If you mention France, May 1968 today, you’re probably met with a shrug or a blank look. It’s easy to dismiss the ten million workers and students who went on general strike and the virtual shutdown of the French state …
Search results for: workers councils
More Bombs
by Michael Dover
Fifth Estate # 72, February 6 - 19, 1969
Special to the Fifth Estate ANN ARBOR—A National Guard garage and a business administration building in Kalamazoo, and the state capitol in Lansing were the targets of the latest bombings in Michigan. The Kalamazoo bombings occurred within 20 minutes …
Women’s News Co-op
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 105, May 14-27, 1970
A good cigarette is like a woman—the best ones are thin and rich. If there ever was a time to be a woman, Woman it’s now!
Medical Fund Appeals for Aid
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 30, May 15-31, 1967
The Emergency Medical Fund for Bernard, Garrett & Graham is making a widespread appeal for funds on the first anniversary of the – shooting at Debs Hall, headquarters of the Socialist Workers Party, where Leo Bernard was killed and Jan …
Detroit Seen
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 295, November 3, 1978
As you may have noticed in our staff box this issue, the Fifth Estate is now officially designated as a bimonthly. A reduced staff and the availability of those remaining has dictated this change and will also allow us to …
Falling off the Wagon
by Raccoon Porch, Ruth Opp
Fifth Estate # 367, Winter 2004-2005
The Haymarket Tragedy of 1886 has been remembered by anarchists, workers, labor organizers, and historians as a seminal event in humanity’s ongoing fight for free speech, free assembly, and the abolition of wage slavery. Around the world, major cities have …
Giving the president our piss
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 368-369, Spring-Summer, 2005
This 1986 intervention by the Fifth Estate gang (under the banner of the Eat The Rich Gang, the Workers Revenge Party, and Citizens for Clean Urine) was carried out at an anti-Reagan demonstration at Detroit’s Cobo Arena. At the height …
Hypocrisies of the Left
by Jonny Ball
Fifth Estate # 391, Spring/Summer 2014 - Anarchy!
The hypocrisies of hierarchical political organizations know no bounds. Of this we can be certain. However, we shouldn’t be cajoled into thinking that the political right have a monopoly on contradiction and duplicity.
Cultural Appropriation and Shaming
by Rod Dubey
Fifth Estate # 397, Winter, 2017
On college campuses, in urban squats, at hip city venues, and at anarchist events, one often sees young white people sporting dreadlocks or Mohawk haircuts. However, there has been an increasingly aggressive push-back by those who designate this as cultural …
The “Revolt Against Work” or Fight for the Right to be Lazy
by Charles Reeve
Fifth Estate # 279, December, 1976
During the last year the Fifth Estate has published numerous essays by John Zerzan (and others co-authored with Paula Zerzan) on the decomposition of daily life, the revolt against work, and the police role of unions. The following essay challenges …
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Fight or Walk
by Midwest Unrest
Fifth Estate # 368-369, Spring-Summer, 2005
In September 2004, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) declared January 2, 2005 to be “Doomsday.” Unless the transportation department received $87 million from the state legislature, city bureaucrats threatened that Chicago’s public transit system would be slashed by 20 percent, …
Hail Red Army Nerve Gas!
by David Watson
Fifth Estate # 307, November 19, 1981
In politics nothing can be taken at face value; many times what passes for an elaborately drawn political point of view is little more than a posture which conceals psychopathology. Trotskyism, a stillborn variety of marxism notable for the bizarre …
Poland on the Edge
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 304, December 31, 1980
This article is being written just as the pressure of a Soviet invasion of Poland is being eased and under the assumption that such an attack is not about to occur. Amid an atmosphere of continuing political crisis, growing worker …
Undeterred by jail
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 353, Summer, 1999
San Francisco—When San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown testified against the three homelessness activists who threw pies at him last November, he repeatedly urged the court to make an example of the defendants. (See FE #352, Winter 1999.)
The Collapse in Poland
by Rudy Perkins
Fifth Estate # 309, June 19, 1982
“Winter is yours, Spring is ours!” —Solidarity Painted across a thousand walls in Poland, this promise reminds us that the democratic upsurge there is far from buried. A certain phase of the movement has ended. When the movement reappears its …
What today’s activists can learn from “the father of anarchism”
by Mark Leier
Fifth Estate # 391, Spring/Summer 2014 - Anarchy!
Bakunin is often credited with being the “father of anarchism.” While he rejected the title, he was the first to write extensively, systematically, and explicitly on anarchist principles. These ranged from organization from the bottom up, the rejection of the …
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The Failure of Resource Nationalism in Bolivia
by Mike Wold
Fifth Estate # 404, Summer, 2019
a review of Blood of the Earth: Resource Nationalism, Revolution, and Empire in Bolivia by Kevin A. Young, 2017, University of Texas Press
Songmy
by Liberation News Service
Fifth Estate # 94, December 11-24, 1969
TROUNGAN, South Vietnam (LNS)—The inhabitants of this tiny village tell a story that one British Newspaper described as “The Massacre That Chilled The World”. They are the survivors of Songmy.
Mass Media and the Crests of Human Destruction
by Jim Feast
Fifth Estate # 374, Winter 2007
Cultural theorist Raymond Williams has suggested that the technology for television was available years before it was utilized. It was held back because the conditions for it were not ripe yet.
Anything new in the “Revolt Against Work?”
by Peter Rachleff
Fifth Estate # 280, February 1977
Charles Reeve has raised a number of important questions in his critique of John Zerzan’s “Unions Against Revolution.” [See The “Revolt Against Work” or Fight for the Right to be Lazy (FE 279, December, 1976).] These questions should not be …
The Wobblies
by Jeff Ditz
Fifth Estate # 370, Fall 2005
a review of The Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World, Edited by Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman, Verso, New York, 256pp., $25
Right Wingers Charged in Seattle Shooting
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 399, Fall, 2017
After a three month investigation, a right wing couple was charged in the January 20 shooting and wounding of an anarchist member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The assault took place during a protest against the appearance …
The Forgotten Anarchist Commune in Manchuria
by Francesco Dalessandro
Fifth Estate # 407, Fall, 2020
During World War II the famous Hollywood filmmaker Frank Capra was commissioned by the U.S. Military to make a seven-part documentary film series titled “Why We Fight.” Its purpose was to counter Nazi propaganda films and justify U.S. involvement in …
City Asked to Pay in Socialists’ Shooting
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 14, September 15, 1966
The May 16, 1966, murder of a former Wayne State University student, Leo Bernard, and the near-fatal shooting of two others, was reviewed last week by attorney Ernest Goodman who filed a petition with Detroit Common Council requesting funds for …
Singing about Revolution & One Big Union
by Julie Herrada
Fifth Estate # 375, Spring 2007
reviewed in this article The Big Red Songbook, Archie Green, David Roediger, Franklin Rosemont, Salvatore Salerno, editors; 2007; 538 pp.; $24; Charles H. Kerr Co., 1740 West Greenleaf, Chicago, IL 60626. Available from The Barn (see page 55).
Other Scenes
by John Wilcock
Fifth Estate # 74, March 5-19, 1969
Current rash of skyjacking is nothing new, merely a new outbreak of the age-‘old custom of piracy in the newest uncontrolled medium: the air. Diverting planes to Cuba is kid stuff. Wait until international pirates see the potential for just …
Pandemic Immiseration
by A. Kent MacDougall
Fifth Estate # 352, Winter, 1999
Fifth Estate Note: Some terminology in this brief but potent essay differs somewhat from the language generally used in the FE.
An Anarcho-Crossword Puzzle
by Dave Sands, David Watson, Fran Shor, Julie Herrada, Mike Sabbagh, Peter Werbe
Fifth Estate # 390, Fall, 2013
View or download PDF [57 KB] fe-390-48-anarcho-crossword Hints are displayed below the puzzle. See below for answers and annotations
Left Reacts to Czechs
by Allen Young
Fifth Estate # 62, Sept. 19-Oct. 2, 1968
LONDON, England—Liberation News Service—Europe’s left, new and old, has been brutally unanimous in its criticism of the Soviet military intervention in Czechoslovakia.
Big Mountain Update
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 326, Summer, 1987
Sometimes no news is good news, and that seems to be the case with the folks at Big Mountain. According to Matt Strasberg (of the Big Mountain Legal Defense/Offense Committee), the July 7, 1986 deadline passed quietly. Indian activists, supporters …
Public Safety Fired
by Alice Hartwell
Fifth Estate # The South End insert
The University, still reeling from WSU President David Adamany’s resignation over the Labor Day weekend, received another shock with the announcement that the Public Safety Department has been ordered to disband immediately by acting-WSU President Ria Frijters. The 25-officer force …
’76 French Strike at La Hague
by Michael Lucas
Fifth Estate # 286, September, 1977
From May to October of 1976 the workers of the La Hague nuclear reprocessing plant in France struck following what was euphemistically described as a radical “deterioration of working conditions” as a result of a shift from the reprocessing of …
‘What Have You Got?’
by Art Johnston
Fifth Estate # 18, November 15-30, 1966
Nineteenth century capitalism generated the “true believer” in laissez-faire, and gave rise to a large body of oppressed workers; the condition of which was a contradiction of the justifying principles of capitalism—the “natural rights” of Man.
Strike & Sabotage at Wash. Post
by anon.
Fifth Estate # 267, November, 1975
If the publishing of a sympathetic account of a union struggle seems inconsistent with our perspective, which views unions as auxiliary organs of Capital, let us clarify the matter. As people who have spent our adult lives as wage workers …
Solidarity Is Our Strength
by Dr. Zakk Flash
Fifth Estate # 390, Fall, 2013
The 2013 Moore tornado was an EF5 velocity storm that struck Moore, Oklahoma, and adjacent areas on the afternoon of May 20, 2013, with peak winds estimated at 210 miles per hour, killing 23 people and injuring 377 others.
Infoshop, Gallery, & Mail Order
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 360, Spring, 2003
BOOKSTORE IN A BARN (615) 536-5999 an hour east of Nashville; call, write, or email for directions FifthEstate@pumpkinhollow.net Read more WORDS Dr. Ben Reitman, Sister of the Road: the Autobiography of Boxcar Bertha (2002) $15.00 Dark Star Beneath the Paving …
Anarchists at Korean Peace Conference
by Howard Besser
Fifth Estate # 330, Winter, 1988-89
The Korean Anarchist Federation hosted an international peace conference October 28-31 in Seoul. Approximately two dozen delegates from 15 countries in Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America attended, with all expenses paid for by the Korean comrades. It was a …
The IWW: 100 Years of Resistance and Repression
by Julie Herrada
Fifth Estate # 370, Fall 2005
By the last half of the nineteenth century, working conditions in American factories, mines, and mills were deplorable. Industrialists were ruthless about making money at the expense of the health and safety of the workers. They looked upon their employees …
Read All About It!
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 72, February 6 - 19, 1969
A woman wrote in recently and asked for the addresses of several radical and underground papers. This made us realize that our paper may be the only one of its kind that is known to many of our readers. Since …
Ammunition Books
by Fifth Estate Collective
Fifth Estate # 276, September 1976
Ammunition Books 4403 Second Ave. Detroit, Michigan, 48201 Bookstore hours: Mon. thru Fri. 1 pm – 5 pm A SPECIAL NOTE! For those of you who have been waiting for your copies of Chris Gray’s book, Leaving the 20th Century: …