Part Two

The Anti-Water Charges Campaign and how it was built

The anti water charges campaign 1994 - 97 was based on the three outer Dublin councils, which contained approximately 180,000 houses, which is similar to the area of Dublin city council. In Fingal and South Dublin council areas, the vast bulk and certainly the working class parts, were covered and organised with leafleting networks and activists. The situation in Dun Laoghaire / Rathdown council area was different and the campaign was much more limited. In some parts of that area water charges had been successfully imposed much earlier which meant building active campaigns in such areas was not possible. In other parts activists did organise campaigns but not to the same level as Fingal or South Dublin. However in an overall sense, notwithstanding the gaps on the Dun Laoghaire side, the Federation was connected to or organised in, the bulk of working class communities.

At the start of the campaign against the water charges local campaigns were launched through public meetings. This work was initiated by a small group of people including leading members of the Socialist Party and other activists. The foundations were laid for the campaign in one working class area after another in a methodical fashion. This resulted in the anti-water charges campaign establishing an active base throughout the three council areas in little over a year. With clear objectives and the right methods, a small number of organisers were able to build a new movement virtually from scratch based on the mood against the water charges that existed in the communities.

Political groups and activists, resident associations and so on had the same rights as anyone else to be involved but the campaign did not construct itself around such existing forces. It was established independently in the heart of the communities and was based on people who were prepared to put in the work to build the movement, using the methods and tactics agreed through democratic discussion. The campaign was democratic and it was political but it wasn’t party political.

Many political parties organised anti-water charges activities in 1994. However it is a statement of fact to say that practically all proved incapable or unwilling to build the campaign in a serious way. The Socialist Party, a couple of members of the Workers Solidarity Movement and crucially hundreds of local activists in the communities, were the backbone of the movement. In some cases individual members of other parties played a role despite the role of their party leaderships.

For the record, the Socialist Workers Party established their own broad anti-water charges campaign and attempted to organise in communities in the three different council areas. When it became clear to them that the battle against the water charges required commitment and a significant amount of time and resources without any guarantees of large numbers of new recruits, the SWP disappeared and in the end played no role in the battle. In fact in a whole number of areas, activists and members of the Socialist Party had to go into areas that the SWP had supposedly "organised" (but then abandoned) in order to establish the campaign on a proper basis. The campaign had to disassociate itself from the approach of the SWP. Unfortunately this was a foretaste of the sectarian role the SWP would play in the anti-bin tax battle.

During the anti-water charges campaign it wasn’t a simple task to recruit new activists and people’s capabilities and activity levels varied and went up and down reflecting the tempo of the battle. However with patient work, what emerged was a campaign with real mass political influence and hundreds of leafleters and activists. When the councils threatened action or an important incident occurred, the campaign pointed the way forward through its material, public meetings and actions and that meant communities developed a real confidence in the campaign.

The Federation of Dublin Anti Water Charges Campaigns steering committee co-ordinated and played a key role in the campaign. It discussed the work in the different areas and honestly assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the different local campaigns, sharing advice and ideas on how to build and develop the movement. In particular the officers built the campaign in a thorough fashion and had a meticulous approach to details. The Federation had the ability to deliver a leaflet to the vast majority of working class homes within a few days via its network of supporters.

That level of coverage and organisation was essential for a campaign of mass non-payment. The campaign had to build a mass base in all areas, as there was no point in having a strong campaign in only a few areas if non-payment was in danger of collapsing everywhere else. Unless campaigns exist locally, the council and the political establishment could intimidate people and be successful in diminishing the levels of non-payment and therefore the campaign. Non-payment has to be actively defended and maintained and that can’t be done through calls in the media but only by having the campaign in the areas that answer the arguments of the councils and give people confidence.

At that time in the mid 1990s, the Federation was the most significant and best organised campaign to emerge in more than twenty years in working class communities of Dublin. While it was not organised in the Dublin City Council area because that council had not imposed water charges, the approach, the methods and the politics of that campaign represented a breakthrough and step forward for the working class not just by defeating the water charges but particularly by establishing better ways of organising struggle. It is important that the real lessons of that movement and the struggle against the bin tax are fully registered.

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