Workers Solidarity Magazine of the Workers Solidarity Federation Against Racism, Women's Oppression, Capitalism and The State: For Revolutionary Trade Unionism, Workers Control and International Libertarian Socialism

 

This index is for issues before 1999, here are the 1999 issues

 

Volume 4 - Number 2 - Fourth Quarter 1998

South Africa's transition goes sour

Volume 4 - Number 1 - First Quarter 1998

Revolutionary Trade Unionism: Road to Workers Freedom!

Volume 3 - Number 2 - Second Quater 1997

Across the world May Day is ours!

Volume 3 - Number 1 - First Quarter 1997

Phantsi nge"Free" Market! (Away with the "Free Market")

Volume 2 - Number 2 - Third Quarter 1996

The poor must take back the land

Volume 2 - Number 1 - First Quarter 1996

Focus on the unions

Volume 1 - Number 1 - May/June 1995

         

Volume 4 - Number 2
- Fourth Quarter 1998

• EDITORIAL: South Africa's transition goes sour
  In 1994, people danced in the streets after the results of the elections were announced. How far have we come in the five years since that time?

• The Alliance: An unhappy marriage
  At the heart of current problems within the Tripartite Alliance (ANC, SA Communist Party, COSATU) is a central fault line- GEAR

• Parliament is a rotten system - the union is your partyParliament is not now, nor will it ever be, a road to workers freedom

• Class Struggles in Africa

  • Zimbabwe: "This is Class War"As we go to press, riots have broken out in Zimbabwe

  • Zambia : "Democratic" politicians get fat as bosses starve the workers
    86 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and the country appears to be near collapse

  • Nigeria: Death of a tyrant, death of a democrat - but no freedom until capitalism is dead too!
    Ordinary Nigerian people took to the streets in celebration on June 8 after hearing that murderous dictator General Sani Abacha, 54, had died

  • Lesotho : Was it revolution?
    Was the mutiny by rebel soldiers in the Lesotho Defence Force in the week before the invasion actually a class war in defence of democracy?

• The struggle for the land
  The real violence on the land is not criminal attacks on farmers- it is the farmers' exploitation and oppression of workers and labour tenants.

• Will low wages create more jobs?
  The bosses and the government say that low wages will lead to more jobs

• Focus: Unemployment crisis
  South Africa is in the midst of an unemployment crisis unprecedented in its history

• Unions must organise the unemployed
  30% of all economically active people in South Africa are unemployed

• Right wing 'social movements for unemployed'
  These movements are opposed to the organised working class 

• Every worker must condemn attacks on foreigners
  A march by the "Unemployed Masses of South Africa" murdered three immigrants

• Union investment arms: A disaster in waiting
  Unions were not designed for profit-making but to protect the workers from greedy bosses

• The "Non - Aligned Movement" and mass murder in the Third World
  The NAM summit saw South Africa trying to play a leading role in sub-Saharan Africa as a regional power-broker

• SADC : No friend of the working class
  SADC has intervened militarily in both Congo and Lesotho. SADC is a regional coalition of governments

• Why we say Asifune GEAR
  In June 1996, the ANC-led government adopted the Growth, Employment and Redistribution

 

         

Revolutionary Trade Unionism:
Road to Workers Freedom!
Extra long issue: Volume 4 - Number 1 - First Quarter 1998

• Editorial: Unite the Workers' Struggle!
  We need to unite the workers struggles in our region. We need to mobilise our unions in solidarity with each other, resisting the bosses' onslaught.

• What we believe
  Society is divided into two main groups- the working class and the tiny ruling class. The two classes are locked in a class war

• Peter Mokaba attacks socialism
  We expect anti-socialist talk from racist bosses who lived off our sweat and blood under the apartheid regime. But it is still a shock to hear the same nonsense from the mouth of a comrade who fought in the struggle

• The Basic Conditions of Employment Act
  The Basic Conditions of Employment Bill was passed as an Act of Parliament on 7 November

• Mobilise against job losses
  Jobs in the manufacturing sector fell by almost 4% since June last year despite growth in manufacturing output this year

• Workers organise general strikes for decent working conditions
  Millions of workers' supported COSATU's call for a week of rolling mass action starting August 18 to demand changes to the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill

• Defend, consolidate, advance!
  2,300 worker delegates attended the Congress of SA Trade Unions 6th National Congress in September 1997

• Class Struggles in Africa

  • Swaziland: phambili basebenzi!
    The pro-democracy movement has lead to open street battles between demonstrators and the Royal Swazi Police, to detention and beating of unionists and human rights activists, to a media blackout, to brave acts of sabotage and to two successful general strikes this year!

  • Zambian workers and poor under attack
    In Zambia, the working class is being brutally attacked by the twin forces of capitalism and imperialism. Wages are falling, education and health are being cut back, food prices are increasing, and at least 100,000 jobs have been lost in the 1990s

  • Mass revolt in Zimbabwe
    Mass action has shaken the ruling class headed by Robert Mugabe. The general strike of 9 December 1997, called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) paralysed the country and was the most successful since Independence in 1980

  • Defend COMSA union at UDW
    The Combined Staff Association at the University of Durban-Westville is under attack. COMSA is a militant independent union that organises 70% of workers and staff at UDW

  • Explosive union growth in Southern Africa
    Trade unions in South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe are among the fastest growing in the world

  • Kenya: the resistance grows
    In October 1997, striking Kenyan teachers won their wage demands. 1997 has also been a key year for the struggle against Kenya's billionaire dictator, Daniel Arap Moi

  • International unions launch campaign to free jailed Nigerian worker militants
    The ICEM has launched a campaign against Nigerian oil exports aimed at winning the release of two Nigerian union militants

• Libertarian socialist (Anarcho-Syndicalist) Q & A:

  • What causes women's oppression?
    The root of women's oppression lies in the division of society into classes. Women's oppression is in the direct interest of capitalism and the State

  • How can we organise to end women's oppression?
    We fight against women's oppression. We fight for workers unity. An injury to one is an injury to all. Only through libertarian socialism can women be truly freed, as the causes of women's oppression will be removed

• Libertarian socialist (Anarcho-Syndicalist) History

  • A history of fighting for women's freedom
    The libertarian socialist movement long fought against women's oppression. And many prominent figures in the women's movement were anarchists

• The ANC and the South African White Right in Mozambique
  The Mosagrius agreement between President Nelson Mandela and Mozambique's President Joaquin Chissano has opened the door for the white right to exploit Mozambican peasants

• Growing dissatisfaction with ANC government
  An HSRC survey has found widespread dissatisfaction with the ANC-lead government

• Class struggles in Asia

  • Should we copy the "South Korean miracle"?
    Studies show that South Korea has the longest average working week and the highest industrial accident rate of anywhere in the world.

  • Indonesia: down with Suharto's police state
    On the 20 November 40 COSATU members were arrested outside parliament. Their crime? Protesting against the visit of Indonesian dictator Mohamed Suharto

• International Libertarian socialist (Anarcho-Syndicalist) News

  • International Revolutionary Conference, IFA '97
    In October 1997, the International Anarchist Federations (IFA) held its sixth Congress in Lyon, France

  • Hamba Kahle Gerard Ali Khanifar 1950-1997
    This French comrade of African Arab origin died 21 February 1997

• COSATU accuses!
  The key motive for Apartheid was the "perpetuation of a super-exploitative cheap labour system"

• Do immigrants cause crime?
  Although the media and the police paint immigrants as evil criminals, the facts show that immigrants are hardly ever involved in crime

• SA dockers join international day of action
  In South Africa, thousands of workers attended a mass rally in Durban, and there was a national day of port action in support of dockers' struggles in Australia and Liverpool.

• Mass retrenchments by Mzi Khumalo's JCI
  More than 4,100 workers face retrenchments at the hands of JCI

• PAC leader says "ban the trade unions"
  The PAC is sometimes seen as a radical alternative to ANC

• Readers'letter

  • No to privitisation!

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Across the world May Day is ours!
Volume 3 Number 2 Second Quarter 1997 (April- June)

• Editorial
  This issue is dedicated to the spirit and ideals of May Day

• Has the ANC sold out?|
  Since taking office, the African National Congress has broken key promises to the Black working class and poor who elected it

• COSATU on the move
  10,000 workers joined a Congress of South African Trade Unions rally in Johannesburg on March 25

• A world to win!
  International anarchist/syndicalist News

• After the collapse of Marxism:Is there an alternative to capitalism today?
  Key elements of the socialist tradition are in irrevocable crisis. What we need to do is to reclaim and identify with the tradition of anti-authoritarian, anti-State, socialism from below

• Origins of Mayday
  The origins of May Day lie in the struggles of the Anarcho-syndicalist movement. This fact is conveniently hidden by the history books

• Low pay in South Africa
  100 years ago our comrades were murdered for fighting for workers power. But the evils they resisted then are still alive today

• Why do we oppose capitalism and the state?
  We oppose capitalism and the State because they are tools used by the ruling class of bosses, military leaders and top government officials to exploit and rule the rest of us

• Why class struggle and revolution from below?
  Successful class struggle requires the mobilisation of as many people and strata of the working class as possible

• Swaziland: general strike for democracy
  On March 2, the 83,000-strong Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) ended an incredible 28 general strike after the government released four imprisoned union leaders

• Bengu tricks students
  1997 has been rocked by country- wide student protest- against racism, exclusion of the poor, and the government's plans to drastically cut subsidies to the universities and technikons

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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PROMISED CHANGES?

In the run up to the 1994 elections, the ANC promised, among other things, free and compulsory education for the first ten years. It promised more schools, books and teachers for all children. In a famous speech, Mandela stated: "Young lions of South Africa go to school and arm yourself with education, for it will be a necessity for the country's future". Inequalities affecting the poor in education were mentioned as a priority. But ANC has changed its party line. The current education reforms will worsen the inequalities of the past:

 

         

Phantsi nge "Free" Market! (Away with the "Free Market")
Volume 3 Number 1 First Quarter 1997 (Jan- March)

• Editorial

• Class struggles in Africa: Workers on the move in Zimbabwe

• Governements new economic stratergy: "Employment and redistribution "- or a kick in the teeth?

• Higher education- Government cuts exclude the poor

• IMF and World Bank: Get out of Africa!

• Workers Solidarity study series: Stealing from the poor-"Free Market" policies = Bosses' tool

• What anarcho-syndicalists believe: Breaking imperialism's chains

• Anarcho-syndicalist History:Anti-Imperialist Struggles

• International anarchist/syndicalist news

  SPAIN: Victory to the CNT
  BELORUSSIA: Protesters Arrested
  POLAND: Massacre Remembered
  CANADA: Anarchists Raided

• Workers fight back across the world

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The poor must take back the land
(Volume 2, Number 2, Third Quarter 1996)

• Editorial
  The land question is a burning issue relevant to millions of poor and working- class Black people. We say: don't wait for the government! The poor must seize the land.

• Solidarity With Immigrants
  Last year alone 157,084 people were deported from South Africa. These people lost their homes, their jobs, their belonging. Families were split up.

• The Poor Must Take Back The Land
  The land question will be the site of massive struggle in the future. Since 1652, the colonial and apartheid governments have dispossessed the indigenous people of the land in favour of rich White farmers

• Struggle for Free and Democratic Education Continues
  During the first 6 months of this year we have seen students from all over the country take up the battle against their administrations

• International Anarchist News:

  - Anarchist Students Jailed In Greece
  - Anarchist Students Win in Australian Election
  - Swedish Trade Union Stays Anarchist- Syndicalist
  - Repression Against German Anti- Fascists
  - Anarchist Report From Lebanon.

• Understanding and Defeating Racism
  Racism developed alongside capitalism and the modern State since these emerged 500 years ago. It justified the conquest, slaughter and enslavement of indigenous people in the Americas, Asia and Africa

• Anarchist Anti- Racism in Action
  The theorist- activist founders of Anarchist Syndicalism were anti- racist revolutionaries

• A New World In Their Hearts
  The 19th of July marked the 60th Anniversary of the Spanish Revolution. For a brief time, capitalism and the State was replaced by solidarity, mutual aid, and respect for others

• Women in The Spanish Revolution

• Women's Liberation and Anarchism: A Complementary Partnership

• Working and Poor Women Unite Against Oppression

• Call For Solidarity: Writer, Unionist In Nigerian Prison

• Are Employed Workers and Unions an "Elite" ?

• International War Against the Poor

• Why I Am An Anarchist

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Focus on the unions
(Volume 2, Number 1, First Quarter 1996)

• Editorial

• No to Privatisation!

• Looking Back: The 1995 Municipal Workers Strike

• Partial Victory for Mumia Abu Jamal

• Farrakhan: No Solution for Black Workers and Poor

• What Anarchist Syndicalists Believe: Unions and Revolution

• History of the Anarchist- Syndicalist trade Union Movement

• No Justice No Peace! London Youth Tackle Racist Cops.

• Kronstadt 1921: The Third Revolution

• Fight Squatter Evictions

• International News- International Anarchist Conference

• Swazi Unions Demand Democracy

• Transform the Universities and Technikons

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Number 1 May/June 1995

• 1994 elections: A massive advance for the struggle in South Africa

• The student struggle

• Germany - May Day: Riots Against Oppression

• Nigerian anarchists resist the dictatorship

• Anarchism today

• The revolutionary anarchist tradition

• No solidarity with Police strikers!

• Boycott the elections

• Winnie's dismissal: An attack on struggle?

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