• Postcards from the civil war, membership cards from various organizations and political groups from the ’20s and ’30s and the period of clandestinity.
• Collection of banknotes from the collectivized villages (a large number)
• Postcard collection of the civil war and of Bakunin and Kropotkin, etc. (about 100 pieces)
• Collection of film posters for the period of the civil war (70 or 80)
• Collection of old tram tickets from ten cents to one peseta (over 500)
• Collection of medals, pins, badges and insignia of the civil war (100)
• A folder with pictures of Mujeres Libres and libertarian cultural associations, as well as documentation of collectivised businesses based along the road from Ribes to Barcelona and the visit of some Mexican officials.
• And much more.

One of the stolen CNT membership cards

A list of the stolen items is here http://www.anarkismo.net/article/21946

If you see something appear on e-bay or elsewhere, alert them!  Their contact details are at http://www.ateneuenciclopedicpopular.org/spip.php?rubrique11

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Published shortly after their formation (in September 1984) this was an introduction to the politics of the Workers Solidarity Movement.  It was republished in 1987 and a new edition with a section on how ideas change was published in 1989.  The initial print run was 1,000 and both reprints were either 500 or 1,000.

Clearly aimed at readers already familiar with the basic ideas of socialism, it didn’t go into economics but concentrated on brief explanations of

(1) the anarchist view of the state, parliament, electoral politics and democracy

(2) the WSM’s position on trade unionism, women’s freedom, unemployment and the ‘national question’

(3) a look at the Russian and Spanish revolutions

The WSM positioned themselves within the trade union movement, seeking to fight a ‘battle of ideas’ within the existing organisations.  “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.”  This was a rejection of the anarcho-syndicalist strategy of small minorities trying to build separate revolutionary unions which would then grow because of their militant example.

They also rejected theories of ‘patriarchy’ and stated their belief that “the root of womens oppression lies in the division of society into classes and the economic and social relationships that created.”

“Womens 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 womens 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.”

In the section about the ‘national question’ we can get a small insight into Sinn Fein’s apparent “left turn’ of the 1980s, when they say “what the Provos want is state capitalism of the sort found in Cuba or some of the third world countries”.  The WSM’s posing of anarchism as the only way out of partition and religious sectarianism was based on the notion (which many on the Irish left shared at the time) that the Northern state was incapable of reform and “it is no longer possible to unite the country on a capitalist basis”.

Regarding the Spanish revolution of 1936/37 they recognise “the Anarchists made mistakes”.  “ln our opinion, they hesitated in carrying out their programme.  Instead of seizing power and making a direct appeal to the workers to take control of economic and social affairs, they collaborated with the Popular Front and ended up joining the government.”   The WSM are part of the current within anarchism which agrees with much of the criticism leveled in Spain at the time by the left anarchists of the Friends of Durutti.

Overall this little pamphlet gives us a snapshot of how the early WSM presented itself to others on the Irish left.

Maybe the Examiner could use a sub-editor who knows who the current TDs are, even if they don’t understand that anarchists decline to run for election to unaccountable positions of power.

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This issue was a reply to the Sunday Independent when it claimed that the WSM was “infiltrating” the campaign against the bin tax.  In fact the WSM had helped to form that campaign and the secretary for Dublin City was one of its members.

As the campaign against the new household tax – which includes the WSM and other anarchists among its organisers – is getting huge support, will we see a repeat of these ‘red scare’ tactics in 2012?

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From 1917 we have a message of support (page 6) for Jim Larkin in the San Francisco based anarchist paper, The Blast.  Larkin had just launched the weekly American edition of the Irish Worker.  Also on that page is an article linking the Irish and Indian struggles against British imperialism.  Both pieces were probably written by the editor, Alexander Berkman.  On the preceding page there is an excerpt from a letter from George Bernard Shaw entitled Why I don’t come to America.

A Workers Solidarity Movement leaflet urging a ‘No’ vote in the 2003 referendum on whether all children born in Ireland would continue to automatically become Irish citizens.

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The hosts were the Christian Community Centre, a group of about 50 mainly elderly fundamentalist Catholics led by TCG O’Mahony, a solicitor whose offices at 22 Merrion Square also served as the CC Centre. This group appeared in the early 1970s and was last seen during the 1997 Presidential election when the Irish Independent reported (17/08/1997)

“Among Dana’s backers is the curious figure of TCG O’Mahony, an elderly Dublin solicitor, who has urged a “national prayer crusade” to get her elected.  He is targeting 37 Fianna Fail and 23 Fine Gael parliamentarians, hoping optimistically that they might nominate her.

Mr O’Mahony is best known for a bizarre row in Dublin courts over his attempts to erect a basilica for rosary prayers to the Virgin Mary in the middle of O’Connell St.  When he lost he carried on the worship over a loudspeaker while driving up and down O’Connell St with the Virgin Mary statue strapped to the roof of his pink Mercedes.”

In the 1982 general election O’Mahony stood in Dublin North Central, getting a mere 214 votes (0.5%).

On another occasion they tried to take over the assembly point for the Dublin Council of Trade Unions May Day march, parking a van at the Garden of Remembrance and blaring out very loud hymns on a PA system. After about 10 minutes some anarchists and Trotskyists disconnected their PA and sent them on their way.

O’Mahony also operated a pirate radio station, CC Radio, from his offices. This was on air for a year or two in the early 1980s and it’s output consisted of religious music, tapes from American extreme conservatives and monologues from O’Mahony himself railing against abortion, divorce, contraception, Vatican II, socialism, liberalism and secularism. It was finally closed down by the Department of Posts & Telegraphs after repeated complaints of interference.

They were a bit like Youth Defence, but without the violence or the youth.

One of those involved gave this description: “The CAC was an initiative that brought together members of the WSM and other anarchists / libertarians in the Cork area in this period. It aimed to increase and enlarge the anarchist presence in the city and around.

Politically some of those involved were arguing for a more open, less restrictive membership basis for involvement in the CAC – this was very much posed in opposition to the WSM at the time which was viewed by some as being restrictive and dogmatic in a number of respects. The more ‘open’ broader interpretation of what constituted anarchism – that was CAC – was also an organisational formula for those in the group to do more work with one another.

Within the group there were different views on what should be the priorities for anarchists at that point. But we were unified by the feeling / belief that we would be better working together than separate.”

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This issue has articles on anarchism, privatisation, the CAZ, Crap Job of the Season (‘Oh Think Twice’ restaurant), Cycling and Wars, Skateboarders on collision course with City Council, and fighting the bin tax.

A four page leaflet put out after British anarcho/pacifist/punk band played at Belfast’s short lived anarchist youth ‘A Centre’ in Long Lane.  National Front supporters attacked the gig, and then the RUC arrived and thumped some of the punks who had been the target of the NF attack.

Opened in November 1981 the A Centre was run by the Belfast Anarchist Collective as an “alternative cultural space” in Belfast city centre and ran on Saturday afternoons.  It soon became a magnet for young people and punks in particular.  On loan from Belfast’s gay Carpenter Club the A Centre put on banned or controversial films, new wave music and punk bands, performance poets and artists, alternative books and comics, and a wholefood cafe.  Among the bands who played there were Stalag 17, The Defects, Xdreamists, Rudi, Spider, Rufrex, The Outcasts, The Defects, Just Destiny and Ten Past Seven.

The corganisers were openly hostile to the cops (usually refusing them admission: “sorry pal, we have a no uniforms policy“).  In retaliation the RUC got scare stories into the local papers about “under age kids mixing with subversives” “glue sniffing”, and so on.  This, and resulting hassle from the city council because they didn’t have an entertainment licence, meant that after about a year the Centre closed.

It also covered a broad range of topics such as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, the trial of trade unionists Tom Mooney and Warren Billings for the Preparedness Day bombing, and the growing ferment in Europe.  Margaret Sanger, on trial for giving out information about birth-control, wrote on women’s rights and family planning.

The paper’s anti-militarism was not ignored by the authorities and the paper was shut down in June 1917 when Berkman was jailed for “inducing persons not to register” for the draft.

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This was written in the aftermath of 1916 rising, just three days after the execution of James Connolly.