About Us

Organise! is a group of working class people, who are fed up with being exploited by the profit system, fed up with seeing our communities torn apart by racism, sexism, nationalism and sectarianism, and sick of a greedy few getting rich off everyone else’s backs. We want to improve everyday conditions for ourselves and other working class people, but we also struggle for the revolutionary transformation that can create a free and equal society, one based on mutual aid and co-operation. Sound crazy?

Maybe it does, but all the alternatives assume the continuation of the present system… and that’s even crazier...The current system isn’t working- stress and overwork affect more and more people while others are flung on the dole; we live in a world of plentiful resources yet millions starve; some people make vast fortunes just because they own companies, land, property or natural resources, but those of us who create the wealth, work the land and build the properties are left struggling to pay for the natural resources; politicians tell us there’s no money - not for wages, benefits or local amenities, but there’s always plenty for war; both locally and globally the gap between the richest and the poorest sections of society has never been so great and for all humanities technological advances we spend more time working than people did 40 years ago; instead of a war on poverty they’ve got a war on ‘benefit fraud’, a war on drugs and a ‘war on terror’ and the same institutions that create war, poverty and environmental destruction stigmatise, imprison and deport the resultant refugees.

We don’t think these things are inevitable or coincidental, we think they are related to capitalism- an economic system defined by wage slavery and the accumulation of profit out of other people’s work. So we support all workers against their bosses in demanding higher wages and better conditions. We try to intervene practically to support workers engaged in disputes and are also active in our own workplaces and communities.

But it’s not just a question of trying to struggle by in a world of exploitation and oppression; we look to a future where workers control production and society in their own interests. And unlike some people who claim to oppose capitalism, we don’t want to be a new set of leaders and we refuse to be led by anyone else.

Who We Are

Organise! has a history which stretches back to the Ballymena and Antrim Anarchist Groups of the early 1980s. Our publication 'Organise! the Voice of Anarcho-Syndicalism' first appeared in 1984, initially a four page bulletin it went on to become a quarterly magazine until ceasing publication in 1998. We currently produce a 16 page quarterly tabloid called 'the Leveller'.

Our attitude to those class struggle anarchists outside our organisation is comradely and co-operative, while we may have differences we seek to work to overcome these where possible and to build stronger links and more effect methods of working together as part of the process of building a broad libertarian movement in Ireland. We will not on the other hand shy away from debate and discussion of differences but attempt to deal with these in an open and comradely fashion.

Most importantly, we seek through our activity and propaganda, through discussion and practical solidarity with our fellow workers to show the relevance of anarchist methods of organising and ultimately the benefits of a future libertarian communist revolution for workers everywhere.

Many members of Organise! are, and have been, active in their own workplaces. When we talk about workers, we don't just mean those in paid employment, we also support and get involved with the struggles of students, the unemployed and domestic workers.

Organise! were involved in the campaign in support of Natalia Szymanska from October 2008. Natalia, a Polish worker who had recently informed her employers that she was pregnant, had been sacked by the managers of a local Subway franchise in Belfast. Organise! were central to the organisation of an international day of action on 4th April 2009 in solidarity with Natalia that saw pickets take place of Subway franchises across Ireland, England, Scotland and the USA.

In April/May 2009, Organise! were involved in the support of the sacked workers at the Visteon Plant in west Belfast. In May/June 2009, Organise! supported sacked traffic wardens in Belfast. The wardens had been sacked by their employer NCP as a result of wildcat industrial action taken by 26 employees. The traffic wardens went on to win their dispute, obtaining either full reinstatement or a choice of a substantial severance package.

In October 2009, members of Organise were involved in both taking-part and providing solidarity to the striking postal workers in Belfast.

We have also been involved in the Fascists Out Campaign, which drove fascists of the streets in Portrush and more recently closed down the Ulster Nationalist Alliance/WNP postal address in Belfast. More recently we members of Organise! have been involved in pickets of the BBC in protest at the decision to invite BNP leader Nick Griffin onto Question Time. We were prominent in building support for Joanne Delaney in 2006, organising pickets of Dunnes stores in Belfast and Derry. Joanne had been sacked for wearing a union badge and the campaign won her reinstatement.

We have supported many groups of workers in disputes from involvement in support for Irish Ferries workers to support for striking postal workers in Belfast and Newtownabbey. Members of Organise! are also involved in the Just Books Collective.

We have been involved in the We Won't Pay Campaign which successfully built opposition to the introduction of water charges across the north on a street by street basis in working class communities. The campaign was, and is, firmly based on mass non-payment and has successfully delayed implementation of this double tax year after year. We have also been involved in anti-war protests.

We develop and maintain contact with similar organisations around the world as we recognise that the struggle against capitalism must be an international one.

"The emancipation of working class shall be the task of workers ourselves."

Previous websites:

http://www.geocities.com/asf_ireland/home.html

Contact us at:
organiseireland@yahoo.ie

Organise!/the Leveller
13-15 Clarence Street
Belfast
BT2 8DY