05/09/2018: In Scotland a number of area based Groups have been forming. In Aberdeen, bolstered by the decision of the Black Cat Collective to join the IWW as bar workers, the Group covering Aberdeen, Buchan & Stonehaven has revived. Similarly in Dumfries meetings have been held to promote the IWW in the town & outlying areas near the Solway Firth, as well as at Crichton Campus. A public meeting is to be held on 25th September.
Michael (Group Secretary, IWW Tayside) tells us about the formation of a group in the Tayside area:
Over the past few years the IWW membership in Scotland has been steadily growing, and with this growth has come a great new opportunity. On July 30th this year, a number of members from across Perthshire, Angus and Dundee met up and decided it was time to form an official IWW Group covering the Tayside area.
Inspired by our comrades in Aberdeen who had undertaken a similar exercise in 2017, and with help from comrades in Edinburgh and Clydeside, we officially met on August 18th in the historically radical city of Dundee. Eight fellow workers were present at this inaugural meeting – and a number of others offered apologies, asking to be kept informed of progress and future meetings. We were heartened by this response, and have resolved to begin a number of initiatives reaching out to workers and left-wing organisations across Tayside with the aim of working in class unity to put power in the hands of the workers.
Tayside I.W.W. will meet every month in one of the main towns and cities of Tayside. On the back of this continued growth in Scotland, there will be held a Scottish Assembly of all IWW branches and groups from Scotland on the 4th November – details of this will be confirmed in due course.
For more information on the IWW in Scotland or to get involved, please email westscotland [at] iww [dot] org [dot] uk for more information.