Correspondence With ISWoR
9/18/99
ISWoR,
It seems like an excellent response at this time
would be to solicit contributions for progressive
unions in Russia that have members with starving
families. International financial aid would contradict the
fascist theme that the enemies are foreigners, and
simultaneously enable unions to provide basic needs
for themselves-movements that have a vision outside of
the capitalist system.
-Mario
LLE Member
Response from ISWoR:
Dear Mario,
We are in fact discussing right now this question. Up till now we have
only
appealed for specific workers struggles or initiatives, such as the
Yasnogorsk occupation and the Second All-Russia Congress of Strike
Committees
arranged by Samara Stachkom.One pbstacle we have found facing us in
this work
has been the fact that while progressive activists in the west are
willing to
give material aid, the technical problems involved (dealing with
bureaucratic
trade union procedurs in getting resolutions passed, arranging currency
transfer at an economical rate from several countiries etc) often mean
that
by the time the mechanism for a successful financial appeal is in
place, the
struggle/event etc for which we are appealing is over.We have also been
searching for ways in which we can increase the influence of the most
progressive workers organisations. We know for instance, that
ractionary
ideologies such as racism and ultra-nationalism are extremely powerful
now
within the country as a whole. Therefore when we receive an appeal for
aid
from a specific workplace in struggle, sadly it is fully possible that
at
least some of the leadership of that struggle are members of orga
nisatins
openly promoting racial hatred, etc.. We would not refuse to support
that
struggle for this reason, but we would want to channel the aid through
the
most progressive members of that leadership, in order to strengthen
their
hand against the more reactionary ones. And to do this can often be
very
difficult when we are dealing with activists we do not yet know, the
atrocious state of the phone and other communications systems in
Russia, the
language barrier (we have a small team of Russian translators but they
are
overloaded with work) etc etc..
Therefore one option we are now looking at is the idea of a permanent
campaign to raise money for a workers centre which would be run by a
united
front of all the most progressive orgnisations. It would function to
provide
assistance to workers struggles around the country, to relay news of
their
struggle outside, and at the same time it would be a source of
ideological
influence on those struggles itself. We visualise this united front to
include members of many different political currents with a similar
minimum
political platform to our own - commitment to the struggle against
IMF/Yeltsinite exploitation, internationalist outlook, opposition to
racism
and fascism. We would anticipate marxist, anarchist and other
tendencies
involved in such an alliance.
We are now in the process of trying to discover which organisation fit
this
criteria, and have already begun discussing this question with those
that we
know fit it.
You suggested assistance to a trade union. the problem is that it is
only the
union Zaschita, to our knowledge, that regularly organises militant
action,
because
------(letter ends before finished)
sorry-sent you an unfinished letter by mistake. will send you what was
to be
added soon.
Lisa
International Solidarity with Workers in Russia - ISWoR
http://members.aol.com/ISWoR/english/index.html
Editors Note: LLE will publish the rest of this letter once it is sent. -9/20/99