history

Liverpool SolFed's famous reading group is back again, on Sunday 27th September at 18:00. This time we'll be discussing The Chain Factory by Ōsugi Sakae, who was murdered by the state this month in 1923. Read it here audio is below - email LiverpoolSolFed@gmail.com for the location

Liverpool SolFed's famous reading group is back, and this time it's the second part.

This time, we'll be discussing Principles of Syndicalism by Tom Brown, parts 5-9. You can read it here

Audio is here below

It will take place at 18:00 on Sunday 23rd August. Message us for the location, or email us at LiverpoolSolFed@gmail.com

Liverpool SolFed's famous reading group is back, and this time it's a two-parter.

This time, we'll be discussing Principles of Syndicalism by Tom Brown, parts 1-4. You can read it here

Message us for the location, or email us at LiverpoolSolFed@gmail.com

Liverpool SolFed are hosting a reading group this Sunday, 28th June at 4 o'clock (16:00). We'll be discussing The British General Strike: 1926 by Tom Brown.

You can read it here

And there's a fantastic audio version below

Message us for the location, or email us at LiverpoolSolFed@gmail.com

Liverpool SolFed held a social night to commemorate the anniversary of the Spanish revolution in 1936. Performers, including local musician Dominic Dunn, entertained those who were gathered, while films from the civil war and the current miners' struggle in the Asturias were shown on the projector.

Last year, around 50 people attended a public meeting hosted by Liverpool Solidarity Federation to discuss and commemorate the 1911 Liverpool general transport strike. The audio recording of the event is now finally available on Youtube accompanied by various images.

• The first speaker was local historian Frank Carlyle who regularly appears on BBC Radio Merseyside. Frank talked about Liverpool's growth as a port city and the development of its working-class. Watch the video.

• The second speaker was a SolFed member who had done extensive research into the events of 1911, some of the key figures involved in the strike and the influence of revolutionary trade unionism. Watch the video.

Article by Vadim Damier at the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the Federalist International Workingmen´s Association

The “first” International Workingmen´s Association was founded in 1864 through the initiative of workers themselves but also with some participation of “politicians”.  Organizationally, it was built as an association of workers´ unions. According to the Statutes, there was no centralism. The workers of the same profession or area formed a section, all sections of any country formed a federation, and every country federation sent delegates to the General Council. This Council was purely a coordinating body - it could  not issue any decrees, instructions, etc. It was to analyze disputes and misunderstandings between the sections. All sections and federations maintained their autonomy.

After sitting in the files for two years this hour-long talk in Manchester by a member of the Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo has only just been formatted and uploaded to the web. In it, the formative years of what would become the largest anarchist organisation in history are described in detail, from 1840 when socialist ideas first started to penetrate into the Iberian Penninsula, up to its establishment as one of the biggest players in 20th century Spanish politics, one which would influence the world in unexpected and far-reaching ways.

In January 1986 the Wapping dispute was unleashed with the overnight move of Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers to a new non-union printworks and the sacking of 5,500 workers.

Murdoch’s vast resources and the support of the Tory government and its anti-union laws enabled the company to build and staff the Docklands works and dismiss the original workforce.

A year-long strike failed to win justice for them, as the plant was staffed by strike-breaking labour recruited by the electricians’ union, the EETPU, in one of the greatest acts of treachery in labour movement history.

The High Court ordered the sequestration of the funds of SOGAT, the largest union involved,following distribution workers in London refusing to handle Murdoch’s papers. Other unions were fined for contempt or ordered by the courts to refrain from solidarity action.