international

By sifa, 22 February, 2010

The Free Workers' Union (FAU) in Berlin have been banned, Solidarity with the FAU

As of yesterday, December 11, 2009, FAU Berlin (FAU-B) has essentially been banned as a union. The decision was made by the Berlin Regional Court (Landgericht Berlin) without a hearing. FAU-B was not even informed that the Neue Babylon GmbH – which is involved in a labor dispute with FAU-B – had started legal proceedings against them. The court’s decision goes beyond merely taking away FAU-B’s rights as a union within the Babylon cinema. From this point on they are no longer allowed to call themselves a union!

Background

FAU-B and its group within the Babylon cinema have been fighting for a labor contract since the beginning of June 2009. Although the Babylon cinema is government funded, pay has been miserable and workers rights have been ignored. A large portion of the cinema’s staff is organized within FAU-B. This is the first significant labor dispute of the relatively small FAU-B. It has caused an uproar not only in Berlin, but in all of Germany.

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By solfed-iwa, 12 January, 2001

Unit 13: Going Global - International Organisation, 1872-1922

Block 3

This Unit is about the attempts to organise a revolutionary international in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. From the fall of the First International in the early 1870s (see Unit 3), the desire for a truly revolutionary international organisation gathered strength. Even at this early stage, labour activists were aware that capitalism was an international system that could not be fought within national boundaries alone. As revolutionary syndicalism exploded onto the international labour scene from the early 1900's onwards, the desire increasingly became an imperative. Only an international organisation could organise effective global solidarity, co-ordinate the offensive against capitalism, and develop the tactics of anarcho-syndicalism by sharing experiences between local organisations. The need for such a body became increasingly urgent as reformist international organisations began to emerge, which the syndicalists perceived as diverting workers from the real struggle against capitalism.

Go to Unit 13

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