More than a century and a half ago, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels drafted a document on the subject of what we now call "globalization." They called their little pamphlet The Communist Manifesto. In it, they pondered the rise of a new kind of society -- capitalism -- which was at that time spreading throughout the world. They were particularly interested in the emerging struggle between workers and bosses, and noted that while workers were sometimes winning these fights, their victories were always temporary.
"The real fruit of their battles lies, not in the immediate result, but in the ever expanding union of the workers," they wrote. "This union is helped on by the improved means of communication that are created by modern industry, and that place the workers of different localities in contact with one another."
By "improved means of communication" they meant railroads. Now, let's fast-forward 157 years.
The real challenge facing unions today is not to win better contracts. It is not even to recruit more members. The main task facing all unions, everywhere, is exactly what Marx and Engels described at the dawn of the capitalist era: to create an "ever-expanding union" that unites workers "of different localities". If anyone was in doubt what they meant by this, consider this famous passage from the same document:
We are reproached, they said, "with desiring to abolish countries and nationality. The working men have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got." And, of course, the unforgettable ending: "Workers of all countries, unite!"
Extraordinary words for 1847. But just as the founders of the modern socialist movement understood globalization more than a century before anyone was using the term, so they understand the role of communications in erasing national boundaries and creating a global alternative to capitalism.
If our main job today is to build a global movement that knows no borders, we need to embrace all the new means of communication that come our way. Particularly if they are less expensive or easier to use than what we are using today.
One thing we have learned in the trade union movement after a decade of Internet use is that people still like to talk. Trade unionists still use telephones. They still go to face-to-face meetings. And they show a real reluctance to adopt technologies like web forums, instant messaging, and Wikis, all of which require that they type.
One reason may well be that they do not feel comfortable typing. Or that they are more at ease speaking than writing.
Another issue to consider is that in international communications, people are often more comfortable speaking a language which they have learned (such as English) than writing it.
Because of this, international communications between trade unionists remain prohibitively expensive. The cost of a telephone call to or from most developing countries remains quite high, even if the costs of calls between developed countries has fallen.
But imagine if a technology would emerge that would allow trade unionists to communicate across borders, around the globe, using their voices. A telephone system that was completely free of charge. Wouldn't that remove one of the bigger obstacles to international communication? (An even bigger one is the problem of language, but we'll discuss that in a future article.)
The promise of using the Internet to make free telephone calls is not a new one. Back in the mid-1990s I remember testing out something called The Internet Phone. Made by an Israeli company called Vocaltec, it was totally unreliable, in part because connections to the net were so slow.
That was then -- and Skype is now. Skype is a completely free bit of software which anyone can download to their computers. It works best if you have a broadband (ADSL or cable modem) connection to the net, but it will also work on a dial-up connection. Skype works if you have Windows, Mac OS, Linux, or even a Pocket PC -- the last of these meaning that you could use Skype like a mobile phone if you are within range of a wireless network.
Once you have Skype installed on your computer, assuming that you have a microphone and speakers (or better, an inexpensive headset), you can call anyone else who has it. And here's the amazing bit: the sound quality is really much better than that of a phone.
And you can have conference calls with up to four other people, for as long as you'd like, anywhere in the world, completely free of charge.
I was invited a few weeks ago to help teach a course attended by trade unionists from a number of Asian countries, meeting at the International Labour Organization center in Turin, Italy. One of the things I was asked to demonstrate was Skype. I rang up a colleague in Sydney, Australia and he was able to be heard by the entire class. And I have to say again: this was completely free of charge.
Skype is the most popular -- but not the only -- software that does something techies call Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP). All that means is using the net like a phone. Unfortunately, if you choose to use a different system than Skype, such as Net2Phone, you can only speak to people who use that system. Which is a good reason to embrace the software that most people use. Skype is currently claiming more than 42 million downloads. Which means that a lot of working people and a lot of trade union members are probably already using the software.
Skype also allows you call out to ordinary phones, but you will be charged a small amount for this -- and in my own experience, the sound quality is not great.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm a great fan of email and the web. But when I watch trade unionists struggling with instant messaging and web forums and Wikis, and I see the ease with which they adopt Skype, it is clear to me that this will be an essential part of any trade unionist's tool kit in the twenty first century.
What would Marx and Engels have said about all this? It's pretty clear to me:
Workers of the world -- Skype!