If you’re interested in working-class organising efforts, you may well have encountered West London’s dedicated crew, Angry Workers of the World. They’ve compiled the experiences of the last six years of living, working and fighting into a new book coming out in March, Class Power on Zero Hours, which looks like essential reading for anyone who shares their commitment to working-class self-organisation.

“AngryWorkers, a small political collective, have spent six years organising in London’s industrial backyard, mainly in the food manufacturing and logistics sector. This book is about their experiences as they try and find new ways of building class power in tough times. It is essential reading for anyone who is grappling with the question: ‘what next for working class politics and revolutionary strategy?’

From the introduction:

“In January 2014 some AngryWorkers chose to move to a working class neighbourhood on the fringes of west London. We felt an urgent need to break out of the cosmopolitan bubble and root our politics in working class jobs and lives. We wanted to pay more than just lip service to the classic slogan, ‘the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves.’ Over the next six years, comrades joined us and we worked in a dozen different warehouses and factories. We organised slowdowns on shop floors, rocked up on bosses’ and landlords’ doors with our solidarity network, and banged our heads against brick walls as shop stewards in the bigger unions. We wrote up all our experiences in our newspaper, WorkersWildWest, which we gave out to 2,000 local workers at warehouse gates at dawn. We tried to rebuild class power and create a small cell of a revolutionary organisation. This book documents our experiences. It is material for getting rooted. It is a call for an independent working class organisation.”

If you’d like to know more, you can read the full intro to the book here. If you’d like to talk things over with them in person, you may well be in luck, as they’ve got a big tour coming up – current dates are:

*** March 2020

Thursday, 26th March

6:30pm

Bookmarks, 1 Bloomsbury Street, London. WC1B 3QE https://www.facebook.com/events/217147816112001/

Friday, 27th March

6:00pm

MayDay Rooms

88 Fleet St, London. EC4Y 1DH

*** April 2020

Thursday, 2nd April

7.30pm

Cowley Club, Brighton

London Road. BN1 4JA.

Friday, 3rd April

7.30pm

The Four Horsemen Pub, Bournemouth. BH2 5RT

https://www.facebook.com/events/2672442809535477/

Saturday, 4th April

2:00pm to 5:00pm

17-25 Jamaica Street, Stokes Croft, Bristol. BS2 8JP

https://prsc.org.uk/event/class-power-on-zero-hours-book-presentation-by-angryworkers/

Monday, 6th April

Plymouth

Venue TBC

Saturday, 11th April

Liverpool

Venue TBC

Wednesday, 15th April

7pm

Trades Club, Hebden Bridge

Holme St, Hebden Bridge. HX7 8EE

Thursday, 16th April

Tangram Communal Rooms

Harehills, Leeds. LS8 5AD

https://www.facebook.com/events/188670762234774/

Saturday, 18th April

Sheffield

Venue TBC

Sunday, 19th April

Birmingham

Venue TBC

Tuesday, 21st April

Belfast

Venue TBC

Friday, 24th April

Dublin

Venue TBC

Wednesday, 29th April

Glasgow Autonomous Space

53 Kilbirnie St. Glasgow. G5 8JD

*** May 2020

Saturday, 2nd May

Aberdeen

Venue TBC

4th/5th May

Edinburgh

Venue TBC

Wednesday, 6th May

7.30pm

Leicester Secular Hall

75 Humberstone Gate, Leicester. LE1 1WB

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2019/11/01/forthcoming-leicester-acg-meetings/

If your area isn’t on that list, and you’d like it to be, get in touch with them at angryworkersworld@gmail.com and start making plans.