Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1999 19:42:02 -0500 (EST)
From: Jamal Hannah x342446 <jah-AT-parsons.iww.org>
Subject: IWW and the IWA


On Mon, 1 Feb 1999, Brian J. Callahan wrote:

> The IWW does have a strong aversion to changing any basic policies.  Despite 
> its essentially radical nature, it does have a conservative streak.  A lot of 
> it, I think, is an understandable desire not to break faith with all the 
> people who sacrificed so much in the past.  In fact, the only reason it isn't 
> bankrupt now is that some old Wobblies left their estates to the union.  Many 
> members contend that it is not fitting for the current membership of 1,000 or 
> less to change basic policies voted on by thousands and thousands of members 
> in the past.  If you're into syndicalism in the US and want a less 
> conservative syndicalist organization, there's always the Workers Solidarity 
> Alliance, the US member of the IWA.  I don't know if the IWA has an affiliate 
> in the UK.  Anybody?

This is true.. the IWW does have some "conservative radical"
elements in it, like Jon Bekken, who fight attempts to change the original
structure of the IWW, but there is a faction out of San Francisco that has
been getting more and more influence, who would fit in pretty well on this
list, who have been part of a trend to change the IWW's internal
structure.

The WSA is the US branch of the IWA... the UK branch is the Solidarity
Federation, or "SolFed".

 - Jamal