The History of Radical Movements - Essay Example

Radical Movements The purpose of this essay is to examine the impact that radical components have had on political movements, and whether these movements have had any effect in achieving the movements stated aims. Looking at aspects of the civil rights, anti-war, and labor movements, this essay examines what makes political action radical, how effective it is, and is there any correlation between radicalism and effectiveness in social justice campaigns. Radical actions within political traditions such as the civil rights movement can both help and hinder a need for change. Radical divisions often exist on the wings of public political bodies, often acting in ways which seem to undermine the movement that they are allied with. On the other hand, supporters of radical action believe that it is their participation which influences change: this can be clearly seen in the way in which Martin Luther King and Ella Baker reacted to events in Montgomery: His rationale was that after a big demonstration, there was a natural letdown, and a need for people to sort of catch their breath. I didn't quite agree. {Baker, quoted in Payne, chapter 3) Radical movements are essentially grassroots actions, often involving more direct intervention than there more authoritarian allies, and with the nature of this kind of action comes several questions on the nature of leadership and power within radical movements; whether these movements can be organized and planned, or whether they are essentially spontaneous and dependant upon individual participation, and how radical actions are depicted by the media, and then transplanted upon political movement as a whole. These questions will be studied through the perspectives of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the labor and union movements of the 1970's and 80's, and the anti-war/globalization movements of the late 90's and early 2000's. These movements have all been notable for the way in which they involved people from different backgrounds in the same struggle, and both the civil rights movement and the anti-war campaign have seen both traditional political action and radical behaviour under the same ideological banner; by examining all these movements, it is intended to demonstrate how radical action change society, and the movement itself. Civil Rights The civil rights movement of the 1960's had a striking heritage in the campaigns of previous decades, including the radical actions of the 1930's (although the latter was rather taken over by the Communist Party, as in the Scottsboro Affair, due to lack of initiative by the NAACP). However, the previous campaigns had also left a deep split between the idea of strong leadership controlling the action, and the desire for collective control of the movement. The latter movement essentially believed that it was necessary for the oppressed to run their own lives, and this was the best method of obtaining freedom: "Including everyonemeant that the common assumption that poor people had to be led by their social betters was anathema" (Payne, chap 3). The mission of the Highlander Folk School was to teach people to develop themselves, not do their thinking for them. Even in white schools, this was a daring idea; but the real nature of the Highlander was radical civil disobedience. The school broke the segregation laws at the start, having an 'interracial philosophy': Many visitors testified that the experience of egalitarian living in an interracial situation had greater impact on them than the courses and workshops. (Payne, Chap. 3) This radicalisation not only extended to teaching and education, it also enrolled people as voters: a massively important move in the South, where very few black people were registered, and those involved in registering them were shot, injured, and frequently beaten up. The importance of this movement lies in its origins; although the Highlander was one school, it funded grass-roots education systems, until nearly two hundred schools were operating on the Highlander system: They had developed a faith in the ability of communities of the poor to provide much of the leadership for their own struggle. (Payne) Highlander emphasised the need to have people taught by their equals, not superiors; it's approach to politics was clearly bottom-up, as it placed importance upon black people registering to vote, and self-leadership, rather than being directed from above. The teaching style, concentrating upon the student's own experience, combined with the self-leadership to mean that the students were asked "What they wanted to learn", and lessons were prepared around this need. In essence, Charles Payne concludes that those who began the work of Highlander, Horton and Clark, were radical democrats. Interestingly, the teachers at Highlander managed to keep their schools out of the papers for three years (Partly through subterfuge, with the schools having 'grocery store' fronts. Payne reports that, by the time the white papers found out about the schools, the black Islanders no longer cared. (Payne, chap. 3) This movement was effective as it had basic aims - voter registration, education - and was able to educate and provide workshops for future civil-rights leaders in virtual secrecy. Other direct actions, such as the Freedom Rides, encountered a lot more opposition, and maybe essentially failed in their aims, due to the white population being alerted to the actions. On the other hand, these incidents helped to advertise the position of the civil rights movement, and relatively minor groups, such as that which stages the Freedom Rides campaign, gained strength and support through these actions. While these direct actions might seem more radical from a modern perspective, the Highlander system enfranchised a huge number of black working-class people, and helped provide the backbone of support for later civil rights leaders. Labor Movements The labor and union movements of the 1970's and 80's were dependant upon worker actions, particularly when it came to strike breaking. The actions of the builder's labourers' trade unions in New South Wales, beginning in the '70's, were the epitome of a rank-and-file led action which had strong support from the union leaders: Site-based campaigns became commonplace, instigated generally by rank-and-file workers at each workplace, and then supported by the union leadership. (Burgmann and Burgmann, 87) Self-leadership by the individual workers was especially apparent when it came to vigilante actions. These radical acts involved the demolishing of builds by scab workers. "Indicative of a radical solidarity and high degree of membership participation (Burgmann, 90). The union effectively handed over decision for vigilante action to the union membership, and this met with general approval, only a few old-guard union men resisting. Burgmann states that "The daily meetings of vigilantes made decisions that were regarded as policy until the next general meeting." (92) and "Every day they met and formed their methods of action for the day" (92). This is interesting in terms of anarchist ideas of community decision making and action policy. The rank and file here were effectively the leaders of the union, making decisions which were regarded as legitimate, and also holding organized meetings. However, it is not clear whether the action was 'true worker control' (96), or instead simply a method of putting pressure upon the employer. However, a few things emerged, such as the fact that battling together provided solidarity: a lesson which could prove useful when historians consider the long-term impact of the anti-war demonstrations. The other thing which became clear during the workers' campaigns is their vilification by the press. The Sydney papers were full of comments about the violence of vigilante action: "'Building strike, violence goes on'; 'Strike emergency, riot in city'; and 'Riot squad out: $10,000 damage on rampage'". It is important to note that the union was opposed to violence against people, so all these exaggerated reports of violence were from the demolishing of scab-built constructions. The Prime Minister also stated that "lawlessness, rioting and blood shed in the streets"(Both quotes, 93). The negative reports in the media are a continuum of the New York Times' oppression of protestors against the Vietnam War (Gitlin). Media reporting of all civil actions demonstrates a preponderance of negative phrases, associations with violence, and denigrating of the protestors (Herman, Gitlin). In the case of the Australian unions, it is clearly demonstrated that radical action; strike breaking, workers agreeing policy, and pressurising employees to ensure worker safety, was extremely effective in achieving its aims. The only time that there was any failure to gain workers' aims was when the powerful unions stepped in to rig the vote and keep the workers out of the loop (Burgmann, 111-2). The workers were highly organized from within, and they had one clear enemy, which was the employer - they had worker solidarity. In contrast, the divisions in the South African union described by Von Holdt demonstrate that the Highveld Steel unions were operating under different cultural expectations; the migrants believed that unions were meetings of men, as equals, where the townspeople were accustomed to discussing things with their wives. Suspicion and lack of communication lead to union violence and oppression, where "They used coercion to reinforce worker solidarity and to strike at production" (Von Holdt 151). Solidarity was "Not voluntary, but applied to everyone in the community" (156). The contrast between this view and the worker solidarity of Sydney, which was formed through shared experiences, perhaps indicates why the South African union did not work efficiently, and was divided amongst itself. Instead of supporting their workers' policies, the South African union leaders oppressed their members. In the latter case, though the brutality was ritualised and designed to create a community spirit, the violence opened up further rifts. In short, it was not effective. These two examples demonstrate the different methods of radical action in labor unions; the most effective worked because it was a bottom-up operation, and the latter failed because the leaders attempted to force their social models upon the workers. Anti-War Movement A movement which sprang up in response to a direct threat (Governments about to go to war with Iraq), and has now become linked with the most important political action movement in the 90's, the anti-globalization movement, the coalition of anti-war protestors was an ad-hoc alliance of people with many different interests. Some theorists have seen the new anarchist movement as the source of "Most of the creative energy for radical politics"(Graeber, 62). As this author points out, direct action intends to drive past appeals to governments, and instead disrupt institutions and challenge the system through "Mass non-violent civil disobedience"(65). Mass invasions of military bases by peaceful protestors (68) are something which would not have been tolerated in earlier decades. The notion of a coalition of forces which come together for one reason and then separate does imply that there would be a more casual organizational structure than for traditional peace marches and protests. In fact, as anyone who has been on these demonstrations knows, some parts of the protest were organised very tightly: other parts were more shambolic and radical. The coalition forces new ways of organizing; and the libertarian basis of many of the groups involved necessitate a bottom-up method of leadership. The problem with the Anti-war/globalization movement is that it leaves itself open to media attacks. The conservative press has not hesitated to criticize and defame the protest movements: Undercounts of numbers, unfavourable placement, disproportionate attention to counter-protestors and protestor violenceand they rarely attempt to convey the messages and analyses of the protestors (Herman) The principles of the anti-war movement, where opposite forces united for a common cause, could be seen as a map for future direct action campaigns. The leaders were generally put forward by common consent, and they were not traditional politicians. With the anti-globalization movement, the campaigners travelled hundreds of miles in order to protest at the doors of the institutions themselves. Often this involved assistance from fellow campaigners, and grass-roots organization in order to have chains of transport, accommodation and group marching. At the same time, shared experiences provide seasoned protestors with solidarity, the feeling that the Sydney Builders' laborers shared during direct actions. Bottom-up education and information systems, including the new voter registration campaigns, resemble the radical teaching programmes of Highlander school. It remains to be seen whether the anti-war/globalisation campaigns can achieve the same results. These examples demonstrate that radical campaigns are more effective when they originate in bottom-up movements, and leadership is supportive, but not authoritarian. Grass roots motivation keeps the group committed; where it is enforced from above, the solidarity quickly falls apart. Media campaigns may prevent interested people from joining the movement with talk of violence and bloodshed, but they do not seem to affect those already in the groups. The most effective movements remain those where the rank and file are committed to the aims and policies of the group. Bibliography Bergmann, M. and Burgmann, V. Green Bans, Red Union: Enviromental Activism and the New South Wales Builders Labourers' Federation (Sydney, UNSW, 1998) Draper, H. The Two Souls of Socialism International Socialists (1970) Epstein, B Notes on the Antiwar Movement Monthly Review, Vol 55, Number 3 (2003) Freeman, J. The Tyranny of Structurelessness http://jofreeman.com/joreen/tryanny.htm Gitlin, Todd. The Whole World is Watching: Mass Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left (Berkeley, 1980) Graeber, D The New Anarchists New Left Review 13, (2002) Herman, E. The New York Times Versus The Civil Society: Protests, tribunals, labor and militarization and wars. Z Magazine Online (December 2005) Payne, Charles I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle (Berkeley: 1995) Von Holdt, K. Transition from Below, Forging Trade Unionism and Workplace Change in South Africa (University of Natal press, 2003) Read More