This article was written by a SolFed member and originally appeared in the "How do you build a movement?" column of the Occupied Times.
The article focuses on a practical approach to organising in which theory follows practice, is designed to appeal beyond a politicised core, and by which a movement is built by achieving concrete and escalating victories.
OT Issue 18 here.
The trade unions have worked hard over the last twenty years to shed their cloth cap image. Notions of class struggle, with the unions as the means of organising that struggle, have been dropped as unbefitting the modern era. The focal point of today’s movement is no longer the workplace but the union head or regional offices. Housed in modern buildings and staffed by professionals, able to offer the best possible service to managers and workers alike, these offices stand as the physical embodiment of all that is ‘best’ about 21st century trade unions.
SolFed have launched our new community strategy, which comes after months of internal discussions. The strategy mostly existing best practice within the organisation, as well as drawing inspiration from other solidarity-based community organising in the UK and around the world. The strategy sets out the general principles we organise with, before setting out our approach to some of the more common issues we get involved in, from residents associations, anti-fascism and disputes with letting and employment agencies.
The general aims of this strategy are:
(as amended by National Conference, April 2012)
Solidarity Federation's ultimate aim is a self-managed, stateless society based on the principle of from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs. It is a society where we are no longer just used as a means to an end by bosses wanting to make money from our labour.
As a revolutionary union initiative, the Solidarity Federation seeks to develop into a revolutionary union (anarcho-syndicalist union). We see this as an essential forerunner to such a society. To this end, SF seeks to create a culture of militant opposition to the bosses and the state, controlled by the workers involved. This means picking fights and winning victories, however small, in order to build confidence and a culture of militancy and solidarity which can take on bigger fights.