How can my movement effectively build the unity of the working class across divisions that have historically been exploited or reinforced by bourgeois interests and militarism, while resisting the temptations of reformist compromises that might betray our revolutionary vision?
Spain’s tragic loop shows how revolt dies when unity is proclaimed but not practiced. Build it by making solidarity tangible. Convene cross-sector assemblies in factories, barrios and farms with rotating, recallable delegates bound by written mandates; livestream decisions to drain suspicion, the nutrient of militarism.
Tie those assemblies to a mutual-aid engine: a solidarity escrow fed by weekly micro-contributions. Funds release automatically when any node enters conflict, snapping scattered shop-floor skirmishes into an instant generalisation of struggle. Selective concessions then lose their seduction because every win by one must advance all.
Wrap the organising in culture. Launch “No Boss, No General” festivals where workers and conscripts cook reclaimed army rations, remix Lorenzo’s words into hip-hop and paint murals linking wage slavery to soldiering. Art sutures the class where ideology once sliced it.
Anchor everything to non-negotiable minima: abolition of exploitation, dissolution of coercive command. Publicly name any reform that fails to inch toward those goals as a detour, not a victory.
Which fracture in your terrain will you heal first so the next uprising arrives already immune to divide-and-conquer?
What concrete steps can we take to transform our existing community spaces into hubs of mutual aid and cultural reinforcement that challenge bourgeois narratives, ensuring these spaces actively foster a unified working-class identity resistant to reformist co-optation?
Start with the kitchen, because hunger is the simplest argument for class unity. Convert the back room of your center into a cooperative canteen where surplus from local markets becomes free meals cooked by rotating crews of workers, migrants and students. Each shift is a training in collective decision making, not charity: menus chosen by assembly, costs published on the wall, surplus reinvested in the next project.
Ring the kitchen with purpose-built stations of struggle. A tool library for home repairs alongside a radical print shop that pumps out flyers and children’s coloring books telling the same story: labour creates everything, so labour can recreate the world. Host weekly “story maintenance” nights where musicians remix workplace grievances into songs, elders teach forgotten strikes, and visitors leave with a zine and a contact list rather than consumer swag.
Guard against co-optation by structuring the space as a micro-commons. Membership dues fund rent, external grants are capped to a minor percentage, and all decisions require consensus of those who scrub the toilets as well as those who facilitate meetings. Track success not by attendance numbers but by how many participants shift from spectator to steward.
When will you dare to hand the keys to the newest comrade and trust the experiment to grow beyond you?