IWW commemmoration on Anzac Day : Melbourne Indymedia

You might bring food to share, your own leaflet (or copy of leaflet text below) musical instruments your, own soapbox......

Remember 10:30 am, Anzac Day, cnr Lt Bourke and Russell Sts (old IWW hq).

leaflet text:

The Industrial Workers of the World and Conscription

In October 1916 and again in December 1917 the Australian people voted against conscription. In Australia, unlike every other belligerent, there was conscription to the First World War. The credit for this result goes in large part to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) founded in the USA in 1905. The IWW or “wobblies” were militant socialists and Anarchists numbering perhaps 500 in Australia at their peak. They were famous for their songs, their humour and their revolutionary flair. The IWW founded the united-front Anti-Conscription League which carried the anti-conscription campaign until it gained mainstream support. In addition the IWW played a crucial spearhead role. It was they who took the knocks, and the jail terms, as any activity likely to "prejudice recruitment" was a criminal offence and this legislation was freely used against anti-war and anti-conscription activists. And it was the IWW that kept opposition to the war alive in the early days when the war was widely popular. As the militant end of the labour movement the IWW played a big part in mobilizing anti-war and anti-conscription sentiment in the broader labour and union movement The ALP had been the war government but it split over the issue of conscription and it was a coalition government including ex-ALP renegades which took conscription to the people.

The anti-war movement was of course wider than the IWW and the anti-conscription movement wider again. There were pacifists, and there were opponents of the war in the womens’ movement. There were other left groups opposed to the war. The first conscription referendum closely followed brutal suppression by British troops of the Easter Rising in Dublin, this influenced some Irish Catholics and the Catholic Archbishop Mannix was a vocal opponent of conscription. Votes against conscription also came from farmers (because they didn't want to lose their labour supply) and from Australian soldiers who had seen combat...the hostility of fighting soldiers to conscription apart from perhaps tipping the balance in a very close vote was also important in that it denied the pro-conscription crowd what would have been a potent propaganda weapon. Soldiers who had not yet shipped overseas were generally in favour of conscription and were mobilized to attack anti-conscription meetings. Later they changed their minds. When all allowance is made for these special cases the IWW has to be recognized as the glue which held the anti-conscription movement together, tirelessly relating the world war to the everyday class struggle at home. The connection was indeed not hard to make when the government encouraged employers to enforce an “economic draft”; sacking or refusing to hire men eligible for enlistment. There was no social security.

The capitalist press went all out to demonize the IWW to an extent comparable to the present demonization of radical Islam. The "terrorist" tag was also used against the IWW because of their advocacy of sabotage, and they were accused of being agents of the Germans. As well as overtly political charges the criminal courts were more generally used against the IWW at any opportunity. In 1917 in the wake of the first anti-conscription victory it was made a criminal offence to belong to the IWW....the ALP treacherously supported banning the IWW, despite the close association of many ALP members with the IWW in the anti-conscription movement. There was a mass imprisonment of IWW members, among them the legendary Monty Miller who had fought at Eureka and now went to prison at 86. The IWW regrouped, and was active again under its own name by 1921 but the political landscape had changed with the apparent success of the Bolshevik Revolution. The IWW was replaced by the Communist Party and widely declared dead. If dead it has nevertheless stubbornly refused to lie down and IWW groups continue in the USA and Australia and elsewhere.

Main Ref: Ian Turner's "Industrial Labour and Politics in Eastern Australia 1900-1921"

You are obviously baing terribly Un Australian, not to mention Un American! Anzac Day is an Important occasion, victory over the Turks.
SHAME

Tristan, I think you were joking with your post - at least, if you can describe the Gallipoli campaign as a 'victory' over the Turks, I can only HOPE you were joking...

Due to a ' very fast train' taking a friggin' long time to get here I shall be unable to make it this year. Apologies and best wishes and high hopes to see youse next peace day cobra's. Long live the mighty WOBS!

... good to *not* see you rat. you'd make us look like ferals ...

The following things are true :

* That The so called Anzac Spirit is a militaristic tool used to maintain an artificial national indentity

* That this must be challenged

* That the propagandists use Anzac Day to attempt to maintain this false national identity

* That the issue of Anzac day and national identity can be separated as this day of remeberence for people who fought and died in many wars and conflicts is a day to remember the stupidity of war and the sometimes neccessity of it .

* That many taking part in Anzac day , through their own loss and exepiences are totally oppossed to more wars

* That many taking part have fought nazism and fascism and that war against nazism and fascism is just.

* that protesting at Anzac day (as appossed to "Australia day") is counterproductive and will alienate those vets appossed to war.

Therefore , I say , the real issue is this national identity . "Warrior spirit" , as the Japanese PM puts it (Dateline this week), which is what is being projected to the world,this must be replaced with democratic and republican values such as beleif in justice , democracy , peace, education . Without these , the recital of the words "a fair go" mean shit .

Pat Coleman
ex soldier (not a vet)

anzac day, i go fishing on the strand , been there for 3 hours , to windy and
only caught one fish . so i go home, the crowd is too thick down near the tobruk
pool so i get off my bike and walk carrying my fishing rod . As i am walking i
am followed behind by about 3 or 4 cops , i cross the raod when there is about a
2min gap in the march and i hear one say "make sure he leaves".

As if i would target anzac day ,

Pat Coleman
Former Member 1st Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment