Anarcho-syndicalism in the 21st century
In January 2009 we produced a pamphlet entitled "Strategy and struggle - anarcho-syndicalism in the 21st century" as a clarification of the meaning of anarcho-syndicalism in the 21st century, and as a contribution to the debate over strategy and organisation.
Central to anarcho-syndicalism is the revolutionary union through which workers organise themselves to fight for their interests, including ultimately the expropriation of the means of production to be managed democratically without bosses. The revolutionary union functions according to the priciples of solidarity, direct action and rank-and-file control. In our pamphlet, we ask how such a revolutionary union can arise in a 21st century context, in the light of historical experience, contemporary anarcho-syndicalist successes and criticisms that have been made of anarcho-syndicalism. We argue that the revolutionary potential of workers organisations is tightly linked to the wider class struggle, and that organistions should be distinguished according to several characteristics: permanent organisations that are uncoupled from the level of class struggle vs. non-permanent organisations that are an expression of workers' self-organisation in militant class conflict ; mass organisations that are open to all workers vs. minority organisations that unite workers on the basis of shared politics ; and revolutionary organisations that are actually capable of making a revolution vs. pro-revolutionary organisations that only advocate social revolution. We argue that the revolutionary union is a non-permanent mass organisation that can only arise in the context of militant class-struggle, and we explain our interpretation of the Solidarity Federation's industrial strategy.
Our pamphlet is available in the libcom.org library, where it has also been discussed.
Apart from the ancient
Apart from the ancient parish churches of Brighton (St Nicholas') and Hove (St Andrew's), and those of the nearby villages that are now part of the city, few places of worship existed until the 19th century.000-974During that century, however—and especially in the Victorian era—England experienced a surge in church-building, which left its mark on both Brighton and Hove.[4] Reverend Henry Wagner (Vicar of Brighton between 1824 and 1870)CISM and his son Reverend Arthur Wagner founded and funded a succession of Anglican churches for the benefit of Brighton's rapidly growing population, while enduring controversy and conflict over their political and religious ideals;1z0-050][6] many churches were founded in Hove; and Roman Catholic, Baptist, Unitarian, Jewish and other places of worship became established for the first time.E20-850 Although overcapacity and increasing maintenance costs have led to some closures, new churches continued to be established throughout the 20th century on the new housing estates.