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WSM conference, Dublin, December 1994

The Workers Solidarity Movement are holding a conference in Dublin on Saturday December 3rd 1994 to look at the lessons of our involvement in struggle over the last ten years. We are asking people who we feel have a commitment to fighting for change to join us in exploring ideas on how to move forwards. Part of the purpose is of course to try and interest people in anarchism and the WSM. But we also want a genuine exchange of ideas, something we also hope to gain out of.

11:30
Introduction: Our experience of the last decade
A brief introductory talk about our involvement in struggle & some of the mistakes we have made that will hopefully draw out some lessons for the future.

12:00.
The left: what went wrong?
The effects of the collapse of the left are visible all around us. But why did that collapse occur, was it merely due to a set of bad decisions (& characters) or are their deeper flaws in the basic ideas and operation of the left.

1:00
Lunch break

2:00.
D.A.I.C. & T.U.F., Revolutionary politics and 'single' issues.
In recent years we have been involved in two areas that showed limited success, but although they came to involve large numbers of people they then dropped back. Is this an inevitable feature of such single-issue campaigns. We obviously believe in the need for a revolutionary organisation, but what is the role of such an organisation in campaigns. Is it worthwhile for activists to be involved in a small revolutionary group.

3:00
Video: Revolution and counter revolution in the Spanish Civil War
Many people see no alternative to capitalism, or after the USSR see the cure as being worse than the disease. We take a break here to remind ourselves of a time when workers demonstrated briefly an alternative to capitalism, not just in terms of economics but also in the structure of decision making.

4:00
How do we go forward from here We have spent a lot of time developing the general ideas and methods of anarchism to todays situations. This has been done not just from theoretical examination but also from our experience of applying anarchists idea and strategy to campaigns we have been involved with. From this we have the start of an idea of how the left should be re- constructed. Here we want your opinions of the conclusions we have come to. Andrew Flood

anflood@macollamh.ucd.ie
Phone: 706(2389)