en) Ireland, Anarchism, Oppression & Exploitation - Anarchist WSM position paper

1. The WSM Constitution?s core point of unity number 7 states: ---- ?We actively oppose 
all manifestations of prejudice within the workers' movement and society in general and we 
work alongside those struggling against racism, sexism, [religious] sectarianism and 
homophobia as a priority. We see the success of a revolution and the successful 
elimination of these oppressions after the revolution being determined by the building of 
such struggles in the pre-revolutionary period. The methods of struggle that we promote 
are a preparation for the running of society along anarchist and communist lines after the 
revolution.? ---- 2. The above point of unity was developed from the individual and 
collective experiences of WSM members. These informed our adaption of anarchism to our 
local contexts which includes specific experiences of oppression and personal & historical 
experiences of the anti-colonial struggle in Ireland and elsewhere.

3. The development of this paper involved our own experiences being placed alongside our 
discussions of the broad set of writings and observations emerging from the anarchist and 
feminist study of the relationship between gender, class and race and in particular what 
is often referred to today as ?Intersectionality?.

4. The development was also informed both our direct experience and study of anti-colonial 
struggles in Ireland and elsewhere, struggles that have often paralleled and informed 
anarchism.

5. The historical workers movement, of which anarchism is a part, has traditionally seen 
its task as the self-emancipation of the working class from economic bondage and 
exploitation. Therefore it is necessary to understand how that relates to the struggles 
for liberation from domination and oppression.

6. All unfree societies throughout history have been based on relations of domination and 
oppression as well as exploitation. Relations that are social rather than just personal. 
In pre-capitalist societies the relations of production were such that exploitation was 
imposed from the outside through the structures of domination. In such societies the 
relations of domination and exploitation are effectively one and the same. In capitalist 
society exploitation becomes integrated into the relation of production. Coercion appears 
as an anonymous force (poverty) and social relations are increasingly separated into 
political and economic spheres.

7. This relative separation means that liberal society becomes possible. Liberal society 
is the specifically capitalist unfree society where the exploited are politically free 
from bondage to any particular master, but remain economically unfree. This opens the 
possibility for liberation from oppression of categories of identity whose domination is a 
legacy of the social system recently replaced by capitalism. But it allows also for the 
proliferation of new categories of identity, as identity is decoupled from the specific 
capitalist relations of production and exploitation. This can allow the positive freedom 
of exploring new ways of being and personal relations. But it can also provide a means of 
creating new oppressions specific to the current phase of a particular capitalist 
society's need to stratify, hierarchise and divide the working class. Class consciousness 
must thus transcend, without suppressing, any particular identity. But that cannot happen 
in the absence of solidarity in the struggle to overcome the oppressions that divide the 
class.

8. Historically there has been a tension in the left (including much of our own previous 
work) between recognising what is outlined above and still strategically going on to see 
unity as being a question of identifying the main contradiction in society and lining up 
behind a single unifying identity, most often that of a white, male industrial worker. A 
?Unity is Strength? approach has then all too often meant the silencing or minimising of 
voices that do not easily fit into this identity.

9. In contrast to this approach we argue that there is a need to give voice to all 
oppressions, even those that may not affect large groups rather than to silence such 
voices behind a single representative figure. We recognise that, depending on their life 
circumstances, people experience oppressions in different ways.

10. Neither is the route to solidarity found by competing to identify who are the ?most 
oppressed? so as to make them the alternative ?representative figure? whose voice can then 
override those of the ?less oppressed?. The idea of trying to create a hierarchy of 
oppressions, ranked in order of severity, is futile and counter-productive. Solidarity 
requires accepting that difference cannot be subsumed under any single representative 
figure whether of the most supposedly common or the most oppressed.

11. We aim to ?join the dots? - that is to look at how oppressions and the intersections 
of oppression relate to each other and impact the relationships between those in struggle. 
It is through such an understanding and through ensuring that all voices are heard that a 
meaningful unity in struggle will be forged and maintained.

12. However we see the need to recognise that people have multiple identities and our 
challenge is to create a revolutionary movement capable of overthrowing all of the 
oppressions and collectively creating a free society.

13. While we believe our movements must be based on our experiences this means movements 
including WSM are shaped by who composes them. This composition will determine what 
struggle they see as priorities, what they overlook and even the methodology they bring to 
struggles. We aim to be conscious of and develop ways of counteracting such tendencies in 
our own organisations and others we work in.

14. This theoetical recognition requires a collective effort towards minimising the 
effects of marginalisation and privilege on the internal culture of the WSM by developing 
both facilitation processes and anti-oppression consciousness-raising / training 
programs for members & supporters.

15. Our role is to collaborate in the cultivation of spaces where those historically 
marginalised by their oppression can speak and self organise. As an organisation we are 
in solidarity with such organising efforts which of course will often also include some of 
our own membership. We will will collectively support such work and amplify the agency of 
the oppressed.

As agreed October 2014