Internationalism

Oppression is international. Governments co-operate tacitly or otherwise to isolate any mutual threat. The 'Non-Intervention Agreement' between the governments of Britain, France, Germany and Italy during the Spanish Civil War is a good example. 'Democratic' Britain and France recognised the what was happening in Spain was a revolution, not just a civil war. To protect their commercial interests in Spain and to protect against the influence a successful social revolution in Europe might have on their own workers, they signed a pact with the fascists in Italy and Germany. This allowed them to refuse to support the Spanish people while ignoring the massive amount of troops and arms Hitler and Mussolini's governments were directing toward supporting the fascist, Generalissimo Franco.

Capital is organised internationally, eg: General Motors 'World Car Concept' where components are produced in third world countries where labour is cheap, shipped elsewhere for assembly, then shipped for sale in affluent Western countries. The threat of taking factories and businesses 'off-shore' is used as a big stick to threaten workers in western industrialised countries to accept cuts in pay and conditions. In Australia and elsewhere, workers are constantly exhorted to change their "workplace culture" in order to compete with workers in countries where low pay and bad conditions are maintain by military dictatorships. Since the end of the Second World War, the organisation of capital has transcended the nation state to the economic trading bloc. In 1949, France and West Germany entered into an agreement called the European Coal and Steel Union. Later, this agreement was expanded into the European Economic Community (EEC) now known as the European Union (EU). When Britain applied to join the European Union in the early 1960's, it meant an end to the preferential trade and tariffs policy that Australian primary producers enjoyed. When the United States responded to the EU trading bloc by initiated and established the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Australian capital found itself out in the cold. It was the Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke who initiated and pushed hard for the establishment of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation agreement (APEC).

We have already seen many examples of strikes being undermined by multinational companies shifting production elsewhere in the world, getting raw materials from alternative suppliers overseas, etc. In 1984 Britain imported coal from Poland - where workers lived under martial law - in an attempt to starve out the British miners. States, while apparently supporting nationalist ideology, and rivalry between nations in sport, trade, diplomacy and war, in fact act together in highly co-ordinated ways in areas of vital interest. The Australian government has given up much of its so-called sovereignty to allow U.S. bases to operate here - completely outside its control. The police and security forces of many counties have a high degree of co-operation - sharing information about political activists, techniques of surveillance, torture, destabalisation, disinformation and other forms of political control. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO - Australia's internal security police) were set up by Britain's MI5 (although the man in question may have been a KGB double-agent!) and the CIA has trained the Victoria Police in 'crowd control' tactics!

In order to to combat State and Capital in one country must combat State and Capital everywhere. Therefore we must organise internationally wherever possible and our perspectives must be international. Anarcho-syndicalists are concerned to raise the standard of pay and conditions to the highest level possible for all workers. That the State is developing another level above the national to the economic trading bloc or "superstate" precludes the possibility of anarchy in one country in isolation.

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