Ukrainian, Swedish and Polish syndicalists held a conference in Kyiv
Submitted by Редакция on 15 April, 2014 - 18:19
An international conference “Class struggle and opposition the right-wing radicalism” was held in Kyiv on 12-13 April. The event, which was organized by the Kyiv branch of the Autonomous Workers’ Union, was attended by the secretary general and a representative of the international department of the Central Organisation of Workers of Sweden (SAC), as well as representatives of the National Commission of the Polish syndicate “Working Initiative” (Inicjatywa Pracownicza). A representative of the international initiative gongchao.org, which communicates with working class of China, also made a speech. The open part of the conference was also attended by representatives of other initiatives and independent activists from Ukraine and Belarus. The total turnout was about 40 people.
There were reports on situation of migrant workers in China, working conditions and the class struggle in Poland, syndicalist movement in Sweden, the prospects of workers’ self-organization in Ukraine. In their reports the representatives of various syndicates presented their organizations and shared experience of political work.
The second section was dedicated to right-wing radicalism in Europe and Ukraine. Swedish and Ukrainian comrades described the alarming trends of recent years at the same time noting positive changes: in both countries, the society reacted negatively to the growth of the far-right violence. Anti-fascist work at the enterprises – in addition to open confrontation in the public space, becomes particularly important for the syndicalists the new conditions.
In the closed part of the conference the delegates of SAC and IP described principles of Red and Black Coordination – international network of anarcho-syndicalist organizations. They invited AWU members to the next meeting this autumn. On their part, the AWU pronounced a desire to strengthen inter-organizational communication. Specific decisions regarding international cooperation are to be taken by the organization-wide referendum which the AWU intends to hold this April.