London

On Sunday 1st May members of both North and South London Solfed celebrated Mayday by joining the anarchist contingent at Clerkenwell Green. Turn out was average, and we did not see the expected sea of red and black flags, yet a healthy crowd still gathered to listen to some rabble rousing speakers on an open mic.

After waiting at Clerkenwell for a few hours and distroing plenty of Catalysts we grouped together and joined the march down to Trafalgar Square, the anarchist bloc marching next to the Latin American Workers Association. We stayed in Trafalgar square a while, relaxing in the sun with a banner and chatting to UK UnCut activists occupying the square but after an hour or so we all swiftly retired to the pub.

In the late 1990s, plans to outsource track maintenance on the London Underground were being pushed through by the government. Workers at one depot responded by forming a new workplace group, both inside and outside the existing union, the RMT. This pamphlet charts the highs and lows of the Workmates collective, highlighting their successes and failures, their radically democratic organising method and their creative forms of direct action. We hope it can provide an inspiration to other workers frustrated with the limits of the existing workplace organisations.

A copy of the pamphlet costs £2 including postage and packaging (to UK, please get in touch for international or bulk orders).

With all the media-driven excitement about the upcoming royal wedding, there's been a lot of speculation about 'what the anarchists will be doing' that weekend. To their credit, we've even been contacted by numerous journalists seeking information on what the Solidarity Federation, as one of the largest anarchist groups in the UK, is planning. The answer to that question is that we're not planning anything. Our feelings on the matter are those of indifference. Of course, in a rational society there'd be no hereditary privilege and, in fact, there would be no inequality at all. However, at this moment in history, it's capitalism, not feudalism, that is ruining the lives of working people.

Fears are growing for the 72 immigrant workers detained by the UK  Border Agency  (UKBA) at Guy and St Thomas’ Hospital, London in Februrary.  Very  little is known of the whereabouts of the 72 disappeared, who had been contracted to work as ancillary staff in the hospital by Reed temp agency. 

The only definitive update to emerge since the raid is that three of them have pleaded guilty to ‘fraud’, a charge levied against  them for collecting their ‘illegal’ wages from the hospital (as if  cleaning toilets for minimum wage wasn’t bad enough).