Anarchism has historically gained the most support and influence in Spain, especially in the seventy or so years before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. Here is the history of the Spanish anarchist movement from the words of those who where involved.

Here's another interview, with Bruce, an IWW delegate to the curbside workers union.
Bruce describes duties as IWW delegate to curbside, and makes some brief comments on the labor movement in general.

The Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union (Free Worker's Union;abbreviated FAU) is an anarcho-syndicalist labor union initiative in Germany. It is the German section of the International Workers Association (IWA-AIT).

The FAU was then founded in 1977 and has grown consistently all through the 1990s. Now, the FAU consists of just under 40 groups, organized locally and by branch of trade. The federal organization exists in order to coordinate campaigns and actions and for communication purposes. There are 250 to 300 members organized in the various groups.

Here is a video from FAU Berlin during Mayday 2009.

Sorry that this is a day late. I have a super busy day yesterday, with work and school dominating my time.

Baristas at the Mall of America Starbucks joined the Starbucks Workers Union in July 2008. Starbucks fired Barista Erik Forman in an effort to quash the union drive. Through a campaign of direct action, legal pressure, and media advocacy, we won Erik's job back. On August 31st, the IWW held a rally to celebrate the union victory. After the rally, union supporters accompanied Erik Forman to his first shift back at the Mall of America. I've met Fellow Worker Erik Forman, he's a super nice guy.

Things did not go as planned.

This documentary-drama tells the story of Ethel MacDonald, a remarkable young woman whose name hit the world headlines during the Spanish Civil War. She was hailed as the Scarlet Pimpernel of the workers revolution but has since become something of a forgotten legend.

Ethel MacDonald (24 February 1909—1 December 1960) was a Glasgow-based Scottish anarchist and activist and, in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, a propagandist on Barcelona Anarchist radio.

Salt of the Earth was produced, written and directed by victims of the Hollywood blacklist. Unable to make films in Hollywood, they looked for worthy social issues to put on the screen independently. This film never would have been made in Hollywood at the time, so it is ironic that it was the anti-communist backlash that brought about the conditions for it to be made. In many ways it was a film ahead of its time. Mainstream culture did not pick up on its civil rights and feminist themes for at least a decade. This film entered the public domain in 1982 and was selected for the National Film Registry in 1992.

This 1979 award-winning film airs a provocative look at the forgotten American history of this most radical of unions, screening the unforgettable and still-fiery voices of Wobbly members--lumberjacks, migratory workers, and silk weavers--in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. Eerily echoing current times, THE WOBBLIES boldly investigates a nation torn by naked corporate greed and the red-hot rift between the industrial masters and the rabble-rousing workers in the field and factory. Replete with gorgeous archival footage, the film pays tribute to American workers who took the ideals of equality and free speech seriously enough to die for them. Directed by Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer, THE WOBBLIES is a rare and challenging invitation to rethink both past and present through the eyes of an organization largely omitted from memory.

The Grand Rapids Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) held a May Day press conference outside the East Grand Rapids branch of Starbucks. The Press Conference was part of an ongoing campaign to get Starbucks to recognize the union's legal right to organize their workers. The Grand Rapids chapter of the IWW is part of a legal case along with another union in New York that has been challenging Starbucks' anti-union practices.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) IU 460/640 marches on HWH Trading, a new shop where workers have joined the union. At HWH some workers work as much as 110-117 hours per week with no overtime pay.

Bruce "Utah" Phillips was a labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet and the "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He is a great inspiration to my life. I saw Utah Phillips at the 2004 Winnipeg Folk Festival. I went to every workshop and show he played at. If it weren't for that Festival, I wouldn't have never seeked out the I.W.W. and, as such, would have never been introduced to anarchism.

Miner's Lullaby is one of my many favorite songs by Utah. I remember crying once while listening to this song, thinking about what it would be like if my wife was put into that kind of situation.

For two weeks in late-April and early-May four members of the Industrial Workers of the World traveled to Haiti to meet with labor leaders and document the plight of the Haitian working class.

The I.W.W. delegation met with members of The Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH) to learn about their fight against "le plan neoliberal" and recruit help in the form of material aid and solidarity. Haiti's Tourniquet is the film that came out of that delegation.

Check out the International Solidarity Commission of the IWW for more on Haiti and other international campigns.

Lisa Barlott-Cardenas from the Industrial Workers of the World speaks at the Boom for Whom? Affordable Housing Rally on August 18, 2007 at the Alberta Legislature.

here are two videos from the recent contract negotiations between IWW curbside recycle workers at Ecology Center / Berkeley Curbside Recycling and there management. Without the pressure on the shop floor, our Fellow Workers would have not gotten anything.

In the end, faced with a possible strike, the EC backed down and agreed to the $1.00 raise across the board, along with the other improvements. This is still a long way away from what is really needed, and the EC continues with the same game that any employer plays - that "the money isn't there" - while refusing to document this. Nevertheless, IWW members should be proud that ours is not a union that accepts management's word for what is "affordable" and what isn't. While this raise (along with the 401k improvement) is not as much as the workers deserve, I do think it's probably more than lots of other unions contracts are winning nowadays. This is because we start from the position of the workers' needs, not those of the bosses.

This is a short video out of New York, taken at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade in 2007. The Mermaid Parade takes place every year by the sea in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, usually in mid-to-late June.

This is the kind of things I would like all Wobs to get involved in. The IWW is historically a lively, singing union. Instead of tiered old protest marches or walking the picket that seem more like funeral processions then anything that could effectively challenge authority, wobs should bring some life back into the radical movement. Strikes become street party, joyous events where we are taking back a peice of our life and fighting back!

Enjoy!

Here is the Italian language version of Fury Over Spain. Produced by the CNT in order to raise western support for the anti-fascist struggle. Directed by American anarchist Louis Frank, who also directed another documentary on the Spanish Revolution called The Will of the People.

This film is a dramatic showing of the reality of the Spanish Civil War and revolution. I would love to post the English language version, so if anyone has it on file, don't be afraid of sending me an email.

I am a paid up and proud member of the anarcho-syndicalist union the Industrial Workers of the World (also known as the Wobblies). Around the world, the IWW is working hard, organizing the unorganized and ignored, and within established, conservative unions in hopes of creating a broad, revolutionary workers movement.

One of the most inspiring campaigns put on by the IWW is the struggle to organize Barristas in starbucks stores across the U.S. With over 300 members nationwide, the IWW Starbucks Workers Union is a grassroots organization of and for baristas coming together for change.

One of the biggest strengths of the SWU is its use of the media and the internet to publicize their actions. Together We Win: The Fight to Organize Starbucks is a documentary by the SWU documenting the struggles and victories in the two year campaign in NYC.