Need to reform some labour laws in Malawi

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Why stability in private sector, instability in public service P6 Fighting exploitation amid high unemployment rates P4

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by Jack Nriva Deputy chairperson of the Industrial Relations Court

The following are institutions and organisations that cherish and treasure their employees:
1. British American Tobacco 2. Central Region Water Board 3. Chingonga Estate Agents 4. Ecobank 5. Escom 6. Illovo Sugar Malawi 7. Lilongwe Water Board 8. Malawi Revenue Authority 9. Nation Publications Limited 10. Nico Holdings Limited 11. Northern Region Water Board 12. Paec 13. Roads Fund Administration 14. TNM

Need to reform some labour laws in Malawi

T
he Constitution provides for a right to work and a right to fair and safe labour practices. The State has a role to initiate and implement laws and policies that attain the right to fair and safe labour practices. The actual rights in the industrial relations are provided for in various statutes such as the Employment Act, Labour Relations Act, Pension Act and several others. The government has indeed passed several laws and policies aimed at creating a conducive labour environment. Employments and Employment Act There are laws that regulate the employment contracts by providing minimum, in some cases, maximum requirements for the employer-employee relationships. The Employment Act, for example, provides for such issues as payments, non-discrimination, probation period, working hours, leave entitlement, maternity provision and cessation of employment. While prior to the current constitutional order, employment contracts were, by large, based on the law of contract, the current approach to employment is to subject the contracts to the provisions of the Employment Act as well as the Constitution generally and particularly rights to fair labour practices and right to fair administrative justice. Suffice to say that these rights are well and better pronounced in the statutes we have talked about and others. Terms of contract that override the Employment Act would be invalid to the extent of the inconsistency with the Act. As an example, suspensions without pay are a common labour practice in both public and private sectors. However, such suspensions are not provided for in the Employment Act. Some suspensions take long, pending investigations by relevant authorities and, where pertinent, prosecutions in the courts. A person would have been told to go on such suspension by a mere letter. Is this not a condemnation

Case of suspension, strikes and IRC

Treasured employees are productive workers

without a due process? Is the payless suspension not a violation to the legal requirement that abhors withholding of a pay as a punishment? Why should employers hold an employee on suspension pending investigations and prosecution by other agencies? Surely, if there is a disciplinary issue, why not just carry it out? Otherwise, depending on other agencies for the employer to proceed with a disciplinary action may end up jeopardising the employee. He might be on a lengthy suspension, thereby contravening his right to economic activity namely a right to pursue a livelihood. It would be apposite to remember that criminal investigations and disciplinary processes are mutually exclusive. Even where the criminal processes are ongoing or yet to commence, the employer could still hold a disciplinary process. Otherwise, if the employer has no issue with which to carry out a disciplinary hearing, it would PAGE 3

FACTS

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Labour Day dates back to May 1 1886 when the US workforce organised a countrywide general strike involving 300 000 workers who were demanding an eight-hour working day and justice for the masses. In Malawi, trade unionism can be dated back to 1945 when the truck drivers and anti-colonial activists Lawrence Makata and Lali Lubani set up Transport and General Workers Union, the Magalimoto.

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Special pullout the nation 1 may 2013

Know your rights, exercise them

PAGE 2 be unjustifiable to hold the employee on suspension on the ground of the pending prosecutions. Most importantly, it is desirable for the labour groupings, be they employees and employers, to acquaint themselves with their rights, duties and the requirements of the law in regulating the employment relationships. In so doing, the industrial environment would be conducive to the realisation, satisfaction and development of the human resourcesthe most treasured resource in the labour relations. One would argue that in the early days of the Employment Act and the establishment of the Industrial Relations Courts, most labour disputes were based on the ignorance of the nascent employment law. Many practices were based on laws that were obtainable prior to the new law. Through court decisions as well as other means of knowledge dissemination, parties to an employment contract should be much more aware and assertive of their duties and rights under the law. It is important for parties to employment, and their representative groups, to know their rights under the law and be able to claim and exercise them. It is observable that most employees sit on their rights until the end of the relationship. It is more ideal to claim rights from employers while still in the employment. Otherwise, claims made belatedly may not be entertained in the courts. There is a time-limit within which a claim has to be made before the courts. In most cases, claims have to be made within three years of the occurrence of the dispute in the claim. Claims made beyond that period are said to be barred by the statute. Limitation Act requires that actions should be brought to courts within a given period. Apart from that, claims made late may cause some evidential difficulties. Some issues may be difficult to prove due to passage of time. Imagine a person making a claim of an entitlement that became due to him or her five or 10 years later. It would even be difficult to bring tangible testimonies as well as calling witnesses to support the claims. In most cases, employees do not claim such entitlement as leave days and overtime pay until the employment is over. Labour Relations Act The Labour Relations Act is another important labour legislation in Malawi. Among other elements, it provides for the establishment of the Industrial Relations Court and the issues of employer and employee organisations (freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and withdrawal of labour). Strikes and lockouts Strikes and lockouts are regulated by the Labour Relations Act. The Constitution enjoins the State to take measures to ensure the right to withdraw labour. The question is whether the Act provides for enough parameters for the employees right to withdraw labour. The other question is whether employees act within the parameters of the laws in withdrawing labour. The law seems to be fluid in the area of strikes and lockouts. There is a requirement, under the law, to report to the secretary of Labour, a dispute which may necessarily end up in a strike or a lockout. See Section 43. This requirement is couched in such wording that connotes that it is not mandatory to report the dispute to the PS of Labour. Nonetheless, once the issue is with the PS, there would be a process which entails mediation and conciliation. Yet one of the consequences of the process is that if the process fails, the parties may give a notice for a strike or a lockout as the case maybe. Apparently, the strike follows failure of mediation or conciliation. The question is whether strikes and lockouts are fully regulated by the law. If the language used in Section 43 is anything to go by, either of the parties may ignore the reporting to the PS of Labour or bypass the process by merely giving a seven-day notice of an intention to strike. Yet the reading of the very provision seems to suggest that the notice of a strike would be consequential to failure to resolve a dispute Section 45. At least, for the disputes in which one of the parties is the government, or in which government has a stake, the parties have to agree on a person to conciliate over the disputeSection 44. So in those scenarios there would be mandatory conciliation. The other passages of the Act seem to suggest that no party may engage in strike or lockout

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Civil servants block an office entrance during their recent strike in Lilongwe
the Act may not lead to problems of interpretation and implementation. One would say: you can only go on a strike after failed conciliation. Another would say: you can choose not to go to conciliation or not by choosing to inform the PS or not. On the other hand, for government and related institutions the conciliation is mandatory. At the end of the day, significantly, the right to civil immunity as well as the right to return to employment after the strike are said to apply to strikes participated in conformity with Labour Relations Act. The question is: What would mark conformity with the Act? Has the State put in place sufficient mechanisms for the enforcement of the right to withdraw labour. The other question is whether striking employees endeavour to comply with the requirements of the law. Or are the strikes legally regulated? All things considered, there is need to seriously rethink the laws and procedures in relation to strikes and lockouts. There would be need to come up clearly with the processes to be followed for PAGE 7

Conducive work environment creates job satisfaction

where the conciliation process has not been attempted. Of course, the language is not mandatory. But the conciliation ought to be subsequent to informing the PS of Labour. The problem is that the wording of the Act seems to be mandatory in one breath and accommodating in another. All in all, regardless, at the end of the day, parties intending to go on a strike are supposed to inform the PS of Labour. The issue is whether

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WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR Staff Writer
regnancy is supposed to bring joy and happiness in a family. But for a tobacco tenant, Marko Mwale, 41, it was a cause for worry. Then working in Mchinji, his wifes pregnancy almost cost him a job at an estate he had worked for 10 years. In January 2010, his was due to have a baby. She asked him to arrange transport to Kapiri Mission Hospital located about 20 kilometres away for safe delivery. Enthusiastically, the husband approached his employer for assistance as he [Mwale] had neither a bicycle nor money to hire one to take the wife to the hospital. To his shock, the landlord could hear none of this. I was told to choose between caring for my wife or job. He reminded me that I had come alone and that he could not be responsible for intruders, Marko said. Confused and helpless, he returned to his grassthatched hut where he found his wife lying in agony. For fear of losing my job and annual payments, Id no choice, but to assume the role of a traditional birth attendant, Mwale said recently when briefing officials from the Ministries of Labour, Agriculture and Centre for Social Concern (CfSC) during a review of the working and living conditions of tobacco tenants and other workers on tobacco estates. However, the good news is that with the grace of God, my wife delivered right at the estate and the child is still alive, he added. Sharing her experience is Rosaria Chiteyeye, another tobacco tenant at Chiphaso in Kasungu. She revealed the hypocrisy of employers who engage the whole family as tenants, but pay the husband only as if women and children were not contributed nothing to the production of the leaf. And we cant argue because that would mean putting our jobs at risk, said Chiteyeye. She also disclosed that there are no maternity leave, transport facilities, medical scheme, death gratuity, and other entitlements as is the case elsewhere. The two cases bring to

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Fighting exploitation amid high unemployment rates

light the level of exploitation some Malawian employees are going through at their workplaces. In fact, a recent report by CfSC revealed that over 500 000 Malawians are living under dehumanizing conditions in tobacco estates. In the report, CfSC executive director, Father Jos Kuppens cites tobacco workers and families on estates in Lilongwe, Mchinji and Mzimba as some of the tenant going through such conditions despite efforts by the ministries of Labour and Justice, and other civil society organisations to create human environment for tobacco workers. As a signatory to various human rights treaties and conventions such as the Convention of the Rights of Children (CRC), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Kuppens observes that Malawi is obliged to enforce conditions that ensure that all its citizens, including tobacco workers and their families, can enjoy their rights and entitlements. Tobacco workers live in extreme poverty and are often subjected to high levels of exploitation including sexual harassment for women by their supervisors. There are high human rights abuses and violations. The situation has become more serious since the advent of market liberalisation. The majority of tobacco workers [tenants and contracted workers] work without written or oral contracts. Furthermore, many landlords on tobacco estates deny workers basic necessities such as medication and food when they run out of their monthly allocation, safe drinking water and housing, Kuppens is quoted as saying in the report. The CfSC director further laments that, despite the fact that most of the countrys imported goods are paid for in foreign exchange that is generated by the sale of tobacco, those who are mostly responsible for the foreign exchange have no access to proper housing,

Kasese Health Centre in Dowa, a facility that offers treatment and psychosocial support to people injured or exploited in tobacco estates
potable water, schools for their children and medical services. An official at the Industrial Relations Court (IRC) in Blantyre, who did not want to be named, concurred with the report, saying this has also resulted in the increase in the number of disgruntled employees filing lawsuits against their employers. The official stated that unlike in the past, a huge number of employees are trekking to the courts to seek redress when they feel their rights and freedoms at work have been violated. A day hardly passes without registering a labour-related case, she said. Records seen by The Nation showed that a week before clocking the first quarter of the year, the IRC in Blantyre had already registered 180 cases [from January 7 and April 22] bordering on unfair dismissals, unlawful salary deductions, underpayment and unpaid overtime. This means that on average, the Blantyre IRC registers 1.5 labour-related cases per day, which

Will the Malawi economy create employment for these children in 10 or so years to come?
translates into 547.5 cases per year. And for a court that operates from Monday to Friday, which are also punctuated with holidays, the number of cases is too huge for the court to hear, analyse and pass its determinations. Malawi Congress of Trade Union (MCTU) vice president Ronald Mbewe attributed this to the awareness campaigns trade unions are conducting across the country to sensitise workers on their rights and globallyaccepted labour practices. Mbewe was, however, quick to point out that there is still a big population of workers who allow their employers-turnedexploiters go scot-free for fear of losing their jobs. He said the awareness campaigns trade unions PAGE 7

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Why stability in private sector, instability in public service

With escalating cost of living resulting from the devaluation of the kwacha and its subsequent flotation, civil servants have been striking and organising sit-ins, pressing for wage rises. Although both the private and public sectors are equally affected by the economic situation prevailing in the country, there seems to be stability in the former compared to the latter. Why is this the case? Our Reporter CHRISTOPHER JIMU writes about this and other issues.

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Civil servants fighting for pay rise in Lilongwe

alawis estimated 120 000 civil servants, including teachers and Immigration officers, have of late been striking, demanding wage increases to counter rising cost of living. Recently, airports were forced to shut down and both domestic and international flights were cancelled, leaving passengers stranded both within and outside the country. Economic commentators blame deteriorating living standards on the devaluation of the kwacha and its subsequent floatation. Malawians have been complaining that since government, through the Reserve Bank of Malawi, implemented this economic policy, life has been tough as the purchasing power of the kwacha was eroded. The strikes staged by some civil servants only ended when government bowed to their demands and gave them a 61 percent pay rise which, some economic analysts warned that it may create inflation. But why are the civil servants the only ones striking yet devaluation of the kwacha has affected all employees, including those in the private sector? Civil Service Trade Union (CSTU) president Eliah Kamphinda Banda said Malawi civil servants are the least paid in this part of Africa, hence they do not fear to strike to improve their perks. In the private sector, a lot of employees get good salaries, hence, it is rare for them to quit and join the public sector. In Africa, maybe it is only in Kenya where the civil servants are almost at par with their counterparts in the private sector in terms of salaries, standard of living and

the general welfare, he said. He also argued that another factor that causes employees in the public sector not to go on strike is weak trade unionism. CSTU is well organised to the extent that its members have no fear at all to strike. If we agree to strike to improve our working conditions, we go ahead. This is not the case in the priva t e s e c t o r where employees are afraid of losing t h e ir j obs , s a id K a mph in da . Lawyer C h r i s t o p h e r Tu ku l a said it is difficult for private sector e mpl oy e e s t o s t rike because most of t h e t ime s t h e y h a v e targets to meet a t t h e e n d of t h e f in a n c ia l y e a r. In t h e c iv il s e r v ic e , n orma l l y there are no t a rge t s . C iv il service is basically about service de l iv e r y. Wit h out s e t t a rge t s , pe opl e c a n e a s il y mobil is e e a c h ot h e r t o f igh t what they think should change, he s a id. U n it e d G e n e ra l Insurance regional ma n a ge r Robe rt Boyd Chirwa agreed w i t h Tu ku l a t h a t it is dif f ic ul t f or the private sector e mpl oy e e s t o s t rike because they are w orkin g a ga in s t s e t t a rge t s . At t h e be gin n in g of every financial y e a r, y o u s e t t a r g e t s a s a c o m p a n y. S o , i f your target is K10 million and you on l y ge t K 6 mil l ion a t t h e e n d of t h e y e a r, a c o m p a n y c a n s impl y s a y there are no increments because targets were not met , argued C h ir w a . If what K a mph in da , Tukul a a n d C h ir w a s a y is a n y t h i n g t o g o b y, t h e n it is re a l l y difficult for private s e c t or e mpl oy e e s t o s t rike . n

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Dealing with exploitation at workplace

PAGE 4 run have also helped in enlightening many employees on channels they can use in seeking redress in the event that their rights and freedoms have been violated at the workplace. This problem [failure to report] emanates from the high unemployment rates that we currently have in the country. Due to lack of alternative job opportunities available, most workers choose to sacrifice their rights to keep their jobs and this makes it difficult for us to root out exploitation at workplaces, he said. But in an exclusive interview with The Nation, labour commissioner Harlex Nyangulu said he was not aware of the rampant cases of exploitations and violation of rights at various workplaces. He said through a series of visits to various workplaces, the ministry has not recorded any case of violation of workers rights. So far, theres no employer who has flouted the labour laws. Theres no employer who is paying his workers below the minimum wage and that to us shows that everything is fine, he said. But when told about the excruciating suffering some workers are going through in the commercial and domestic sectors, Nyangulu explained that the ministry was currently reviewing the Labour Act and that such concerns would be considered. n

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Is suspension without pay legal?

PAGE 3 organisations both public and private to engage in a strike. Industrial Relations Court The court is a specialised tribunal with powers to determine employment and labour disputes. The court, in the majority of cases, comprises member panellists who are drawn from trade unions and employers organisation. For some time, quarters of the society have decried the tardiness by the court in determining matters. Much of the criticism has been that the number of panellists is on the lower side. The law provided for 10 members, five on each of the two sides. The stakeholders vigorously campaigned for the amendment of the law to drastically increase in the number of panellists. The Legislature amended the law and increased the number of the panellists to be 10 on each side. Not good enough, considering the increasing number of labour disputes. The backlog is still high. The question is why we did not take advantage of the amendment to radically increase the numbers of the member panellists. Well, it is up to the society and the government to rethink the agenda and the dynamics of the court. Otherwise, the government would have done better the last time. During the debate to amend the law, one member of Parliament, Alekeni Menyani, suggested doing away with the courts panellists. The Minister of Justice, then Henry Phoya, said that that idea had never crossed his mind. Perhaps, Menyani had a point. Other labour law experts argue that the member panellists requirement is an international labour law standard. Both points are valid. But surely, the number of panellists has to correspond with the workload. Inevitably, the number of the panellists ought to increase further. Alternatively, as others have suggested, the requirement of panellists ought to be optional. Conclusion There are still more issues of concern and interest in the labour law. We have tackled a very handful. We have tackled a few problems and questions. The role of stakeholders would be to rethink these issues critically. There would be need to relook into the law on suspensions, the regulatory framework of strikes and the functioning of IRC. Addressing these issues may assist in improving the operations of labour laws and awareness of rights and duties under the law. Doubtlessly, that would go a long way in creating conducive environment in labour relations resulting in satisfaction and development of human resources. n *The author is writing in his personal capacity

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PAGE 12 government (1963) and independence (1964). They had suffered heavily, especially during the 1959 State of Emergency. But while unions enjoyed cordial relations with the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) during the independence struggle, relations turned sour in 1964 as President Hastings Banda cracked down. When unions seemed to support dissident Cabinet ministers, 14 out of 19 were deregistered. In 1965, Bandas MCP placed unions under direct party control, a step to creating the one-party State, with Banda as President-for-Life. Rejuvenated unionism The 1980s IMF/ World Bank-sponsored Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) imposed by Malawis elite, plus 1990s prodemocracy struggles across Africa, rejuvenated unionism. On April 6 1992, veteran unionist, Chakufwa Chihana, shook the country by openly challenging the one-party State at Chileka Airport, upon return from South Africa. His arrest sparked a strike wave, starting on May 5. In 1993, the civil service experienced two mass strikes in health, education and transport for better wages and conditions. The strikes met severe repression, echoing the US Haymarket events. In 1992 and 1993, dozens of workers were injured or detained by State security forces; others were killed. Finally, the MCP regime was forced from below to start respecting freedom of association and to loosen its grip on unions. Malawis May Days Under the one-party State, May Day was not a public holiday nor could unions organise independent May Days. So, the first May Day in independent Malawi was in 1994. Held at the Ryalls Hotel in Blantyre just two weeks before the first multiparty general elections, and 11 months after a referendum in favour of elections, it was organised by the Hotels and Food Workers

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A graphic artist gives the visual impression of the Chicago martyrs

Union. Held, however, at a luxury hotel, without publicity and in the wake of State repression of dissidents and strikers, the event was poorly attended. May Day became an official public holiday in 1995 under the newly-elected United Democratic Front (UDF) government which included Chihana as Second Vice-President. That year, the Trade Union Congress of Malawi (TUCM) held a widely publicised series of May Day activities at Kamuzu Stadium and a peaceful march. The then minister of Labour, Ziliro Chibambo, was present, as were employer representatives.

Role of trade unions in MWs democtratisation

When the minister saluted workers contributions to the independence and democracy struggles, promising to defend workers, the mammoth crowd jubilantly ululated. That same minister was, however, lambasted by the UDF government, after investors complained bitterly of his speech. By the 1996 May Day commemorations, a new minister of Labour was in office. And only from 2004 did the State President start attending May Day events. Today, tomorrow While parliamentary democracy in Malawi and the reintroduction of free unionism, mark major advances for the working class, many problems remain. SAP-style neo-liberal policies remain; many work for low wages or on small plots, and have in reality very little say over major issues; restrictions on free speech remain; police often use excessive force. In the Sadc region and Malawi in particular, an 8-hour day is still not a reality. Conclusion: May Day today The Haymarket Tragedy remains a symbol of countless struggles against capitalism, the State and oppression. Freedoms won in recent times rest on the sacrifices of martyrs like the IWPA anarchists, and the Malawian workers of 1959, 1992 and 1993. May Day is a symbol of the unshakeable power of working class solidarity, and of remembrance for martyrs. It can serve as a rallying point for new anti-capitalist, participatory-democratic left resistance. We need to defend and extend the legacy of the Haymarket affair, and to build the working class as a power-frombelow for social change. * For analysis roots history:

& van der Walt, L. (2009). Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism. AK Press: San Francisco, contact L u c i e n . v a n d e r Wa l t @ gmail.com Credits *Sian Byrne works for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), South Africa. Warren McGregor is a lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; Lucien van der Walt lecturer at Rhodes University, South Africa; Paliani Chinguwo is a researcher at Southern Africa Trade Union Coordination Council, Botswana. n

an in-depth of anarchisms and global Schmidt, M.

Industrial Worker, 9 November 1909, Industrial Workers of the World, iww.org

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Why May Day matters to Malawi

Sian Byrne, Paliani Chinguwo, Warren McGregor and Lucien van der Walt
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Introduction hen we celebrate May Day, we rarely reflect on why it is a public holiday in Malawi or elsewhere. We want to share the powerful struggles that lie behind its existence and the organisations that created it and kept its meaning alive. May Day, international workers day, started as a global general strike commemorating five anarchist labour organisers executed in 1887 in the US. Mounting the scaffold, August Spies declared: If you think that by hanging us, you can stamp out the labour movement the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil and live in want and misery the wage slaves expect salvation if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will tread upon a spark, but there, and there, and behind you and in front of you, and everywhere, flames will blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out. Anarchist* roots May Days roots in the revolutionary workers movement are often forgotten. It arose from the anarchist movement anarchism is often misunderstood. Anarchists such as Spies wanted society to be run by the ordinary workers and farmers, not capitalists or State officials. In place of the masses being ruled and exploited from above, society and workplaces should be run through peoples councils and assemblies, based on participatory democracy and self-management. Anarchism was a global mass movement from the 1870s, including in the USA. Its stress on struggle from below for a radically democratic socialist society appealed to the oppressed in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the Americas. The 1880s USA looked like China today: massive factories, poverty, slums, and the oppressed working class under the boots of the powerful, wealthy elite. Anarchist workers fought back. They were central to the US-wide general strike of May 1 1886, involving 300 000 workers. Unions demanded the eight-

History with anarchist roots

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Haymarket martyrs On May 3, Chicago strikers fought with scabs; police killed two strikers; the IWPA called a mass protest against police brutality at Haymarket Square. Here, an unknown person threw a bomb at police, who then shot dead many workers. The Chicago elite used the clash to crackdown on anarchists. After a blatantly biased trial, eight anarchists were convicted of murder, falsely blamed against all evidence for the bombing. Spies, Albert Parsons, George Engel and Adolph Fischer were hanged in 1887. Louis Lingg committed suicide instead. Samuel Fielden, Neebe and Michael Schwab got life sentences. Rebuilding, anarchists and other socialists formed the Labour and Socialist International in 1889. This proclaimed May Day as Workers Day, a global general strike to commemorate the Haymarket Martyrs, fight for eight-hours, and build global workers unity. So May Day began as an example of globalisation-frombelow. And it continues to be a rallying point for workers everywhere, facing social and economic injustices 120 years on. Struggles in Malawi Malawians played an important role in unions in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Famously, Clements Kadalie spearheaded the anarchistinfluenced 100 000-strong Industrial and Commercial Workers Union. In Malawi itself, unions can be dated to 1945, when the truck drivers and anti-colonial activists, Lawrence Makata and Lali Lubani, set up a Transport and General Workers Union, the Magalimoto. This was in the context of Blantyre City strikes by teachers, sanitation workers, domestic servants and rail workers. While the British State rolled out labour reforms in its colonies from the 1940s, the aim was to contain unionism. Repression remained common, especially against politicised unions. Unions heaved a sigh of relief at Malawis selfPAGE 11

One of the recent civil service industrial actions in Lilongwe

hour working day and justice for the masses. Storm centre Chicago was the storm centre: the third largest US city where the elite flaunted its wealth in the face of poor American and immigrant workers. Chicago saw the largest 1 May demonstrations, against the backdrop of terrible working conditions and poverty, worsened by economic depression. The power of the Chicago movement rested not just on numbers, but also on revolutionary ideas. It was the anarchist International Working Peoples Association (IWPA) that led the massive poor people, regardless of race or nationality. It published 14 newspapers, organised armed self-defence and mass movements, and created a rich tapestry of revolutionary counter-culture like music. Anarchists rejected elections in favour of mass organising and education. Elections, the IWPA said, achieved nothing much: the State was part of the system of elite rule; politicians were corrupted into the ruling elite. Instead, most IWPA activists stressed unions as the basis for genuine workers and farmers democracy: unions should undertake factory occupations, leading to an anarchist (free) society.

march of 80 000 people through Chicago, growing during the following days to 100 000. IWPA leadership included black women like ex-slave Lucy Parsons, immigrant workers like Spies and Americans like Oscar Neebe and Albert Parsons. Its Pittsburgh Proclamation called for the destruction of class rule through energetic, relentless, revolutionary and international action and equal rights for all without distinction of sex or race. Internationalist in outlook, the IWPA and the Chicagobased anarchist Central Labour Union (CLU) it led, fought for all working and