Anti-Corporation Organizing Priority Proposal

Much of what has been discussed this weekend, in terms both of general political-economic analysis and in terms of concrete programs, has focused on the need to bring together workplace and community organizing. The movement has developed some grassroots strengths is the latter; nothing of significance in the former. Anti-corporation projects, imaginatively conceived, can meet some of the need for stronger workplace organizing and for liaison between it and the more developed programs of community organizing. The main strength of the anti-corporation project in this regard is that it is possible to organize “around” a corporation, as well as within it—to focus people’s attention on the physical, financial, social, and political effects that corporations have on their lives.

Opposing this are several weaknesses. An anti-corporation project is not necessarily a socialist project. In particular, if a project is isolated, and focuses on its “target” to the exclusion of all else, it can foster regressive notions: that there can be worker control within one giant corporation; that there can be a kind of syndicalism in several. Moreover, even if the project’s ideology and strategy avoid fostering such illusions, the project may remain purely a local propaganda group. If it tries to develop meaningful action strategies to local labor and community constituencies; it runs the risk of misleading these constituencies that the opposition is a single entity, rather than a complex, interrelated system, of which the local target is but one part.

A nationally coordinated effort, with “target” corporations selected according to local conditions, with communication, mutual support and some coordinated actions among groups can overcome some of these problems, or make a start at it.

Within the general framework of anti-corporate organizing seem to fit large portions of specific programs discussed at the workshops. For instance, the industrial health shows such a fit; so does organizing around tax issues. Both of these programs have the virtue of broadening a project’s base and to call in question oppressive and unjust features which are structurally inherent in capitalism. Certain humanistic concerns of the movement—anti-racism, anti-sexism can be both natural and important parts of anti-corporate organizing. The choice of multinational corporations as targets allows us to relate imperialism, and capitalism’s dependence on war, to conditions which directly and immediately oppress people at home and work.

Proposals

The anti-corporation workshop proposes that NAM adopt as a national priority the organization, coordination, and support of broad-based anti-corporate projects which embody as much as local conditions indicate of all the above concerns. Set up on a national level a communication-coordination-support group, the “Bureau of Anti-Corporate Affairs.” This group’s immediate tasks should be:

a) Actively seek contacts with all people and groups who are, want to be, or have been involved in anti-corporate organizing.

b) Compile a sourcebook of materials—especially including analysis of people’s experiences—which all groups can use.

c) Consider calling a national (unstructured) conference, or scheduling adequate time during the June conference for meetings among people involved in corporate project.

d) The national “Bureau” should take as its explicit task the development of new ideas for anti-corporate organizing. For instance, how can the Food Conspiracies take on organizing against capitalist control of the food industry—from factory farms to supermarket chains? How can anti-corporate and other groups mutually support one another?

e) In addition to these general tasks applying to many programs that (at this point) are still rather generally conceived, the Bureau should take as one of its major tasks the active implementation of the well worked-out and detailed program of occupational health and safety.