From Viome
After 3 days of intense mobilization, the factory of Vio.Me. has started production under workers' control earlier today! It is the first experiment in industrial self-management in crisis-striken Greece, and the workers of Vio.Me. are confident this is going to be only the first in a series of such endeavors.
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| The march was massive and vibrant. |
The mobilization kicked off with a big
assembly of the workers and solidary organizations and individuals in
a central downtown theater on Sunday evening. Here the course of
action of the solidarity movement was discussed, and everyone had the chance to take the microphone and to express their opinion on the workers' struggle.
![]() |
| Really talented artists played in support of the Vio.Me struggle. |
On Monday evening there was a march in
the city center followed by a huge benefit concert with several well
known folk bands and singers. Among them Thanassis Papakonstantinou,
one of the most important contemporary Greek songwriters who is in a
sense “part of the movement” since he always supports with word
and deed the efforts of society for self-determination. The
attendance exceeded everyone's expectations. Unfortunately about a
thousand people didn't manage to get in, as the stadium was packed.
The stellar moment of the night was when the workers took the
microphone and explained their vision of another society, based on
social justice, solidarity and self-management. Five thousand people
were applauding, shouting and chanting songs of support. It was then
that everyone realized that this endeavor is bound to succeed!
![]() |
| One of the Vio.Me. workers addresses the people. |
Early next morning the mobilization went on with a vibrant march towards the factory. The workers were
already in their positions and the production was triumphantly
kick-started in front of the cameras of national, local and
alternative media. The workers organized a guided tour of the factory
and explained all the details of the production process to journalists
and participants in the solidarity movement.
| The first batch of products produced under worker's control! |
There is still a long
road ahead: The costs of production are high, access to credit is impossible and getting a part of the market in
times of recession is uncertain. The workers are however optimistic:
The proceeds from the benefit gig and the donations of supportive
groups and individuals collected through viome.org should be
enough to keep the company afloat in the first few months. And the
support of the social movements means many of the products will be
distributed through the existing structures of social and solidary
economy. The workers of Vio.Me. are already researching new cleaning
products, based on non-toxic ecological ingredients, apt for home
use. The factory makes quality building materials (mortars, plasters,
tile adhesive paste and jointing materials, waterproof grouts, etc.)
and the workers know very well how to improve the quality even more
while lowering the production costs and hence the price. The
challenge is now to find a market for these materials, which
unfortunately are too voluminous to be transported across long
distances, and should be sold within Greece or the surrounding Balkan
countries.
of participants in the solidarity movement have for three days
lived an unforgettable experience, which however is only the start of a
long and difficult road. Now more than ever we need to be united and
strong, determined to build a new world based on solidarity, justice
and self-management!




Comments
hahaha best rollover yet.
hahaha best rollover yet.
Get the fuck back to work,
Get the fuck back to work, comrades.
lol
lol
Right, furher! (or Stalin!)
Fuck your anti-work booj
Fuck your anti-work booj bullshit, that it awesome. Good on 'em.
fuck you, boss
fuck you, boss
Arbeit macht frei.
Arbeit macht frei.
if you're not anti-work you
if you're not anti-work you're just not even a communist
Pro-work is pro-"booj." You
Pro-work is pro-"booj." You're full of nonsense.
Close this window and get
Close this window and get back to paying attention to the lecture.
neither necessarily are. god
neither necessarily are. god ya'll are dumb.
Capitalism =/= system of
Capitalism =/= system of management
Capitalism = mode of production
Must destroy exchange value.
Must break labor-capital relationship.
Economist/syndicalist reformism is one of the biggest mistakes in the anarchist tradition because...it's not anticapitalist :(
Many anarcho-syndicalists
Many anarcho-syndicalists (including myself) are critical of efforts at "self management" within capitalism as reformist and social democratic. This whole notion that syndicalism = self managed capitalism, is a dishonest strawman, that ignores the bulk of anarcho-syndicalist and left communist theory which explicitly rejects that idea. Primmies, post-leftists, and other assorted blow hards should actually read some syndicalist/left communist theory, then maybe we could have an actual conversation.
Nah bro, that all changed
Nah bro, that all changed after 9/11
Where is all this theory?
Where is all this theory? Because LibCom, hub of syndicalist theory, is all about worker self-management.
http://anarchistnews.org/tags
http://anarchistnews.org/tags/fighting-ourselves
tl;dr
tl;dr
Uh... wat? Is there more than
Uh... wat? Is there more than one libcom? Say what you want about that site, but they do not support workers self-management.
http://libcom.org/blog/co-operatives-capitalism-iww-18022012
http://libcom.org/library/co-operatives-all-together
http://libcom.org/library/co-ops-or-conflicts
"determined to build a new
"determined to build a new world based on solidarity, justice
and self-management"
Jesus fucking christ.
I mean, yes, having the means to mass-produce certain objects might expand the general capacity for revolt, but this just sounds like a brochure for a co-op.
Self-managed Starbucks. lol
Self-managed Starbucks.
lol
It's not necessarily
It's not necessarily revolutionary but sounds like a better place to work than the not getting paid situation they were in before. People support workers in all kinds of reformist efforts. This seems no worse. And the bonus is I don't know any of these people so can imagine they aren't as bad as IWW types.
What the fuck does this
What the fuck does this factory actually produce though?
Yeah, I was wondering that
Yeah, I was wondering that myself. Factories tend to be pretty specialized toward producing one particular thing.
Near the end of the article:
Near the end of the article: "The factory makes quality building materials (mortars, plasters,
tile adhesive paste and jointing materials, waterproof grouts, etc.)."
I'm gonna laugh when the anti
I'm gonna laugh when the anti-workerists need to patch holes in their walls.
Er, couldn't they just loot a
Er, couldn't they just loot a Home Depot or a construction site or something?
And shit, even The Coming Insurrection mentions expanding our capacity for revolt by finding ways of directly accessing the materials we need to exist.
Self-manage all you want, just don't pretend that act in itself is revolutionary.
I guess indigenous have to
I guess indigenous have to work in factories in order to fix their dwellings.
Labor means suffer.
Fuck colonialism and its sky gods that divide
Well my grand father was
Well my grand father was native and worked in a factory to provide for his family. Just sayin...
Also isn't "fixing" something
Also isn't "fixing" something a form of labor? I understand being opposed to work (although I think we are probably operating off of different definitions of the word), but to be opposed to "labor". That's fucking delusional.
What's sad is that most of
What's sad is that most of the white anarchists on this site that like to use native people, frozen in history, as poetic centerpieces to shitty neo-situationist rants are totally going to ignore what you just said. It sucks...
<:-/
And salvage materials from
And salvage materials from capitalist corporations all you want, don't pretend that's revolutionary.
the artists. theyre very
the artists. theyre very talented.
http://www.youtube.com/watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azEvfD4C6ow
Holy Fuck! I think I love the
Holy Fuck! I think I love the Bagger 288.
jesus, anarchists should be
jesus, anarchists should be around to relentlessly expose the ways in which capital inevitably reestablishes itself within defensive self-managed production, not just piss on it from the beginning. HEIGHTENING the contradictions means engaging, probing, voicing doubts, and breaking in a principled fashion when the project is inevitably recuperated, not abstaining from the 99.5% of struggle that isn't premised purely on negation from the getgo. greece is sitting on a global faultline, every experiment there that isn't pushing either fascism or austerity should get a pat on the back and a good luck at least, no matter how doomed or garbled.
how does anyone benefit from
how does anyone benefit from americans on the internet giving them verbal pats on the back.
Really Talented Artists is an
Really Talented Artists is an amazing band. Their song "In Support of the Vio.Me Struggle" is one of their best jams. Its from their album "Black Flame " with their hit song "Big Bill Haywood was an Anarchist and Max Stirner Wasn't" with guest vocals by Michael Schmidt and Lucien Van Der Walt
haha
haha
The actual Bill Haywood had
The actual Bill Haywood had nothing but contempt for the anarchists clinging to the coattails of the IWW. He called them "circus freaks", and eventually left the IWW to join Eugene debs Socialist Party, and later, the Communist Party. Read Elizabeth Gurley Flynn's "Rebel Girl".
I am Michael Albert and I
I am Michael Albert and I approve this message.
pareCON !!!!
pareCON !!!!
That article is sooo
That article is sooo laughable, just as the rollover.
And what about self-managing some stupid sub-contracting call center, or even better, some tar sands mine? I suppose when it's self-managed it all becomes A-ok for the Revolution TM...
So the all polluted, dead toxic rivers will suddenly have a better taste... the cut-down forest and the plastic suburbia built in its place will turn all pinky and green... flowers will grow out of the highways, that will emit some nice baroque music. And DARPA will produce delicious non-GMO ice cream sandwiches for the kids in all poor neighborhoods. Awesome.
But everything for free, too? Not yet, comrades! We gotta wait for the Great Evening to come, then we'll abolish the monetary system and private property altogether. So before that happens, you must go back to work, pay your rent, eat shit and die.
pro-work and anti-work
pro-work and anti-work debates are the dumbest shit ever. as if people who (have no other option but to) work necessarily are "pro" work. lots of people who work are also anti-work. this is not a real dichotomy. ya'll are dumb. i mean, ya'll are intellectuals.
Just as if you were forced to
Just as if you were forced to work... A workerist is someone who assumes that there is no other way than wage slavery, not somebody who hates working.
Most people actually hate working, but still they get up in the morning to serve the system like good sheep.
y'all, not "ya'll"
y'all, not "ya'll"
For fucks sake.
All y'all yankees don't get
All y'all yankees don't get that shit. Get you some culture.
And fuck Michael Schmidt and Lucien Van Der Walt x1,000,000.
Hurray for the machines!
Hurray for the machines!
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