The First Three Months¶
During this period we should aim to get the group up and running, and start strategising about how we can put our politics into practice. We should also be getting our name out there both amongst local activists and more generally.
By the end of this period, we should be doing the following:
- Running a reading group for our members and others to come together and discuss books and articles relevant to our politics. We should aim to have a practical and contemporary focus with our choice of material, and invite friendly individuals and people from other groups to join in. Ideally this will help us develop our own ideas and apply them in practice. In the long term it could form the basis for blogs, articles or pamphlets of our own.
- Maintaining a blog in which we publicise our activities as a group, and offer our take on current news and events. We should talk about local stuff wherever possible, but also aim to discuss and analyse national and international events when appropriate. We should update this as regularly as possible, and encourage the whole group to write for it as often as people are able.
- Hosting regular socials for anarchists in Leeds. These would serve as a low key way for people to meet us, talk to us and get to know us outside of a formal political setting. Hopefully this could help bridge the gap between the group and people who know us and people interested in or at least aware of the group and its politics but who aren’t part of our immediate social circle. This would also establish the group and build our profile a bit, without requiring a lot of work to organise.
The Next Six Months¶
During this period we should already have established ourselves as a functioning group, and be ready to get stuck into organising and propaganda work. We should aim to build links with friendly groups and individuals on a local, regional and national level. We want to be raising our profile and building a presence both inside and outside existing anarchist and radical circles. We also need to be building our own capacity to do effective political work both as individuals and collectively.
By the end of this period we should be:
- Holding regular stalls and street distros to reach out to people outside of the established anarchist scene. We should use a mixture of our own literature and material and other stuff which is in line with our ideas, with a focus on accessible and eye-catching stuff that will at least get people talking about our ideas. We could also hold stalls at events likely to attract people sympathetic to our ideas, tailoring our offerings as appropriate.
- Establishing a regular presence at demonstrations and other events that is visible, loud and pushes for militant action. This will obviously vary depending on the nature of the event, but we should aim to turn out in support of demonstrations and marches wherever we are in agreement with their general aims. We should be ready to critique them when they are ineffective and offer practical alternatives, and organise for militant direct action whenever the opportunity arises.
- Actively organising initiatives to build the competence, confidence and consciousness of working class people wherever possible. Where appropriate we should work together with or within other groups and organisations which share our immediate goals, but we should also be willing to do this under our own banner where necessary. In all cases we should aim to orient our activity towards our own day to day lives, focussing on things that effect us directly, whilst also trying to broaden participation and deepen struggles in order to help nucleate strong and effective groups, movements and organisations that are libertarian in character.
The Next Twelve Months¶
Over this period we should aim to build on our successes and learn from our failures, in order to create a self-sustaining group with a good organisational culture and strong links with friendly groups and the working class more broadly. What we do over this period will depend on our experiences over the first nine months, and the situation we’re in both as a group and individuals. Some ideas include:
- Hosting a regional conference for anarchists and libertarian-communists in the North of England, to discuss and strategise and network between like minded groups and individuals. This could be single day or a full weekend, with workshops, discussions and social events to both advance our cause in practical terms and strengthen the ties between friendly organisations across the region. If successful this could become a regular event, and move towards adopting federal structures to join isolated groups together and organise common action and share skills and resources around.
- Developing our own press, with a regular output of pamphlets and a local freesheet aimed at a broad audience of people sympathetic to our ideas. This would help us build more of a presence as well as start conversations, discussions and debates on relevant questions of theory and practice. We should aim to circulate these as widely as possible both in hard copy and online, using existing distribution channels and when necessary creating our own.
- Set up a temporary “pop up social centre” somewhere in Leeds for a time period of e.g. 1 week. The focus would be on practical, locally based work and revolutionary organising in addition to social events, gigs, parties and so on. This would act as a temporary base for our group and others like it, giving us a meeting space etc. and complementing the. Ideally it would serve as a basis for building a strong and active anarchist presence locally, and be a place for anarchists from across Leeds and beyond to come together, network and cooperate on joint work. If successful, this could act as a basis for a more long-term project.
