Strike Breakers (scabs?)

[Enragé]

Could you then, according to anarchist principles, prevent scabs from entering the factory?
If yes

wouldnt this be kind of "authoritarian"?

Ofcourse i think scabs should be stopped, but as im shifting more to the libertarian side as of late (anarcho-syndicalist, council-communist etc) , i'd just like to know this.

[ComradeOm]

Anarchists care far too much about the word "authoritarian". Revolution is the most authoritarian act imaginable.

Instead of answering your question, which as a non-anarchist I’m technically not qualified to do, I’ll pose you one in return. Is it still authoritarian when a democratically reached decision (eg no scabs or the like) is being enforced by an armed body of workers?

[Enragé]

define "democratically reached decision"


Also
it all depends on the nature of the decision. If its like "all people work 8 hours a day" or any other normal thing which indeed concerns ALL of the workers, ok. But if it is something which only concerns the individual, then no.

[LSD]

Could you then, according to anarchist principles, prevent scabs from entering the factory?

Yes.


wouldnt this be kind of "authoritarian"?

No, not so long as the decision is democratically made by the workers themselves.

Anarchists, at least class-war anarchists, are not against the social expression of authority, we are just against the arbitrary or hierarchical use of authority.

As an anarchosyndicalist, I would oppose some self-declared "voice of the people" or "vanguard party" trying to tell workers what to do; but the entire point of anarchosyndicalism is working towards complete syndicate authority over the means of production.

Obviously that must start with not allowing anyone to break union solidarity.

[Hit The North]

Could you then, according to anarchist principles, prevent scabs from entering the factory?

The Anarchists wouldn't have to. The strikers themselves will enforce the strike.

[Enragé]

Originally posted by [email protected] 20 2006, 08:44 PM

Could you then, according to anarchist principles, prevent scabs from entering the factory?

Yes.


wouldnt this be kind of "authoritarian"?

No, not so long as the decision is democratically made by the workers themselves.

Anarchists, at least class-war anarchists, are not against the social expression of authority, we are just against the arbitrary or hierarchical use of authority.

As an anarchosyndicalist, I would oppose some self-declared "voice of the people" or "vanguard party" trying to tell workers what to do; but the entire point of anarchosyndicalism is working towards complete syndicate authority over the means of production.

Obviously that must start with not allowing anyone to break union solidarity.
thanks, makes sense :)



The Anarchists wouldn't have to. The strikers themselves will enforce the strike.

yea but as i said, "according to anarchist principles" and strikers can be anarchist/anarchosyndicalist etc.

[rebelworker]

Class struggle anarchists would push for confronting scabs.

dont listen too much to CO, there may be alot of liberals out there calling themselves anarchists who would have a problem with "opressing" the scabs, but not serrious anarchists.

As stated above we arnt talking about vague concepts of authority, we are confronting real power dynamics within the left and capitalist society that are harmful to workers.
Obviously stopping scabs is central to winning workplace strugles, a key part of class war.

PS if you end up staying in North America PM me and I can hook you up with anti authoritarian revolutionaries in your area.

[Zero]

Since we are in a theoreticaly complete Anarchist society, unions would democraticly control the factories, thus making strikes a bit pointless.

Though if your talking about pre-revolution, then I suppose LSD has it right.