For our fifth reading group we will be reading Anarchism and The Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin. Ervin was a Vietnam war conscript who became an anti-war activist, went on to join the Black Panthers, and became an anarchist while in prison for high-jacking an aircraft to escape to Cuba after being alleged in an attempt to kill a Ku Klux Klan leader. Anarchism and The Black Revolution, written in prison and first published in 1979, is not only a classic work of late 20^th century anarchism, but brings a black perspective to anarchism that has often been missing in a movement dominated by the ideas of white European thinkers.

There will be two linked actions happening on the 26th of October. First, there is a call-out to all workers in the London and surrounding areas to help extend solidarity with members of the UVW during upcoming strike. Over 70, mainly migrant, security guards who are UVW members and employed by Wilson James across the Natural History and Science Museums have returned an overwhelming vote (96%) in favour of strike action following a recent ballot. Support their picket at 10am on Saturday 26 October, London SW7.

The London Anarchist Bookfair will be taking place on October 12th and Solidarity Federation will be running a stall, so come along and say hi and grab some literature. The stalls will be at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road E1 6LA, with the venue opening to the public from 10am.

A member of the federation will also be giving a talk for the bookfair; Does the Union Make us Strong?

After an initial run of Anarcho-Syndicalist theory and practice, we are going to change things up and read something from a different perspective for Octobers’s reading group. From this point on we will alternate from month to month between more syndicalist/workplace focussed books and more general anarchist and radical books, both to add some variety and to provoke debate.

We will be reading at Palestine, Mon Amour, by Alfredo M. Bonanno, aiming to discuss what has changed since it was written, and what has remained the same. Description from Active Distribution here:

For our third reading group we will be moving away from history and theory and looking at modern forms of anarcho-syndicalist practice, and instead of reading a single book we will be reading three pamphlets that cover different struggles, with the aim of discussing what kind of tactics are needed to build a truly radical working class movement.

For our second reading group we will be reading Fighting for Ourselves. Written by members of SolFed, this book looks at different currents within the workers movement, what went wrong during the 20th century, what we can learn from those failures, and chart a possible way forward in the 21st century.

As many higher education institutions are on the brink of financial collapse, it’s time to understand what has brought about this perfect storm and what can be done about it. 

Headlines often focus on ‘over-reliance on international students’ but it is more complex than that. Why do you think universities try so hard to recruit international students?... because their fees are not regulated, and universities can charge what they think they can get away with given market forces; i.e. Cambridge can charge a student from China more than Cardiff Met can. 

Far Right, racist liars have been out in our working class communities throughout the country lying to people about refugees and asylum seekers being the problem for worsening conditions? The far right along with the media, are playing their usual dirty tricks of dividing working class people through their racist lies and propaganda!
Migrants have always worked here especially in the NHS and in other low paid jobs.

While Refugees and asylum seekers, are forced to leave their countries because of war, conflict persecution, murder, rape and extreme poverty. They have nothing but the clothes on their backs, they are the victims of this rotten system that’s only interested in power and making profits for the rich few!

By the way, Britain is the sixth richest country in the world and yet people are on streets homeless and destitute?

Working class people suffer through the cost of living?

While those in power are living in wealth and luxury?

We are starting a new reading group, and for our first book we will be reading Anarcho-syndicalism: Theory and Practice by Rudolf Rocker. Written during the Spanish Civil War, this book is a short explanation of classic anarcho-syndicalism at its height, and is a good introduction to the general tradition of politics that the Solidarity Federation comes out of.