retirement benefits, and lack of training. Women work despite the
"double shift" of housework which remains at the end of the official
working day.  There is much truth to the old saying that "a woman's work
is never done."  This unpaid "invisible" and lonely work of housekeeping
and child-raising, is essential to the continuation of the patriarchal
nuclear family and Capitalist society itself.  With women of color, the
Capitalists get two workers for the price of one, neither of which is paid
their full worth.  The overwhelming majority of women work at
non-unionized jobs.  Only one in eight women workers even belong to a
union. Although women are entering the work force in increasing numbers,
the percentage of organized women has dropped from 17 percent to 12
percent of the total number of women working in the 15-year period of
1978-1993.  Although 31 percent of all union members are women, only 4.7
percent of all union office-holders are women.  Almost no major union has
a strategy to "organize the unorganized," and women, Blacks and Third
World people are the unorganized. Women work even though their jobs are
the lowest paying and least secure.  And, of course, women also work to
escape the isolation and drudgery of housework, as well as to be
productive, and for their own independence and interest, but survival is
the decisive reason why women work at such low paying, menial and
repetitive jobs.  Women make up 40-45 percent of the US work force; two
thirds of all women workers are single, divorced, widowed, or their
husband make less than $7,000 per year.  Women are the sole breadwinners
in 20 percent of all White families and 35 percent of all Black families. 
The number of women-headed families increased by one million in the last
ten years to 25.3 million families.  The median income of these families
is one half the national median.  Nearly 45 percent of these families are
poor, even by government standards. 55 percent of all US families include
working men and women, because increasingly the working class needs to
have two or more family members working at full-time jobs in order to get
by.  Yet women, along with non-white workers, are the last hired and the
first fired. Women and racial minorities serve as the largest reserve army
of monopoly capitalism. Women Workers Work? Half of all women workers are
concentrated in 31 occupations, which are the lowest paying in the US.
About 12 million women are clerical workers.  Another 5 million women are
service workers; 5 million women are factory workers, 4.5 million are
professional and technical workers (2/5 of whom are teachers.) Finally, 1
million women are domestic workers, a job almost totally reserved for the
poor and undocumented workers. Over 1/3 (34.9 percent) of working women
are clerical workers. This is more than in any other occupation. 36.7
percent of these are White, 20.7 percent are Black, and 30 percent are
Spanish-speaking;  in all, 24.4 percent of Third World women are clerical
workers.  To no one's real surprise, 75 percent of all clerical workers
are women. Clerical work is concentrated in areas of insurance, finance,
real estate and government. Clerical workers include typists, stock
clerks, receptionists, telemarketers, postal clerks, payroll and time
keeping clerks, office machine operators, telephone operators, file
clerks, bank tellers, cashiers, stenographers, secretaries and
bookkeepers.  The number of women service workers has more than tripled
since 1940.  In fact, 63 percent of all service workers are women. Of that
number, 38.5 percent of African American women are service workers and
45.5 percent of all Third World working women are service workers. 
Service work includes food (waitresses, cooks, kitchen and counter
workers), health (attendants, practical nurses), laundry and dry cleaning,
beauty and hairdressing, housekeeping and cleaning (outside of domestic
work), stewardesses, etc. 29 percent of Black women workers and 23.7
percent of Spanish-speaking women workers work in factories. Women factory
workers are concentrated in areas of "women's work" such as garment and
textiles, and food processing. Women who entered heavy industry, such as
auto and steel, since enforcement of anti-discrimination legislation in
1972, already in small numbers, have suffered severe job losses during the
current economic crisis. There are over one million domestic workers in
the US. The median income for a private household worker who works 50-52
hours per week during 1989-1993 was around $15,000.  It is estimated that
97 percent of all household workers are women, and that 2/3 of such
domestic workers are Black and Third World. 14 percent of these workers
are over 65 years old. Half of all domestic workers live and work in the
Southeast. These are workers who most often work for other women. A Note
On Clerical Workers By 1890, the typewriter was accepted into the business
world. By 1990, the census counted nearly 38.5 million clerical workers_a
category at least equal in size to factory workers, though the median wage
for full-time clerical work is lower than that in every type of so-called
blue collar work. Today vast pools of office workers, many times crammed
in rooms with poor ventilation and heat, horrible noise levels and fire
hazards, suffering backaches and eye trouble, nervous tension and
headaches, and the humiliation of work under capitalism stare at computer
screens.  In addition, in many offices there is evidence that the
electronic machines let off dangerous ozone fumes, and that the
ventilation and the air conditioning systems send particles of asbestos
and fibrous glass into the air. This is the true nature of the working
conditions considered "soft" and "white collar" in popular mythology. In
truth, only farm workers and domestic workers earn less than clerical
workers. The nature of the work and the conditions for women office
workers in floor after floor of the giant insurance companies,
multinational corporations, and public employment centers are more like
factory work than anything else. Office work has become manual
labor_highly mechanized, repetitive and routine, with an increasingly
menial division of labor which reduces more and more the functions of
judgment or thought. Women workers are tied to business machines, working
on a flow of paper_the drive for speed dominates, and the pressure is
constant. It's enough to make anyone a nervous wreck, and usually does! 
In frustration and desperation over their working conditions, clerical
workers sometimes resort to tranquilizers and aspirins, alcohol and
sometimes even stronger drugs!  The Labor market for clerical workers is
increasingly the same as that for factory workers, in terms of education,
family background, etc._except for one significant distinction_the
division along the lines of sex.  In 1991, factory work was composed of 9
million men and 4.5 million women, while office work was made up of 10.1
million women and 3.8 million working men. This reflects class
stratification and also how much sex discrimination there still is in the
work force against women workers. The notion that office work is a "middle
class job" is a hangover from the days at the turn or the century when
office work was more like a craft. And this idea is still perpetuated as
part of an attempt by management to sell the workers a pipe dream, by
convincing clerical workers that they are in the same professional
category as engineers, managers or college professors; that they have
somehow "escaped" the punishing conditions of factory work because they
are "white collar" and therefore not a part of the working class.
Frequently they are fooled into believing promises of promotions and
gradual increases of responsibility. Fancy and inflated titles like
"administrative assistant"  and "word processing specialist" are lies that
cover over the grim reality of dead-end, repetitive, highly exploitative
work. Clerical work is the special product of the new stage of monopoly
capitalism, that huge enterprises, which carry on their work mainly
through clerical labor, have developed. In addition, corporations which
themselves produce goods or services have grown their own huge office
sectors. In many industries, marketing and the accounting or transforming
of labor value takes on proportions which rival the labor used in actually
producing the underlying service or commodity. Women office workers are
treated as children and expected to act docile. The sexual demands of
bosses or supervisors are frequently a condition for getting a job and
keeping it.  This sexual harassment has for years been a serious problem,
but it has only been recently that anyone took the complaints seriously. 
For instance, for years secretaries were seen as "girls" employed for the
enjoyment of their bosses, and paid more (or discharged) based on their
pliable attitude toward their male supervisors, rather than their ability
to do their jobs. But in major cities around the country, there are the
beginning rumblings which point to a revolt among office workers and a
determination to organize together to fight for their rights. The
conditions of work themselves produce anger and frustration against the
bosses, and the militancy and consciousness of the women's movement has
highlighted the blatant sexual discrimination and humiliation that keep
women in the lowest paying bottom jobs. There is a time bomb in the
offices of monopoly capitalism. To fight back, women have organized in
unions like 9-to-5 in Boston, Women Office Workers in New York City, Women
Employed in Chicago, Union Wage in the California Bay Area, and others, to
fight for their rights on the job and to win them respect as workers and
equal human beings. Women Organize! Women have everything to gain from
organizing to fight for their rights, and even more to gain from a social
revolution. For those dedicated to the complete liberation of women,
serious revolutionaries, Labor is a necessary arena of struggle. The
enthusiasm and power of an organized and aroused working class movement is
a major weapon of the people. The major trade unions, however, have proven
their indifference to the needs of women workers. For over 40 years women
have been ignored by organized labor. That is why they have had to
organize their own unions and workers' associations like the Coalition of
Labor Union Women and the Union Wage.  Women must organize women workers,
but organizing women workers will, or course, mean organizing men too. 
Even in areas where women make up 60 to 98 percent of the work force, men
workers are also highly exploited, and the unity of all workers is
necessary.  It must also include building unity among all nationalities of
workers, and repudiating racism as well as sexism. The truth is that women
will raise the consciousness of all working class struggles through their
demands which challenge their particular oppression within the working
class. Working class women can and must fight for equal rights and fight
for their needs. But women must organize in ways which encourage the
shattering of traditional roles and will build unity and confidence among
working women.  The struggle will take many forms, perhaps including
working women's leagues and caucuses in existing unions, as well as in
independent labor unions, as has in fact been occurring.  Struggles which
fight for women's immediate needs and grievances include: decent jobs,
equal pay, an end to sexual discrimination and harassment, maternity
medical coverage and job security, community controlled and free daycare,
health programs and safe working conditions, the right to unionize. It
must be revolutionary unions which are built however, for basing a
movement on mere reforms will not win women's liberation. Such a union
movement must be very much interested in women workers: interested in
helping to organize them, and in fighting along with them for their
rights; and in affiliating with such women's unions and workers'
associations that now exist like the IWW. Further, the IWW will need to
encourage women to organize a national association of women workers in
order to unite the various unions, associations and tendencies in the
women's movement that are concerned about working conditions and union
representation for women. Such a union of women workers would be an
independent entity, with its own delegates and officers, and its own
methods of workplace and community organizing. The IWW should be willing
to support it in every way, and should wish to normally affiliate with it
because in the unity of the entire working class, there is strength. The
IWW is a Libertarian organization and would not wish to dominate or even
affiliate with another Labor tendency against its wishes. We believe in
freely associated labor and labor solidarity_class consciousness. We are
not trying to build an empire or swallow up Brother or Sister labor
organizations. But we need each other because only a bitter struggle will
wrest any concessions from the ruling class; and the final liberation of
working women will only come with the complete overthrow of Capitalism and
the State. Foreign Born Workers! Anarchists do not recognize any national
borders, and feel all workers should have the right to enter a territory
without restrictions, including the United States, the Southwestern part
of which was stolen from Mexico anyway. In our opinion, there are no
"aliens," "outsiders" or "nationals" of this country or another.  That is
how it should be, but we know it is not that way in today's world. Foreign
born or "undocumented" workers have long been some of the most exploited
members of the working class. Driven from their homelands in the search
for higher wages and better living standards, they must emigrate or
smuggle themselves into the US.  Many times the United States is directly
responsible for the depressed labor and economic conditions due to
imperialist exploitation, as in Mexico, for instance.  These workers are
forced to perform the most menial, backbreaking labor at the lowest wages,
jobs that the US native-born workers refuse to do, such as migrant farm
labor or in garment sweatshops. Because of their delicate legal status as
"illegal aliens," they are subjected to bullying and slave labor tactics
by bosses, and forced to live in scandalously inhuman conditions at
exorbitant cost. But even with such dismal conditions and ill treatment,
foreign born workers are now fighting back. Through strikes,
demonstrations, boycotts, lawsuits and other protest actions, these
workers are standing up for their rights against the intimidation of the
employers and the State. It is the State, doing the bidding of the rich
capitalists, which has led a racist, repressive campaign against so-called
"illegal aliens" and who has jailed and deported these workers, through
its Immigration and Naturalization Service. These foreign born workers are
combative and militant, and make the best union members, yet no major
Labor union will fight for them. In many respects, even The United Farm
Workers Union has now withdrawn much of its support since UFW joined the
reformist AFL/CIO international union federation. This is not to say that
there are no Labor organizations at all representing undocumented workers.
17 percent of them in this country are now union members. In addition,
there are independent unions and associations like the Texas Farmworkers
Union, CASA-General Brotherhood of Workers, and the Farm Labor Organizing
Committee, which represent immigrant workers. But the independent farm
worker unions and associations are not united in a nationwide effort or
allied with organized labor. That must be one of the major tasks of the
IWW. We must actively seek to recruit, represent, and organize
undocumented workers and other immigrants, and affiliate with the
independent unions and immigrant workers' associations. The IWW must fight
for these workers' rights and against the racism and xenophobia conjured
up by the government and the bosses. The IWW must unite with foreign born
workers and make their demands part of the demands or the entire working
class for better working conditions and humane treatment. Only by fighting
for the most oppressed workers can we dare to call ourselves
representatives of the working class. We must demand: _An end to
discrimination against foreign born workers. Union wage levels for all
work performed. _Improved working and living conditions, including being
provided with union-approved low cost housing. _Social and working
benefits as native born workers. _The right to organize Labor unions
without employer or government interference. _Land to the tillers, and the
disbanding of agribusiness conglomerates.  Workers should seize land if
government will not provide them with land and implements. _Creation of an
independent Farm Labor Commission by unions to investigate the conditions
of farm laborers and ensure that their living and working conditions meet
federal safety standards and do not violate Labor laws, or the civil
rights of the workers. _End harassment and deportation by La Migra, the
Immigration and Naturalization Service's police. _End harassment and
racist attacks by border vigilantes like the Ku Klux Klan, who have
quasi-official approval by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
_Allow free immigration to the US for all who wish to work. _Free all
immigrants confined in federal or State prison for mere entry into the
country. Unite With Rank and File Union Caucuses! Union militants have
formed rank and File caucuses in practically all of the major trade unions
(e.g. Teamsters for a Democratic Union, National Rank and File
Steelworkers Committee, and others) and some unions are hotbeds of rank
and file agitation. These unionists are fighting for better working
conditions, but also are contesting the undemocratic, class
collaborationist policy of the business unions. They seek an alternative,
but the radical strategy of "boring from within" is less effective than
building independent organizations or joining the IWW.  The various
shop-floor committees of the IWW sections must provide an alternative, and
must link up with such existing rank and file caucuses within the unions
they belong to. These are the most militant members of the Labor movement
and would make the best possible organizers for the IWW since they are
right there on the on work-site with their fellow workers, at the point of
production. In fact, one of the main objectives of the IWW should be to
create militant rank and file caucuses within the unions to cover the
needs of women, Black/PoC or foreign-born workers.  These caucuses would
not only ensure greater democracy but also move the trade unions in a
libertarian and revolutionary syndicalist direction, with the objective of
pushing for a more class struggle stance against the bosses and for rank
and file control of the unions. This can best be accomplished with an
industrial committee, made up of IWW union organizers to agitate within
the business unions and educate the workers in the ideas of
Anarcho-Syndicalism, as well as to try to organize them into the IWW. For
instance, where we have already sympathizers at a workplace, they should
(with the help or the larger organization and the local community) publish
a newsletter to heighten the consciousness of the workers and should also
work to create Community Economic Workshops as educational forums to
propagate ideas about the necessity for Workers' Self-management and
concerning present working conditions. Later (when stronger) they should
work to set up Workers Industrial Councils for work to rule. It should be
understood that a Workers' Industrial Council is a revolutionary,
subversive organized instrument for class struggle, not more bureaucracy,
and we establish it to: 1) Create a dual power situation between workers
and capitalists in the vital industrial sector. 2) Unite and organize
workers regardless of union affiliation or craft jurisdiction. 3) Serve as
an instrument or struggle, e.g. wildcat strikes, boycotts, and other
independent worker protests_all designed to undermine and weaken the
authority of the reformist trade union leadership. 4) Take control or the
industrial means of production at a favorable revolutionary moment,
lock-out the Capitalist class, and establish Workers' Self-Management on a
permanent basis. 5) Link-up with Community Councils, Producer and Consumer
cooperatives, and other autonomous workplace and community organizations
to create the administration for economic, industrial, and social
democracy, i.e., Libertarian Socialism.  Unemployed Workers! Every worker
has the human right to a job. Yet under the Capitalist system workers are
dismissed from employment in times of business crisis, over-production or
depression, or just to save labor costs through cutting workers and
speed-ups. And then some workers just cannot find jobs in the Capitalist
Labor market, either because of discrimination, lack of skills or job
training, a "criminal" record, or other reasons. The official government
unemployment rates hover around 7.5 percent or about 10,200,000 workers. 
Under Capitalism half that figure is "normal" and nonsensically is
considered by capitalist economists as "full employment." But the
government figures are intentionally conservative, and do not include
those who have given up actively searching for jobs, the underemployed
(who can't find a full-time or steady job, and work through labor pools or
temporary work agencies.) This would make the figures for the unemployed
much higher. Accordingly, the unemployment figures for the periods
1991-1993 should look something like this: 1991: 10.3 % unemployed 1992:
10.5% unemployed 1993 11 % unemployed. Clearly then, this is a crisis
situation of broad proportions, but all the government is doing is
juggling figures, in order to hide the extent of the problem and the
numbers of people really unemployed.  But everyone is not suffering to the
same extent under this economic crisis. Young persons, especially Blacks,
Latinos, and women workers are being hit the hardest and are bearing the
brunt of the current depression;  we should organize and join with them in
fighting the Capitalist bosses of industry, and demand that everyone be
allowed to work. Unemployment has hit the Black community especially hard.
The National Urban League reports levels of 25-40 percent for Black adults
25 or older, and incredible levels or 40-60 percent for teenagers and
young adults 17-24 years of age, in its Hidden Unemployment Index, as part
of its annual "State of Black America" report.  This is where we must
begin to organize. In every major city throughout the country (but even in
small towns and rural areas as well) the IWW should take the lead in
forming Unemployment Councils to fight for unemployment benefits and jobs
for the unemployed.  Such councils should be democratic organizations,
organized on a neighborhood basis (to insure direct democracy, and against
infiltration and takeover by political parties), which would be federated
into a city-wide, regional and national organization. Not only would they
be a way of fighting for jobs and unemployment benefits, but also the
Councils would be a way to some form of community power, self-sufficiency
and direct democracy, and possibly even the embryonic establishment of
municipal Communes when they find out that government will no longer
provide those things for them. It would be the Councils which would
establish food and housing cooperatives, lead rent strikes or squatting,
land and building reclamation projects, establish producer and consumer
cooperatives, distribute food and clothing, and provide for other
services. They would also establish neighborhood assemblies to deal with
community social problems and issues of interest, and fight for
"neighborhood government." They would lead hunger marches and would
support radical Labor organizations like IWW or any workers who are on
strike and are protesting against the bosses. The employed and unemployed
must work together; that is the real lesson of the 1930s Great Depression. 
We must unite the entire working class, even those without jobs, instead
of narrowly concentrating on unionized laborers. Unemployment, we must
realize, is a revolutionary issue, one that people will fight against, if
for no other reason than that their own social conditions compel it. It
would be sheer lunacy for a revolutionary labor movement to refuse to join
in that fight. We demand: _Full employment for all workers (zero
unemployment.) _Corporate and Governmental funds to pay for the bills,
mortgages, and debts for any laid-off worker until he can work again.
_Establishment of a shorter work week so everyone can work. _Workers'
Self-Management and Social Revolution. _Full benefits (including stipend)
for all unemployed workers and their families. Unemployment compensation
at 100% of regular paid wage, lasting the full length of a workers' period
of unemployment. _No taxation of unemployed workers, including mortgage
payments. This is merely a survival program for unemployment, the real
answer is Social Revolution and Workers' Self-Management of the industry
and the economy. It also shows the necessity and feasibility for a
revolutionary Labor organization to organize unemployed workers as well as
those who toil in industry and agriculture.  What Is To Be Done Now? A
Program for Revolutionary Syndicalism The traditional labor movement has
used the workers to ensure the success of their organizing drives and to
fill union coffers, and have then betrayed and discarded the workers. The
workers are seeking an alternative, and the IWW and the other Anarcho-
Syndicalist tendencies must be that alternative and fight for their
rights. The revolutionary Syndicalist unions, factory committees and
workers' industrial councils in the industrial plants form the future
producers cooperative society, but first we have to raise issues to rally
workers now.  Such issues as: 1) A thirty-hour week with forty hours pay
immediately as an emergency unemployment measure during the current
economic crisis. 2) Rank and file democratic control of the unions.
Removal of all reactionary, class-collaborationist union leaders. 3)
Complete independence of the unions from Governmental interference. Repeal
of all anti-Labor laws. 4) An escalator wage provision in all union
contracts to assure automatic wage adjustments to match rising living
costs. 5) Elimination of racist and sexist practices in Labor movement.
Unions should support Affirmative Action programs and passage of Equal
Rights Amendment to benefit racial minorities and women workers. 6) Full
employment for all workers at union wage, including the minimum wage. 7)
Payment of 100% of Social Security pension by boss and government. 8)
Retirement pension at 100% of current union wage, to be fully paid by boss
and government. 9) Elimination of the posts of Foreman and Industrial
Supervisor, as well as Steward (unless latter is duly elected by the
workers-at-large and subject to immediate recall by the workers.) As I
have pointed out, Union militants have formed rank-and-file caucuses in
practically all of the major unions in North America, and some whole union
locals are hotbeds of rank and file agitation. They are seeking an
alternative to the undemocratic, class collaborationist policy of the
business unions; the IWPA must link up with such rank and file caucuses,
and take them to a higher level: revolutionary syndicalism. In addition
they must concentrate on organizing some of the millions of unorganized
workers (non-union, foreign-born, unemployed and homeless.) Many
Anarchists, Anarcho- and Revolutionary Syndicalists, advocates of Workers'
Councils, and other Libertarian Socialists, have made brilliant analyses
of the workers' problems and come up with serious programs, but they
continue to talk and dream, instead of buckling down to work their ideas
out in actual social practice. They seem to be afraid to confront the
workers with their findings; thus they become ideologues and theorists. I
think the IWW just may be the vehicle for the realization of those dreams,
and a proving ground for those ideals, if it will adopt some of the ideas
I am proposing in this pamphlet. It is time to stop living in the past, in
a time when the IWW had millions of workers within it. Now we need to come
up with another strategy. We must believe in applying revolutionary social
theory to social reality: the actual oppressed social conditions of the
working class, rather than some utopian concept of the perfect society in
the future.  Only then can we dare call ourselves social revolutionaries.
The Libertarian revolutionary movement must include Blacks, women and
foreign born workers, and comparatively new forces are becoming involved
in the Anarchist movement and joining it, such as the Awareness League of
Nigeria. The IWW could make a serious impact with a new program and mass
membership.  I believe it may be possible to re- energize the
organization, and have it play the kind of revolutionary role it played in
the early years of its existence, which I think presages a new internal
debate on what road we should take to Social Revolution.  I also believe
that since Capitalism is now in the middle of a world wide economic
crisis, the working class is looking for direction.  We cannot feign
support, we have got to be for real.  There are 2.7 million homeless in
the European Community nations, another 3 million in the United States,
and numerous others in the other industrialized nations.  The newly
"freed" East European countries have experienced severe economic downturns
as their "welcome" to the Capitalist system. Millions are unemployed or
underemployed with low paying part-time or temporary jobs. In fact,
wherever you look things are worse for the working class in the 1990s, and
will just get worse if we let Capitalism drag on into the next century.
And yet this is a historical opportunity which we may never see again:
Marxist Communism is in shambles, fascism, though on the rise, is still a
formative movement; Religion, Liberalism, Conservatism and other
mainstream dogma are being challenged daily.  Anarchism is a fresh set of
ideas, which have never truly been discredited, even after lies and
attacks for over a century. Now we have the ability to change history, if
we will just act.  An international workers organization is the most
pressing need of the present. But it cannot be stressed too much that only
the right kind of organization of the workers can accomplish what we are
striving for. Organization from the bottom up, beginning with the shop and
factory, on the foundation of the joint interests of the workers
everywhere, irrespective of trade, race, sex, or country of origin, by
means of mutual effort and united will, as well as work in the
community_that alone can solve the Labor question and serve the true
emancipation of working people.