The Edinburgh Class Struggle Day-school aims to be an open coming together of workers, students and the unemployed from different backgrounds and class struggle political tendencies in Edinburgh. It is a meeting place open to all who wish to discuss and debate political questions from radical perspectives in a friendly atmosphere.

Time/date: 20th November 2010. 11:30-18:30

Workers Assemblies, 11:30-12:30

This talk will cover the examples of the use of workers assemblies by CNT-AIT in France (CPE opposition) and Spain (1936, Puerto Real and currently in Madrid), FORA-AIT in Argentina, ASI-MUR in Serbia (student/worker protests) as well as the IWW in the 1920-30s.

Community Organisation, 13:00-14:00

A discussion on the importance of community activism for radicals.

The Syndicalist challenge in the Durham coalfield before 1914, 14:30-15:30

George Dangerfield later famously claimed that ‘the Great General Strike of 1914′ was ‘forestalled by some bullets at Sarajevo’. This talk will examine some of the themes as they related to revolutionary syndicalist activity in the Durham coalfield before the Great War.

German and Dutch communist left, 16:00-17:00

The experience of the revolutionary wave which followed the Russian revolution of 1917 led many workers in Western Europe to reject trade unionism in favour of building workers councils or soviets. In the period 1919-1923 they established mass organisations in Germany and eventually developed a theory of Council Communism. When the revolutionary wave receded, they attempted to understand the defeat. The experience of these organisations and the theory and practice they developed remain important for today.

The Poll Tax, 17:30-18:30

The flowering of neighbourhood-based groups in towns and cities throughout Britain was central to the success of the non-payment movement in making the hated Poll Tax unworkable. The aim of the workshop will be look at how these groups were born and developed, and to see if any lessons can be learnt for today.