Jeremy Corbyn’s and Zara Sultana’s new party, provisionally called “Your Party”, has caused a lot of excitement among the social democratic parts of the left. This new party is being touted as an opportunity for the left to launch a counterattack against a neo-liberal order that is increasingly disintegrating into fascism. But such hope is not justified by the history of left wing political parties. This history is littered with parties that have either rejected left wing principals and objectives or kept true to them but failed to achieve political relevance. It offers precious few examples of left wing parties that could both reliably take and maintain power and use that power for left wing ends. Is Your Party likely to be any different, or will it just be a repeat of the same old trajectory of disappointment and disillusionment that has characterised so many left political parties? Why do left wing parties nearly always fail to live up to their promises?

Need advice about an issue with your boss or landlord? Want support organising in your workplace or community? Want to talk about anarchism or syndicalism? Want to meet members of the group and find out how SolFed works? Just want to say hi? Then come see us at one of these drop in sessions.

The next session will be on Thursday, November 20th, 19:00 – 20:00, at the London Action Resource Centre (LARC), 62 Fieldgate Street, E1 1ES. We will be in the upstairs rooms. If you can, please bring a donation for the space.

For our sixteenth reading group we will be reading Abolitionist Voices, a compilation edited by David Gordon Scott. From the blurb:

A member of SolFed and the London Renters Union will be giving a talk on a little known case of working class direct action; the Stepney rent strikes.

The rent strikes organised by Stepney Tenants Defence League in the thirties saw barricades raised at blocks of flats and stopped evictions, got rents lowered and forced landlords to do repairs. What can we learn today from this exemplary movement? Come and hear tales of flour bombs and rolling pins and discuss the lessons of the rent strike for our movement today.

The talk will take place on Wednesday the 29th of October, at Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Heath Road E1 5QJ, from 7pm to 9pm.

For our fifteenth reading group we will be reading What About The Rapists by Dysophia. From the blurb:

We will be starting a regular monthly drop in session from this month. Need advice about an issue with your boss or landlord? Want support organising in your workplace or community? Want to talk about anarchism or syndicalism? Want to meet members of the group and find out how SolFed works? Just want to say hi? Then come see us at one of these drop in sessions.

The first session will be on Thursday, October 16th, 19:00 – 20:00, at the London Action Resource Centre (LARC), 62 Fieldgate Street, E1 1ES. If you can, please bring a donation for the space.

For our fourteenth reading group we will be reading Anarchy Works by Peter Gelderloos. From the blurb:

The London Anarchist Bookfair will be taking place on the 20th of September and Solidarity Federation will be running a stall, so come along and have a chat and grab some literature. The stalls will be at Leake Street Arches, Waterloo, SE1 7NN, with the stalls being up from 10am. Workshops will be held at 26 Leake Street.

For our thirteenth reading group we will start reading No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred by Klee Benally. From the blurb:

“The most bitter medicines are the strongest. We end despair by ending what is causing our suffering: destroying what destroys us. After all, anti-colonial means anti-settler society.

The Hospitality Worker’s Union is a democratic trade union that seeks to organise all people working in the hospitality industry. Our aim is to fight for better pay and working conditions for all hospitality workers. Our long term aim is to create a better world in which the economy is democratically controlled, environmentally sustainable, and run for the benefit of society as a whole rather than the rich and powerful. The Hospitality Workers’ Union is part of the Solidarity Federation which seeks to organise workers across the whole of the economy. We have listed below the answer to frequently asked question about the Solidarity Federation Hospitality Workers Union (SFHWU).