Central Organization of the Workers of Sweden (in Swedish: Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation) is an anarcho-syndicalist trade union federation in Sweden. Unlike other Swedish unions, SAC organizes people from all occupations, including the unemployed, students, and pensioners. SAC also publishes the weekly newspaper Arbetaren ("the Worker"), own the publishing house Federativs and run the unemployment fund Sveriges Arbetares Arbetslöshetskassa (SAAK). Image File history File links SAC-logo. ... Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labor movement, hence the syndicalism qualification. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... Arbetaren (The Worker) is a Swedish weekly newspaper. ... 1. ...

Its long-term goal is to realize libertarian socialism, a society without classes and hierarchies, where the means of production are owned commonly and administrated by the workers: in effect, abolition of capitalism, wage slavery, and sexism. SAC has thus decided to declare itself to be anti-sexist, anti-militarist, and, as the first trade union in Sweden, feminist (1998). Short-term goals are improved salaries and working environments. Libertarian socialism is any one of a group of political philosophies dedicated to opposing coercive forms of authority and social hierarchy, in particular the institutions of capitalism and the State. ... Class ASCII art NFO header by a!b. ... For the various types of hierarchy, see hierarchy (disambiguation) A hierarchy (in Greek: Ιεραρχία, it is derived from ιερός-hieros, sacred, and άρχω-arkho, rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things or people, where each element of the system (except for the top element) is subordinate to a single other element. ... The means of production are physical, non-human, inputs used in production. ... Capitalism is commonly understood to mean an economic or socioeconomic system in which the means of production are predominantly privately owned and operated for profit, often through the employment of labour. ... Wage slavery is a condition in which a person is legally (de jure) voluntarily employed but practically (de facto) a slave. ... The sign of the headquarters of the National Association Opposed To Woman Suffrage Sexism is commonly considered to be discrimination against people based on their sex rather than their individual merits, but can also refer to any and all differentiations based on sex. ... Feminism is a diverse, competing, and often opposing collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women, especially in terms of their social, political, and economic inequalities. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

Insignia of SAC

SAC was formed in 1910 by former members of the mainstream trade union movement LO who were influenced by the revolutionary syndicalism of the French Confédération Générale du Travail. It was also a founding member of the anarcho-syndicalist International Workers Association, but came into conflict with the IWA in the 1950's when SAC entered into a state-supported unemployment fund, which the IWA regarded as state collaboration and reformist. In 1956, the SAC withdrew from the IWA. Image File history File links Sacinsignia. ... -1... LO logo The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen i Sverige or LO) is an umbrella organisation for sixteen Swedish trade unions that organise blue collar workers. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Revolution. ... Syndicalism refers to a set of ideas, movements and tendencies which share the avowed aim of transforming capitalist society through action by the working class on the industrial front. ... The Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT or General Confederation of Work) is one of the five major French confederations of trade unions. ... The International Workers Association (IWA) (Spanish: AIT - Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores) is an international anarcho-syndicalist federation of various labour unions from different countries. ... Reformism (also called revisionism or revisionist theory) is the belief that gradual changes in a society can ultimately change its fundamental structures. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The traditional strongholds of the SAC were primarily in the forestry, mining, and construction industries. Today, most SAC members are employed in the public sector. A decidous beech forest in Slovenia. ... The El Chino Mine located near Silver City, New Mexico is an open-pit copper mine This article is about mineral extraction. ... Cranes are essential in large construction projects, such as this skyscraper In project architecture and civil engineering, construction is the building or assembly of any infrastructure. ... The public sector is that part of economic and administrative life that deals with the delivery of goods and services by and for the government, whether national, regional or local/municipal. ...

Structure

SAC has a double structure, the geographic and the industry-wise. It is influenced by the way CGT was structured at the time of SAC's founding. The Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT or General Confederation of Work) is one of the five major French confederations of trade unions. ...

• Geographical structure
  • Local Co-organizations (Lokala Samorganisationer, LS). The foundation of the geographical structure and the entire movement are the Local Co-organizations organized as locally as possible, preferably one per city and/or municipality. Individual members of SAC are affiliated directly with their nearest Local Co-organizations. As one of the basic tenets of syndicalism is direct and local democracy, the structure of different Local Co-organizations may vary a lot. It is not common to refer to the Local Co-organization by saying "Lokala Samorganisation", instead you say "LS".
  • Districts. Several Local Co-organizations in a geographical area may establish a district, where they can cooperate with, for example, agitation and education. Districts may also function as constituencies for some functionary positions. The Local Co-organizations that make up the district decide what the district should be doing.
  • Central Organization. Local Co-organizations are members of the federation SAC, the name of the central authority, whose task is principally coordinating and administrative. It is from this central authority the movement has adopted it's name. The highest governing body of SAC is the Congress, which is held at least every fourth year, the last being held in 2002. Representatives are sent to the congress from the Local Co-organizations, whose number of members determines how many representatives they may send. Every Local Co-organization has in advance decided how representatives should act in the questions that are to be decided on the congress, and the representatives are bound to act as such. A central committee (centralkommitté, CK) composed by members elected from the districts lead the implementation of the decisions made by the congress and may make decisions on lesser issues. An executive committee (arbetsutskott, AU) elected by the congress handles recurring matters. Between the congresses important questions and supplementary elections are made by referendums. The Local Co-organizations are independent in matters and questions concerning them only, and have their own battle funds, even though there is a central battle fund too.
• Industry-wise structure
  • Operational section. The Operational section is the foundation of the industry-wise structure. These are organized at workplaces, without regards to occupation on the working place in question, and may go on strike independently of other parts of the organization if so decided by members of the Operational section. As the name implies, these groupings are to take over the operation of the workplace in the future libertarian socialist society envisioned by SAC.
  • Syndicate. Operational sections belonging to the same industry (in example, health or transport) form syndicates in the city, municipality or other geographic area. Operational sections connected to different Local Co-organizations may join the same syndicate.
  • Federation. Syndicates from all over the country join up to form industry-wise federations. The main purpose of these is to coordinate the cooperation and agitation of the syndicates.

A panorama of Sydney, Australia at night. ... A municipality or general-purpose district (compare with: special-purpose district) is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government. ... Syndicalism refers to a set of ideas, movements and tendencies which share the avowed aim of transforming capitalist society through action by the working class on the industrial front. ... Agitation may have the following special meanings Agitation, an emotional state Agitation, putting into motion (by shaking or stirring) Agitation, a term from the lexicon of Communists: political activities aimed at urging people to do something This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might... A constituency is any cohesive corporate unit or body bound by shared structures, goals or loyalty. ... A federation (Latin: foedus, covenant) is a state comprised of a number of partially self-governing regions (often themselves referred to as states) united by a central (federal) government. ... A congress is a gathering of people, especially a gathering for a political purpose. ... A committee is a (relatively) small group that can serve one of several functions: Governance: in organizations too large for all the members to participate in decisions affecting the organization as a whole, a committee (such as a Board of Directors) is given the power to make decisions. ...

Decision Making

Decisions should, according to SAC, be made by those whom it concerns and not by representatives or leaders. That is why they apply federalism, direct democracy and direct action. Decisions about negotiations, notices, offensive actions and agreements are ultimately made by the members of the operational sections. Decisions about using the battle funds are made by the Local Co-organization (the members thereof, of course). Central notices about offensive action, strikes, and other things exist but they can be annulled locally by local instances. Central vetoes against conflict measures do not exist. Concentration of power is avoided by not letting SAC's employees be eligible for election to positions of confidence or as congress representatives. Federalism is the idea of a group or body of members that are bound together (latin: foedus, covenant) with a governing representative head. ... Direct democracy comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty was lodged in the assembly of all citizens. ... Direct action is a method and a theory of stopping objectionable practices or creating more favorable conditions using immediately available means. ... Negotiation is the process whereby interested parties resolve disputes, agree upon courses of action, bargain for individual or collective advantage, and/or attempt to craft outcomes which serve their mutual interests. ... Notice is the legal concept describing a requirement that a party be aware of legal process affecting their rights, obligations or duties. ... The word veto comes from Latin and literally means I forbid. ...

Most workplaces today are covered by collective wage agreements set up by LO, which apply not only to members of LO, but also other employees of the workplace in question. However, only members of LO are bound by LO's part of the agreement, which means that members of SAC - and, of course, other non-LO trade unions - are free to initiate offensive actions even if the current collective wage agreement includes a no strike clause. LO logo The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen i Sverige or LO) is an umbrella organisation for sixteen Swedish trade unions that organise blue collar workers. ...

Syndikalistiska Ungdomsförbundet

Syndikalistiska Ungdomsförbundet, the Swedish Anarcho-syndicalist Youth Federation, is in theory independent of SAC but in practice acts as their youth organization, even though people of all ages are eligible for membership in SAC and it is not uncommon for young people to be active in SAC or even hold elected offices therein.

SUF was founded in 1993, and has some of it's roots in the young militant autonomous movement that began to grow throughout Scandinavia in the early nineties. Inspiration also came from SAC itself. From just three groups in 1993 it grew rapidly and today it is a nation-wide federation made up of around 25 local groups throughout the entire country, and several committees active within the federation. They publish a magazine called Direkt Action and a monthly internal paper called Storm. See also the Nordic countries. ...

SUF is, in contrast to its anarcho-syndicalist beliefs, not a union. Their idea of anarcho-syndicalism expands beyond the daily labour union activity, and claims that in a global community where capitalist relations have expanded into all parts of society, a broader movement and a broader definition of class struggle is needed. Thus, it is necessary to confront capitalism not only in workplaces, but also in schools, universities, local communities, etc.

See also

• Trade union
• Anarcho-syndicalism
• Syndicalism
• Libertarian socialism
• Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
• Confederación General del Trabajo (Spain)
• International Workers Association
• Industrial Workers of the World
• Swedish Trade Union Confederation

This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labor movement, hence the syndicalism qualification. ... Syndicalism refers to a set of ideas, movements and tendencies which share the avowed aim of transforming capitalist society through action by the working class on the industrial front. ... Libertarian socialism is any one of a group of political philosophies dedicated to opposing coercive forms of authority and social hierarchy, in particular the institutions of capitalism and the State. ... The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Confederation of Labour or CNT), founded in Barcelona, Spain, in 1910, was at one time that countrys largest labor unions. ... The Confederación General del Trabajo of Spain (CGT) is a Anarcho-Syndicalist trade union, arisen from the split of CNT/AIT after the arrival of democracy and the following reorganization and restructuring process of the trade unions. ... The International Workers Association (IWA) (Spanish: AIT - Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores) is an international anarcho-syndicalist federation of various labour unions from different countries. ... The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is a famous international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. It contends that all workers should be united within a single union as a class and the wage system abolished. ... LO logo The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen i Sverige or LO) is an umbrella organisation for sixteen Swedish trade unions that organise blue collar workers. ...

External links

• SAC's website (Swedish)
• SAC's website (English)
• SUF's website (Swedish)
• SUF's website (English)