Can anyone think of a strike on an idear?

What does idea mean? It's an idea.

How to win a strike

Many workers are asking what is the best way to fight when company bosses around the world are violating workers' rights and working conditions? This is a huge problem for unions and the labor movement today.

http://www.chinaworker.info

Author: Anthony Main Socialist Party of Australia)

The past 20 years have shown a marked decline in the extent and level of strikes, while at the same time the political parties representing workers have also shifted sharply to the right. This has resulted in a collapse of class consciousness among workers and reflects the reality of many union leaders around the world.

For a long time now the ideas of class struggle syndicalism and militant industrial action have been forgotten by the labor movement. With the exception of a few militant unions, most union leaders still insist on currying favor with the bosses. They mistakenly believe this is the best way to defend workers’ wages and working conditions.

These ideas are best described as class compromise as opposed to class struggle. As the economy becomes increasingly unstable, this idea of ??class compromise will become redundant in the coming era, forcing more bosses to attack the labor movement's hard-fought victories in the past.

Workers will have no choice but to fight. They will be forced to resort to strikes to defend even those most basic rights. The syndicalist ideas of class struggle will once again be at the forefront of the struggle. Workers will realize that the best way to fight is through unity and the best way to win is through militant action. These are not new ideas but proven experiences that have proven successful in the past. In fact it was militancy and class struggle that brought the workers the fruits of victory they had in the past. What follows is an attempt to reintroduce these ideas into the labor movement.

A correct understanding of how to win a strike comes from a correct understanding of how capitalist society is divided into economic classes. Modern capitalism is divided into two main classes: the bosses, who own and control the means of production, and the workers, who have no control over production except their labor power and the withdrawal of it during strikes.

These two powerful classes are directly opposed to each other on issues of interest. Bosses are primarily concerned with increasing profits while workers are primarily concerned with improving their living standards through higher wages and better working conditions. One party's gain can only be conditioned on the other party's loss. This leads to constant struggles between bosses and workers over issues such as the size of profits, or the portion of labor (surplus value) that bosses capture without having to pay wages. This is seen as what is known as class struggle.

This struggle took place on many levels, from the factory floor to the political arena, but its highest point was typified by industrial struggles, especially strikes. This struggle is ongoing under capitalism, so it is extremely important to view strikes as the most climactic part of the class struggle.

Strike is the most powerful form of revenge for workers in this struggle, because its only real power is the withdrawal of its own labor power. However, simply staying at home without work is not always enough. The first thing the bosses do is find other workers to fill in for them. That's why workers need to take industrial action.

The most effective method of action is to occupy the factory. Unfortunately, occupation incidents have been rare in recent years. The workers had the upper hand during the occupation. Bosses will no longer be able to sit back and think about their next move. Because they believe that anything that belongs to them is outside their control (such as factories, machines, or means of production). Hopefully in the coming days factory occupations will become more and more commonplace as workers' best way to protest layoffs and plant closures.

A more common form of action is to picket or blockade the perimeter of the factory. This allows workers to block bosses from doing business as usual and discourage other workers from planning to work. Attacking bosses at production sites and hitting their pockets is the best way to force them to make concessions to workers. This is true regardless of the scope.

The environment of strikes and pickets cannot be regarded as a fixed and static matter.

They have their own internal movement and are understood by those who are fully involved. Like other aspects of class struggle, a strike is never going to be smooth sailing. It has its ebbs and changes, and strikes are not always smooth sailing. A strike may cause more workers to join the struggle, gradually escalate their actions, and gain widespread support. Otherwise, the strike itself will become a quantitative decline, action will become sluggish, and morale will suffer. These conditions would bring the strike to a deadlock. If a strike reaches an impasse then it needs to be moved forward or the strike will decline. This is just like daily experience, if you don't advance, you will retreat.

What if we reach a deadlock? The situation should be explained openly and sincerely and a resumption of work should be recommended, not victorious but at least not defeated. At least the struggle will be able to continue and the strike can be resumed on another day. Alternative courses of action often used in factories include slowing down work or refusing to work overtime. This is not an ideal situation but a temporary retreat does not mean failure if handled correctly.

Each strike will be different and unique due to the different ways in which factories and unions operate. However, this does not mean that we only explore the methods of each situation after seeing it happen. It is impossible to develop or fully develop a plan that guarantees victory in every discussion, but having a basic framework will help us prepare for possible problems that may arise.

This framework is based on democratic grassroots syndicalism. Grassroots syndicalism means that the decisions of any healthy union should be made democratically by grassroots workers rather than by union officials. The reason is not theoretical in the abstract, but because active grassroots workers demonstrate that this is more effective when our organizations engage in struggle. It is the workers, not the union bureaucracy, who should have full control and management of their own organizations. This means that at all times the union's decisions will be based on the best interests of the workers themselves.

Just as in democratic unions the workers elect their own leadership, so too at the national and factory level they should be allowed to elect their own strike leadership. This leadership takes the form of a committee. If the strike is short-lived, the existing factory committees or working representatives should assume this responsibility. But if the strike is expected to last for a long time then several committees should be set up to carry out their work better. These committees vary in size and composition according to the size of the plant but all play a key role in striking. The two main committees are the Operations Committee and the Publicity Committee.

Both committees should be composed of the most experienced officials and activists. The number of union officials on committees should be kept to the minimum possible and they must implement the decisions of the majority. All committees should work closely together. They should have frequent independent and same-sex meetings. The members of the committee are fully responsible to the General Assembly of Workers, which has direct power of recall.

The work of these committees is not only to coordinate the strike and implement the decision, but also to guide the entire process of the strike. These committees are also responsible for overseeing all financial activities related to the strike. Some of the key tasks of the committee are to jointly formulate the main demands, negotiate with the bosses and decide on an appropriate strike strategy. But most importantly they must maintain the workers' collective participation, enthusiasm and right to know.

The first task is to set a strike deadline. This is not a hard-and-fast thing but general guidance allows for more precise movement planning. Things to take into account are the time span that workers can realistically hold out until the end, their emotions about the factory, etc. Ideally we should try to make the strike a quick one after all we still have mortgages to pay, rent to pay and children to raise.

Generally speaking, time is on the side of the bosses. This will vary from industry to industry but if strikes can be won regularly and quickly it will greatly increase workers' confidence that they may fight again in the future.

As mentioned before it is crucial in a strike to keep escalating. Those two committees play key roles in the process. The general role of the operations committee is to mobilize employees and coordinate their actions. They were also responsible for all the grassroots organizations on the picket lines. Some of the basic tasks of this committee are to organize pickets, on-duty personnel, telephone propaganda, parades, tents, erecting roadblocks, arranging first aid, picnics, food, drinks and fires on duty.

The general role of the propaganda committee is to serve as the microphone and face of the strike. The committee needs capable writers and excellent public speakers.

Some of the basic work of this committee is writing leaflets, organizing public rallies, going to other factories to seek support (spiritual, financial and operational), making notices and banners, handling relations with the media, etc.

Often when a strike begins, bosses refuse to negotiate with the union. They endure the passage of time hoping they can outlast the workers and force them to get back to work. In theory this works because bosses have more money and resources than workers. This is why an escalation of industry action is needed.

The bosses, who refused to negotiate, hoped that starvation would force workers back to work, but enough money could be raised to keep the strike going. During the stalemate the Propaganda Committee should go to other factories, universities and public organizations to meet as many people as possible. Their job was to make the struggle known, encourage others to join the pickets and seek aid from strike funds. This is not just spreading the word about the strike and giving workers something to do, but sending a message to bosses that we can hold on for as long as we need because we have enough money and support to keep us going.

Sometimes bosses relocate jobs or transfer them to other companies. This requires an appeal to workers there not to work or even to join the strike. If workers are given a reasonable explanation, they will side with their class and provide support. Because in fact they may be attacked by the bosses next time or they may need support in the next struggle. A culture of working class solidarity should take root and develop across all sectors, industries and unions.

Discipline is key in a strike. Not only do we need to be steadfast in maintaining our policies at all times, but we need to remember that when we go on strike we are doing a job. One of the important points is that what we are doing in our struggle is to defend or fight for the fruits of victory of the labor movement. This often means more than the actions of one workers' group or one factory, and we are setting a milestone for all future struggles between workers and bosses.

If we plan to win, we should take serious steps when undertaking industry action. Questions regarding the personal safety of our pickets will be extremely important. This meant no alcohol on picket lines. Drunkard pickets add little to the struggle and often endanger the safety of others taking part in the struggle.

Pickets need to be disciplined whether it involves banning trucks from entering the site or preventing scabs. Pickets should take orders from the democratically elected strike leadership. This eliminates the danger of saboteurs hijacking any sabotage operation.

Needless to say, the issue of picket security involves the establishment of our own grassroots organizations. The duties of the safety representative on duty should extend to ensuring that the area is clean, free of any hazards that would impede free movement and free of electrical hazards, etc. Clean and comfortable picket lines can encourage others to join.

An issue often raised during the struggle was that of scabs. Striking workers should unapologetically prevent scabs from entering the factory to carry out acts of sabotage. Scabs can severely disrupt a strike. The first requirement is that the scabs should be discussed with them to fully understand the situation. They should be encouraged to join their fellow workers on strike. If they decide not to side with the workers but with the bosses, then they should be isolated.

We need to continue to explain that the wages and working conditions we currently enjoy do not come from the kindness of our bosses. They were all won with difficulty through workers’ struggle. Our only way to defend and expand these conditions is through continued struggle through a tradition of militancy and workers’ solidarity.

The basic structure of how to win a strike applies to any factory or industry. However this will not simply happen by itself but will require practical action by worker activists. One of our tasks is to reintroduce the syndicalist ideology of class struggle into our movement, while another major task is to put these actions into practice by re-educating a new generation of young fighters through a coalition. After almost a generation of class-conciled syndicalism, it is time to renew the cry for militant and united class struggle!

Syndicalist Program of Militant Class Struggle

Trade Union Democracy: Grassroots membership organizations should be established within each trade union.

Create unions that are not exploited by others.

All union officials and organizers should be subject to regular elections and subject to recall.

All union officials should be paid only the average wage of the workers they represent and be reimbursed for their true expenses.

Worker representatives are elected by workers at each workplace.

Mass representative meetings must be held frequently.

All major issues should be put to a vote at the union membership meeting.

Oppose any secret negotiations between union officials and bosses. Any negotiations between union officials and bosses should involve factory worker representatives.

Fight the scabs, the bosses' lackeys.

Fight anti-union laws through industrial action

Conduct a mass movement to defend the right of all workers to organize, strike and picket lines.

Fighting to protect trade unions from common law prosecution.

As a matter of principle unions should resist the payment of any fines against the union itself, its officials or individual workers in connection with industrial struggles. No individual worker or union official should be left alone if forced to pay a fine under any special circumstances and the union should bear their fines.

Internationalism - building links and supporting mutual support between different unions through boycotts, industrial action and workers' struggles on an international scale.

It is not only the establishment of an international trade union federation, but also the need to achieve active solidarity and joint action among different trade unions around the world through solidarity actions, material assistance and mutual advice. This is the only way we can fight against an international coalition of big bosses. We must support the struggles of workers in so-called “Third World” countries for higher wages and better working conditions and stop corporate bosses from relocating their factories.

Build a truly mass workers’ party based on the working class, trade unions and progressive social groups.