We know what, and a lot of time we even know who this “1%” is, although for some reason no one seems to be talking about it. Instead, we tend to speak to the inverse—the “99%”. It is a created concept really, an imagined unity that says somewhat clearly: “those who have been fucked by the 1%.”

We might do well to call the 1% what they are—the ruling class. Today’s ruling class are capitalists gone wild, heralding capitalism to its logical neo-liberal conclusion. Yes, the 1% has all of the money, they also have all control of the supposedly democratic system which we are all, whether we like it or not, a part.

We might also do well to call the division what it is—a class war.

We say war for a reason. It implies that there is a battle, necessary confrontation. It also implies that one must choose sides. One of the things the 99% as a concept has done is draw the symbolic and newspaper worthy battle-lines. On their side they have pretty much the entire media-stream, a shit-ton of money, various laws, politicians, and bureaucrats to protect them. When that isn’t enough, they have gated communities, private security teams (in some cases whole armies), municipal police forces, and if the shit really hits the fan, the US military to protect them. Despite losing our homes, our rents rising, our longer hours, our unemployment, our minimum wage, our non-existent futures, our depression and anxieties, and our melting planet—we still have our anger, our minds, our bodies, our collectivity.

But let’s take a step back. When we draw lines in the sand, between the ruling class and the “99%,” what else do we imply by lumping so many people together? We know that the 99% is a constructed concept of unity, imagined, seemingly out of thin air, around September 2011 to articulate the fragile alliance between those on the losing side of the escalating global financial crisis.

But in practice this alliance or stated unity seems to only pertain to those who self-identify with, or are involved in, the Occupy movement. It is a mistake to include everyone who is not a millionaire into such a concept—the 99%. In short, with the uncritical proliferation of the 99% as a vague unifier of massive quantities of people—differing in gender, race, class, etc, as well as political affiliations or sensibilities—we need to look closer at the implications of such terminology, but more importantly what it creates in reality.

Concepts can constitute reality and call it into being. They have the power to communicate a basis for felt, but not yet described, experiences when they resonate with our everyday lives. This can be a powerful force—consider the words spoken by Stokely Carmichael in the wake of the shooting of civil rights activist James Meredith in June, 1966: “This is the twenty-seventh time I have been arrested and I ain’t going to jail no more! The only way we gonna stop them white men from whuppin’ us is to take over. What we gonna start sayin’ now is Black Power!” In one breath, years of struggle and articulation of experience—from MLK and SNCC to the term’s more immediate inspiration, the militancy of Malcolm X—are spoken in clear, precise, and slogan-worthy words. Suddenly a growing tendency of black militancy is translated in two simple words, and makes immediate sense regardless of whether or not one had ever heard Malcolm X speak, but felt his message in their every day experience. In that moment “Black Power” created a possibility, a space, for the emergence of a fiery mass consciousness that rejected the white supremacy and racist ideologies that proliferated everywhere. One need not be a scholar of African American history or political science, one didn’t need to have read MLK, Marcus Garvey, or Malcolm X to understand the words, it was self-evident, felt, and entirely clear.

The concept “the 99%” functions similarly, but resonates with quite a different group of people and its antagonisms are much more vague. Millions of people who are in debt, have lost their jobs, houses, and life savings understand the 99% perfectly well with little or no need for an explanation of the inner workings of financial capitalism (e.g. “Wall St.”). Both the symbolic and pragmatic function of the term makes sense—if 1% of people have all the money, 99% of people are getting fucked. Like the abstraction of Wall Street as a stand-in for the immaterial accumulation of capital, as well as the would-be residence of the 1%, the 99% stands in symbolically for all those subject to the whims of Wall St. The vulgarity and violence of the ruling class is articulated in clear, slogan-friendly dialectical terms—1% v. 99%

But on the ground (that is, outside of the spectacular battles of the media) another question becomes pressing: When we say 99%, whom do we mean, exactly? Looking closer reveals rather quickly it doesn’t work especially well to simply lump everyone together, at least, as it has been used so far within Occupy.

Take for example the way the concept of the 99% is often used within the movement to validate fairly specific liberal middle-class politics taken as a priori, which in turn ironically cancels out other politics within the 99% in the name of fear of scaring any potential occupiers, or worse, the elusive “community” or “public” with voices of anger, antagonism, or radical politics.

“Be nice to the police, they are part of the 99%, too.”

“Police need a raise! Police need a raise! Police need a raise!”
[Chanting protestors are hauled off in handcuffs.]

Of course, this generous form of unity contradicts others’ inclusion in the supposedly blanket 99%—people of color, prisoners, undocumented immigrants, queer and transfolk come to mind, as people who face or fear police violence on a daily basis. It is not just about the cops though, and I don’t want to over-emphasize a hatred toward the police that we anarchists can slip into (there are plenty of legitimate critiques of the police, but that isn’t the point I’m trying to make here). The point is that this example of “be nice to the police” is indicative of a larger tendency within the movement of the way that the 99% concept / term is used as propaganda externally, as well as internally to suggest directions for the movement to go and what tactics we should use to get there. It condescendingly and often ignorantly assumes an affinity between white middle-class folks who, perhaps, have lost their moderate to high paying jobs, or students who are crippled by debt, with poor and oppressed peoples who have struggled and fought for generations against a systemic racism and classism. Scroll through the “we are the 99%” tumblr, and you’ll see a hell of a lot more “I played by all of the rules,” implying “why did I get screwed?” than you’ll see “half of my family is in prison,” “my boss frequently steals wages from workers,” or “as an undocumented immigrant I work sub-minimum wage.” There is a sea of difference between “I tried to pull myself up by my bootstraps and the straps broke,” compared to “I never got a pair of fucking shoes!”

We shouldn’t fetishize the “most oppressed” though either. The point is that we need to have a better understanding of the rhetoric we use, and its relationship to real world effects in terms of who participates, but as importantly, how we as ‘Occupiers’ understand ourselves as a unified group, a would-be class, at the very least related group in common struggle. Like the middle-class folks who neglect to recognize how their liberalism and political assumptions can affect particular oppressed peoples as participants in Occupy, a militant and narrow-minded commitment to only the “most oppressed” (often times excluding oneself, flirting with a kind of awkwardly vanguardist role) can similarly result in a failure to recognize certain groups of people (students, for example, as a legitimate part of the working class who are enslaved by debt) and the pervasive and diverse ways in which capitalism has affected various peoples.

I not only think it is possible but that it is essential to begin to understand contemporary class politics as they emerge in all of their messy complexities within a grassroots movement that identifies the ruling class as the enemy. Some Marxist theorists call it ‘class-composition,’ referring to a complicated ever changing structuring of class both as it relates to political affinities and labor realities, but also and equally as important—their potentials in assembling or conjoining in struggle. As I understand it, class-composition works toward a re-conceptualization of class such that the social and the political spheres that were formerly thought to be necessarily distinct can be reconciled. But more importantly, to compose implies to create—that is, to articulate our similarities as well as our differences, without a need to refer to representative politics, and to understand how those affinities between different types of people, as well as singularities specific to the individual, offer potential to struggle on multiple terrains. When we build sincere affinities, which will require much more listening than has happened thus far, that are based on deep understandings of the various ways capitalism and oppression affect and manipulate different people, we more deeply understand how our actions have consequences on others within the supposed 99%, and we better understand how to struggle collectively while maintaining our respective politics, identities, etc. We will also see in the processes of composing our affinities toward one another—understanding and embracing our differences, rejecting our internalized oppressive behavior—a deepening of our bonds and an intensified commitment to each other as well as to our respective struggles. In this sense, quality over quantity might prove important, and might again reveal that not all of the 99% are our friends.

This, it seems to me, is what Occupy is all about in its attempt to pull a thread between so many differing types of people that make up the 99% while also resisting, so far at least, representative politics. But, generally speaking, it seems Occupy has neglected to do any work to articulate the both subtle and great differences as well as fragile alliances, instead conveniently harkening back on the reductive 99% unifier, muddling and canceling out many people. There are ways in which students, for example, can be militant about being exploited as workers, and having a critique of debt, without throwing out a nuanced understanding of our other racial, intellectual, geographic, hetero, gendered or other kinds of privileges. But this requires a re-imagining of what it means to be a part of the oppressed, it requires checking one’s privilege without relinquishing individual agency, and finally it requires a persistent linkage between various groups balanced with an understanding that capitalism distributes violence, economic inequality, and other forms of oppression unevenly and thus not everyone’s experiences (or politics) are the same.

This, in my estimation has been the primary problem with the [lack of] class analysis within Occupy, and of the concept of the 99%. Thus far it has not gotten us closer to understanding our differences in relationship to our shared forms of exploitation, either as workers or the subjects to the violence of financial capitalism. There are several stories of transphobic, racist, classist, patriarchal activities within GAs and various encampments. These stories signal that Occupy has so far struggled to listen, to be self-critical, but most importantly to deepen an understanding of all of the lingering -isms amongst ourselves. It also signals a realistic difficulty of learning again how to speak to one another, how to reject our own internalized systems of oppression, how to relate, how to join one another in the streets and re-learn how to speak, and perhaps most importantly how to listen. But if we are going to insist upon generalized language of inclusivity we must also ask in an honest way: Who gets to be part of such a group? Or better, who isn’t showing up, and why?

_____
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In the spirit of this essay I should note that I am definitely not the first to bring up these problems or analyses; I’ve learned from many brilliant people. Below are a few links that have made an impression on me and helped to sharpen my politics; surely there are many other great voices to be heard.

Colorlines continually posts good articles putting race on the table in relationship to Occupy. See their posts here.

W.I.T.C.H. (Women and Trans* Conspiracy from Hell) produced a scathing and productive critique of Occupy coming from a queer / anarchist perspective. It was here that I first read a good critique of “99%.” Can be downloaded here.

Transgendered artist / activist Micha Cardenas describes her frustration to find that OccupyLA has kept sexual assault that has occurred at camp from public discussion, and thus not adequately dealt with, for fear of ‘damaging the movement.’ Can be read here.

Til Always,
H. Schultze
January 2012

It was a bitter joke.  My friend had just finished venting about one of her two jobs.  She was typing to me just after getting bossed around on the smallest details of her job at a small nonprofit.  After that, she had an evening as a temp to look forward to, grading middle-school standardized tests.  She had said that working so much was starting to mess with her head.  She hadn’t played music in too long.  Too much of her life went to satisfying somebody else.

I had to laugh at the idea there was something wrong with her.  I typed back, “Yeah, me neither.”  I work at a low-level healthcare job.  In some ways it’s worse than my friend’s jobs, and in some ways it’s better.  She sits at a desk.  I scrub disgusting things off the floor.  Her jobs require a degree.  I dropped out of college.  She gets paid more.  I haven’t always been paid on time.  On the other hand, I get to see positive results of the work I do.  The work itself is more rewarding.  That counts for a lot more than you might think.

But the work and the job are two different things.  The other day I had to stay late after an overnight shift, correcting paperwork.  I spent more than two hours signing and dating every little error.  Every time I wrote in the wrong pen color.  Every time I crossed out a word with an “X” instead of a single horizontal line.  I felt like one of those middle school students, jumping through a hoop for a stranger very far away.  Then I went home, took a short nap, and went right back to work that afternoon.

You might say that we’re wrong to object to boring or demeaning jobs.  That these are just “first world problems.”  In a way you’d be right.  I have enough food to eat, and a place to live.  I’m better off than workers in most of the world.  Hell, I’m better off than a lot of people in Iowa City.  Why complain about working too much, if we’re lucky to have work at all?

But I think that’s the wrong question to ask.  It’s right to be angry about inequalities between workers.  While I was dealing with red tape, a lot of people in Iowa were being denied basic rights like bathroom breaks.  Still, I don’t think setting larger and smaller injustices against each other is the right way forward.  Some better questions to ask are:  How did things get this way?  And what can we do about it?

Our jobs didn’t end up like this by accident.  The more simple and repetitive a grader’s job gets, the more money an “education” company saves on training and wages.  Then there’s that much more money left over for the owners.  The less nursing education a healthcare job needs, the less the “nonprofit” needs to spend on training and wages.  Then they have that much more money to spend on the director’s company car.  Children should be taught, and people with medical needs should be taken care of.  But those real needs aren’t what make our jobs boring, isolating, or pointless.

Our work is like this because it’s good for business.  We didn’t end up with a school system where the students don’t even meet the graders because it was good for them.  We didn’t end up with a healthcare system where so much money and time is put into paperwork because it’s good for the people getting care.  It just keeps the funding coming.  No matter who you work for, or what work you do, it’s going to be set up based on what’s good for business, on what keeps the money flowing around.  Not based on what’s good for people.

So I don’t think we should put these different injustices against each other.  The boredom that a worker entering data faces and the abuse that a worker processing turkeys faces both come from the same place.  We all should face the injustices in our own lives.  By learning to fight for ourselves, we’ll be getting ready to fight alongside others.

When we get bossed around, we’re right to be angry.  When we’re made to do the same boring task over and over again, we’re right to be unsatisfied.  Our lives don’t have to be like this.

Nobody is cut out to be an employee.

What is a specific anarchist group?
The term ‘specific anarchist group’ could be defined as a formal anarchist organization that seeks unity in their theory, outlook, tactics and action. It strives to be heavily involved in larger social movements, pushing their militancy and advocating their independence from co-opting forces, such as the state, capital and the authoritarian/reformist left.

How is it different from other contemporary anarchist groups?
Differing from many contemporary North American anarchist groups, it sees clearly defined, explained and agreed upon structure as necessary for effective action and equitable power distribution.

Rather than individuals within the group having little shared outlook, working on separate, smaller projects and making efforts without coordination, the ‘specific anarchist group’ attempts to bring together militants that have a strong level of agreement and direct their activity in a concerted fashion.

It does this to maximize the potential for effective action and to prevent burnout.  The whole or majority of the group carries out activity, instead of relying on a few individuals, as is somewhat common in looser, more informal groupings.

How is it similar to other contemporary anarchist groups?
Throughout the history of anarchism, there have been many examples of groups that followed these principles of organization. More recently though, the platformist, especifista, and some anarcho-syndicalist currents come the closest to our conception.

Platformism gets its name from the The Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists, a pamphlet written in 1926 by a group of Russian and Ukrainian anarchists in exile. It attempted to address the failure of anarchists during the Russian Revolution, which they chalked up to disorganization.

Some of the platform’s key points include

• Tactical Unity – “A common tactical line in the movement is of decisive importance for the existence of the organisation and the whole movement: it avoids the disastrous effect of several tactics opposing each other; it concentrates the forces of the movement; and gives them a common direction leading to a fixed objective.”

• Theoretical Unity – “Theory represents the force which directs the activity of persons and organisations along a defined path towards a determined goal. Naturally it should be common to all the persons and organisations adhering to the General Union. All activity by the General Union, both overall and in its details, should be in perfect concord with the theoretical principles professed by the union.”

• Collective Responsibility – “The practice of acting on one’s personal responsibility should be decisively condemned and rejected in the ranks of the anarchist movement. The areas of revolutionary life, social and political, are above all profoundly collective by nature. Social revolutionary activity in these areas cannot be based on the personal responsibility of individual militants.”

• Federalism – “Against centralism, anarchism has always professed and defended the principle of federalism, which reconciles the independence and initiative of individuals and the organisation with service to the common cause.”

It’s effects were not felt for many years after its publishing. Outside of a few French groups in the 1950s, there weren’t any organizations who directly identified with the document. This changed in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the emergence of NEFAC and others around the world. Today it is a significant current in the North American and European anarchist movements.

Especifismo emerged in South America separate from the influence of platformism. In the 1950s, the Federación Anarquista Uruguaya (FAU) was the first to promote the concept, which has been summarized as:

• The need for specifically anarchist organization built around a unity of ideas and praxis.
• The use of the specifically anarchist organization to theorize and develop strategic political and organizing work.
• Active involvement in and building of autonomous and popular social movements (which is sometimes is called ‘social insertion’)

Today there are a number of organizations in South America which identify with this current, such as the Federação Anarquista Gaúcha and Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro. As these groups establish ties with each other, others have popped up in a variety of South American and Central American countries.

Anarcho-Syndicalists have also often found the need for their own political organizations. In the past this sentiment has expressed itself in what has been called ‘dual-organization syndicalist’ groups such as the Turin Libertarian Group of 1920s Italy or the Friends of Durruti of 1930s Spain. Both saw their involvement in the unions to battle more moderate elements and the bureaucracy.

Today, the Workers Solidarity Alliance and numerous International Workers Association affiliated groups follow in this tradition, although their scope has expanded from mainly concentrating their efforts within the unions.

How does this look in practice?
Ideally, the specific anarchist group would be made up those who share agreement on a number of key issues on organization, tactics and politics. The group should serve as a space and structure for members to strategize, discuss, plan and educate themselves.

If not already involved in wider movements, this should be done in a concerted effort. This effort will not be to seize positions of decision making power, such is the strategy of much of the authoritarian left. Instead, this effort should be to create an anarchist pole within the movements, to advocate widening and intensifying struggles that come up and to fight co-opting forces that try and steer things in a reformist or reactionary manner.

Further Reading
Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft)
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=1000

Manifesto of Libertarian Communism by Georges Fontenis
http://libcom.org/library/manifesto-of-libertarian-communism-georges-fontenis

Our Conception of Anarchist Organisation by Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro
http://anarchistplatform.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/our-conception-of-anarchist-organisation/

Especifismo: The Anarchist Praxis of Building Popular Movements and Revolutionary Organization in South America by Adam Weaver
http://nefac.net/node/2081

by Juan Conatz and R.Spourgítis

Wild Rose Rebellion (WRR) was an anarchist group primarily based in Iowa City, Iowa. Its beginnings can be traced to late 2007, when anarchists involved in a local student antiwar group, infoshop and IWW branch decided they wanted to hold meetings to plan for the 2008 Republican National Convention protests in the Twin Cities.

While WRR was often not a cohesive organization, it brought together those who identified as anarchist or anti-authoritarian for work on various projects, events and campaigns. Although it should be noted there were not always clear boundaries between individual and collective projects.

In its second year WRR began to look at its focus and form. The group began a process to formalize the organization, its membership and decision making processes. This culminated in early 2010, with a new name, a shift in our fundamental focus toward class struggle and the creation of a constitution and mission toward that focus.

This piece is written for the purpose of informing new members of our past, as well as contributing to the unfortunately small recorded history of Iowa and Midwestern radical organizing. In addition to these primary aims, a critical view of what WRR was and our actions is a goal. This is based on the reflections of a couple people. The few dozen others who at one time or another were involved to varying degrees with WRR may see things differently. We welcome them to write replies or their own accounts.

Pre-Wild Rose Rebellion (2006-late 2007)
In 2006-2007, although there were a number of anarchists and anti-authoritarians in Iowa City, there existed no self-identified group. The most visible things people were involved in were the University of Iowa Antiwar Committee (UIAC), the Velocipede Infoshop, Arthink (a radical art collective) an IWW local and Food Not Bombs.

The UIAC was arguably the more successful of the 5, as anarchists played a major role alongside Trotskyists and liberals in the group and it’s activities. The UIAC was the largest Iowa City leftist group in recent memory and its protests, sit-ins, educational events and presence were an entry point for many people. It existed from 2002 until 2009, when its slow demise (reflective of the national antiwar movement) became complete and it ceased to operate.¹

Velocipede Infoshop began as a mostly anarchist/anti-authoritarian book, zine and pamphlet shop, operating on a collective basis, from November 2006 and until July 2007. The infoshop also facilitated a meeting space for some local groups and workshops, and was a semi-regular music venue for benefit and non-benefit shows.

There were many factors in this project’s demise. It was located in the Hall Mall; relatively inaccessible for a few reasons, it is an office hallway accessed by way of a steep flight of concrete stairs, and for many has a negative reputation from the businesses and those who frequent them.²There were different ideas for the use of the space, differing levels of commitment from those involved, and some interpersonal conflicts over substance dependency among one member. These issues were combined with the continual loss of people involved from moving away or simply checking out, ultimately leading to the infoshop’s end.

Artthink was a loose art collective made up of “conscious artistic people who gather to collaborate on creatively addressing political, social, and environmental problems.” They drew from artists such as Banksy, Shepard Fairey, and 1960s radical posters, among others.

An Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) group was first started in spring 2006, meeting in Iowa City as an Eastern Iowa IWW group. This group brought together a handful of IWW members from the central eastern Iowa region. There were a couple of attempts at workplace organizing with members involved, one at an area private college among cafeteria workers, another at a warehouse.³ Ultimately these organizing attempts were unsuccessful, and those involved in each campaign moved from the area. Even with these members, there was a continual failure to maintain the 10 regular dues paying members required to establish a local branch.

By late 2007 the remaining IWW members were facing the realization that with very few people involved, and no connection to actual organizing campaigns, even in a supportive role, the purpose was questionable and they ceased to meet.

Iowans Against the RNC! and the Beginnings of Wild Rose Rebellion (Late 2007-Mid 2008)
After the announcement that the 2008 Republican National Convention would be held in the Twin Cities, there was a flurry of activity in the Midwest in response. The RNC Welcoming Committee and Unconventional Action were formed. The former was a Twin Cities based group that aimed to act as an information clearinghouse to aid those who wanted to do street blockades to disrupt the convention. The latter was a loose network that attempted to direct individuals and groups to these actions at both the RNC and the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Call-outs to participate and announcements for spokescouncils were circulated and a few Iowa City anarchists decided to plug in, attending planning sessions in the Twin Cities, making contacts with people at the ‘Caucus of the Future’⁴ and circulating an invitation to start an Iowa-wide network to participate in the RNC protests.

The initial meeting in Iowa City was held in December 2007. Although the preliminary names of both the group (Iowans Against the RNC!) and meetings (RNC Consulta 1, 2, 3, etc) were reflective of the original intentions as an organizational body for protest mobilizations, it became clear early on that we had interests that went beyond this.

These sentiments were expressed through a variety of non-RNC related projects that many of us did or were a part of, such as Food Not Bombs, running a literature table at some events from the former infoshop’s collection, a protest and disruption of Karl Rove’s visit to the university, a fundraiser for the families & defendants of the Postville raid and participation in the Democracy Is Direct conference in Lawrence, Kansas. We also adopted the name Wild Rose Rebellion and began work on creating a points of unity draft.

Karl Rove Protest and Disruption
In March of 2008, the University of Iowa Lecture Committee hosted former White House chief of staff Karl Rove at one of their events. A protest was planned and organized, primarily by the UIAC, although WRR tabled the event with pamphlets and zines, and worked with some Des Moines anarchists on a banner that was hung from the parking ramp directly across from the speaker’s venue.

Rove’s discussion with the Lecture Committee host was interrupted numerous times by people heckling and shouting him down.⁵ A citizen’s arrest was even attempted by members of Des Moines-based Catholic Worker. After the event a sympathetic worker at a restaurant tipped the UIAC off that Rove and his dinner guests were dining at their place of employment. We blocked most of the exits to the building and shouted at him with a bullhorn. In the end, his security detail had to whisk him out of there through the front door in a hurry, as attempts to go out the side and back doors were thwarted.

Postville Benefit and Protest
In May of 2008, the largest federal immigration raid conducted in United States history up to that point occurred at a meat processing plant in Postville, IA. We held a benefit in July at a local community venue with a raffle, prizes from local businesses, appetizers, and acoustic musical acts.

Over $1000 was raised. This went to El Centro Latino Americano in Waterloo, a group that was handling the legal defense of those held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as supporting the families affected. Later that month many of us joined others from Iowa City in a trip to a large march in the small Iowan town of Postville, demonstrating solidarity with those affected by that heinous raid.⁶

Democracy Is Direct Conference
In May of 2008, a few of us traveled to Lawrence, Kansas to attend the Democracy Is Direct conference. The original purpose of the conference was to create a NEFAC7 style Midwest anarchist federation. A constitution, based largely on NEFAC’s⁷, but edited for the sensibilities of those suspicious of formal organization or from a green anarchist background, was circulated and a counter-proposal was written by a group of St. Louis-based anarchists that disagreed with the purpose and content of the constitution.

This conference brought together a number of anarchists from different tendencies in the Midwest and the discussion around the original proposal collapsed in favor of a possible merging of the federation style of organization and a network (a ‘neteration’). There were also a number of workshops on topics such as the RNC protest preparation, the late Great Plains Anarchist Network, and indigenous land use struggles in South Dakota.

RNC Organizing
It was decided that we wanted to be a part of the street blockades and unpermitted marches that the RNC Welcoming Committee was facilitating, and our trainings and meetings revolved around this decision. We had movie showings on the 1999 Seattle WTO and 2004 Miami FTAA protests, had a thorough weekend-long street medic training, a direct action training and separated into affinity groups based on our interest (medic, legal, media, protesting, etc.). The goal was to have every person fully prepared of what the risks were and armed with knowledge of what to do and how to do it.

The RNC, a FBI Informant & Additional Projects (Mid 2008-Late 2008)
After nearly 10 months of preparation, the time came for us to travel to the Twin Cities. The experience there was hectic and eye opening. But it didn’t end after we returned home. We eventually discovered that someone involved in our RNC efforts, as well as the UIAC, was acting as an informant for the FBI.

Despite these very all-consuming topics, we also spoke on a panel of community organizations at a social justice arts event, hosted regular ‘bike in’ movie showings, attended the second Midwest anarchist gathering, held an after-election event on voting, did a banner drop and issued a communique of solidarity, organized a clothing drive for the Pine Ridge reservation, and covered newspapers with a fake USA Today front page the day after the election.

The RNC
We arrived in the Twin Cities at an intense time. People we knew were being raided by the FBI and Homeland Security, helicopters were swirling overhead and police in riot gear seemed to be everywhere. It seemed at any moment, the possibility of being raided and detained existed, no matter one’s plans for being in town.

While most of us went to work on the legal support, medical or media side of things, several of us had planned to meet up in the ‘Midwestern Cluster’ sector of unpermitted marches. This had been decided on for months. But, unknown to us, a student antiwar organizer had corralled up around 30 Iowa City people to travel to the RNC. From our conversations with these folks, we discovered they had no idea what they were getting themselves into, with many believing they were going to be on the major, safe and permitted march.

With this in mind, along with our opinion that some of the ‘leaders’ in the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) were being reckless, if not dishonest, with inexperienced Iowa City people’s trust, we switched to the CAN sector with the intention of not allowing fellow Iowans to be used as what amounted to cannon fodder. This was eventually resolved, with those who wanted to attend the larger, permitted march doing so, and those who were interested in the street blockades getting a crash course on what to expect.

By the end of the weekend, almost no Iowa City people had been arrested or hurt and all eventually returned safely.

Hurricane Season Appearance
In late September WRR was invited to join a panel with two other community organizations, speaking on our mission and activity. This event was called “Hurricane Season,” and was a multi-media theatrical piece on the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf States, and environmental destruction, racism and poverty more generally. The other organizations represented on a short panel at the end of this event were the Women’s Resource and Action Center of the university, and Food Not Lawns/Backyard Abundance, a community gardening organization.

Newspaper Wraps & Anti-Electoral Event
Through those we knew from RNC organizing we received a ‘newspaper wrap’ of a fake USA Today front page and inside cover detailing objections to capitalism and the state from an anarchist standpoint. This was placed on a number of display copies in newspaper dispensers around the city throughout the day after the elections.⁸

That evening we held an event named ‘Does Your Vote Count?,’ which featured clips from documentaries on voter fraud in the 2000 and 2004 elections. A focused discussion on what the electoral system can actually offer followed.

FBI Informant
In late November, some of us in Iowa City received unedited FBI documents from people in the Twin Cities indicating there was an informant in the group. These documents detailed people’s names, occupations, addresses, previous political activity and plans for the RNC, among other things. Through process of elimination and identifying and attributing statements in the documents, we came to the conclusion that the informant was Jason Munford.

Jason Munford, who also went by Valvilis Cormaeril , claimed he was a conscientious objector from the Air Force and became involved in UIAC. Because WRR was the only group in Iowa City preparing and planning for the RNC, and the UIAC was mostly non-existent during the summer of 2008, he became involved in our group. Unknown to us, he was a paid informant for the FBI and acted in this role until at least November of 2008.

Once it was established that the informant was Jason, we confronted him at his workplace and went with our information to the UIAC, who promptly kicked him out of the group. Of course, he initially denied everything. When there seemed to him to be proof, he created a story about him acting as an informant to try and discover a never proven or identified second informant, in order to tell us. Eventually, he admitted it through a series of Facebook messages with individuals from UIAC and WRR, justifying it for a number of reasons.

UIAC and WRR put out a joint statement,⁹ exposing Jason, which was posted to various anarchist and radical news websites. He seemed to have disappeared soon after that, although he has resurfaced recently in Port Townsend, WA, on the heels of Port of Olympia civil disobedience actions against the Iraq War, working at a community space called the Boiler Room and involved in something called ‘Poetry Scream’.¹⁰

Prairie Fire Gathering
The second meeting held for the Midwest anarchist ‘neteration,’ initially proposed at the Democracy Is Direct conference in Lawrence, Kansas, was called ‘Prairie Fire’ and took place in Oklahoma City. While a few workshops and group discussions took place, the prospects of any sort of intentional network seemed unlikely owing to the number of people with vague or developed notions of anti-formal organization sentiment.

Greece Banner Drop and Communique
During the Greek insurrection and unrest of 2008, an international call for solidarity was issued. Across the world there were a number of actions around this. A couple of us made a contribution through a banner drop on a busy intersection in Iowa City and issuing a communiqué of solidarity.¹¹

Pine Ridge Clothing Drive
In response to a request of support from people of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, we collected and donated one large box of winter clothes during record-level blizzard conditions in late 2008.

May Day, Media & Last Projects (Early 2009-Mid 2009)
With the RNC over and the group still existing, we began to become more heavily involved in local projects, while trying to figure out what exactly we wanted to do. Meanwhile, unwanted media attention jolted us, centered on the FBI’s infiltration of WRR.

May Day
Although in recent years, May Day had been celebrated in Iowa City, in 2008 nothing was put on, and so WRR took the initiative of starting a group, the May Day Organizing Committee (MDOC)¹², in order to organize this. MDOC was formed primarily to bring the different organizations to the table in a fair way. In the past, there had been some amount of tension between student groups and non-profits over what a May Day event should look like, leading to feelings of tokenization on the part of the immigrant non-profits or condescension on the part of the student groups. Another intention of MDOC was to re-center May Day on workers and immigrants, something the most recent May Day in Iowa City had strayed from in favor of antiwar topics.¹³

People from WRR, UIAC, and AFSCME, along with other individuals put a lot of work into this, and on May Day, we attracted hundreds of people downtown. This May Day event of 2009 was 12 hours long, and featured 9 speakers and 3 bands, along with free Mexican food, kid’s games, two workshops on racism and anti-immigrant movements and numerous groups tabling.

RNC 8 Benefit Show
In order to support the RNC 8′s¹⁴ defense, we put on a house show that raised around $300 for the fund on Valentine’s Day.

Community Garden Effort
At a public housing area, an effort was made to assist those interested in starting a community garden. Actual WRR involvement ended up being low, as well as the interest of the people in the neighborhood. One garden was started, though.

Earth First! Roadshow
We hosted the Earth First! Roadshow at a small performance space in May. The presentation consisted of Green Scare updates, an introduction to ecological devastation, a call out for involvement and support of the EF! movement, and a puppet show on security culture. This was the last public event that WRR put on, as serious attrition and burn-out began to take its toll.

Prairie Fire Meeting
The third meeting of what by this point was intermittently termed Prairie Fire, happened in Kansas City, Kansas at the Crossroads Infoshop in June. This ended up being quite disorganized, with no agenda and people making serious proposals that the meeting consist of a ‘big hangout’. The large group discussions around creating something out of these meetings was more heated than the previous two, with very vocal minorities of formal and anti-formal organization partisans arguing with each other while the majority kept mostly silent.

While some of the WRRers who attended were energized from meeting other anarchists, others were thoroughly disillusioned with the process and politics of the majority of the attendees. It seemed fairly certain that no type of structured Midwest network or meeting of any kind was going to come out of these loose gatherings.

John Deng Murder
In July of 2009, a homeless Sudanese man named John Deng was shot and killed by a plainclothes Johnson County Sherriff’s Deputy following an altercation with a middle aged white man who had just exited a bar and started a conflict with Deng.¹⁵

There was considerable controversy among the broad left in Iowa City and a university professor held a community forum that was intended to be the initiation of a group against police brutality. Unfortunately, this forum ended up being a recuperation of rage into tame avenues. After numerous accounts of police profiling and harassment from African and black Iowa Citians were heard from the audience, it was decided we were going to walk to the police station to demand answers. The vast majority of the crowd waited outside while a couple of others negotiated with the police to provide a spokesperson. This was granted and the crowd was allowed into the city council’s room.

What proceeded was a grilling of the police spokesperson on a number of issues, such as the police’s relationship to the immigrants, blacks and Latinos of Iowa City, as well as the youth. The entire time, the university professor interrupted the crowd, rephrased and generally framed comments in a tone and manner that was more palatable to the police spokesperson and disrespectful of the crowd. The solutions offered were electing more accountable city council members and running for the absolutely powerless Police Citizens Review Board, a city-created body that could only make non-binding recommendations to the City Council, who then could make them to the police.

There was a desire from some in WRR to come up with a strategy for these forums to combat the efforts of reformists that were making sure anything the community did was inconsequential. But at the time, the group was in no position to take on such a thing due to disorganization and differences in politics. A concern stated by others in the group was that WRR members have an “outsider” identity to the communities affected by local police practices. It was also the case that the follow up meetings that were to have happened for the intended community group against police brutality never did.

Attrition and the Struggle to Reorganize (Mid 2009-Late 2009)
Throughout 2009, a number of people very involved in WRR moved from the Iowa City area. Many of these people graduated from or dropped out of college, some left for jobs or interests that took them elsewhere in the country, and some left the group for personal reasons. The fact that our meetings were becoming increasingly more frustrating as our attempts to reorganize stretched on was probably a contributing factor for some as well.

While we struggled with fundamental questions of purpose, structure and strategy, we also linked up with other regional anarchist or anti-authoritarian groups for the Midwest Joint Work project and participated in an antifascist action that disrupted an event by notorious Holocaust denier, David Irving. Eventually, WRR ceased to exist as a group, and a new one was started that differed in many aspects.

Male Accountability Group
Responding to the critiques of female-bodied and women members over a male dominated dynamic to WRR, we formed a discussion group to address sexism and patriarchy within the group in early 2009.

As with many things described here, this was not clearly defined or evaluated, during or after. As such, the real effects of this attempt are debatable. One may observe that, at the least, it began a conversation to confront personal and group attitudes that had previously existed unchecked.

Reorganization Attempts
In May 2009 we began to discuss ways of strengthening WRR, including a formalized decision process, dues and membership structures, and group positions. Most of this was ratified through our existing consensus process by late summer and early fall, though it should be noted that even with that approval many aspects of these procedures lacked clarity or consistent follow through.

Decreasing Numbers
Similar to countless other college towns, Iowa City has a high turnover rate of residents. Many people come here to attend the university for 2, 4 or 6 years. Others move here for the culture, employment or its perceived welcoming atmosphere towards LGBTQ folk.

Every radical group here, whether it was SDS,¹⁶ISO¹⁷, or WRR has to deal with people leaving. Where once there had been 10-15 people regularly attending our biweekly meetings, they started to decline to 5-8.

Midwest Joint Work
During the Revolutionary Work in Our Times¹⁸ conference, a side meeting, outside the conference, was suggested by a few Midwestern anarchist/anti-authoritarian organizations and we received an invitation. As a synthesis group, where the other groups invited were not, we heard several fair critiques of WRR structure and activity and we came back with a better perspective of what we wanted for our direction.

David Irving Disruption
In October of 2009, anarchists and radicals in Iowa learned that David Irving, a much discredited “historian” specializing in speaking to fascist and white power groups about his theories on the Holocaust and glorification of the German National Socialists, was planning an event in Des Moines. We linked up with allies and friends in Des Moines, and others from Iowa City, and disrupted his sparsely attended speaking engagement.¹⁹

The End of WRR
The group was down to a few people and tried to balance what we were with where we seemed to be heading. That is, a group with public, open meetings and a synthesis of radical left ideologies to one with closed meetings, and organized as a membership-based, specific anarchist group.²⁰ This created awkward moments, like having internal education portions of the meeting with people that had just walked into our public meetings, resulting in Anarchism 101 for one or two people.

Some of us finally pushed for having closed meetings and no new members until we came up with what we wanted to do. Over a few months we created and passed a constitution, revising and clarifying the dues structure, and creating new membership requirements, rotating positions of responsibility, and a statement of purpose & principles. Finally, we dropped the Rebellion part of our name and replaced it with Collective, in order to indicate that we were a different organization. We still exist one year later, far more stable and still involved in doing work in our area.

Re-emergence in the Media (Late 2010)
Around the time it was discovered that Jason Munford was a paid informant, a prominent former student antiwar activist filed Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, requests with the FBI. Separately, a WRR member did likewise. Nearly two years later, over a thousand pages were received on various, mostly anarchist centered activity in Iowa from 2003-2008, and nearly 350 pages was solely on Wild Rose Rebellion.

While the information detailed in the FOIA was not particularly new or shocking, it did reveal the depth of surveillance which many of us were subjected to, and local law enforcement’s role in working with federal agents (something previously denied by the City Council of Iowa City).

Despite not having consent from any former WRR members, the former student antiwar activist released the FOIA pages to the media and made himself available for interviews with anyone who was interested. In this exposure, he calls the FBI ‘unamerican’, appeals to the founding fathers, advocates non-violent civil disobedience as the solution and pushes various liberal causes such as single-payer health care, among other things.

The writers of this piece strongly disagree with this former student antiwar activist’s behavior and views. Whether intended or not, he has gone ahead with things under his own agenda, despite his limited role in the activities described and has acted as an unofficial spokesperson for a now defunct group. Although people involved in WRR had many different outlooks and tendencies, pacifist liberalism was not one of them and he does not speak for anyone but himself. Some of us were compelled to write our own editorial to more accurately reflect what took place and the positions of those of us who were under federal surveillance. ²¹

With that said, the release of the FOIA received a large amount of coverage in Iowa, appearing on the front page of most of the major newspapers, with follow-ups and editorials addressing the information in most of them in the following weeks.

Summary/Conclusions
Nearly a year has passed since WRR ended and we’ve had this time to reflect on our experience. When finally committed to paper, it seems that we did quite a lot for what we were. We existed as a place for anarchists, anti-authoritarians and those who sympathized to get together and take on projects. For some of us, the first meeting we attended was also the first time we ever met other anarchists, or even people who described their politics as radical.

Very few experiences are all ‘bad’ or all ‘good’, and our experience with WRR was no different. There were a number of positive and negative outcomes from what we did, and both can and should be learned from. Some of them have to do with gaining knowledge and skills about what to do and what not to do.

The experience and know-how we gained on things such as dealing with repression and infiltration were invaluable. Although not perfect, we tried to handle it the best we could, making sure those directly affected had the most say in any decision that pertained to the situation. Unlike other groups or ‘radical communities’, the FBI informant fiasco didn’t have a destructive, paranoid impact on us or what we did. The negative aspects that did or still affect people, such as psychological fear or emotional pain, are by no means unimportant, but probably incredibly difficult to address at the time (or even now).

Being able to put on and organize events, speaking panels, May Day celebrations, protests, fundraisers and carpools sanely, efficiently and painlessly is notable. These are vital, but sometimes, overlooked skills and we gained them through our involvement in WRR.

Through our experience with the Prairie Fire gatherings, we learned that self-identifying as anarchist isn’t enough to form the basis for actual work, much less being in the same organization, group or network. Anarchist is almost as broad of a word as leftist and can describe multiple, even contradictory and conflicting, outlooks. While this does not mean we can’t support each other or even come together on work that makes sense, it is pointless to try and force false unity.

Generally speaking, we were like a thousand other anarchist groups that have popped up over who knows how many years. We were inexperienced with no one to help guide us or even give us constructive criticism or advice. For the most part, anarchism in the United States is not an inter-generational thing. The people who tried and failed using the exact same tactics and forms of organization and doing the same projects aren’t around to let you know. The feeling that you’re doing something new is ever present, when actually it is far from true. This is something that feeds into itself. Older and experienced people drop out because what anarchists are doing is irrelevant to their lives. Anarchists, in turn, continue to be irrelevant and fail to learn because the older militants aren’t around.

Doing things just to do them is an undesirable ideology in itself. While it may feel good to fashion yourself as if you’re part of an ‘action faction’, the continuous replication of one-off events with vague or little purpose or strategy leads to burn-out and disillusionment. Just because you have a flurry of activity going on does not mean that activity is contributing more than what a small handful of projects or campaigns that are slower to create and build up would. This is partially due to the mindset and expectations of being an ‘activist,’ as in the emphasis placed on the mobilization of people or spreading awareness through various public events. Left out of this are the day-to-day struggles, personal relationships and a critical look at the sustainability of your activity. Quality is often better than quantity.

And lastly, while some of us were involved in wider groups (such as the UIAC) or emerging movements (around the John Deng tragedy), this was mostly done in individual capacity. This was a mistake. While the writers of this piece do not believe we should have been some sort of Trotskyist or Maoist entryist caricature, simply coming to an agreement that we would combat efforts at recuperation, while advocating for directly democratic decision making and pushing for more radical solutions would have possibly made a difference in many cases.

All in all, we gained experience and skills, while making many errors and mistakes. But in the end, some of us were able to learn from them and make an attempt to correct them. Hopefully this piece helps others avoid reproducing what we went through, and instead assists them in building from it, whether it is the group just emerging in a Midwestern small town currently or the one emerging 10 years from now.

Footnotes

¹One of the more interesting aspects of the UIAC was that, although it was a university registered and funded student group, it was founded by a majority of faculty and non-student members, and always had a mixture of these two groups and students. This is outside our scope, but it would be interesting to take a serious look at how the demographics played into group dynamics, decisions and direction, as they seemed irregular when compared to the wider, now almost defunct, movement.

²Included was a shop owned by a known sex offender, Ray “Stingray” Parrish, and many within and outside of the infoshop collective described the environment of the Hall Mall as unsafe.

³These were Cornell College in Mt Vernon, and Worley’s in Cedar Rapids, respectively.

⁴The Caucus of the Future was a “counter-caucus” event in Des Moines, held on the same weekend as the Iowa Caucuses. It had a wide range of workshops dealing with topics such as the anti-globalization movement, Know Your Rights trainings, permaculture and the animal liberation movement, among others.

Some of those in the process of forming WRR attended. The original website is down, but this blog has a reposting of the description:http://iowastuff.tribe.net/thread/d46a4280-6cca-4a72-8256-1ef5cd01e668

⁵A video of his talk being disrupted can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr1u12hEex0

⁶Photos from the demonstration can be found at http://iowaindependent.com/2935/photos-postville-immigration-rally

⁷North Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists. See: http://www.nefac.net/

⁸http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20081106172951770

⁹The original statement, along with pictures can be found at http://twincities.indymedia.org/2008/dec/fbi-informant-outed-iowa

¹⁰http://poetryscream.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/poetry-scream-2-a-total-scream/

¹¹The communique can be found at: http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/5812

¹²2009 May Day Organizing Committee website: http://www.maydayic.wordpress.com

¹³We, unfortunately, made few, if any links with the Latino or immigrant community. Partially because few of us were around or from that community in Iowa City, but other reasons voiced were because many of the immigration groups from 2006 no longer existed or were lying low in an election year (encouraging their members or constituents to do the same.)

¹⁴RNC 8 were individuals mostly involved in the RNC-WC that were arrested on conspiracy charges with a terrorism enhancement for their role. See: http://www.rnc8.org

¹⁵For a short summary of the situation, see: http://www.dailyiowan.com/2009/09/30/Opinions/13227.html

¹⁶Back in the 60′s and 70′s, Students For a Democratic Society had numerous chapters in Iowa, its most well known probably in Iowa City.

¹⁷The International Socialist Organizations used to be nearly 50 strong in Iowa City around 2003-2004. Although a chapter still exists, it only recently reformed with a small number after some years of non-existence.

¹⁸The RWIOT conference was started as and exists partially as a regroupment and refoundation effort between various socialist groups. The politics of the groups who put the conference on could be described as Trotskyist, social democratic or ‘soft-Maoism’, although some of the groups have former anarchists (Love & Rage) as members. There is heavy attendance from those in progressive non-profits.

¹⁹A communique was written and circulated which can be found here: http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20091013193604966

²⁰Specific Anarchist Group’ is used here to mean an organization that has come to conclusions similar to the Platformists, Especifists and dual organization syndicalists. It’s a blanket term to include all three.

²¹Some former WRR members wrote an editorial that can be found at http://www.dailyiowan.com/2010/09/27/Opinions/19020.html

-Along with other Iowa City individuals that we’ve worked with in the past, trying to start up a ‘solidarity network’ in the model of the Seattle Solidarity Network, that would take on bosses and landlords.

-Participated in the July 31 Day of Action Against Fascism and Racism with members of Four Star Anarchist Organization in Chicago, attempting to bring attention to an incident where a man was strangled to death at a CVS over some toothpaste and crayons.

-Attended the third Class Struggle Anarchist Conference, held in Seattle, which is a conference for pro-formal organization anarchists, holding workshops and discussions for the purpose of determinng our work and learning from others.

-Participated in the October 7th Day of Action for Public Education in Cedar Rapids rally and gubernatorial debate protest with CR’s Socialist Action.

Other than that, we have regular ‘internal education’ sections of our meetings, where a member suggests a article or piece for us to read and discuss. A list (with links) of these can be found on our website under ‘Reading’.  We also plan on writing about more localized issues, because we feel there is a lack of radical analysis in not only Iowa City, but the state of Iowa as well.

In December of 2004 a warehouse I was working in through a temp agency was taken over by the company whose products were stored there. Everyone had to reapply for their jobs and due to my previous experience and the fact that two ‘leads’ recommended me to the company, I was hired on.

The warehouse was located in Peosta, a small Iowan town with a population of 1,200 and considered an exurb of Dubuque. Other than some subdivisions, two bars, a couple of gas stations and a small community college the majority of the town was comprised of the industrial park.

The industrial park contained a number of different large warehouses and factories run by companies doing everything from power washer manufacturing to plastic molding. I would estimate that around 2,000 people worked in the park, most from Dubuque or various small towns in the area.

I worked in the building that served as a distribution center for a Wisconsin based mail order catalog business. Around 80-90 people worked there, split into two shifts. We would get containers from China, Vietnam, India or Portugal, unload the product and store them away. When the call centers in Missouri and Wisconsin received orders, we would eventually get lists, pick the orders and ship them through various parcel delivery companies in trailers.

Although I started as part of the container unloading crew that unloaded everything by hand and stacked them on pallets, I was quickly made a forklift driver and was tasked with putting away these pallets from the staging area to the racking and floor locations. This could be extremely fast paced depending on how many containers were scheduled, and I would sometimes make a deal with the unloaders (unknown to their leads or our supervisors) to slow down so I wasn’t overwhelmed.

As all of us were new hires, there was a period, a kind of honeymoon with the company. There was much talk about the supposed benefits and raises we would qualify for eventually and we were waiting to see if this was all talk or something more.

Eventually, after the higher-ups from Wisconsin left and the new energy characteristic of a freshly opened division dissipated, this honeymoon ended. Workloads increased, disrespect from leads and supervisors become more common and heavy emphasis on a strict program of safety was utilized more as a tool for constant punishment and scolding than any actual reason. Of course, when these elaborate safety procedures got in the way of increasing the workload, they were quickly pushed aside by most of the leads and management.

Soon, sneaking out for extended breaks, coordinated theft and offhand remarks about ‘starting a union’ started emerging. Many of the workers above the age of 35 had been in the UFCW at the ‘the pack’, a slaughterhouse that existed in Dubuque from 1891 until 2001. In fact, Dubuque used to be known as a union town with a large manufacturing base, so these sentiments, in my time working in the area, are common.

These sentiments, combined with the frustration that we received no benefits, no vacation, no paid days off, no holiday pay, no bonus, one 10¢ raise a year (if we met performance requirements), forced overtime and eventually, incentive pay (quotas) led me to start contacting unions.

My personal preference was the IWW. Unfortunately, despite my membership, at that point I had never laid eyes upon another Wobbly. Anarchists, communists and radicals were people that lived in major metropolitan areas and college towns, not in the mid sized and small towns of my corner of the midwest. This is still true to a large extent.

The Laborers, UAW and UE all referred me to the Teamsters, who I had purposefully avoided calling because of my impression (from A Troublemaker’s Handbook) of them being an undemocratic union.

I called the Teamsters and they explained to me the process. They wanted 10-15 people before they would even meet with us. After I got 10-15 people to an initial meeting, we would attempt to get 75% of the workforce to sign union cards, declaring their intention and approval to join the Teamsters. This would lead to the company requesting a National Labor Relations Board election, which could happen in 6 months and required 50% + 1 to win.

Very little advice was given. I was expected to embark on this effort with no experience and no guidance. So I made it up as I went along.

I thought that an anonymous campaign of ridiculing management through stickers and graffiti throughout the building would contribute to the atmosphere of anger and frustration at the company and would result in an increased potential for organizing. So with a book of stickers, I started posting them up in various places. The other workers genuinely thought they were great and it became sort of an Easter egg hunt for some of them. Management was not pleased and at a weekly assembly meeting, presented samples of the stickers and threatened termination if they found out who it was.

That was humorous, but I still had not yet talked to anyone about organizing a union. It was obvious to me that I needed to find a core group of people that were liked and respected, but who should it be? The guys that were in the unions at ‘the pack’, Flexsteel (furniture manufacturing plant in Dubuque) and John Deere? Or the folks that I was close to and was already doing informal slow-downs and such with?

I decided on the latter and the first person I spoke with it about was enthusiastic. We met at his house in the very small town of St. Donatus, where we made up a list of other workers we thought would be interested and supportive. This list exceeded the 15 the Teamsters wanted and the next week we went about our effort.

The almost 20 people we briefly and carefully talked to at work had a range of reactions. A few were excited and gung-ho, most were supportive but cautious and the rest were either visibly frightened or apparently suspicious. We set up a meeting at a bar at the end of the week, and only 5 people showed.

We decided that we still wanted to meet up with the Teamsters regardless of our low numbers, and despite audible disappointment in his voice when I called, the ‘organizer’ agreed.

Me and 4 of my co-workers met with the ‘organizer’ at their office on what I remember as a frigid day. The ‘organizer’ himself was no warmer than the weather. His appearance and attitude stunk of old union bureaucrat. Slicked backed hair, gold chain down to his exposed chest hair, pinky ring, and anti-Teamsters For A Democratic Union stuff on his wall. I did not trust him and imagined possible battles with his ilk to come.

He explained the standard process for gaining union recognition and representation. The 75% of workers signing a union card, the employer’s reaction and offensive, the NLRB election, and the 50% plus 1 majority needed for victory. One thing that sticks out is that when talking about the Teamsters ties to the Mafia back in the day, he stated, “Look, we won’t apologize for our past.”

At the end of the meeting, he said we needed to come back with 15-20 folks and then we could talk again. My co-workers and I discussed amongst ourselves who was comfortable approaching others who could be sympathetic. It was decided that me and another guy about my age would take this on.

Over the next month or so we both attempted to build our core group up to 15, but had problems. Every time we got to that number and then scheduled a meeting, 6-7 folks would say something came up. This occurred 3 times, if I remember right.

Eventually, we decided to give up for a while. The Teamsters didn’t seem interested unless we had 15 people, and we could only get 9-10 to a second meeting that never happened. In addition, the organizer was difficult to stay in contact with, sometimes not returning my call for 3-4 days.

In addition to this, I and another Latino worker were in conflict with one particular guy who didn’t hesitate to fling racial slurs and other objectionable rhetoric. Management knew about him, and despite numerous people filing complaints, no action was taken.

In retrospect, there was also a lot of things going on in my personal life. Basically I felt completely hopeless. I had little of what I now recognize as a support system. I felt extremely isolated and unsure of what I was doing. All of this surely affected my ability to contribute to this union drive.

Despite all this, there was still hope that we could slowly build our numbers up. I was becoming more familiar with the IWW and minority unionism. But a series of incidents between us 2 Latinos and a racist co-worker, my own personal issues and a feeling that I was being provoked, watched and retaliated against by management, led to me simply walking out on the job. The next day, I gathered my humble belongings and moved an hour and a half away.

As far as I know, the effort ended there.

In retrospect, I learned a lot from this experience. It revealed to me that

1) Just because something is a union, doesn’t mean they are interested in aiding workers in struggle. Many unions or locals of unions consist of aged and comfortable bureaucrats. Us workers have opposing interests to these people

2) Alternatives to the NLRB election model exist. In fact, they are preferential. Whether we win or lose, it should be on us and our direct action.

3) Don’t wait until you can’t nearly stand a job to start organizing. A clear head does wonders for good tactical and strategic decision making.

4) If you ever are in a situation where others can benefit from your advice, help or solidarity, do not hesitate. Every isolated and sympathetic person is someone with unimaginable potential. I avoided becoming too disillusioned and am now a member of two anarchist political organizations and still a Wobbly. I eventually continued and gained experience, knowledge and perspective. What about others? What happens to them?

Back in March, we hosted members of the Starbucks Workers Union on their midwest tour. Here is their account of the trip.

On March 19, a delegation of IWW Starbucks baristas from the Twin Cities crammed themselves into one worker’s 3-cylinder Geo Metro and set off on a journey to bring the good word of solidarity unionism to baristas and workers across the lower midwest. Four days later, we returned to the Twin Cities after covering over 1,700 miles, talking to dozens of Starbucks workers about the union, and speaking to enthusiastic audiences in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Iowa City about our efforts to win decent wages, consistent scheduling, and other basic demands through workplace organizing at the world’s largest coffee chain.

Our first stop was KKFI, a community radio station in Kansas City, where the Heartland Labor Forum radio show was kind enough to interview us about our organizing experiences on their show. We then made our way to the Westport Coffee House, where we held a discussion with interested community members about the issues at Starbucks, and the possibility of building a new labor movement from the ground up. We discovered that, just as in every other American city, the Kansas City working class is under attack. The Kansas City School Board recently decided to close an enormous number of schools and lay off many teachers, unionized in the American Federation of Teachers. We extend our solidarity to them and hope that workers and students can unite in defense of quality public education.

The next day, we hit the road for St. Louis, site of the first general strike in US history in 1877, as well as a giant arch, and the worker-owned and democratically-operated Black Bear Bakery. The Autonomy Alliance and local IWW members sponsored a public event at the bakery, providing us with an opportunity to share the story of our union campaign with local labor activists and workers.

After a brief night’s sleep, we were off across the cornfields of Iowa, heading to Iowa City to speak at an event organized by IWW members and the Wild Rose Collective. We met many workers at the event, some with decades of experience in the struggle, others just starting out, and and discussed the possibility of stronger regional support for workplace organizing across the midwest.

Thanks to the generosity of our hosts and audience members in the cities we visited, we were able to cover almost all of our gas costs and always had a place to stay in each town we visited. Working class solidarity is alive and well in the Midwest. Because of this, even a grassroots organization of low-wage retail workers like the IWW Starbucks Workers Union can pose a threat to one of the largest corporations in the world. We find inspiration in this fact, especially after seeing first hand the devastation that the capitalist class has wrought on cities across our region in the last 30 years of deindustrialization, plus the last two years of recession.

We plan to continue visiting workers in other cities across the midwest in the coming months, hopefully laying part of the foundation of a new working class movement for control over our lives and communities across the region.

From iww.org

On May 1, 2010, around 20 people came to hear Paul Street, Dan Knutson and Carlos Rich talk at our ‘Workers in Rebellion’ event. Here’s the audio (in mp3 format).

Audio (Limelinx)

May Day has been a significant date for many working people worldwide since the late 19^th century. From the battles over the 8-hour day to the general strike, walkouts and rallies of 2006, workers have utilized May 1 to gather with each other and assert their rights.

This May Day, Wild Rose Collective will be hosting a speaking event featuring the following speakers and topics.

• Paul Street is a journalist, author, historian, political commentator and Iowa City resident. Paul will be speaking about about class power and real reforms vs. illusory ones.

• Dan Knutson is a member of Wild Rose Collective and will discuss building social movements that can win.

• Carlos Rich is an organizer for the Center For New Community and will talk about workplace organizing along the food production line.

This event will take place Saturday May 1, 2010 at the Iowa City Public Library (Room A) starting at 3:00 PM.

Wild Rose Collective is an anarchist organization based out of Iowa City, Iowa. We are a small group of folks who have been involved in various projects in the immediate area for the last 3 years or so. One of those projects was Wild Rose Rebellion, which was the previous, more loose and informal incarnation of WRC.

Our change in name and direction reflects a long held desire for sustainable and effective work that is based on coherent long-term goals and strategy. Through experience, relationships with other midwestern anarchist groups and influences from especifismo and platformist currents, we have come to the conclusions that are expressed in our new constitution, purpose and principles.

While most of us are fairly new to the above-mentioned type of organizing, some of the areas we’d like to focus on include workplace agitation and immigration issues, although we are not limited in our scope. Also, being in Iowa makes us isolated, which is why we are putting out this announcement. We hope to continue working with those we have in the past, while building new relationships.

If you are in the wider region and are interested in getting involved or staying informed of projects and events, please contact us.

In Solidarity,
Wild Rose Collective

wildrosecollective[at]gmail.com

http://www.wildrosecollective.org