Organize A New IWW Local #6

VI Once we organize a group, how do we keep it going?

Too many groups fall apart because they do not put enough effort into sustainability. Contrary to popular conceptions within the various radical, progressive, and social justice movements, things do not happen randomly or on an ad-hoc basis. True, when big events happen, many people spontaneously join in, but there is always a core group of tightly organized people and groups pushing the envelope. It takes infrastructure and organization to make that happen. Here are some of the basic needs that almost all groups have. One or more of the following items should be utilized by any group:

(A) A Database -- A list of members, including their names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail, dues payments, and any other information relevant to keeping in contact. It's up to your group how to organize such a database. It can be used to make mailing lists, mailing labels, phone trees, even e-mail lists. Such data can be kept on paper, on three by five cards, on computers, or even in somebody's memory. It makes sense to exclude any sensitive information, but it is probably in your best interest to share any non-sensitive information with all of the members of your group.

(B) A PO Box (or some other mailing address) -- You will want to give folks a way to send you mail. Even if you should someday find the perfect office or work-space, you will probably move around a lot in the short term. Groups can fall apart because mail gets lost in the forwarding. It makes sense to establish a permanent base of operations. Further, it makes sense both for security and empowering all members of your group to not have the mail sent to someone's house. You never know if that person might burn out or disappear.

(C) Ask to be listed in the Industrial Worker and on the Web as the local IWW contact for your area. You can contact the Industrial Worker elsewhere on this site. You may not generate very much activity by doing this alone, and generally much of the contact you will receive will be from other IWW branches and locals, but every bit of information can help. And, in the long run, you will attract other new members in your community by doing this. Think of it as planning ahead.

(D) A Phone Number -- You want folks to be able to contact you. If you are concerned about security and empowering the group, that phone line can be a voice-mail box (it's not located in your house and more than one person can check the messages) until you get an office space. The drawbacks to voice mail are that it costs more than just the phone line, and your outgoing messages may be limited to a minute in many cases. If you want your phone line to double as a hot-line you will want to be able to leave outgoing messages of up to ten minutes (callers can skip such messages by pressing the pound (#) key usually). Some voice mail services offer that feature, but most don't. It's also getting harder to find answering machines that will do this also. There are various solutions to that problem, though. Phone lines are complicated.
One could give an entire workshop on this subject alone, because of all the different options and services. Most likely you will want your service to be cheap. If so, you should get a residential line. The only drawback is that you cannot be listed as a group or organization in the directory. To do that you must get a business line or call-forwarding, but such service is usually much more expensive. Sometimes you get charged by the minute even for local calls. If you are con-fused about this, ask different activists involved with groups. Get multiple opinions and ask your-selves which service would be best for your group.

(E) E-mail Contacts / E-mail Lists / and Web-sites -- Lets face it. The information age is upon us. It will be much easier to use the technology than to try and organize to abolish it. Of course, it's up to you and your group what you want to do. If you do want to establish a presence in cyberspace there are countless different methods and combinations of methods you can use; once again an entire workshop could be given about this subject. Rather than discuss all the ins and outs of the internet, here are some basic definitions:

E-mail address -- your own personal internet mailbox / communication line; send and receive messages there. You can use a personal account or establish a separate account for your group.
E-mail lists -- you can establish your own or subscribe to already existing mailing lists. These allow you to send one message to multiple users or receive any information sent to the list. It's somewhat similar to a bulletin board or a phone tree.
Web-sites -- Sort of like an interactive flyer / book / bulletin board. You can publish volumes of material with links to other groups and individuals material for any interested user to find by "browsing". This is an ideal way to share large amounts of information and documentation without sending it to individual users yourself and clogging their e-mail stream.

(F) If you can get it, a radio show on a community, college, or pirate radio station. If you can't, at least try creating PSAs. Radio not only allows you to spread information to regular and sometimes random listeners, you can even have lively debates and discussions as well. Community radio is great for such things. Community TV can work to a similar degree, except it's not potentially as interactive; however, you can show visual footage on TV. If you think you can break into the mainstream Media with such things, though, forget it. Go back to square one and read Manufacturing Consent by Ed Herman and Noam Chomsky.

(G) You might want to continue to place ads in local community and alternative newspapers letting folks know how to contact you and where and when you hold your meetings. Fresh energy keeps a group vibrant and of course, gives you more strength to work on your issue. If you make news, folks will want to contact you and this is yet another way they can do that.

(H) Yes, you will want to have meetings, as regularly and consistently as possible. You will need to find a permanent place to do this. This issue is discussed in depth later on.

(I) If your group is active enough, you will probably want to set up a central office space. That space should be public (i.e. not in someone's house). Of course, you should try to get the cheapest possible rent you can. $1 per square foot is as much as you should ideally pay. You can often find spaces for less. You can gain in price and lose in the quality of the location, but not always. Once again, this topic could fill an entire workshop. Your group will have to explore all the options and issues on your own and determine what is best for you.

(J) Money -- Yes, if you start a permanent group or local, you will need some funding; and you will need a bank account. It would be best to get an account at a co-op credit union if possible. Banks are getting greedier and less accessible to anyone who isn't extremely rich every day. Fundraising is discussed in greater detail later on. However, if banks are your only option, try to balance convenience with the social awareness of the bank (though most banks have one thing in mind, profit.) Your best bet will be a small bank with few or no checking fees.

(K) Paper Work -- Unfortunately this is a disliked necessity. You need to keep a well organized record of your bills and expenses, correspondence, organizing efforts, contacts, phone lists, members, reports, and the like. However, much paperwork can be avoided if you keep things simple and keep things organized. A good filing system can be key to keeping things in order, but it need not be complicated.

(L) Getting Creative -- If your group is really strong, and you have the energy and funding, you can consider getting business lines, setting up your own internet servers, and many other ideas.

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