Issue 3 of Notes from Below, The Worker and The Union, asks how working class self-organisation is changing today. In the context of the long decline of trade union membership and strike action since the 1980s, this issue investigates the possibility of a rank-and-file revival. What we are interested in here, in class composition terms, is the leap from technical and social recomposition to political recomposition Without such a leap, socialism will remain an abstract utopia in an concretely dystopian world. So, socialist strategy necessitates a serious and clear-headed approach to the issue of recomposition. How likely does it seem? What are its initial outlines? What can we do to to push it forwards? To this end, we are very pleased to present Issue 3 of Notes from Below, The Worker and The Union.

See the editorial for an overview of articles in the issue.

August, 2018

theory

The Worker and the Union: Issue 3 Editorial
by The Editors / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Platform Capitalism

A Union at Amazon?
by Marvin Harvey / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: UCU pension strike / Higher Education

Looking Back in Anger: the UCU strikes
by Jamie Woodcock, Sai Englert / Aug. 30, 2018

inquiry :: Platform Capitalism

Amazon Is the New FIAT
by Alessandro Delfanti / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Platform Capitalism

“Without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn”: The IWW Couriers Network
by Chris Fear / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Platform Capitalism

The Workers Will See You Now: Organising with the IWGB
by Jim Benfield / Aug. 16, 2018

bulletins :: Platform Capitalism

Rebel Roo Bulletin
by Rebel Roo / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Housing

Taking What’s Ours: an ACORN Inquiry
by Callum Cant / Aug. 16, 2018

bulletins :: Housing

ACORN on the Doorstep: a collection of renters' bulletins
Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Housing

Chicken or Egg, Political Education and Working-class Power
by Rohan Kon / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Housing

Territorial Inquiry: Living Rent public walk in Partick and Whiteinch
by Living Rent / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Housing

Housing Maintenance Workers: Organising to Win
by Bill Nugent, Imogen Woods, Ian Allinson / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Manufacturing / International

No Union, No Problem: Anatomy of a Vietnamese Wildcat
by Joe Buckley / Aug. 16, 2018

history :: International

Factories, Fields and Firearms: A Brief History of the CNT with Chris Ealham
by Chris Ealham, Jessica Thorne / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: International

The Travails of Organising an Alternative Union in Ireland
by Paul Stewart, Tommy McKearney, Brian Garvey / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Hospitality

Camaraderie, Affective Labour and the Union: A Hospitality Workers' Inquiry
by Joe Kearsey / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Hospitality

Brand Damage: Better Than Zero and the Conditions of Company Fear
by Cailean Gallagher, Sarah Collins / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Transport

Troublemakers or Insurance Sellers? The Role of RMT on the Underground
by Daniel Randall / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Tech Industry

Prospects for Organising the Videogames Industry: Interview with Game Workers Unite UK
by Jamie Woodcock, Declan / Aug. 16, 2018

theory

Breaking the Chain: Building Worker Power under Monopoly Capitalism
by Hettie O’Brien / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Supermarkets

Human Shields and Supermarket Managers
by Max O’Donnell Savage / Aug. 16, 2018

theory :: Platform Capitalism

An introduction to Wobbly: an app for 21st century workers’ power.
by John Evans / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry

Working-class internationalism and the aid worker
by Navid Somani / Aug. 16, 2018

inquiry :: Higher Education

Anti-casualisation in practice: a podcast on the Fractional For Fair Play campaign at SOAS
by Sai Englert, Carrie Benjamin, Nithya Natarajan / Aug. 16, 2018

bulletins :: Higher Education

The making of The University Worker: a podcast on rank-and-file bulletins and the USS dispute
by Seth Wheeler, Jamie Woodcock, Callum Cant, Lydia Hughes, Jessica Thorne / Aug. 16, 2018