Aims and Principles
of Organise! - Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation
1) Organise! - Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation is a working class organisation.
2) Organise! - ASF seeks to secure for all workers a full and equal share of the wealth and social benefits created by the combined labour of our class.
3) We aim to create a free and classless society. We are fighting to abolish the state, capitalism and wage slavery and to replace them with workers control of industry and society, ensuring production and distribution for need not profit.
4) To achieve this revolutionary change in society, and to better organise ourselves in our struggle against the bosses, we are striving towards the creation of a new independent workers organisation - the Anarcho-Syndicalist Union.
5) The Anarcho-Syndicalist union is one controlled by the workers themselves. Organising industrially we shall cut across the barriers of trades sectionalism. Such a union will unite, not divide, workers. Any and all delegates will be directly elected, mandated and subject to immediate recall by that membership.
6) Such unions will build effective class organisation in order not only to win improvements within Capitalism but ultimately to win the class war with its overthrow through the Social General Strike. The Social General Strike is the means by which workers shall take control of our land, factories and workplaces, it is the start of a truly social revolutionary transformation of society.
7) Organise! - ASF rejects parliamentary democracy as at best a distraction and a sham. We are not in the business of building, nor do we support, any political parties. The interests of the working class cannot be pursued in the halls of political power and intrigue, our real strength lies in our communities and, even more so, at the point of production.
8) Organise! - ASF recognises the appalling effects of Capitalism on the natural environment, and believe this to be the normal result of a system which treats both workers and the planet as something to be exploited and disposed of at will. We believe that access to a sustainable lifestyle is not a luxury for the wealthy, but something urgent and important that must be extended to the mass of working people. Sustainable communities cannot arise as a result of reforming Capitalism, nor can they be imposed by the state. With this in mind, one of the functions of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Union must be to demand rational and sustainable practices.
9) We take an active part within the existing labour movement, agitating in defence of pay and working conditions, while helping to build a spirit of confidence amongst our fellow workers in order that we may, together, go on the offensive against the bosses.
10) The class struggle is world-wide and must recognise no artificial borders or boundaries. Party political interests, nationalism’s, racism, homophobia and sexism divide our class and turn us against one another - to the benefit of the boss. We must fight all attempts by the state and capitalism to divide our class and we must not tolerate divisions based on bigotry and ignorance which stand against equality and the right of people to control their own lives. We must organise along class lines if we are to secure a better future for ourselves, our fellow workers and society as a whole. Our class exists the world over and we have a common struggle the world over. We are therefore internationalists, opposing all political and geographic borders and instead organise with other workers towards world-wide workers unity in face of global capital and government oppression.
11) We reject the notion, propagated by government, the employers and the trades union bureaucracy, of ‘social partnership’ between workers, bosses and government. The bosses are not our partners.
12) We reject the notions of various ‘left-wing’ parties, the would be ‘vanguards’ of the working class, that the state can be ‘conquered’ and used against the bosses. Government, no matter on whose behalf, has always rested on domination and exploitation, it is an inherently repressive institution and as such beyond reform. The basic function of the state - that is the courts and prisons, the army and police, civil service and other state institutions - is to defend the interests of the bosses. Government is a top down institution which puts power into the hands of the few. All efforts at creating a ’Workers state’ have only led to further oppression of the workers themselves as those in power consolidated and strengthened their positions.
13) At present the we are a propaganda group, it is the role of Organise!
- ASF to support workers in struggle and to expose the weakness of traditional
trades unionism. We aim to highlight attacks being directed against our class
and promote, organise and support resistance to any such attacks by use of
direct action. Direct action is any form of struggle under the direct control
of those involved without reliance on politicians, trades union bureaucrats
or any other would be leaders acting on ’our behalf’. Ultimately
we work towards the creation of an Anarcho-Syndicalist Union Federation in
Ireland.