'Walking the tightrope': article for NZLIMJ

The following is an article I wrote for the latest edition of New Zealand Library & Information Management Journal (Vol 52, Issue No 3 Oct 2011 ), on the balancing of archival principles with web technology.


The public library has been used by many, if not most, members of society—from toddlers to lifelong learners. Yet how many people have ever used an archive? How many know where their local archive is, or why it exists? Unfortunately (or thankfully, depending on one’s viewpoint), the use of archives pales in comparison to that of libraries and museums. The perception of archives, and those who staff them, remains squarely in the shadowy realm of dust and dank.

Yet the far-from-dim world of digital technology provides new opportunities to make potential users aware of archives, and encourage their use. Web sites, chat technology, and interactive web tools (referred to as Web 2.0) are “changing the ways that archivists interact with their patrons,” and how patrons “approach archival research and how they view their archival interactions” (Daines & Nimer, 2009). Digital technology can also improve the services already drawn upon by archival users (such as genealogists, historians, and students), and make them more effective.

Archives—to create awareness and promote use—have embraced some of this digital technology. Online exhibitions have become a common feature on the websites of archives, and virtual reference (including chat service) is being offered by many repositories. However the move from onsite to online has raised a number of concerns, from the loss of archival principles to the provision of far-from-effective service.

If the use of digital technology is to play an important role in the perception of, and access to, archives in the twenty first century, the implementation of that technology is increasingly pertinent. Regardless of their current shortcomings, archives need to continue to invest in digital technology—not only to avoid becoming “quaint anachronisms in a world of instant data communication, high technology, and rapid change” (Jimerson, 1989, p.333), but to provide effective service for current (and future) users of archives.



The Digital World Meets Archives
Effectively harnessing digital technology offers archives and their users countless possibilities. As Lester argues, “technological developments mean that the web offers archives the chance to develop new and innovative ways of conveying their message,” allowing users “a greater exploratory and active role, thus enhancing the learning experiences available” (2006, p.88). Both the access and use of the repository’s holdings can be improved through digital technology.

An archive’s homepage and its web presence (online exhibitions, themed websites for children, and social media) “offers greater prospects for promotion” (Lester, p.87). But it is the improvement of archival services that digital technology offers the most potential. Being online makes access available to reference services, collections and records previously off-limits due to geographical location or time restraints. “Many more people will have the opportunity to exploit the archive’s holdings, through research facilities such as online finding aids and email requests, and digitalised or transcribed representations of specific records” (Lester, p.88). For budding genealogists, busy historians, or students without means of travel, the digital realm opens a new door to the archive.

While historians conducting in-depth are likely to prefer browsing physical records (Duff & Johnston, 2002), the increasing number of non-academic users with less time or less needs would benefit more from web innovations (Cox, 2007). Genealogists using Archives New Zealand would find its digitalised records of the New Zealand Military Forces extremely helpful in their search for family activity during the First World War, while the in-depth administrative histories offered on Archway [Archives New Zealand’s finding aid] provide a great source of secondary information for students and others, at the click of a mouse.

Digital technology also empowers users previously on the margins of archival use. “Adaptive technologies” have the potential to “facilitate reference and access for handicapped patrons, including the visually impaired” (Cox, 2007). Optical character recognition for the blind, and other audio, visual and speech systems designed to enable further use by those with physical and mental disabilities, is just some examples of how digital technology could aid this often neglected demographic.

Similar interactive technology is also being used for the general user. The development of blogs, wikis, tagging and folksonomies—referred to as Web 2.0 technology—is increasingly employed by archives to encourage user participation and collaboration. Theses cumulative changes in digital technology enable software developers and end-users to use the World Wide Web in new and innovative ways to what it was originally intended (Wikipedia). It is also changing how archivists provide their services: “Web 2.0 technologies have transformed the Internet into a participatory experience,” technologies that could “radically re-contextualize [the archivist’s] work”(Daines & Nimer).

Blogs—websites formatted to provide diary-like entries of an individual or institution—“can be used by archives to publicize new items in the collection, as well as ongoing activities and events, while allowing for questions and feedback from users” (Perkins, 2011). The City of Vancouver Archive’s AuthentiCity blog, for example, uses photos, digitalised records, informative content and social media links to update users and promote further use.

Collaborative websites (wikis) that allow users to add or modify content about a repository’s finding aids, resources, and records, aid both users and archivists in innovative ways. Drawing on the users knowledge of certain collections, or their own search methods, provides a wealth of information for the effective use of an archive, with little effort to the archivist. “Reference archivists could take a similar approach [to reference librarians] in utilizing wikis to create a knowledge base of frequently asked questions” (Daines & Nimer), to the relief of the ever-busy archivist.

As well as adding content, allowing users to employ individualised keywords (‘tagging’) within online finding aids can enhance “the search and retrieval process as it allows users to implement their own natural language vocabulary and not be restrained by authoritative cataloguing terminology” (Yakel & Reynolds, 2006, as cited in Cox, 2007). In this way folksonomies “allow for another layer of access and description to be added to a collection, one which may establish connections archivists are unaware of” (Perkins). One example of this is the Polar Bear Expedition Digital Collection, a website which allows registered users to tag items.

However user participation through Web 2.0 also presents a number of pitfalls that archives need to be aware of. These include undermining the skills of professional content creators and archivists, the threat to “the authority and authenticity of archival collections” (Perkins), and the increase of user demands. As well as Web 2.0 tools, archives have to ensure that their general online services are effective. While digital technology can aid service, it can also perpetuate the problems experienced onsite, or worse, create a number of new issues.


Walking the Tightrope: Online exhibitions
According to Cook, public programming (including various digital technologies) taken to the extreme could “undermine both archival theory and the very richness of that documentary heritage which the new public programming would make available” (Cook, 1990/91). Too heavy a move towards the user from a materials-focus (and its related methods of appraisal, description and provision) could have major implications for the future of archives. Instead, Cook suggests a balance between increased promotion and core archival principles needs to be found.

Such a balancing act is particularly evident in online archival exhibitions. As Lester points out, if items are simply digitalised and made available without an emphasis on the archival principles of provenance and original order, or with no description of its context, the archival value of the record is lost (2006). Instead of simply downloading a digitalised record, or viewing it online as a stand-alone image, it should be accompanied by “the circumstances of their composition” in order to help the user determine “meaning, and why they were written” (Lester, p.93).

In order to combat the loss of context one would usually gain through the onsite exploration of collections, online exhibitions employ digital tools such as hyperlinks to point to contextual information, secondary sources, and finding aids to the record on show. Although “the virtual exhibition cannot provide an encounter with the ‘real thing’”, online tools can “allow the user to understand and be able to do far more than she or he could do in a physical exhibition” (Lester, p.95).

An Archives New Zealand exhibition, An Impressive Silence,[1] used video, hyperlinks and descriptive content to ground the records in the wider context from which they were created. Its free-flowing form and the rich historical information on offer provided an innovative source for students and others wanting to learn about New Zealand’s involvement in the First World War.

However the records themselves were pulled from their archival bonds without reference to provenance and original order. Apart from a title and an archive reference number, the user is not told who created the record, where it came from, and what else is the series. Such a neglect of archival principles, besides keeping Cook awake at night, illustrates the record’s loss of archival value when digitalised and displayed online. And although these issues are still present in a physical exhibition, the online exhibition’s use of digital tools gives the archivist a better chance of not falling short.

Passchendaele Casualty Forms, another Archives New Zealand online exhibition, takes a different approach. Focused more on records themselves, this exhibition displays Army personnel forms alphabetically in order to seemingly meet the needs of genealogists used to searching by name. “Genealogists… wanted lists of names, or names indexes, or search engines that retrieved by name to facilitate their research” (Duff & Johnson, 2003, p.85). Large digital reproductions of the records indexed in a way familiar to these users meets such a need. Yet in this case, the emphasis on the records far outweighs the contextual information given, and like An Impressive Silence, does not find the successful ‘middle line’ (Lester, p.93). Unfortunately for the user, neither exhibition utilized Web 2.0 technology, which could have added a unique layer of interpretation to the records on display.

Education, and not just of historical facts, is a major component to online exhibitions. As well as creating awareness around the topic on show, educating the user on how and why archives are organised in order to promote more effective use is equally as important. For a generation of Google users, the uniqueness of archival principles can be alienating. If online exhibitions are light on archival principles then they fail in the task of archival education, albeit in an aesthetically pleasing manner. In the case of online exhibitions, digital technology may increase use; but whether that use is effective is open to debate.


Onsite vs Online Reference
One aspect of archival service that has radically changed through the use of digital technology is reference. “Technology now allows users to submit their queries… at any time from any place in the world” (American Library Association, 2008). Users, wherever they may be, can now contact a reference archivist electronically via a website or email, or in real-time using instant messaging and other means.

Virtual reference provides a range of new opportunities for those previously cut off from the archive due to disability, geography, or time. As described above, digital technology (and Web 2.0) can facilitate reference service in new and innovative ways. However it also creates new headaches for archives. Not only does virtual reference create more work for the archivist, the archivist’s work is expected to be carried out ‘instantly’; that is, at the speed of which Internet users have come to except.

The digital medium itself also provides issues. During onsite reference, archivists employ a number of verbal and nonverbal cues to make the user feel at ease, and to determine the user’s information need. Complex question negotiation is used in order to effectively match the user’s real need to the repository’s holdings (Long, 1989, p.45), while instruction is provided so the user can “learn more about the collections by carrying out their own research” (Trace, 2006, p.134). A rapport between the archivist and user ensures these components are successfully met in order to be effective.

Such techniques, however, are difficult to replicate in a virtual setting. “Unfortunately, chat rooms are not as easily navigated as a face-to-face conversation” (Cox, 2007), and the lack of verbal cues creates problems during and in closing the conversation. To help make up for the lack of cues one would experience face-to-face, archivists use “text characteristics or characteristics of nonverbal cues such as punctuation, emoticons, font, capital letters or abbreviations” (Duff, 2011). These cues go some way in ensuring online users receive “the same communication and interpersonal skills” as other forms of reference (ALA, 2008).

According to ALA guidelines [there are no virtual reference guidelines as yet for archivists, an issue in itself], question negotiation is supposed to take place during remote reference. However time restraints, and the issue of writing versus speaking, can impact the quality of the exchange. I experienced this firsthand during a Library of Congress online chat—there was no reference interview, no question negotiation, and the process itself felt rushed. Compared to my onsite experience at the Macmillan Brown library, where I received a degree of question negotiation, the virtual reference was far from effective (and enjoyable).

Another major issue is instruction. Considering the difficulty most people have when confronted with the archival principles of provenance and original order, education plays an important role in the effective use of an archive. However this educational component can often fall short during virtual reference. A study by Duff & Fox found that “reference archivists spend almost half their time at the reference desk teaching onsite users how to use archival systems, however, remote reference services rarely involves instruction” (Duff & Fox, 2006, as cited in Duff, 2011). Again, virtual reference has a lot of complex issues to contend with if it is to ensure a service equal to onsite reference.


Conclusion
Nilsen argues that digital technology “is not improving or speeding up reference service… but perpetuating problems that have not been resolved in face-to-face-reference” (Nilsen, 2004, as cited in Cox, 2007). Likewise, exhibitions that do not strike a balance between interpretive information and archival principles fail to provide “a learning experience grounded in the content of the record,” at the expense of the document’s “archival significance and value” (Lester, p.96).

Having recently viewed of two online archival exhibitions, and experienced both onsite and online reference, Nilsen and Lester’s concerns seemed vindicated. The seeds of superior service were there, but issues with the digital technology I encountered meant delivery and service never fully bloomed.
However, issues concerning effective digital service are not the result of digital technology itself. Rather, it is the lack of effective education, investment and evaluation of the delivery of online services that is hindering the maximum use of digital technology by archives. Time, energy and funding would go some way in resolving the issues currently experienced in the digital realm. A key to this includes the training of staff in the effective use of digital technology: “only through up-to-date training” can archivists “expand their knowledge and refine their skills in response to the changes brought about by social and technological developments” (Luo, 2009, p.210).

Online exhibitions, blogs, wikis and instant messaging are all tools; tools (like appraisal and description) that need practice, training, and more practice. Archives and archivists should not be scared to get their hands, or in this case, fingertips dirty. New users and new technology demand it.
__________________________________


References
American Library Association (2008). Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services. Accessed 5 May 2011, from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidelines/virtrefguidelines.cfm.

Cook, T. (1990/91). Viewing the world upside down: Reflections on the theoretical underpinning of archival public programming. Archivaria, 31 (Winter), 123-134.

Cox, R., & the University of Pittsburgh archives students (2007). Machines in the archives: Technology and the coming transformation of archival reference. First Monday, 12(11). Accesses 11 May from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2029/1894

Daines, J.G., & Nimer, C.L. (18 May, 2009). Web 2.0 and archives. Accessed 12 May 2011 from http://interactivearchivist.archivists.org/

Duff, W. M. & Johnson, C. A. (2002). Accidentally found on purpose: Information seeking behaviour of historians. Library Quarterly, 72(4), 472-496.

Duff, W. (2011). Module 7: Archival Reference, & Module 8: The Changing Face of Archival Researched. Accessed from http://blackboard.vuw.ac.nz/

Jimerson, R. C. (1989). Redefining archival identity: Meeting user needs in the Information Society. American Archivist, 52(3), 332-340.

Lester, P. (2006). Is the virtual exhibition the natural successor to the physical? Journal of the Society of Archivists, 27(1), 85-101.

Long, L. J. (1989). Question negotiation in the archival setting: The use of interpersonal communication techniques in the reference interview. American Archivist, 52(1), 40-50.

Luo, L. (2009). Effective training for chat reference personnel: An exploratory study. Library and Information Science Research, 31(4) 210-224.

Perkins, G. (2011). Web 2.0 and Archives (Daines and Nimer). Accessed 12 May 2011 from http://blackboard.vuw.ac.nz/

Trace, C. B. (2006). For love of the game: An ethnographic analysis of archival reference work. Archives and Manuscripts, 34(1), 124-143.

Web 2.0. (2011). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 18 May 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Web_2.0&oldid=429085115

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[1] An Impressive Silence is currently offline, but is expected to be made available once it is migrated to the new platform. See http://archives.govt.nz/has/impressive-silence-exhibition-currently-offline

Books & Beers #4: The Privilege of Politeness

‘Books and Beers’ is happening again next week, so if you're interested to get stuck into a text over a beer, read on.

Books and Beers is an informal group that gets together at a pub to discuss a chosen paper, zine or book. From topical themes and radical history, to ideas around organising and other random rants, we hope to gain some knowledge, exchange ideas, and have a few beers while doing it.

 

Our latest reading is ‘The Privilege of Politeness’ (read it or download it here: http://theangryblackwoman.com/2008/02/12/the-privilege-of-politeness/). Have a read, then join us in a conversation, hot chips, and a brew.

WHEN: Wednesday 7th of March, 6.30pm

WHERE: The Pegasus Arms (Oxford Terrace, down from the Christchurch Hospital)

 

Books & Beers is an informal, open space and anyone interested is welcome to take part.

Katipo Books: new website & e-newsletter sign-up

The Katipo collective are pretty excited about our new website, which now has some new books available—if you haven't already seen it, have a peek here: http://katipobooks.co.nz/ If you've linked to us in the past, you may need to change the link (the old website is long gone).

The new website also has one of those email sign-up things, so if you want to stay in touch with us, be informed of new books, and know when we are having stalls or events, please take a second to sign up here (or at our website): http://eepurl.com/jxeE9 We promise not to spam you too much : )

Because our website is still new, we'd be stoked if you wanted to forward this email to a friend.

Thanks again from the Katipo Books Workers' Co-Operative

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Katipo Books Workers Co-Operative
http://katipobooks.co.nz/

Pages from New Zealand History: Tracing Joe Hill's ashes in New Zealand

'Pages from New Zealand history: Tracing Joe Hill's Ashes in New Zealand' was a talk I gave as part of a series of lectures on radical New Zealand history. It basically covers my book, Remains to be Seen, which traces the ashes of Joe Hill—union organiser, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World—to wartime New Zealand, touching on the workers movement in that country, censorship, and the actions of the New Zealand State.

Next week features a talk by Murray Horton on conscientious objectors during the Second World War. For more info check out: http://beyondresistance.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/pages-from-new-zealand-history-february-sessions-at-the-christchurch-wea/

Pages from New Zealand History: White New Zealand Policy

‘Pages from New Zealand History: The White New Zealand Policy’ was a talk given at the Christchurch WEA on the making of a White New Zealand Policy in New Zealand, a policy that especially targeted Chinese and formed unlikely alliances.

Next Tuesday I will be speaking on Joe Hill and the IWW in New Zealand.

Feedback for 'Remains to be Seen'

Until this week I had a fear of history books. Remains to be Seen: Tracing Joe Hill's Ashes in New Zealand by Jared Davidson dispelled my fear with its stunning layout, exceptional readability and perfect length (85 pages). The book’s subtitle might be a little misleading, as the book takes us through events that seem to have produced no trace of Joe Hill's ashes in New Zealand whatsoever. The journey, however, is very informative, revealing sad truths about New Zealand's history and the origins of today's repressive state. If a history book should do anything it is to kindle an interest in the past. Davidson's book left me with inspiration to learn more of Joe Hill and dissenters during World War I, and therefore comes highly recommended. – Arthur Price.

From the Labour History Project Newsletter #52.

Remains to Be Seen: Tracing Joe Hill's Ashes in New Zealand is a quite exceptional contribution to the scanty published literature on the history of the radical left in this country, and its importance far outweighs its modest size. Davidson's research is wide-ranging and very thorough, and has turned up a surprising number of primary documents which were unfamiliar to me and other historians who have been working in this field for a far longer period. This material has been assembled with flair, clarity and rigorous historical accuracy. Where conjectures and assumptions were made, they were identified as such and strongly supported by background evidence, including a number of telling international comparisons. The result is a minor triumph which has already made a considerable impact in this country and, I hope, will also be read overseas.  —Mark Derby

From Mark Derby, Chair of the Labour History Project Inc. and author of Prophet and the Policeman.

Remains to be Seen: Tracing Joe Hill's Ashes in New Zealandis a stunning red, black, and white cover in lino-cut style. Its beautiful typeset pages tell of the afterlife of Hill, an early-20th-century Chicago unionist and songwriter.  – Chris Brickell.

From New Zealand Books, 21(96), Summer 2011.

The Wobblies were members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), an early 20th century socialist movement pressing for reform of workplace and society. Joe Hill was an American labourer and union leader, a Wobbly rescued from obscurity by the popularity of radical songs he wrote. he was elevated to martyrdom in 1915 and continues to be remembered in labour mythology after he was executed for murder (at Woodstock, Joan Baez sang the famous tribute song written about him). His body was cremated, the ashes placed in parcels, and sent to countries where the IWW was active, including New Zealand. Jared Davidson investigates what happened to the ashes sent to New Zealand. His search ends in conjuncture but the story is interesting, until it descends to a mixture of socialist polemic and 'expose' of governmental repression of socialists.  – Mike Crean.

From The Press.

Remains to be Seen is largely a historical account of the New Zealand state’s repression of militant labour during World War One... The book is an easy read and doesn’t require a great amount of prior knowledge about labour history on the part of the reader and would serve as a good introduction to anyone wanting to discover more about repression of dissent in New Zealand during the first world war. Some of the material may come as a shock to those unfamiliar with this history. – Byron Clark.

From The Spark.

January Books & Beers: Pro-Feminist Men – Fellow Travelers or False Friends?

'Books and Beers’ invites you to a reading/social group dedicated to good ideas and good beer!

Evey so often we will be getting together at a pub to discuss a chosen paper, zine or book. From topical themes and radical history, to ideas around organising and other random rants, we hope to gain some knowledge, exchange ideas, and have a few beers while doing it.

Our first reading for 2012 will be a paper translated from the French: ‘Pro-Feminist Men: Fellow Travelers or False Friends’ (read it or download it here: http://issuu.com/garagecollective/docs/pro-feminist_men). Have a read, then join us in a conversation, hot chips, and a brew.

WHEN: Tuesday 31st of January, 6.00pm

WHERE: The Pegasus Arms (Oxford Terrace, down from the Christchurch Hospital)

Books & Beers is an informal, open space and anyone interested is welcome to take part.

How to make art...

Why wharfies are striking – in their own words (+ photos)

Articles and photos by Simon Oosterman. Hi-res photos are available here. Please feel free to distribute. 

The media have given plenty of space to Ports of Auckland management, but nobody has canvassed the opinions of those most affected by the company’s decisions, the workers. Here we get behind the news to the men, their wives and the children affected by the Ports of Auckland actions and proposals.

For the background to the dispute read the Maritime Union of New Zealand and Council of Trade Union fact sheet and the Port of Auckland’s industrial dispute updates. 

The Thorton family: “They want drones when we are actually parents”

FAIR ROSTERING: From the left – Max Thorton (5), Shaun (43), Nina (4), Amy (5), Leah (37) and Ben (9). Photo: Simon Oosterman

Shaun Thorton, 43, drives a straddle at the Ports of Auckland where he has worked for 18 years. He met his wife Leah at the port where she worked before becoming a fulltime mum looking after their four kids: Ben (9), twins Max and Amy (5) and Nina (4).

“We want predictability so we can have a family life,” he says. “We only get one weekend off every third weekend meaning I work 35 weekends in the year. I’m striking for the kids.”

Leah interrupts: “and for the marriage”.

“Shaun’s work is a nightmare for me and the kids,” she says. “Dad only went to two soccer games last year and couldn’t come to the preschool Christmas party. We’ve learnt to live with it but it’s far from perfect.”

“It’s clear from the ports casualisation plan that they want drones, when we are actually parents. You can’t sustain a family as a casual and deal with the everyday stuff parents have to put up with. One of our kids has a chronic illness and another is getting progressively deaf in one ear. I should be able to count on partner to help out with hospital visits and specialist’s visits.

“Everyone complains about irresponsible teenagers going out on town and they wonder where their parents are. They are here and in other unsociable jobs. The only other option to this work is working on the minimum wage.

“It astounds me that they are trying to increase productivity by ruining our work life balance – do they want people sleeping on the job?” she says. “Can I complain to the company about not having annual leave or sick days?”

The Wallace family: “It’s not just husbands affected, it’s our families too”

FAMILY TIME: From centre left – Mark Wallace, Ashley (9), Rebecca (7) and Katrina. Photo: Simon Oosterman

Mark Wallace is a stevedore at the Ports of Auckland. He worked his way up from a casual to a permanent crane driver over 18 years. Mark and wife Katrina have two children, Ashley (9) and Rebecca (7).

“I’m trying to protect my family life,” he says. “The company wants the right to tell me at midnight, eight hours before a shift, that I don’t have the shift anymore. How can I plan a family life around that?”

“The company goes on about caring for its employees, but they treat us like shit. We’ve given them the best container rates ever. If they really cared about us, we’d be inside working. We had to strike at Christmas just to get time off with our kids.”

Katrina, is a self-employed dress-maker who works from home.

“I brought the kids down to the picket show solidarity with my husband,” she says. “But it’s not just husbands affected, it’s our families too. The company’s proposed changes would be hard for me and the kids. I couldn’t take on huge jobs because I wouldn’t know day-to-day what Mark would be doing. I wouldn’t even be able to count on him to pick up the kids from school.”

The Witehira family: “Keeping family time is more important than a pay rise”

POWER TO THE PEOPLE: Jermaine Witehira (31), Jayda (1), Karine (2), Gabrielle (5) and Destiny. Photo: Simon Oosterman

Jermaine Witehira, 31, got his first ever job at the Ports of Auckland where he has been working as a stevedore for 14 years. Jermaine and wife Destiny have three children, Gabrielle (5), Karine (2) and Jayda (1)

“I’m doing this for my family and my mates,” he says. “A 10% pay rise isn’t worth the new casual roster system – family time is more important than a pay rise.

“The company says we earn $91k a year – I‘ve never earned that in the 14 years I’ve been here. I get around $64k but I have to work 24 hours overtime and that costs my family.”

Destiny says Jermaine doesn’t see his kids because he leaves for work at 5:30am and gets back at 11:30pm.

“Being a young family is hard enough, but with his hours it feels like I’m a solo mum,” she says. “If the company gets what it wants I’ll have to put my kids in day care and get a job. The thing is that the job would probably only just cover day care costs and I’d have to find a job that worked around casual hours.”

Brandon Cherrington

FAMILY PICKET: Brandon Cherrington and his 1 1/2 year old daughter. Photo: Simon Oosterman

Brandon Cherrington, 38, has worked at the Ports of Auckland for 1½ years. He is a permanent part-timer and is only guaranteed 24 hours a week. Brandon has a 1½ year old daughter.

“This strike is all about our families,” he says. “We are here supporting the boys to keep and improve our conditions. With the company’s [proposed] new flexibility, they want us to be on call and I won’t be able to plan activities with my daughter anymore.”

Shaun Osbourne

JOB SECURITY: Casual worker Shaun Osbourne on the picket line. Photo: Simon Oosterman

Shaun Osbourne works at the Ports of Auckland. Because he is a casual employee, he hasn’t had a single guaranteed hour in the eight years he has worked there.

“My shifts are allocated the day before I go to work,’ he says. “I could get anywhere between eight and 48 hours a week which could be in the morning, afternoon or graveyard or a combination of the shifts. I won’t be crossing over. We’ve got to make sure permanent workers don’t end up like us casuals.”

Wayne Wolfe

FACTS: Wayne Wolfe has done his research. Photo: Simon Oosterman

Wayne Wolfe, 58, works as a stevedore at the Ports of Auckland. He has worked on the ports for 35 years. Wayne has three adult children and two grandchildren, including a two-week old baby. Wayne is an executive member of Local 13 of the Maritime Union.

“Many of these young fellas are casuals and have had busted up marriages because of their casualised hours,” he says. “When I first joined, conditions were brilliant and I am doing my best to leave it that way.”

Ron Bell

PICKET: Local 13 member Ron Bell (53). Photo: Simon Oosterman

Ron Bell, 53, is a stevedore at the Ports of Auckland. He will have worked on the waterfront for 31 years this coming April and has been union since he was 17. He has four daughters Jac (20), Katherine (18) and twins Samantha and Amanda (15). He is an executive member of Local 13 of the Maritime Union.

“I just want our guys to keep their jobs on decent hours and not get shat on waiting by the phone 24 hours a day,” he says. “People before us made our conditions what they are today and they should stay that way.”

Ken Ziegler

STAUNCH: Ken Ziegler standing tall. Photo: Simon Oosterman

Ken Ziegler, 49, has worked as a stevedore at the Ports of Auckland for 12 years. Ken is the main provider for his son Carlos (10). He is an executive member of Local 13 of the Maritime Union.
“It’s really simple,” he says. “The company is trying to casualise the entire workforce to keep labour costs down.”

Napo Kuru

SOLIDARITY: Casual Napo Kuru stands with permanent workers. Photo: Simon Oosterman

Napo Kuru, 27, has worked as a casual lasher at the Ports of Auckland for four years.
“I’m on $16 an hour as a casual and can get anywhere between 16 and 30 hours a week,” he says. “We have the same fight as the permanent boys. They want everyone to be cheap which will drive down everyone’s pay.”

Kentucy Fast Core...

Still really enjoying Hellnation. Favorite EP so far: Split w. Sink (1997), which is also featured on Thrashcore.

Communisation as revolution: Endnotes

Endnotes is an irregularly published communist theoretical journal produced by a discussion group of the same name based in Britain and the US. The original group was formed in Brighton, UK in 2005 primarily from former members of the journal Aufheben, after a critical exchange between Aufheben and the French journal Théorie Communiste.

The first issue of the Endnotes journal, published in 2008, presented a debate between Troploin and Theorie Communiste (TC) on the character and meaning of the 20th Century revolutions, with the intention of initiating a wider discussion in the anglophone world around the theory of communisation. It's an excellent read, and is available free online.

Some of the content is quite difficult to grasp, especially in the way TC puts forward its thesis. But persevere—it's well worth it. Even just reading the Introduction and Afterward gives the reader a sufficient overview of the what is termed the programmatic approach of the old workers movement, which after the restructuring of capital in the 60s and 70s is no longer viable (if it ever was):

“The workers’ movement that existed in 1900, or still in 1936, was neither crushed by fascist repression nor bought off by transistors or fridges: it destroyed itself as a force of change because it aimed at preserving the proletarian condition, not superseding it. … The purpose of the old labour movement was to take over the same world and manage it in a new way: putting the idle to work, developing production, introducing workers’ democracy (in principle, at least). Only a tiny minority, ‘anarchist’ as well as 'marxist', held that a different society meant the destruction of State, commodity and wage labour, although it rarely defined this as a process, rather as a programme to put into practice after the seizure of power…”

One of the main concepts throughout the book is that capital is a mode of production, not a mode of management. So when in 1920 anarchists like Malatesta wrote:

“Enter into relations between factories and with the railway workers for the provision of raw materials; come to agreements with cooperatives and with the people. Sell and exchange your products without dealing with ex-bosses.”

TC reply:

“Sell and exchange your products”: in the very injunction of Malatesta to pursue and deepen revolutionary combat resides its failure and reversal into counter-revolution... To take over the factories, emancipate productive labour, to make labour-time the measure of exchange, is value, is capital. As long as the revolution will have no other object than to liberate that which necessarily makes the proletariat a class of the capitalist mode of production [rather than capitalist relations itself], workers’ organisations which are the expression of this necessity will employ themselves to make it respected [ie be in the contradictory position of forcing workers to produce, as in Spain 1936]"

The purpose of the communist revolution is not to simply manage production and distribution without bosses (self-managed capitalism), but to question the very relations that call capital and the proletariat into being:

"What matters in reality are the social relations which determine human activity as labour — the point is thus the abolition of these relations and not the abolition of work."

So where does that leave us in terms of class struggle today? Well, it informs us of the nature of capital and the proletariat in the present cycle of capitalist relations and the struggles against it; that the programs of the past (with their affirmation of labour and the liberation, rather than the abolition, of labour relations) contained the seeds of their counter-revolution and are no longer relevant; and that today's struggle over revindicative struggles (what TC call struggles over immediate demands such as wages, conditions etc.), can become revolutionary:

"whenever, in these struggles, it is its own existence as a class that the proletariat confronts. This confrontation takes place within revindicative struggles and is first and foremost only a means of waging these struggles further, but this means of waging them further implicitly contains a conflict with that which defines the proletariat. This is the whole originality of this new cycle of struggle. Revindicative struggles have today a characteristic that would have been inconceivable thirty years ago."

This is a super brief and biased overview, so I want to include some more quotes that either questioned or clarified my own understandings of class struggle, and give a sense of the texts within. But better yet, you should read the articles yourself!


SOME ENDNOTES:

• "The fundamental contradiction of our society (proletariat-capital) is only potentially deadly to capitalism if the worker confronts his work, and therefore takes on not just the capitalist, but what capital makes of him, i.e. if he takes on what he does and is."

• "The positivity of the proletarian pole within the class relation during the phase of formal subsumption and the first phase of real subsumption is expressed in what TC term the “programmatism” of the workers’ movement, whose organisations, parties and trade unions (whether social democratic or communist, anarchist or syndicalist) represented the rising power of the proletariat and upheld the programme of the liberation of labour and the self-affirmation of the working class. The character of the class relation in the period of the programmatic workers’ movement thus determines the communist revolution in this cycle of struggle as the self-affirmation of one pole within the capital-labour relation. As such the communist revolution does not do away with the relation itself, but merely alters its terms, and hence carries within it the counter-revolution in the shape of workers’ management of the economy and the continued accumulation of capital. Decentralised management of production through factory councils on the one hand and central-planning by the workers’ state on the other are two sides of the same coin, two forms of the same content: workers’ power as both revolution and counter-revolution."

• "Generally speaking we could say that programmatism is defined as a theory and practice of class struggle in which the proletariat finds, in its drive toward liberation, the fundamental elements of a future social organisation which become the programme to be realised. This revolution is thus the affirmation of the proletariat, whether as a dictatorship of the proletariat, workers’ councils, the liberation of work, a period of transition, the withering of the state, generalised self-management, or a “society of associated producers”. Programmatism is not simply a theory — it is above all the practice of the proletariat, in which the rising strength of the class (in unions and parliaments, organisationally, in terms of the relations of social forces or of a certain level of consciousness regarding “the lessons of history”) is positively conceived of as a stepping-stone toward revolution and communism. Programmatism is intrinsically linked to the contradiction between the proletariat and capital as it is constituted by the formal subsumption of labour under capital."

• "The liberation of labour is impossible because it calls forth its own counter-revolution as capitalist organisation of work." 

• "The emancipation of labour is here conceived as the measurement of value by labour time, the preservation of the notion of the product, and the framework of the enterprise and exchange. At those rare moments when an autonomous affirmation of the proletariat as liberation of labour arrives at its realisation (necessarily under the control of organisations of the workers’ movement), as in Russia, Italy and Spain, it immediately inverts itself into the only thing it can become: a new form of the mobilisation of labour under the constraint of value and thus of “maximum output” (as the CNT demanded of the workers of Barcelona in 1936)"

• "The turn at the end of the sixties and the beginning of the seventies was simply the breakdown of programmatism. “May ’68” was the liquidation of all the old forms of the workers’ movement. The revolution was no longer a question of the establishment of the proletariat as a ruling class which generalises its situation, universalises labour as a social relation, and the economy as the objectivity of a society founded on value."

• "Does that mean that the revolution and communisation are now the only future? Again this is a question without meaning, without reality. The only inevitability is the class struggle though which we can only conceive of the revolution of this cycle of struggle, and not as a collapse of capital leaving a space open, but as an historically specific practice of the proletariat in the crisis of this period of capital. It is thus this practice which renders the capitalist mode of production irreproducible. The outcome of the struggle is never given beforehand. It is self-evident that revolution cannot be reduced to a sum of its conditions, because it is an overcoming and not a fulfilment. It is communisation which renders the contradiction between the proletariat and capital irreproducible."

• "The abolition of the proletarian condition is the self-transformation of proletarians into immediately social individuals, it is the struggle against capital which will make us such, because this struggle is a relation that implies us with it. The production of communism is effectuated by a class which finds the content of communism in its own class situation... Communisation is carried out in the struggle of the proletariat against capital. Abolishing exchange, the division of labour, the structure of the corporation, the state…, are measures which are necessarily taken up in the course of struggle, with their retreats and their sudden stops they are just as much tactical measures through which communisation is constructed as the strategy of the revolution. It is thus, through the struggle of a class against capital, that the immediately social individual is produced. It is produced by the proletariat in the abolition of capital (the final relation between capital and the proletariat)..."

 

• "The crisis of the social compact based on the Fordist productive model and the Keynesian Welfare State issues in financialisation, the dismantling and relocation of industrial production, the breaking of workers’ power, de-regulation, the ending of collective bargaining, privatisation, the move to temporary, flexibilised labour and the proliferation of new service industries. The global capitalist restructuring — the formation of an increasingly unified global labour market, the implementation of neo-liberal policies, the liberalisation of markets, and international downward pressure on wages and conditions — represents a counter-revolution whose result is that capital and the proletariat now confront each other directly on a global scale. The circuits of reproduction of capital and labour-power — circuits through which the class relation itself is reproduced — are now fully integrated: these circuits are now immediately internally related. The contradiction between capital and proletariat is now displaced to the level of their reproduction as classes; from this moment on, what is at stake is the reproduction of the class relation itself."

Hellnation: band of the week...

This is what I'm listening to at the moment... thrashcore/powerviolence band Hellnation from Kentucky. And no, he's not using a double-kicker. Happy fucking New Year!

Canterbury Recruiting Union IWW: letters to Maoriland Worker

The following are transcribed letters from the Canterbury Recruiting Union IWW to the Maoriland Worker during 1911. The IWW in Christchurch formed after splitting from the New Zealand Socialist Party in 1910:

The city’s branch of the Socialist Party had no money in their social and general accounts, while the Literature Committee, which operated on a separate fund, had full coffers. Needing money for an upcoming election campaign, a motion was passed to join the three accounts together:

Unfortunately for this scheme the membership of the Literature Committee were anarchist to a man, and had no use for elections… Immediately the meeting concluded the Literature Committee went to work. By the small hours of the following morning they had completed their labours, which consisted of the ordering of over £100 worth of pamphlets and booklets… when they had finished, their finances were in the same state as the rest of the branch.42

Not surprisingly, at the following meeting the resignation of the Literature Committee was called for. The anarchists in question cheerfully left the Party and promptly formed themselves into a branch of the IWW. Some months later a rather large amount of wicker hampers packed with printed material started arriving from overseas—the second result of the Literature Committee’s nocturnal activities.
—Remains to Be Seen, Jared Davidson

They seem to have died out, only to be revived again by a visit from Tom Barker in September 1913, with Ernie Kear (the late-secretary of the Passive Resisters Union) becoming secretary of the CHCH IWW (Local 2) and opening their HQ at 180 Cashel Street. They had large meetings at the Addington Workshops, The Clock Tower, and Cathedral Square, as well as holding joint meetings with the PRU.

In both groups anarchist Syd Kingsford played a prominent part, becoming the literature secretary and distributing anarchist papers supplied to him by Philip Josephs (Wellington). In 1913 he was fined with Barker for obstruction—speaking at an IWW meeting from a soapbox at the Clock Tower.


11 June 1911
WANTED - IWW CLUBS

I think the time has come to have IWW clubs in the four large centres and any industrial district where there are Industrial Unionists, in order to organise and educate the workers of New Zealand for the NZ branch of the IWW; also to make house to house free distribution of papers and books on Industrial Unionism and to supply matters on Industrial Unionism for the workers. I think the members fee should be 1s per month. It would be a good idea to import the best books on Industrial Unionism from America. I think it would be useless to hustle Political Action for the workers without a strong drilled army of Industrial Workers to back demands.
J. SWEENY


23 June 1911
IWW CLUBS

Dear Comrade,—In this week’s issue Fellow-worker Sweeny advocates the formation of IWW Clubs in the four centres. I have to inform him that in Christchurch we formed a club nine months ago, and have sinced changed it to a recruiting union of the IWW. We have adopted the preamble and as far as possible the constitution of the IWW of America (V. St. John, secretary), are carrying on a propaganda for Industrial Unionism. We have just decided to supply THE WORKER (MW) with matter on Revolutionary Unionism, and the first installment will be sent along shortly. Workers requiring the latest pamphlets on Industrial Unionism may obtain them from me. I think Fellow-worker Sweeny’s idea is a good one and would be pleased to supply a copy of our preamble and constitution to anyone interested.
—Yours in revolt, SYD. KINGSFORD.
107 Riccarton road, Christchurch.


23 June 1911
IWW

Canterbury Recruiting Union—At the monthly business meeting, fellow-worker P.Hickey of THE WORKER was present by invitation. He addresses the meeting re enlisting unions’ support for THE WORKER. At the conclusion of an instructive and interesting discussion, the unions agreed to take 3 dozen WORKER per week. F.W.Shepherd’s resignation of the office of general secretary was accepted with regret, and S.J.Roscoe elected to fill the vacancy. A committee was set up to supply the WORKER with literature on Industrial Unionism.
At a special meeting the business was re-forming ourselves into a recruiting union of the NZFL. The idea being to circulate trade unions in and around Christchurch asking them to receive speakers who would place the case for Industrial Unionism before them. After considerable discussion, the following motion was carried: “That this union take a ballot of the members re joining the NZFL; also that each member be supplied with 3 copies of THE WORKER, so that they are clearly understand the Federation’s position’”.
S.J.ROSCOE, secretary.


21 July 1911
IWW JOINS FEDERATION

S.J.Roscoe, Secretary-treasurer Canterbury Recruiting Union IWW reports that a ballottaken by the branch re joining the NZFL was carried overwhelmingly in favor of the proposal.


1 September 1911
(letter by Kingsford in reply to an article by H.J.Hawkins, General Secretary IWW Clubs of Australia, NSW Executive on 4 August, who claims the CHCH group and those of the Chicago IWW are “frauds”, “bogus”, “fakirs”, “slum proletariats”, “Anarchists”…)

THE IWW

Dear Comrade,—I notice an extract in this week’s WORKER from a letter sent to you by H.J.Hawkins, relating to a “crowd of anarchists” in Christchurch. I do not know if you know the history of the IWW and the incidents that happened at the 4th Convention in 1908, but if you want any vindication of our claim to unofficially representing the IWW in New Zealand I can supply you with all the particulars. I am in possession of information to show you that the IWW (Vincent St.John, General Secretary and treasurer) is the real IWW, and the SLP and its supporters left the organisation in 1908 and started an imitation one with the same name. Just let me know if you are interested, and I will send you full particulars.
—Yours in revolt, SYD KINGSFORD, Literature Secretary, Christchurch IWW Unions. PS—this letter is quite unofficial
(no space to enter into the matter—Ed.)


Red Ruffians Archive
http://redruffians.tumblr.com/

Interference Archive

An amazing new radical archive/library/cultural space, the Interference Archive, opens this week in Brooklyn New York. Dara Greenwald, Josh MacPhee, Molly Fair, and Kevin Caplicki (as well as all the other people that have helped) have been working all Fall and Winter on the space, and it looks incredible. It's not just an archive—workshops and events will be a regular feature of the space, relating yesterday's struggles to today's context. From their website:

The Interference Archive explores the relationship between cultural production and social movements. This work manifests in public exhibitions, a study center, talks, screenings, publications, workshops, and an on-line presence. The archive consists of many kinds of objects that are created as part of social movements: posters, flyers, publications, photographs, moving images, audio recordings, and other printed matter. Through creative exhibitions and corresponding public programming, we use this cultural ephemera to animate histories of people mobilizing for social transformation.

New Zealand needs a similar space, and is something I've been passionate about for a while. Here's hoping! Congrats to the NYC crew for making such a space available. Here's a few pics, but more can be seen here.

Exploitation or Oppression/Subordination?

I thought I would share 'Exploitation or Oppression/Subordination?', a section from Maria Mies' excellent book Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women and the International Division of Labour, because it was really interesting and makes clear the common (and uncommon) usages of the terms by feminists and class struggle folks. 

"In the feminist discourse words are used to denoate and explain the problem women are suffering from in our societies. The terms 'subordination' and 'oppression' are widely used to specify women's position in a hierarchically structured system and the methods of keeping them down. These concepts are used by women who would call themselves radical feminists as well as by those who come from a Marxist background or call themselves Marxist or socialist feminists. The latter usually do not talk of exploitation when discussing the problems of women because exploitation to them is a concept reserved for economic exploitation of the wage-worker under capitalism. As women's grievances go beyond those of wage-workers and part of the 'private' man-woman relation, which is not seen as an exploitative one, but an oppressive one, the term exploitation is avoided.

In the following discussion I shall, however, use the term expoitation to identify the root cause of the oppressive man-woman relationship. The reasons for this usage are the following:

When Marx specifies the particular capitalist form of exploitation which, according to him, consists in the appropriation of surplus labour by the capitalists, he uses this general term in a specific narrow sense. But 'exploitation'... has a much wider connotation. In the last analysis it means that someone gains something by robbing someone else or is living at the expense of someone else. It is bound up with the emergence of men's dominance over women and the dominance of one class over others, or one people over others.

If we do not talk of exploitation when we talk of the man-woman relationship, our talk about oppression, or subordination hangs somewhere in the air, for why should men be oppressive towards women if they had nothing to gain from it? Oppression or subordination, without reference to exploitation, becomes then a purely cultural or ideological matter, the basis of which cannot be made out, unless one has recourse to the notion of some inborn aggressive or sadistic tendencies in men. But exploitation is a historical - and not a biological or psychological - category which lies at the basis of the man-woman relation. It was historically created by patriarchal tribes and societies. Thus, with Mariarosa Della Costa I speak of exploitation of women in the triple sense: they are exploited (not only economically, but as human beings) by men and they are exploited as housewives by capital. If they are wage-workers they are also exploited as wage-workers. But even this exploitation is determined and aggrevated by the other two forms of exploitation."