The alliance - a counter to crabs in a bucket

Imagine a bucket filled with crabs. They're all in a shit situation. Probably going to be boiled alive in the near future. Fortunately, the crabs are fully capable of pulling together to rescue each other. Unfortunately, they never do this. Instead, the crabs will drag each other down towards the the bottom of the bucket if it looks like there's a chance of escape. This is referred to as "crab mentality" and I'm sure we're all familiar with it.

Few things irritate me like the arseholes who complain about other people taking the initiative to improve their communities and workplaces, simply because they are not prepared to put in the work to get the same gains for themselves. The classic example is usually during a public sector strike, those working for the private sector lashing out at striking workers because their own working conditions are so poor.

This is by no means the only time this happens though and I think part of the reason for it happening is down to the divisions and accepted hierarchy, within the working class.

Our class is not one organisation, or culture, or party, or race, or whatever. We're a very broad front of people from a mix of backgrounds and beliefs and we share one thing in common - we're getting shafted by the rich. The problem is, instead of uniting against the common enemy, we're far more interested in taking out our frustration on our fellow workers. How is this justified? Well, by making the mistake of thinking that the other people in the same shitty situation, are too different to us.

What's wrong with different? Is different making bringing redundancies, shutting schools, selling off your only source of healthcare? Is different evicting us from our homes, or locking us up if we complain? No. Everyone, who is struggling right now can point the finger squarely at the rich who continue to reap the benefits of their abuse.

So, do we need to all be the same to unite against our common enemy? No! I am not proposing a mono-culture. I'm not even sure if I'm proposing multiculturalism. What I am proposing is an alliance.

Home-owners are getting screwed by the rich, but so are travellers. The travellers don't need to get houses, or the home-owners jumping into caravans to unite. They just need to do it and help each other fight each other's battles. Goths don't need to put on Burbery baseball caps to accept that they have common battles in their workplaces as more mainstream urban youth. Office workers do not have to live on £65 a week to see the benefit in supporting the struggles of claimants. What is important is that we fight together, or at the very least, stop sabotaging our fellow workers.

Can this be done with a party? I seriously doubt it. If anything, parties and groups are divisive to our class. Without even touching on sectarianism that is inherent in party politics, the fact of the matter is that one party's method of organisation, or focus, may appeal to some, but never all. Our diversity as a class cannot be boxed into the monoculture of a single party.

Is a popular front the answer? I doubt that as well. Anarchists learn their lessons from history well. During the 1930's in Spain, the idea of a broad spectrum of groups ranging from centralists to communist parties and even anarchists in government led to infighting and inefficiency, that crippled the government and paved the way for Franco to begin his coup. The issue seemed to be that the actions of the factions within the popular front were prone to veto by other factions, creating a circle of sectarianism. Some of the best examples of resistance to the fascist coup came from people taking it upon themselves to rule and arm themselves without waiting the weeks it took for permission from the popular front to filter through.

My thoughts on the way forwards seems to be more of an extremely loose knit federation of organisations and individuals from various backgrounds and interests. It would not be necessary for everyone to support each cause that somebody from the federation makes, but, so long as it does not harm our own people, we should not attempt to veto or sabotage it. Where we can, we support the causes of our comrades, but voting is not required from the whole organisation to approve an action. In the meantime we accept that all those who fight for their class are equals, whether they are a benefits claimant, or a union secretary.

For such a broad front, we need only one clause in our constitution: We will not attack each other!

Even in a post-capitalist world, this form of federal organising allows for us to live in our own unique ways, while reaping the benefits of diversity and countering sectarianism as well as the tyranny of the majority.

The main importance is that we, as a class, start to accept that ALL members of our class are our brother and sisters, not just the ones who fit into our own specific culture. No more can we stab each other in the backs. To make the point clear, I am saying that anyone who does not attack their fellow workers is my comrade and those who do attack their fellow workers is my enemy. I don't need people to wave a red and black flag to be my brother, or sister, I just need them to accept that we have a common enemy.

We must also put aside this idea of certain tactics and strategies being "a waste of time". The decisions made by individuals and organisations are theirs to make. We can either support them, or choose not to, but we cannot write off other people's concerns simply because we do not share them ourselves. If the Trotskyists want to try elect somebody as an MP, I won't agree with them, but I won't stop them either and it doesn't change that they are my comrade - unless they attack their own class, in which case they will be treated as any other enemy, regardless of who they are.

Fighting a campaign is hard work. It's time consuming, there is risk to what little liberty we still have throughout and it will stress you out if you don't pace yourself. We should not be flying off the handle to make enemies of our fellow workers so lightly. Our effort would be far better directed towards the root cause of all our problems - the rich.

You're either with your class, you're with the bosses, or you stand alone - weak and vulnerable against both. It's time for everyone to pick their side, because there never was a better time to do it than the present.