A-Infos (en) Uk, ACG, Jackdaw #23 - Why direct action? (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

There are loads of different methods which people use to try and change 
the world, too many to mention here. Often, however, we think that we 
can look for help from various 'specialists' like politicians, union 
leaders, legal experts, and the like. ---- In reality, this isn't the 
case. Politicians and union leaders have interests different from our 
own, like basically anyone earning six-figure salaries or even those 
bumbling around £80-90,000 a year. Trying to find protection behind the 
law can leave us equally at sea, as the laws that protect us today can 
simply be changed tomorrow - assuming they're even enforced in the first 
place!
 We favour direct action: because it relies on our collective strength 
to stop 'business as usual' rather than our individual lifestyle choices 
or appeals to political and union leaders. And because at the end of the 
day, it means relying each other - the others who share our situation - 
rather than on so-called 'experts' who ultimately won't have to live 
with our problems.
What is direct action?
Direct action is when people take action to further their goals, without 
the interference of a third party. This means the rejection of lobbying 
politicians or appealing to our employers' generosity to improve our 
conditions. Ultimately, it's not even just that they don't care - it's 
that they profit from making our conditions worse.
So, we take action ourselves to force improvements to our conditions. In 
doing so, we empower ourselves by taking control of and responsibility 
for our actions. So, fundamental to direct action is the idea that we 
can only depend on each other to achieve our goals
Direct action takes place at the point where we experience the sharp end 
of capitalism. Often this will mean where we work, as our bosses try to 
sack us or make us work harder, for less money. Or it can be where we 
live, as local politicians try to cut spending by getting rid of public 
services.
Direct action in the workplace
Direct action at work is basically any action that interferes with the 
bosses' ability to manage, forcing them to cave in to their staff's demands.
The best-known form of direct action at work is the strike, where 
workers walk off the job until they get what they want. However, strike 
action can sometimes be limited by union bureaucrats and anti-strike 
laws. That said, workers often successfully ignore these limits and 
hold unofficial, or 'wildcat', strikes which return a lot of the impact 
of strike action.
Though there are too many to mention here, some other direct action 
tactics used by workers are:
    * occupations; where workers lock bosses out of a workplace, 
effectively striking but not letting the boss replace them with 
strike-breakers (also known as 'scabs').
    * Go-slows; where workers work much slower than usual so as to 
ensure that less work is done (and so less profit made).
    * Work-to-rules, another form of on-the-job action, where workers 
follow every little rule to the letter, again so as to slow down the 
pace of work.
There are many examples of these kinds of tactics being used 
successfully. In 1999, London Underground workers engaged in a 'piss 
strike' against not being allowed to go home once their work was 
finished. Instead of pissing by the tracks as usual, they would insist 
on being accompanied to a toilet by the safety supervisor, who had to 
bring the rest of the team with them (for safety). On their return, 
someone else would 'realise' they had to go as well, effectively 
stopping any work happening!
In Brighton in 2009, refuse workers held a successful wildcat strike 
over management bullying while the same year saw Visteon workers in 
London and Belfast occupy their factories against redundancies.
Direct action in the workplace has often been used for political ends as 
well. For instance, this year saw French and Italian dockers refuse to 
handle arms for Israel.
However, it is possible for successful direct action to take place 
outside of the workplace as well, over a variety of issues.
Direct action in the community.
The most famous example in recent British history is the Poll Tax. When 
Margaret Thatcher attempted to bring in the unpopular tax in 1989, up to 
17 million working class people across the country refused to pay it. 
Non-payment groups spread through communities all over the UK and people 
set up local anti-eviction networks to confront bailiffs. By 1990, 
Margaret Thatcher and the Poll Tax had both been beaten.
Similar non-payment campaigns successfully beat increasing water charges 
(1993-1996) and bin taxes (2003-2004) in Ireland. In 2011, working 
people in Greece began the 'We Won't Pay' campaign against rising 
prices, with people refusing to pay motorway tolls, public transport 
tickets and some doctors even refusing to charge patients for their 
treatment.
Mainland Europe has also seen the spread of 'economic blockades'. Often 
used by students or workers where strike action has not been hugely 
effective, they involve participants blocking major roads or transport 
hubs. The idea is that by stopping people getting to work or slowing the 
transportation of goods and services, the protesters block the economy 
in much the same way as a strike would.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been involved in tactics like 
these, breaking out from government-approved (and ineffective) tactics 
such as lobbying and A-to-B marches.
Based on  What is Direct Action? by Organise! Ireland.
https://organise-ireland.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-is-direct-action.html

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/jackdaw23c.pdf
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