Stautes of the IWA
III. NAME OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION.
The international bond of struggle and solidarity that unites the revolutionary unionist organizations of the world is called the International Workers’ Association (IWA).
IV. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE I.W.A.
The IWA has the following objectives:
a) To organize and press for revolutionary struggle in all countries with the aim of destroying once and for all the present political and economic régimes and to establish Libertarian Communism.
b) To give the economic unionist organizations a national and industrial base and, where that already exists, to strengthen those organizations which are determined to fight for the destruction of capitalism and the State.
c) To prevent the infiltration of any political parties into the economic unionist organizations and to resolutely fight every attempt by political parties to control unions.
d) Where circumstances demand it, to establish through a course of action that is not in contradiction with a), b), and c), provisional alliances with other proletarian, union and revolutionary organizations, with the objective of planning and carrying out common international actions in the interest of the working class. Such alliances must never be with political parties, i.e., with organizations that accept the state as system of social organization. Revolutionary Unionism rejects the class collaboration that is characterized by the participation in committees organized under state corporate schemes (for example, in union elections for enterprise committees) and by the acceptance of subsidies, paid union professionals and other practices that can spoil the anarchosyndicalism.
e) To unmask and fight the arbitrary violence of all governments against revolutionaries dedicated to the cause of the Social Revolution.
f) To examine all problems of concern to the world proletariat in order to strengthen and develop movements, in one country or several, which help to defend the rights and new conquests of the working class or to organize the revolution for emancipation itself.
g) To undertake actions of mutual aid in the event of important economic struggles or critical struggles against the overt or covert enemies of the working class.
h) To give moral and material help to the working class movements in each country in which the leadership of the struggle is in the hands of the national economic organization of the proletariat.
The International intervenes in the union affairs of a country only when its affiliated organization in that country requests it or when the affiliate violates the general principles of the International.
V Conditions of affiliation
The following can affiliate to the IWA:
a) National Revolutionary Syndicalist Organizations that do not belong to any other International. In every case only one section will exist in each country. The affiliated sections have to ratify the Principles, Tactics and Aims of the IWA, and send a copy of its Statutes and Principles to the Secretariat. The International Secretariat of the IWA will inform sections of the origin of the contact or contacts that have applied to affiliate.
b)Minorities of Revolutionary syndicalists organized inside other national organizations affiliated to other trade union Internationals.
c) Union organizations, crafts, industrial or general that are independent or affiliated to national organisations that do not belong to the IWA, which accept the Declaration of Principles and Goals of the IWA, with the prior consent, however, of the national organization already affiliated in the country, if such organization exists.
Crafts, industrial or general union organizations that have left or have been excluded from an organization affiliated to the IWA can only be granted affiliation upon the unanimous decision of a Conference consisting of two delegates of each of the affiliate organizations; that is, of the organization that has withdrawn or been excluded, two from the national Organization of the IWA and the Secretariat of the IWA.
d) Every Organization of revolutionary unionist propaganda that accepts the Declaration of Principles and Goals of the IWA and that works in a country where there is no national organization affiliated to the IWA.
e) Since the IWA only consists of legal or illegal sections, with direct connection within the respective countries, the only groups that can be recognized as Sections of the IWA are those exiled groups that can give clear evidence to the IWA-Secretariat that they are authentic representatives of Organizations that act and work in the respective countries.
In any case only one Section will be able to exist for each country.
The following types of behaviour will lead to disaffiliation:
a) failure to comply with the Principles, Tactics and Aims of the IWA.
b) failure to pay affiliation fees. If a Section fails to pay its fees for a year, the Congress will have to consider the Sections`s dismissal..
c) if a Section does not attend electoral meetings and Congresses of the International, nor responds to requests for contact by the Secretariat of the IWA nor by the Sections, without explanation.
VI The International Congresses
The International Congresses of the IWA are held every second year, if possible.
The Secretariat shall sufficiently in advance of the Congress ask the Sections for issues or suggestions to be dealt with by the Congress. The Secretariat shall then draw up the Agenda, which together with the motions that have been presented, shall be sent to the affiliated Organizations at least six months before the Congress starts.
The agreements and resolutions adopted by the International Congresses are binding for all affiliated Organizations, except when those Organizations, by a resolution of a National Congress or by referendum, reject the agreements of the international Congress.
At the request of at least three national affiliated Organizations, an international agreement can be submitted for revision by a general referendum within all Sections.
In the international referendums and Congresses, every Section has one vote, and it is recommended that unanimity be sought before one proceeds to the voting.
VII International transfer
Every member of an organization affiliated to the IWA that has paid all his/her affiliation fees, but who resides in a country other than the one in which s/he became affiliated, should no later than one month after his/her arrival carry out his/her transfer to the corresponding organization of the national organization affiliated to the IWA. This transfer must be approved by the said national organization without an entry registration contribution.
In the case of a forced massive exile, the affiliation is voluntary if there exists an affiliation to an exiled organization recognized by the IWA.
VIII The Secretariat
To coordinate the international activities of the IWA, to obtain and to organize accurate information regarding the propaganda and the struggle in all of the countries, to implement in the best manner the resolutions of the international Congresses and to take care of all of IWA’s work, a Secretariat is elected consisting of at least three persons residing in the place where the IWA establishes its headquarters. The Secretary General is elected by the Congress or by international referendum. The other members shall be elected by the Section or Sections that the Congress designates. The members of the Secretariat shall distribute the tasks and the work among themselves. The Secretariat and the Secretary are elected as indicated above for the period from one Congress to the next. However, there may only be a re-election for a single additional term.
The location of the Secretariat shall be determined by the Congress. If this is not possible, it shall be determined by referendum.
The Secretariat shall make a written report about its activities during the Congress term period. The report must be presented sufficiently in advance to allow the affiliated Sections to acquaint themselves with the report before the holding of the Congress.
At the same time an administrative-economic report shall be presented and sent to the Sections.
The Congress shall name a commission which during the Congress shall carry out an audit and definitive control of the accounts .
IX Finances
To allow the IWA to carry out and to strengthen its international activities and to give its written propaganda a solid foundation; to allow it to publish its periodic publications at regular intervals; to allow it to participate in all manifestations of the life of the revolutionary syndicalism in the different countries; to make it capable to promote the ideas of revolutionary syndicalism in countries where our ideas and tactics are scarcely represented; and, finally, to allow the IWA to respond satisfactorily and immediately to the calls for solidarity that it may receive, every member of an organization affiliated to the IWA shall pay monthly, as an international affiliation fee, the amount of one US dollar (1 US$) or the equivalent amount in national currency, taking into consideration the exchange value in the countries concerned.
For those Sections that are in a difficult situation, the affiliation fee is established in agreement with the Secretariat of the IWA.
Every affiliate Section shall decide by itself the procedure to be followed to receive the affiliation fee from their members. The IWA has a special seal for stamping the membership card for those Sections that would like to do so.
The affiliate Section shall send to the IWA the stipulated affiliation fee on a quarterly basis.
X Publications
The Secretariat publishes:
1) A publication that should be published as frequently as possible. It is desirable that all newspapers published by organizations affiliated to the IWA or sympathising with it, should reserve a special space on its pages for information from the IWA, for calls for international solidarity and for general propaganda.
2) Propaganda leaflets, aimed principally at where our movement does not have any national affiliate organization.
3) All other publications, periodical or not, that the Congress may decide.
