Ireland. Some lessons from Greece. Anarchism. TIAA

Anarchist violence in Greece. It undermined there as it does everywhere, the building of a real mass movement for change.

Earlier this year a mass movement developed in Greece against the attacks on living standards which were said to be justified by the economic crisis. This movement has now to some extent died down, at least for the moment. It is important to understand why. Otherwise the same problems can surface in Ireland.

Of course the main problem was the union and labor leaders. If these leaders had organized a mass campaign of occupations, general strikes, and linked these to an explanation of how the country was looted and the demand that the wealth of the super rich and corporations be retrieved then a mass organized campaign would have resulted and society could have been transformed. Central to the success of such a campaign would have been spelling out in clear facts and figures where the money was and how it could be retrieved.

Yesterday in my post on Ireland I explained that for the movement to go forward working class people had to have a clear view of what they were fighting for, what the objectives are. In Ireland I proposed that all the oil and gas wealth be taken back from the private profit addicted sector. I proposed that the banks and finance houses be put into public ownership with compensation in both these cases only on the basis of proven need, and this need to be determined by committees of working class people and based on the living standards of working class people.

At the same time the bank accounts of all should be opened. Anybody with a bank account abroad or at home with more than 50,000 to 100,000 euros should be investigated. Where did this come come. Open the book of Irish capitalism. At the same time increase the rate of tax on all incomes over whatever the movement there considers fair. Perhaps 50,000 to 100,000. And simultaneously to this the tax rate on all corporations should be raised to at least the norm for the rest of the European corporate rate.

Out of this can be built a capital fund. Not out of the living standards of working people but out of the wealth of the rich and the super rich. This capital fund must then be made concrete in the minds of the working class. Its contents are from the wealth the rich and the super rich looted from the state, not from the poor and working class. Its contents and its concept, must be used to solve the problems of the working class and poor. First we cancel the debt of the major lenders and their thieving brokers who got the Irish economy into the mess in the first place. This will help a lot. Then we create the contents of the capital fund as explained above, take the contents of the capital fund and invest it in infrastructure, roads, schools, hospitals, rail, clean energy, and so on. This would provide clean energy jobs more jobs in general and improve the environment. Cancel the country's debts, build the capital fund from the rich and use its resources to build a program to rebuild the economy and solve the country's crisis. Of course we can hear the screaming. But Ireland will be cut off from international Capitol. Well already it is being cut off unless we sell our souls. Secondly we we can stand up, refused to be blackmailed and bullied and seek to build a united working class movement throughout the North and Britain and even further afield. Yes to Canceling The Debts: Yes to International Solidarity, No to yielding to blackmail to the IMF and EU. But also No to the ultra left actions of the annarchists which drive more people away taking open part in mass actions.

Worker's response to Thatcher and TINA---TIAA

Thatcher and her thug friends such as Reagan had a very effective slogan. TINA. There Is No Alternative. TINA. No matter what working people asked for they were met with this slogan This is all you heard again and again. TINA. We have to answer this with the greatest determination and the clearest idea.

Our answer is TIAA That is There Is An Alternative. TIAA. There Is An Alternative. TIAA. We have to spell this out at every turn. TIAA. And we have to fill our answer out, make it concrete it, and give working people a way to understand what we are fighting for. This is the way we can connect with the consciousness of the working class and have a chance of building a real movement.

Within the movement we suggest to build, that is a united front of struggle to win, different views of alternative society's can be circulated and debated. However there has to be a common view. That is the united front to build the movement to fight back. This has to come first. The united front will only end up a fragmented shattered creature unless the left and radical forces recognize their left sectarian and ultra left mistakes of the past. We appeal to all workers and activists to openly confront the left sectarian and ultra left mistakes we have all made and to draw the correct conclusions and move on.

One major conclusion that has to be drawn and worked on is that we have to connect with the existing consciousness of the working class and assist that consciousness to move forward. However that is not all. At the same time we have to help these workers we can reach to develop an orientation to the broader layers of workers. Some left groups recruit workers but then get them into their way of working, speaking and orientating to such an extent that they cut them off from the broader layers of workers which is of course against the whole point of the exercise.

The anarchist activity in Greece where three women workers were burnt to death sapped the energy out of the movement there. Most working class people were repelled by this action. The anarchists and this ultra left action of theirs should be spoken against in the most strong terms. Who knows if the foot print of the state was not present. While speaking against the anarchists action we do not support any state action against them. We have to organize in the movement so the movement deals with their counteractive behavior on its own.