From mandymoussouris at hotmail.com Mon May 3 23:44:55 2010 From: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com (Mandy Moussouris) Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 08:44:55 +0200 Subject: [Iyf-ct] FW: Minutes from our first and second meeting Message-ID: From: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com To: iyf-ct at lists.resist.ca; shawn at ilrig.org.za; sheina.josias at uct.ac.za; mr.kloker at gmail.com; davekloker at yahoo.com; tnchristians at gmail.com Subject: Minutes from our first and second meeting Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:11:19 +0200 Hi everyone, So very sorry it has taken me so long to get these finished... All kids of crazy stuff has been going on, including a big fight with the security facists in our area - I have lodged a complait with the Human Rights Commission... BUT tadah! Attached are the minutes form our first and second meeting. See you Sunday at 11 at Drea's house 70 Queen Victoria Road, Claremont. Yours in Struggle Mands Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free. 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Name: Minutes of the IWW Cape Town Branch Meeting held on the 11th April 2010.doc Type: application/msword Size: 31744 bytes Desc: not available URL: From andreas_spath at yahoo.com Wed May 5 05:16:59 2010 From: andreas_spath at yahoo.com (Andreas Spath) Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 05:16:59 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Iyf-ct] Minutes of our meeting on Sunday Message-ID: <780112.77114.qm@web30008.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hi everyone I'm attaching the minutes of our meeting on Sunday - hope they're ok... Andreas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IWW minutes 2 May 2010.doc Type: application/msword Size: 28672 bytes Desc: not available URL: From andreas_spath at yahoo.com Sat May 22 23:46:33 2010 From: andreas_spath at yahoo.com (Andreas Spath) Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 23:46:33 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Iyf-ct] meeting Message-ID: <117174.56880.qm@web30003.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hi everybody It's Sunday morning and I've just remembered that we're having a meeting this morning. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it - spending the day with the in-laws! - so please accept my apologies. Also, my phone's been stolen and with it all your numbers - will ask for them again once I have a new one. Andreas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From megatrops at gmail.com Sun May 23 01:09:25 2010 From: megatrops at gmail.com (meghan judge) Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 10:09:25 +0200 Subject: [Iyf-ct] meeting In-Reply-To: <117174.56880.qm@web30003.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <117174.56880.qm@web30003.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: There's a meeting? I'm sorry I never knew about this. Where is it and what time please? I'm also not able to make calls til the end of the month but if there is anyone out there who receives this email before the meeting I hope I get a response. Sorry, dont know how the meeting slipped by me, maybe because I couldnt attend the last one... m On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 8:46 AM, Andreas Spath wrote: > Hi everybody > > It's Sunday morning and I've just remembered that we're having a meeting > this morning. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it - spending the day > with the in-laws! - so please accept my apologies. Also, my phone's been > stolen and with it all your numbers - will ask for them again once I have a > new one. > > Andreas > > -- easy now mega ** (+27)72 503 7994 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john at digitaljungle.co.za Sun May 23 13:04:38 2010 From: john at digitaljungle.co.za (John Curtis) Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 22:04:38 +0200 Subject: [Iyf-ct] Iyf-ct Digest, Vol 13, Issue 4 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <108A8701-35DF-487B-A321-066726EFE900@digitaljungle.co.za> Hi there Please remove me from this list. Many thanks, John Curtis. On 23 May 2010, at 9:00 PM, iyf-ct-request at lists.resist.ca wrote: Send Iyf-ct mailing list submissions to iyf-ct at lists.resist.ca To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/iyf-ct or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to iyf-ct-request at lists.resist.ca You can reach the person managing the list at iyf-ct-owner at lists.resist.ca When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Iyf-ct digest..." Today's Topics: 1. meeting (Andreas Spath) 2. Re: meeting (meghan judge) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 23:46:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Andreas Spath Subject: [Iyf-ct] meeting To: In Your Face Message-ID: <117174.56880.qm at web30003.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi everybody It's Sunday morning and I've just remembered that we're having a meeting this morning. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it - spending the day with the in-laws! - so please accept my apologies. Also, my phone's been stolen and with it all your numbers - will ask for them again once I have a new one. Andreas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 10:09:25 +0200 From: meghan judge Subject: Re: [Iyf-ct] meeting To: iyf-ct at lists.resist.ca Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" There's a meeting? I'm sorry I never knew about this. Where is it and what time please? I'm also not able to make calls til the end of the month but if there is anyone out there who receives this email before the meeting I hope I get a response. Sorry, dont know how the meeting slipped by me, maybe because I couldnt attend the last one... m On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 8:46 AM, Andreas Spath wrote: > Hi everybody > > It's Sunday morning and I've just remembered that we're having a meeting > this morning. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it - spending the day > with the in-laws! - so please accept my apologies. Also, my phone's been > stolen and with it all your numbers - will ask for them again once I have a > new one. > > Andreas > > -- easy now mega ** (+27)72 503 7994 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Iyf-ct mailing list Iyf-ct at lists.resist.ca https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/iyf-ct End of Iyf-ct Digest, Vol 13, Issue 4 ************************************* From andreas_spath at yahoo.com Sun May 23 21:18:35 2010 From: andreas_spath at yahoo.com (Andreas Spath) Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 21:18:35 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Iyf-ct] Iyf-ct Digest, Vol 13, Issue 4 In-Reply-To: <108A8701-35DF-487B-A321-066726EFE900@digitaljungle.co.za> Message-ID: <888703.44628.qm@web30007.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hi there to unsubscribe from Freecycle Cape Town, please send a blank email to: freecyclecapetown-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com Best regards, Andreas (group moderator) --- On Sun, 5/23/10, John Curtis wrote: From: John Curtis Subject: Re: [Iyf-ct] Iyf-ct Digest, Vol 13, Issue 4 To: iyf-ct at lists.resist.ca Date: Sunday, May 23, 2010, 11:04 PM Hi there Please remove me from this list. Many thanks, John Curtis. On 23 May 2010, at 9:00 PM, iyf-ct-request at lists.resist.ca wrote: Send Iyf-ct mailing list submissions to ??? iyf-ct at lists.resist.ca To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit ??? https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/iyf-ct or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to ??? iyf-ct-request at lists.resist.ca You can reach the person managing the list at ??? iyf-ct-owner at lists.resist.ca When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Iyf-ct digest..." Today's Topics: ? 1. meeting (Andreas Spath) ? 2. Re: meeting (meghan judge) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 23:46:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Andreas Spath Subject: [Iyf-ct] meeting To: In Your Face Message-ID: <117174.56880.qm at web30003.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi everybody It's Sunday morning and I've just remembered that we're having a meeting this morning. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it - spending the day with the in-laws! - so please accept my apologies. Also, my phone's been stolen and with it all your numbers - will ask for them again once I have a new one. Andreas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 10:09:25 +0200 From: meghan judge Subject: Re: [Iyf-ct] meeting To: iyf-ct at lists.resist.ca Message-ID: ??? Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" There's a meeting? I'm sorry I never knew about this. Where is it and what time please? I'm also not able to make calls til the end of the month but if there is anyone out there who receives this email before the meeting I hope I get a response. Sorry, dont know how the meeting slipped by me, maybe because I couldnt attend the last one... m On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 8:46 AM, Andreas Spath wrote: > Hi everybody > > It's Sunday morning and I've just remembered that we're having a meeting > this morning. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it - spending the day > with the in-laws! - so please accept my apologies. Also, my phone's been > stolen and with it all your numbers - will ask for them again once I have a > new one. > > Andreas > > -- easy now mega ** (+27)72 503 7994 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Iyf-ct mailing list Iyf-ct at lists.resist.ca https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/iyf-ct End of Iyf-ct Digest, Vol 13, Issue 4 ************************************* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mandymoussouris at hotmail.com Sun May 23 23:36:42 2010 From: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com (Mandy Moussouris) Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 08:36:42 +0200 Subject: [Iyf-ct] meeting In-Reply-To: References: <117174.56880.qm@web30003.mail.mud.yahoo.com>, Message-ID: Hey Meg, only got your e-mail now - sorry. We set the next date at the last meeting so that's why you missed it, but don't stress. We have set teh dat for the next meeting as Sunday the 13th June at 11h00 at my place - if the date is a huge problem shout. Also Peter will be circulating the minutes. Hope everyone is doing okay Comradely Mandy Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 10:09:25 +0200 From: megatrops at gmail.com To: iyf-ct at lists.resist.ca Subject: Re: [Iyf-ct] meeting There's a meeting? I'm sorry I never knew about this. Where is it and what time please? I'm also not able to make calls til the end of the month but if there is anyone out there who receives this email before the meeting I hope I get a response. Sorry, dont know how the meeting slipped by me, maybe because I couldnt attend the last one... m On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 8:46 AM, Andreas Spath wrote: Hi everybody It's Sunday morning and I've just remembered that we're having a meeting this morning. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it - spending the day with the in-laws! - so please accept my apologies. Also, my phone's been stolen and with it all your numbers - will ask for them again once I have a new one. Andreas -- easy now mega ** (+27)72 503 7994 _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mandymoussouris at hotmail.com Mon May 24 23:38:09 2010 From: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com (Mandy Moussouris) Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 08:38:09 +0200 Subject: [Iyf-ct] FW: CSAAWU In-Reply-To: References: , , , Message-ID: Hi everyone - my e-mail (as per Sunday meeting) and reply from IWW Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 18:34:28 -0700 Subject: Re: CSAAWU From: mr.kloker at gmail.com To: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com Mandy, I'm glad to hear that the de-registration business is soon to be handled. A voluntary assessment stamp is a way for Wobblies to make a specific contribution (above and beyond their dues) to a specific cause. I have used this method to give money to Starbucks coffee workers and bike messengers here in the United States. I think given the money problems you cite, that would be a really good way for CSAAWU to get some more IWW support. I friended Trevor on Facebook and think that would be a better way to send solidarity statements and requests (obviously international mail is creating a major lag in communication between myself and CSAAWU). I continue to want to help you and the Cape Town IWW in any way I can, so don't be afraid to ask questions. It took me six months of membership to unravel every weird custom and acronym in the IWW. Is there any update on the affiliation conversation? I did a talk about CSAAWU at the Los Angeles Organizing Summit and people were very exicited about all of the work that you and CSAAWU are doing! Please know that there are 100s of Wobblies in North America that think what you are doing is among the most exciting developments in the union! In Solidarity, Kloker On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 5:00 AM, Mandy Moussouris wrote: Hi, Thank you very much for your continued support. CSAAWU appreciates it greatly. Good news is that the whole issue around de-registration seems to have been sorted out - I will post news on Facebook page as soon as I have some official information. The biggest problem facing CSSAWU now is money. Their auditing costs to comply with the Deparment of Labour was a lot and they are wanting to run a campaign too. I think there were details of costs etc. in the letter Trevor wrote to you requesting if you might be able to help financially. (I sent it from my e-mail as they have very limited internet access, I have attached it again). CSAAWU do not have a proper office or reliable access to the internet or e-mails and they have had limited exposure to the use of computers, especially in terms of internet - perhaps this is the problem. I will be running a very quick Facebook training session with them next week wednesday to help them begin to use it. Sorry to have to ask a stupid question but what is a voluntary assessment stamp? They have also asked the Cape Town GMB for support in this regard. We met again yesterday and given the hassels we are having setting up a bank account here, we thought that it might be a good idea to use our subs to support CSAAWU untill we are able to get our account up and running. (Problems are all about the the SA security laws which require all our identy documents, proof of address from two of us, resolutions, constitutions etc. - we are working on it). Let me know if this would be okay with you? Again, thank you for your support - and sorry to be asking stupid questions :-) Hope you are keeping well Best Mandy Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 11:25:56 -0700 Subject: Re: CSAAWU From: mr.kloker at gmail.com To: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com Fellow Worker Mandy, I did discuss the continued support for CSAAWU with my branch and the International Solidarity Comission, both of which issued letters of support. I am also in process of creating a voluntary assessment stamp for members to support the CSAAWU ladismith Cheese campaign. I am confused as to why CSAAWU has not received these official communications. Please express my, the IWW's continued support for everything that they are doing. If there is something specifc that they or the Cape Town GMB needs, please do not hesitate to email me at mr.kloker at gmail.com. Regards, Kloker On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 7:01 AM, Mandy Moussouris wrote: Hi Dave, Hope you and everyone there are keeping well. I use both your e-mails as I could not remember which one was the new one. We will be having another meeting this weekend - It is going to be a very long process getting the bank account, we need proof of address (of all members), identity documents, resolutions....bla...bla... Banks! But we will get it together ASAP. CSAAWU popped in to see me today - they can't make the meeting on Sunday, but they asked me to follow-up on the letter they sent you regarding support for the campaign. Have you had a chance to discuss it? Aluta Continua Mandy Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft?s powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now. Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now. -- ?Scratch any cynic and you?ll find a disappointed idealist.? ?George Carlin 1937-2008 _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mandymoussouris at hotmail.com Mon May 24 23:57:22 2010 From: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com (Mandy Moussouris) Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 08:57:22 +0200 Subject: [Iyf-ct] CT IWW and CSAAWU In-Reply-To: References: , , , Message-ID: Thank you! I think e-mails to Trevor for now are still the best as he is really not comfortable with facebook yet - maybe after training next week it will be better. In terms of affiliation, we need a lot more information. CSAAWU support the principles of the IWW and have a very solid constitution which has very similar principles. It's the in's and outs we need to discuss. One of the issues is the principle on dues collection. Because of the extreme distances and difficulties organisaing farm workers they do have a system where the employer pays the dues form salaries - which is one area we (IWW CT) have identified another area that we are unclear about is dues. CSAAWU would not be in a position to pay pretty much anything at the moment. I think most importantly we (IWW CT) would need to have a proper workshop on the possibilities,options etc. I will make sure we discuss this at the next meeting. If IWW has some kind of step by step guide to affiliation that would help a lot. Another concern for us is that we have not yet been able to pay our dues so we don't feel like we are officially part of the IWW. In the second meetings minutes we sent we made soem suggestions in terms of dues, especially for unemployed comrades and very badly paid workers (there are many in SA). Can you let us know if these are okay? One of our members has a paypal account so we could possibly use this untill we sort out this insane bank account saga. Thank you once again for your patience, continued support and encouragement. In solidarity Mandy Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 18:34:28 -0700 Subject: Re: CSAAWU From: mr.kloker at gmail.com To: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com Mandy, I'm glad to hear that the de-registration business is soon to be handled. A voluntary assessment stamp is a way for Wobblies to make a specific contribution (above and beyond their dues) to a specific cause. I have used this method to give money to Starbucks coffee workers and bike messengers here in the United States. I think given the money problems you cite, that would be a really good way for CSAAWU to get some more IWW support. I friended Trevor on Facebook and think that would be a better way to send solidarity statements and requests (obviously international mail is creating a major lag in communication between myself and CSAAWU). I continue to want to help you and the Cape Town IWW in any way I can, so don't be afraid to ask questions. It took me six months of membership to unravel every weird custom and acronym in the IWW. Is there any update on the affiliation conversation? I did a talk about CSAAWU at the Los Angeles Organizing Summit and people were very exicited about all of the work that you and CSAAWU are doing! Please know that there are 100s of Wobblies in North America that think what you are doing is among the most exciting developments in the union! In Solidarity, Kloker On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 5:00 AM, Mandy Moussouris wrote: Hi, Thank you very much for your continued support. CSAAWU appreciates it greatly. Good news is that the whole issue around de-registration seems to have been sorted out - I will post news on Facebook page as soon as I have some official information. The biggest problem facing CSSAWU now is money. Their auditing costs to comply with the Deparment of Labour was a lot and they are wanting to run a campaign too. I think there were details of costs etc. in the letter Trevor wrote to you requesting if you might be able to help financially. (I sent it from my e-mail as they have very limited internet access, I have attached it again). CSAAWU do not have a proper office or reliable access to the internet or e-mails and they have had limited exposure to the use of computers, especially in terms of internet - perhaps this is the problem. I will be running a very quick Facebook training session with them next week wednesday to help them begin to use it. Sorry to have to ask a stupid question but what is a voluntary assessment stamp? They have also asked the Cape Town GMB for support in this regard. We met again yesterday and given the hassels we are having setting up a bank account here, we thought that it might be a good idea to use our subs to support CSAAWU untill we are able to get our account up and running. (Problems are all about the the SA security laws which require all our identy documents, proof of address from two of us, resolutions, constitutions etc. - we are working on it). Let me know if this would be okay with you? Again, thank you for your support - and sorry to be asking stupid questions :-) Hope you are keeping well Best Mandy Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 11:25:56 -0700 Subject: Re: CSAAWU From: mr.kloker at gmail.com To: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com Fellow Worker Mandy, I did discuss the continued support for CSAAWU with my branch and the International Solidarity Comission, both of which issued letters of support. I am also in process of creating a voluntary assessment stamp for members to support the CSAAWU ladismith Cheese campaign. I am confused as to why CSAAWU has not received these official communications. Please express my, the IWW's continued support for everything that they are doing. If there is something specifc that they or the Cape Town GMB needs, please do not hesitate to email me at mr.kloker at gmail.com. Regards, Kloker On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 7:01 AM, Mandy Moussouris wrote: Hi Dave, Hope you and everyone there are keeping well. I use both your e-mails as I could not remember which one was the new one. We will be having another meeting this weekend - It is going to be a very long process getting the bank account, we need proof of address (of all members), identity documents, resolutions....bla...bla... Banks! But we will get it together ASAP. CSAAWU popped in to see me today - they can't make the meeting on Sunday, but they asked me to follow-up on the letter they sent you regarding support for the campaign. Have you had a chance to discuss it? Aluta Continua Mandy Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft?s powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now. Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now. -- ?Scratch any cynic and you?ll find a disappointed idealist.? ?George Carlin 1937-2008 _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shawn at ilrig.org.za Tue May 25 00:36:34 2010 From: shawn at ilrig.org.za (Shawn) Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 09:36:34 +0200 Subject: [Iyf-ct] Wobbly Fred Thompson on the 30s Depression - Studs Terkel Message-ID: <20100525073219.C55FD492D@rrba-ip-smtp-4-1.saix.net> Wobbly Fred Thompson on the 30s Depression - Studs Terkel tags: * Fred Thompson * IWW * Studs Terkel * USA * 1930s * accounts Industrial Worker cartoon, 1913 The late Wobbly veteran, in conversation with the late Studs Terkel, looks back on his experience in the class struggle. Source; Hard Times - An Oral History of the Great Depression; Studs Terkel, Pantheon Books, NY, 1970. Fred Thompson "I'm just as old as the century." He is a member of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World, popularly known as the Wobblies). He joined in 1922. In his younger days, he had been a construction worker: tunnels, irriga tion ditches, dams, quarries, laying track. "We always boxcared from orrr job to another, never paid any fare. I had heard of the Wobblies . . . weird stories, that they were a bunch of nuts trying to change the world by burning haystacks and stuff like that. "I found a tremendous difference between this myth and the realih They were a very serious bunch of men with understanding: even if we d" win our immediate demands, the boss and I will still have a fight. Let's run the works for our own good, so we won't have to fight any more. They had this notion: someday . . . But, right now, let's clean up these camps, let's raise the wages. "There's a belief that the IWW was killed by the repression following World War I, when a lot of us, including myself, were arrested for criminal syndicalism. The facts don't correspond. Our membership was at its peak in the summer of 1923. "In 1924, we had a catastrophe, when an internal factional fight split us in two. But we built up again, following the Colorado Coal Strike of '27." IN THE THIRTIES, our biggest growth was in Cleveland. As soon as this Depression got going, we hammered away at one theme: people who didn't have a job would do far more for themselves by going to every worker who still had a job, and saying, "If you strike, we won't take your job away from you. We'll come there and beef up your picket line." We put out a leaflet, I remember writing it myself: Bread lines, Picket lines. The theme was that bread lines lead to despair and picket lines lead to hope. I was on a soapbox circuit. I used to go from Duluth down to Minneapolis, over to Milwaukee, down to Chicago. We'd usually hit places like the iron country in Michigan and Minnesota. In Chicago, we'd hit Swedetown, around the North Side. They'd be mostly men. The home guard. The fellows who weren't migratory workers, who didn't ramble around, who had a stationary job. Henry Ford changed things for the IWW. We used to be rather strong with people who worked the wheat harvest. They went there in boxcars. But the combines [machines for harvesting and threshing wheat] shut out the demand for extra harvest labor. Plus the fact that people became "rubber tramps," in broken-down tin flivvers. This meant our organizing technique was no longer workable. We had to go to the flivver jungles. In '22, at the construction camps, you didn't see any females around unless they were visiting with their business agent (laughs), for short durations. You didn't see men and wives. In '27, 1 had a little holiday that the State of California gave me for criminal syndicalism. When I came back, two years later, I found the whole industry had changed. Every camp had provision for married couples, but their children had to be working. Quite a few people were living in nearby towns, if there were decent roads between town and job. The automobile made it possible for a man to live a fairly settled life and fill these out-of-town jobs. The migratory worker had practically disappeared in '26. You didn't hear much about him again until the Dust Bowl days. And a new kind of mobility arose. Did the Communists or Socialists try to win away your members to their causes during these years . . . ? The radical movement waxes and wanes. They jostle each other. We like to grab each other's members and things like that, sure. But the over-all anti-capitalist movement grows and declines together. They all get bigger at the same time, they all get smaller at the same time. (Laughs.) In general, there was cooperation - not entirely so. The IWW has always tried to avoid being dogmatic, doctrinaire. We don't ask a guy: what are your political beliefs? We ask 'em: what kind of work do you What industry are you in'? We have never prevented any person joining because of his beliefs. The Communists wanted us to join them in 1920. They had a misapprehension over in Moscow, where they got their orders, that we were a secret underground. Heywood [Big Bill Heywood, a top leader of the IWW] went over and tried to explain to Lenin that we had a great big printing plant in Chicago, where we put out twelve different weeklies and a bunch of magazines and so forth. We had trouble with the Government, but we were certainly not hiding. They knew we were doing these things. (Laughs.) The IWW did not engage in internecine warfare, say, the way the other groups did . . . ? We were forced into a certain amount of it. By 1923, the Communist Party had decided that we should be allowed to exist in agriculture and in the woods, but should not be allowed into any other industry. And if their members did join us, they should do what they could to disrupt us. Naturally, that gave us some concern. But even at that, we tried to get them to see the common sense, is all. What did happen to the IWW membership in the Thirties? We had lean years. But we did get to far more people. People had time, all kinds of time. In the early Thirties, up to '35, everybody might be flat broke, but they'd find a way of gettin' to a meeting. In the depths of the Depression, did you hear much talk of revolution? Oh, there was a lot of talk. But there was no anticipation that we were about to take over the works and run it. The IWW felt only an organized working class could do it. A working class that wasn't allowed to eat the food it produced . . . that had to go with patches on its ass after it had made too many clothes . . . was a working class that could be brow beat. A working class that had to beg for a soup bone wasn't a class that could take this world and run it. They had to organize first. I ran into some ill-informed people who used the word revolution very carelessly - that things were so tough, we were going to have a revolution and so forth. I didn't run into any person who had given serious thought as to how you make one. I'd want a revolution. Sure, I'd like one now. But the circumstances are not propitious for havin' one, and they weren't in 1931, '32. It isn't just a bunch of starving people that are going to make a revolution. It's gonna be a people that have been asserting themselves. . . . How did the IWW feel about F.D.R.? When he died, I remember an obituary in our paper: "He was hated by those he had helped and loved by those he had harmed." A good many Wobblies felt that was hitting it right on the head. He made a big hullabaloo about what he was gonna do for labor. After he had labor by the tail, he seemed to figure he could disregard it and favor our enemy instead. What were your feelings toward the New Deal? Here was an economic system that had quit work. The logical remedy would have been for a working class to assert itself: we want at least enough of what we produce so we can keep on working. But you didn't have that kind of labor action. Consequently, the pigs who had been stopping the things from working by their own greed didn't disgorge anything. But certain adjustments were made that allowed people to eat. At the time of Hoover, you could use federal funds to feed animals, but not to feed people. It was up to your neighbors, he said. You think, then, Roosevelt hurt the radical movement . . . ? I don't know as he hurt it. He changed the situation. He did cause most people to feel if you could only find a good man and put him in office, he'll fix everything for you, and you can go back to sleep now. He certainly didn't help radicalism. The kind of labor movement that grew up, that we have today, still has this birthmark. Unionism by permit - the NLRB, things of that sort. In the early Thirties, there was a resurgence of an almost dead labor movement. There were various radical activities: the Trotskyites up in Minneapolis, the Communists over there in Toledo, the Socialists there, Wobblies in Cleveland, Detroit and so on. The union literature was like the labor literature of a century ago - looking toward a successor to capitalism. Industrial democracy. In which you have a cooperative commune, you have a brotherhood of man. Even though the issue of the moment was five cents more an hour or better files for metal finishers to work with. ... The literature carried a vision. But then you saw, in the coal towns of Pennsylvania - Lewis and the CIO - great big banners: "The President Wants You to Join the Union." It worked. So radicalism was replaced by something else. The Government had set up a way. Just sign your name, your authorization card. You can do it quite secretly, you don't have to be a hero any more. We can all vote in a union election, and nobody will know how you voted. Of course, the boss will have to recognize the union, and nobody will really have had to stick his neck out. When I was a kid, if somebody asked me to define a grievance, I'd it's something we don't like. Today, a grievance is something not in accordance with standards of arbitration. We're even told what the hell to I dissatisfied with these days. (Laughs.) When I was a kid, the union was us guys, what we collectively did. Nowadays, people don't speak of the union as us. Almost everywhere, the union is it or they. There is a growing perception that we should have something other than capitalism. But people aren't excited about it. It's a strange thing. I hardly find anybody today who doesn't agree that the ledger should not determine how we live. Most people think it's terrible that the pollution of Lake Michigan is being decided by how much it'll cost companies to cure it. People are realizing that an environment is being created that will be as dangerous for capitalists to live in as well as for working people . . . that it's insane to let major things be decided on the basis of black figures and red figures. I find temperate people saying today that the business-motivated system isn't a safe thing to have around. (Laughs.) But I think there is less intensity of feeling. I think a sense of powerlessness, of fatalism, has been growing from the Thirties. Then, we just felt we didn't have the power, the organization. We never felt we were inherently incapable of achieving it. The thing that gives me the most cheer are the young people today. You find them all over the world, having a sense of common fate. They're the least bookish radicals I've ever known, but the most literate. In the Thirties, a guy read some kind of book and he wanted everything to go according to that text. Today, these college kids use books simply for insights. They don't have a dogma. They're far more flexible, far more open-minded, far more feeling. They have the feeling . . . . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 20778 bytes Desc: not available URL: From mandymoussouris at hotmail.com Mon May 31 23:51:27 2010 From: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com (Mandy Moussouris) Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 08:51:27 +0200 Subject: [Iyf-ct] CT IWW and CSAAWU In-Reply-To: References: , , , , , Message-ID: Dear fellow worker Dave, Thank you very much for following up on our questions, for the detailed information and your continued support - it is greatly appreciated. I am also cc'ing all our 'members' here so that we can build concensus. I think that the option you have suggested sounds like a workable one and I am pretty sure everyone here will agree. On behalf of all of us in Cape Town, we are very excited to be part of the IWW and looking forward to working with both workers in South Africa and our IWW comrades (in SA this word still holds positive connotations of class struggle and freedom) across the world. We look forward to hearing from the GST. In solidarity Mandy Date: Mon, 31 May 2010 16:11:25 -0700 Subject: Re: CT IWW and CSAAWU From: mr.kloker at gmail.com To: mandymoussouris at hotmail.com; ghq at iww.org; redgrocer at gmail.com CC: nathanielpmiller at gmail.com; phatmatt_11 at hotmail.com; mr.kloker at gmail.com Fellow Worker Mandy, I have been reading the IWW constitution to try to get some guidance on your concerns and questions. I think there are two separate issues that we need to think about. First, I want to make sure that you and every member in Cape Town feel like full fledged members. To this end I think section 8(f) of the constitution is our best way to move forward. I think ultimately Cape Town needs to take the lead in forming a South African Regional Organizing Committee (ROC). Section 8(f) reads: "In the absence of a ROC in a region, one or more individuals may be delegated by regional members, or by the GST, for a period of one year for the purpose of organizing an ROC. Such delegates shall report at least quarterly to the GST, and may retain all dues and initiation fees collected." Mandy, I think you should serve as as an IWW delegate as appointed by the General Secretary Treasurer (GST). The GST is Joe Tessone, who I am carbon copying on this email. As I read the constitution, it would be up to you to set and retain the dues. The IWW International Solidarity Commission has endorsed the recommendation of 1% of take-home pay as a guide for dues. Further, members without employment may pay a sub-minimum dues rate (whatever contribution is possible). The GST, assuming he agrees with my suggestion, would send you the 'rigging' material necessary to issue IWW membership cards to every interested worker. FW Tessone, please respond to Mandy and me with your thoughts on this suggestion. In terms of a possible affiliation with CSAAWU, I think it may be most appropriate to save that conversation until a South African ROC is up and running. I believe that CSAAWU and the IWW are working for the same things on very similar principles, which is why I am so enthusiastic for all of us IWW members supporting CSAAWU's efforts in whatever ways we can. However, I do not see anything in the Constitution that specifically speaks to this situation. I am also carbon copying Ryan Gaughan of the General Executive Board (GEB) of the IWW. FW, Ryan please discuss this issue with the GEB and get back to us as to what it thinks about a possible affiliation. On behalf of the other members of the IWW ISC, who I am also including on this letter, thank you for the work that you are doing to support CSAAWU and forming an IWW presence in South Africa. Let's stay in regular contact to help your efforts. Regards, D.M. Kloker, chair of the IWW International Solidarity Commission On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 11:57 PM, Mandy Moussouris wrote: Thank you! I think e-mails to Trevor for now are still the best as he is really not comfortable with facebook yet - maybe after training next week it will be better. In terms of affiliation, we need a lot more information. CSAAWU support the principles of the IWW and have a very solid constitution which has very similar principles. It's the in's and outs we need to discuss. One of the issues is the principle on dues collection. Because of the extreme distances and difficulties organisaing farm workers they do have a system where the employer pays the dues form salaries - which is one area we (IWW CT) have identified another area that we are unclear about is dues. CSAAWU would not be in a position to pay pretty much anything at the moment. I think most importantly we (IWW CT) would need to have a proper workshop on the possibilities,options etc. I will make sure we discuss this at the next meeting. If IWW has some kind of step by step guide to affiliation that would help a lot. Another concern for us is that we have not yet been able to pay our dues so we don't feel like we are officially part of the IWW. In the second meetings minutes we sent we made soem suggestions in terms of dues, especially for unemployed comrades and very badly paid workers (there are many in SA). Can you let us know if these are okay? One of our members has a paypal account so we could possibly use this untill we sort out this insane bank account saga. Thank you once again for your patience, continued support and encouragement. In solidarity Mandy _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft?s powerful SPAM protection. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: