An account of an eviction by someone who was there trying to stop it, and a desperate call for people to join us in our struggle against landlords.

Y Seren Goch has been sent this anonymous letter from an ACORN member who was involved in resisting an eviction on Tuesday 28th January. ACORN is a tenant’s union whose members come together to protect each other from bad landlords, whether it be resisting evictions or claiming back a full deposit.

Find out more here: https://www.acorntheunion.org.uk/

It’s one thing to know that there’s a class war going on in Wales, and quite another thing to see it happening right in front of you. Yesterday I witnessed something that will change my life forever.

Eight of us travelled up to a United Wales property in Mountain Ash and nine of us left that property. We came to the valleys from Cardiff, one of us joining from Bristol, to stand in solidarity with a fellow member of the working class. Six hours we delayed the eviction, standing firm against three bailiffs, one locksmith and over twenty police officers. In the end it was heavy-handed intervention by those officers that forced us to end our defensive action. That time stood out in the wind and rain was vital, and ensured that family could be there to provide some level of support and safety when the eviction eventually happened.

I have been crying on and off ever since, both with rage and with sadness. United Welsh evicted a vulnerable person in a mix of greed and incompetence, refusing to negotiate when we tried to secure a deal which would have kept their tenant out of homelessness. When we lawfully prevented the eviction with our bodies, South Wales Police threatened us with arrest to ensure that it went ahead. This was cruel and callous. This was violence in the name of profit. This was class warfare.

ACORN members can hold our heads high knowing we did everything we could to stop this, that yesterday we carried out our duty to our communities to the best of our abilities. The naked show of force by the authorities yesterday proves that our working class movement threatens the status quo. Our track record of successful eviction resistances across the UK represents a real concrete challenge to the landlord class, the profiteers ruining lives, and they have had to resort to these low methods in response to our power.

This is a class war and we need to fight back. We need to get organised, not simply talk about organising. Protests, meetings, articles, books, social media posts: these are all fine things, but they are not enough. What ACORN does is act: stand in front of bailiffs, picket letting agencies, march on landlords… in short, our primary effort is the direct disruption of “business as usual”. And we do this not once but many times, escalating and evolving our tactics to force wins. Our organisation builds itself not by drawing in the usual suspects, the faces you see at every protest, but by knocking on doors – going directly to ordinary people and hearing their concerns, showing them that collective action can improve their lives and the lives of their neighbours.

Every tenant is just a few steps away from the same situation: bailiffs on their doorstep. We have to be ready to prevent that – to change the worst day in someone’s life into the moment they discovered that they weren’t alone, that ordinary people, neighbours and strangers alike, had come to defend them. Real, serious politics begins on the doorsteps of the masses – not where there are thousands of activists but where there are millions of working class people. Without that mass basis we are nothing, and we will achieve nothing. Victory will come only to a movement ready to stand on those doorsteps, to grow grass roots and sharp teeth.

As I say, it’s one thing to know there’s a class war going on, and another thing to wage it. That’s why I believe that every working class person in Wales who cares about keeping their neighbours safe and building the mass basis needed for systemic change joins ACORN the Union. Together we must make sure this never happens to anyone again. I am proud to be an ACORN member, and proud to say that when a member of my community was threatened, I did something about it. I will never forget what happened yesterday, and neither should you.

Join ACORN here: https://www.acorntheunion.org.uk/join