Title: Anarchism and Ireland

Author: Workers Solidarity Movement

Description: An introduction to the ideas of
anarchism, its relevance to Ireland and what
happened in Russia and Spain.

Keywords: Anarchism, Russia, Spain

  Introduction to the second edition (1989)

In the intervening four years since the Workers 
Solidarity Movement first published Anarchism and 
Ireland the reasons for doing so again have been 
more than demonstrated.  Despite the great 
technological advances, the huge wealth and 
resources that now exist throughout the world, 
millions continue to die from starvation and from 
four major preventable diseases.

Ireland is no exception to the injustice and 
inequality that prevails.  The standard of living has 
dropped for most working class people in the last 
three years, while unemployment has gone higher 
and emigration increased.  The government has 
used the climate of despondency to push through 
its own cuts in the health service and in education - 
putting the squeeze, more and more, on those less 
well off.  But meanwhile huge profits are being 
made, not just by multinationals but also by some of 
Ireland's own capitalists like Tony O'Reilly and 
Michael Smurfit.

That this situation must be changed is beyond 
doubt.  Capitalism survives not just by physical 
force but also by making people feel and believe 
that they are powerless to do anything about it.  It 
convinces us that "this is the way things will always 
be". Our real power to resist the inequality and 
injustice around us, and ultimately to radically 
change the way things are run, is obscured from us.  
But it is none the less there.

Anarchism and Ireland aims to make this clearer, to 
show the long tradition of ideas and action - our 
history - that has sought radical change by 
abolishing capitalism and replacing it with a better 
society based on socialism and freedom.

Anarchist ideas are not new, though in Ireland they 
have only a short history. The WSM aims to further 
popularise these ideas, to convince as many as 
possible that the solution to the problems around us 
will not be found in electing a "socialist" 
government to the Dail or any other parliament.  
Rather it lies in our own industrial and social power 
as workers.  It lies in our ability to organise in 
unions, to stop production  to further our aims.  
Ultimately it lies in the fact that it is we and not the 
bosses who create the wealth of the world.

Kevin Doyle

The Workers Solidarity Movement is anarchist 
organisation.  We believe in a revolution by the 
working class which will overthrow the bosses and 
their governments, and create a society run and 
controlled by those who actually produce the 
wealth of the world.  We believe that it is possible to 
live without government and to put in its place 
councils and assemblies where the "ordinary 
people" can decide what happens to this wealth.  
We believe in the equality of all and that maximum 
solidarity is needed between workers and other 
oppressed groups if we are to defeat those who live 
off our sweat.

         Anarchists are against chaos

When you hear about anarchists you are led to 
believe that we are mad bombers. Every other 
group that lets off a bomb is immediately labelled 
'anarchist' whether they be nationalists, socialists or 
even fascists.  The myth is created that we believe in 
violence for the sake of it.  The other myth is that 
anarchism is chaos It is claimed by politicians, 
bosses and their hacks in the media that if there was 
no government there would be chaos.  But did you 
ever wonder about society today and come to the 
conclusion that perhaps we are already living in 
chaos.  At the moment thousands of builders are on 
the dole yet homeless people need housing to live 
in.  The price of butter is scandalously dear yet 
every year the EEC has to deal with a butter 
mountain.  Thousands of people are dying of 
starvation around the world yet millions of pounds 
are spent every day on nuclear arms which have the 
potential for wiping us and the world out.  

You might ask why is this so? We say that there is 
one big reason - PROFIT! At the moment we live in 
a society in which there are two major classes - the 
bosses and the workers.  The bosses own the 
factories, banks, shops, etc.  Workers don't. All they 
have is their labour which they use to make a living.  
Workers are compelled to sell their Labour to the 
boss for a wage.  The boss is interested in squeezing 
as much work out of the worker for as little wages 
as possible so that he/she can maintain high profits.  
Thus the more wages workers get the less profits 
the bosses make.  Their interests are in total 
opposition to each other.

Production is not based on the needs of ordinary 
people.  Production is for profit. Therefore although 
there is enough food in the world to feed everyone, 
people starve because profits come first.  This is 
capitalism.

             What is the State?

There are other classes in society such as the self-
employed and small farmers but fundamentally 
there are workers and bosses whose interests are in 
opposition to each other.  For workers needs to be 
fully met we must get rid of the bosses.  But this is 
no easy task.  The bosses are organised.  They have 
the media on their side. They also have the State 
and the force of the army and police that go with it.  
We only have to look at the miners strike in Britain 
to see how the forces of the state can be used against 
the working class.  We only have to look at the 
North to see to what extent the ruling class are 
prepared to go to protect their interests.

The state (i.e.  governments, armies, courts, police, 
etc.) is a direct result of the fact that we live in a 
class society.  A society where only 7% of the people 
own 84% of the wealth.

The state is there to protect the interests of this 
minority, if not by persuasion then by force.  Laws 
are made not to protect us but to protect those who 
own the property.  Look at how the Ranks workers 
were flung into jail when they decided to fight for 
their jobs.

Compare this with the treatment handed out to the 
multi-nationals who were able to take 500m in 
profits out of the country tax free without the 
government even knowing about it.  If you think 
that the state is there to protect you, think about the 
fact that PAYE workers pay 88% of all income taxes 
while the rest - farmers, self-employed ,and multi-
nationals pay only 12% between them.

    Elections: Putting numbers on a piece of paper

We are led to believe that the state is run in our 
interests.  Don't we have elections to ensure that any 
government not behaving itself can be brought to 
task? Democracy is about putting numbers on a 
piece of paper every four years.  We are given a 
choice all right but between parties who all agree 
with the system of a tiny minority ruling the 
country.

People often say that if we really want to change 
things we should run in elections. Take a good look 
at this idea and it becomes clear that it cannot be 
done if we are to remain true to our anarchism.

Electioneering inevitably leads to revolutionaries 
forsaking their revolutionary principles.  Look at the 
so-called Labour Party.  First of all they do not go to 
the people with a clear socialist message.  They go 
for whatever is popular and will ensure that they 
get elected.  This becomes more important to them 
than educating people about the meaning of 
socialism.  It also means that they look on the mass 
of voters as mere spectators.  People are seen as 
voters, not as people who can be actually involved 
in politics and bringing socialism about.  We do not 
accept that we should hand over the running of our 
lives to 160 odd people who are not accountable and 
can basically do whatever they like.

   Can socialism come through the Dail (Parliment)

There is another reason why we do not stand for 
election.  Socialism cannot come through the Dail.  
If we look at a country like Chile we can see why.  
In 1973 the people elected a moderate socialist 
government led by President Allende.  This 
democratically elected government was toppled by 
a CIA backed military coup.  Repression followed in 
which the workers movement was smashed and 
thousands of militants lost their lives.

This happened for two reasons.  The Chilean 
socialists did not understand that real power is not 
in the parliament but in the boardrooms of the 
multinationals. It is those who have the money who 
hold real power.  Socialism does not come through 
electing socialists to the Dail but through the direct 
action of workers taking control of the factories and 
land.  For us socialism can only come from below, 
not from the top.

This point is not understood by the so called 
socialist parties of Europe which are in government 
at the moment.  In France, Spain and Greece 
'socialist' governments are pushing working class 
peoples living standards down because 
international banks want loans repaid and 
multinationals want to maintain profits.

The second reason is that the Chileans did not 
smash the state but tried to capture it peacefully.  
We must understand that the army and police are 
against us.  They are there to protect the wealth of 
the ruling class.  To make a revolution it will be 
necessary to use violence, not because we believe in 
violence for the sake of it, but because we recognise 
that the ruling class will not give up its wealth 
without a fight. Allende refused to arm the workers 
and so made the job of the military much easier.

                 How ideas change

>From the moment we are born we are taught that 
we must give up control of our lives to those more 
capable of running things - that we must put our 
faith and loyalty in government to organise our 
lives.  In school, in the papers and on television the 
working class are portrayed as sheep who need to 
be led and governed over.  Even in the unions, the 
organisation of the working class, workers are 
discouraged from taking any initiative by 
themselves.  Instead they are treated by the union 
bureaucracy supposedly on the workers' behalf.

However, capitalists in their mad rush for profits 
are forced to keep workers' pay and conditions at 
the lowest possible level.  In times of recession 
competition between capitalists increases, and if 
profits are to be maintained capitalists argue that 
workers must accept cuts in their pay and 
conditions.  It is when workers are forced into 
conflict with their bosses, when they go on strike, 
that they realise their own strength.

Without labour all production grinds to a halt.  The 
bosses simply cannot run the factories by 
themselves.  Workers who go on strike begin to rely 
on their own collective strength, they realise that if 
they are going to win they must stick together.  
They become more aware of what they can achieve 
and they become open to more ideas, new ideas.  
This was seen in the 1984/5 British miners strike.  
Before the strike most miners believed womens' role 
was in the home minding the children.  But as the 
strike began, women took the initiative and set up 
support groups to aid the strike.  Women actively 
took part in picketing as well as fund-raising.  Faced 
with this many miners changed their sexist ideas.  
Their ideas about the police and the courts also 
changed. In conflict, they realised the main purpose 
of the police and courts was to protect the bosses 
and smash the strike.

This is not to say that workers going on strike set 
out with socialist goals in mind. However when 
workers win on `bread and butter' issues, their 
confidence increases and so does their faith in their 
own ability to organise themselves.  That is one of 
the reasons for the WSM being involved in 
supporting strikes - to build the links between 
workers' day-to-day struggles and our aim of a 
truly equal society.

            Socialism from Below

Central to our politics is the belief that ordinary 
people must make the revolution. Every member of 
the working class (workers, unemployed, 
housewives, etc.) has a role to play.  Only by this 
participation can we ensure that anarchism is made 
real. We believe in a revolution that comes from the 
bottom up and is based on factory and community 
councils.  Freedom cannot be given, it has to be 
taken.

This is where we disagree with what is called the 
"revolutionary left".  While they say that they agree 
with all this they still hold to a belief that a party is 
necessary to make the revolution for the people.  
Most of them base their ideas on Lenin who 
believed that workers were only capable of 
achieving what he called "trade union 
consciousness".  According to him they needed a 
party of professional revolutionaries to make the 
revolution for them.  The result of this thinking is to 
be clearly seen in the Eastern Europe of today.  
What we see in Russia has nothing to do with 
socialism.  Power rests in the hands of a tiny party 
elite.  The state is the boss and the workers are still 
exploited and told what to do.  This is state 
capitalism.  Workers do not control their 
workplaces.  All power is held by the bureaucracy.  
A workers revolution will be necessary to 
overthrow this bureaucratic elite and bring in true 
freedom.

Of course the likes of the so called Workers Party 
have no problem supporting the Soviet system 
because that is what they aspire to.  They were very 
quiet when Solidarnosc was suppressed in Poland.  
They support the Russian system up to the hilt so 
they decided for the sake of electoral advantage to 
stay quiet and not say anything.  The reason for 
their attitude is that their vision of socialism is one 
where the state controls all.  Socialism will come 
through nationalising everything.  They would have 
no problem turning Ireland into a satellite of the 
state capitalists in Moscow.

So we say it is up to ordinary people.  Some ask is 
this possible? Would it not be chaotic? Of course 
not.  At the moment capitalism would collapse 
without the support of the working class.  We make 
everything, we produce all the wealth.  It is possible 
to organise production so that the needs of all are 
met.  It is also possible to create structures that 
allow everyone to participate in making the 
decisions that affect them.

              Democracy and Freedom

As already stated society would be based on factory 
and community councils. These would federate 
with each other so that decisions could be made 
covering large areas.  Delegates could be sent from 
each area and workplace.  They would be recallable, 
i.e.  if those who voted them in are not happy with 
their behaviour they can immediately replace them 
with someone else.  With the new technology it will 
be much easier to involve lots of people in making 
quick decisions.

Within this society there would be genuine 
individual freedom.  Individuals would have to 
contribute to society but would be free to the extent 
that they do not interfere with the freedom of 
others.  Fundamentally we believe that people are 
good and if they won freedom would not easily 
give it up or destroy it.

So where does the Workers Solidarity Movement fit 
into all this? We are a new organisation - small in 
numbers but rich in ideas.  We don't set ourselves 
up as "the leaders who know it all".  We believe that 
our ideas are good and are worth trying out. We 
believe it is necessary for those agreeing with them 
to organise together so that our ideas will spread 
and be understood by a lot more people.  To us it is 
important that those revolutionaries active in 
different areas are brought together so that 
experiences can be shared and learned from.  We 
believe that in day-today struggles or in campaigns 
it is important that the message is driven home that 
only a revolution made by the working class can 
give us the freedom to run society so that all our 
needs are met.  We see our role as encouraging the 
initiative of working people and arguing for 
structures which allow people to take part in local 
or workplace activities.

We do not believe that the revolution is around the 
corner.  We believe that making it is a slow process 
during which there may be huge jumps forward.  
Overall though it is a slow process of spreading 
ideas and building peoples confidence to bring 
about change.  We accept that winning reforms and 
short term demands are all part of this process.  
Below we set out some of our ideas in relation to the 
Irish society of today.

The  Trade Unions Unions are defence organs of the 
working class.  They are not revolutionary 
organisations.  Today the majority of unions have 
become conservative institutions with a lot of 
emphasis being placed on the role of the full time 
officials as problem solvers and negotiators.  Whole 
sections of the trade union bureaucracy have 
become outright defenders of the status quo.  This is 
typified by the use of the two-tier picket (where 
groups of workers from another union in the same 
job are encouraged to pass pickets). Within the 
unions decision making has shifted from the 
shopfloor to the bureaucrats.  With this the rank and 
file have become more isolated from control of their  
unions and thus more apathetic.

For us the unions have to be made into real fighting 
organisations which are run and controlled by 
workers on the shopfloor.  We do not think you can 
change the unions by capturing the full-time jobs at 
the top.  Our role is to encourage the self-activity of 
as many workers as possible.  The bureaucracy itself 
has to be torn down.

We believe in building a rank and file movement 
which would embrace workers from different 
workplaces and areas of work.  Its main function 
would be to encourage solidarity between all 
workers.  It would support all strikes, fight for the 
election of all full-time officials so that they are 
responsible to the workers, fight for equal rights for 
women and ultimately resist any attempts by the 
bosses to make us pay for their crisis.

We see the organised labour movement as an 
essential area of activity for revolutionaries.  Politics 
have to be brought into the workplaces and unions 
as it is here that we have strength and can inflict 
real damage on the bosses.

                Unemployment

Unemployment is always a direct effect of living 
under capitalism, it is used by the  bosses to depress 
wages "there are plenty of people out there who  
work for less money than you" is a common threat  
as is "behave yourselves or I'll close down". The 
chaotic nature of  also leads to regular crisis which 
cause massive unemployment

 Unemployment will not be stopped while the 
capitalist system exists but there are immediate 
demands that can be put forward.  Any workplace 
threatened with closure should be occupied as the 
workers in Ranks and Clondalkin Paper Mills did.  
The workers should demand continued 
employment whether it be under a new owner or by 
nationalisation.  We believe it makes little difference 
because, for us, nationalisation is not a cure-all.  It is 
no guarantee of better wages or job security and it 
does not bring us any nearer to socialism.  There is 
no essential difference between a boss who is a civil 
servant and one who is a private employer.  We also 
call for a shorter working week, an end to 
systematic overtime and double jobbing and an end 
to all productivity deals.  Basic wages should be 
high enough so that workers do not need to work 
excess hours.

We believe that the unemployed should accept no 
responsibility for the situation. Dole payments 
should be increased substantially.  Where possible, 
the unemployed should organise themselves to 
defend their rights and link up with the broader 
trade union movement.

               Women's Freedom

We believe that women are oppressed as a sex.  
They are denied equal rights, such as the right to 
control their own fertility and the right to work, and 
thus cannot fully participate in society.  They have 
been assigned the role of cooks and child minders, 
their place is in the home.  This kind of thinking is 
reinforced in Ireland by the catholic church which 
controls the educational system.  The church can 
flex its muscle when it pleases and clearly showed 
its strength during the campaign to change the 
constitution in relation to abortion.

We believe that the root of women's oppression lies 
in the division of society into classes, and the 
economic and social relationships that created.  We 
thus believe that for women to be really free we 
have to smash capitalism and build a society based 
on anarchism.  We disagree with those feminists 
who think that all you have to do is for women to 
become bosses and politicians to achieve equality.  
We want to destroy the existing power structures.  
We also disagree with those who think that men are 
the cause of women's oppression.  We do not deny 
that men gain from this but we identify the source 
of this oppression as the class system, not 
individual men.

Women's oppression is not purely a struggle for 
women as it is a class issue but we hold that women 
have the right to organise separately because it is 
they who suffer the oppression.  We do believe, 
though, that the priorities of the woman's 
movement have reflected the fact that it largely 
consists of middle class women.  We believe that it 
must become more relevant to working class 
women.  Our priorities are those issues which 
immediately effect thousands of working class 
women e.g.  work, childcare, housing, etc.

We believe in the right of women to control their 
own fertility.  Women must be free to decide to 
have children or not, how many and when.  Thus 
we believe in the right to free contraception and 
abortion on demand.

For these demands to won as many working class 
women as possible must be brought together to  
build confidence and defeat the isolation that comes 
from being in the home.  Thus in campaigns to win 
these demands our emphasis is on building in 
workplaces and on the  estates where women are 
directly affected.

Picture: Young women who occupied their factory 
take to the streets of Drogheda

               The National Question

This country was partitioned to suit the interests of 
the ruling classes of Britain and  Ireland.  It divided 
the working class in this country - a division which 
has yet to be overcome.

The Northern state was artificially created with an 
in built protestant majority. It is a sectarian state 
where marginal privileges are offered to Protestant 
workers in return for loyalty.  Unionist workers see 
their interests as tied up with those of the ruling 
class in the North.

The British army was not sent into the North to 
keep the Catholics and Protestants from tearing into 
each other but to protect the interests of the 
establishment.  They have stayed because it is not 
possible for the British (and Irish) governments to 
come up with a solution which will ensure stability 
in the North.  The British do not want an area of 
instability so close to their own front door.

We believe that the British troops must get out and 
that the Orange state must be destroyed.  We 
believe that it is only possible to do this on the basis 
of anarchism. It is no longer possible to unite the 
country on a capitalist basis.  We must go forward 
on the basis of anarchism and the class interest of 
the working class.

We reject Sinn Fein's notion that we must unite the 
country before we can have socialism.  Their basic 
belief is in "National Liberation".  They put the 
"nation" before the working class.  They organise 
around the slogan of "One Nation - One People".  In 
this country there is not one people - there is a 
ruling class and there is a working class.  Their 
interests are not the same, in fact they are in total 
opposition to each other.  What the Provos want is 
state capitalism of the sort found in Cuba or some of 
the third world countries.

We believe that to defeat British imperialism the 
maximum working class unity is needed.  We 
accept that most Protestant workers are tied to 
loyalism which is reactionary and has nothing to 
offer them as workers.  We also believe that the 
objective conditions are there to act as a basis for 
building workers unity in the North.  Protestants 
are suffering from the crisis as well.  This is not to 
say that we are so naive as to think that Protestant 
workers will automatically make common cause 
with their catholic counterparts.  It will be a hard 
struggle.

The spread of multinationals thoughout the 32 
counties has undermined to some extent the 
traditional patterns of employment In the country 
as a whole and in the North in particular.  there is a 
need to build on the basis of "bread and butter" 
issues. This does not mean hiding the fact that we 
are against the British army, U D.R.  and R.U.C.  or 
that we forsake our anti-imperialism as the Workers 
Party have done.

We do not accept that minorities of any sort can 
bring about socialism.  That includes armed ones.  
We recognise the need for self-defence but as an 
offensive strategy, the armed struggle cannot win.  
The movement to get the British out must be used 
on the organised working class, North and South.

This is but a most basic outline of our ideas on these 
main issues.  We do not see them as separate from 
each other.  They are obviously related.  One role 
for our organisation is to make the links between 
the struggles.  That is why we say that real 
liberation for workers, women, gays or any 
grouping oppressed by the present system can only 
come through social revolution.

              Anarchism in Action

You probably agree that what you have read so far 
are mostly good ideas.  You probably accept that the 
wealth of society should be distributed equally and 
also that ordinary people should have more say in 
the running of their lives.

Like most people who hear about Anarchism you 
probably believe that it is a good set of ideas but 
unfortunately it would never work.  People are 
naturally greedy and selfish, if there was no 
government to look after our interests there would 
be complete chaos".

It has already been stated that we believe capitalism 
is chaos.  It does not and never can meet the needs 
of ordinary people.  On the other hand, a society 
run by those who actually produce can.  This kind 
of society is not myth we have dreamed up. At 
various stages of our history it has become a reality.  
Working people have taken their destinies into their 
own hands and made a success of it.  Far from being 
naturally greedy and selfish these experiences 
actually show that given the right conditions people 
can co-operate and act in a spirit of mutual aid.

               In the Beginning

As Anarchists we trace our tradition back to the first 
International Working Mens [sic] Association where 
the Anarchists formed a distinct tendency 
influenced mainly by the ideas of Michael Bakunin.  
Since then Anarchism has always been deeply 
rooted in the working class.  Contrary to popular 
belief Anarchists do not spend their time plotting in 
back rooms.  For most their activity means bringing 
their politics into the daily struggles of the factories, 
the offices and the communities.  Anarchists have 
been involved in all major modern revolutions They 
have been there arguing and fighting for the right 
and necessity of working people running society as 
opposed to any so- called "socialist party" or 
bureaucratic elite.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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
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