Sierra Leone IWW
According to a letter in the US paper Industrial Worker March 1997,
v. 94, n. 2: there is an IWW
section in Sierra Leon, the letter is below
In May of 1997 there was a military
coup in Sierra Leon which may prove a threat to IWW members there
In the worsening conditions IWW members
went to Guinea
SIERRA LEONE IWW
I am very sorry for not communicating for as very long time. It
was due to the peace process that has been signed now by the
government forces and the rebels to end the four years senseless
killings in Sierra Leone. Since there is absolute peace now all the
provinces are accessible. We are trying to rehabilitate those
displaced by the war. We are starting mining very soon to finance our
activities. I recieved 20 Scottish pounds from the IWW Edinburgh. The
IWW Wales sent books. Bill Runacre wrote us offering to print our
posters...
Please thank all these people very much on our behalf while we
promise to make use of every resources to given us to uplift the
status of the IWW in Sierra Leone...
Due to the level of education of the miners we are finding it
difficult to translate the literatures we received from the IWW Wales
and other material. Our membership increases daily and we hope to
send a representative to this year's conference.
We still remain part of the One Big Union.
Solidarity Bright Chikezi"
IWW Preamble
The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.
There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among
millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing
class, have all the good things of life.
Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers
of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of
production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the
Earth.
We find that the centering of the management of industries into
fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the
ever growing power of the employing class. The trade unions foster a
state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against
another set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping defeat
one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions aid the
employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the
working class have interests in common with their employers.
These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working
class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all
its members in any one industry, or in all industries if necessary,
cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department
thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all.
Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair
day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary
watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."
It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with
capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for
everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production
when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing
industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within
the shell of the old.
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