Blackwell Reference Online

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The Solidarity Federation (SolFed) is an anarchosyndicalist organization and the British section of the International Workers Association (IWA), which counts among its number the Spanish union Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) , which was influential in the Spanish Civil War and the continuing resistance to Franco. SolFed is one of the few examples of a British anarchist group surviving across the generations. Its organizational origins lie in the Anarchist Federation of Britain (AFB) split in 1944, when a syndicalist majority gained prominence in the more general anarchist movement, although there are far older historical precursors in the radical unions organized by Rudolf Rocker and Jewish immigrant workers ( Fishman 1975 ). The remaining syndicalist rump of the AFB retitled themselves the Syndicalist Workers Federation (SWF) in 1954, later becoming the Direct Action Movement (DAM) and latterly the Solidarity Federation (SolFed). SolFed differs from the two other main class struggle anarchist groupings in the UK in that whereas Class War and the Anarchist Federation prioritize community struggles, anarchosyndicalists have traditionally identified the workplace as the most suitable site for class conflict. Their favored structures are the revolutionary syndicates made up of workers in particular industries, rather than split into trades. Prior to 1987, DAM had sought ... log in or subscribe to read full text