Code of Ethics for Members of Workers' Solidarity
〈노동자 연대〉 구독
Political Discussion and Debate
Even when political discussions and debates become heated, clarifying our ideas through such exchanges is something encouraged throughout our organization.
All members should strive to ensure that discussions and debates take place freely. Every member should be encouraged to contribute as much as possible and to feel respected in the organization. Members must not use any language that reinforces negative stereotypes or prejudices against oppressed or marginalized groups.
We should always use respectful language and avoid insults or demeaning remarks.
Intimidation or any form of physical threat will not be tolerated.
Examples of Unacceptable Discriminatory Conduct
Inappropriate Gender-Related Behavior
Sexual harassment refers to any unwanted sexual behavior. It includes actions that disregard another person’s dignity, create a threatening, hostile, humiliating, or unpleasant atmosphere, whether in intent or in effect.
Some actions can constitute sexual harassment even if no harm was intended was not directed at a specific person.
Dating violence or domestic violence refers to physical, sexual, financial, emotional, or psychological abuse (including coercive control) that occurs within an intimate relationship.
Consent is central to all sexual relationships. Consent must always be given on free and voluntary conditions. There can be no genuine consent if someone is under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or is under pressure or coercion from someone else. Consent given once does not imply ongoing or future consent.
We recognize that our organization is not a miniature version of a future communist society. Capitalism exerts a powerful influence on all of us, even though we collectively strive to overcome it. Because of the pressures of the society we live in, even relationships which members have entered into voluntarily can be unequal. Such inequalities can give rise to discriminatory or unacceptable behavior.
We take all inappropriate gender-related behavior very seriously.Such matters should always be discussed with the Disputes Committee (see below for more information). Organizations that support victims of sexual harassment, dating violence, or domestic violence are also listed at the end of this document.
Examples of inappropriate gender-related behavior include but are not limited to:
- Comments or jokes on others’ looks, questions about their sex life, or other verbal or written remarks of a sexual nature
- Sexist or derogatory language or writing that demean women
- Showing others pornographic or sexually explicit images
- Sending sexual content through email or social media when it is unwanted
- Repeatedly asking someone on a date when it is clear they are not interested
- Taking or distributing photos or videos of someone’s body without their consent, or owning or sharing such material even if it was originally recorded with consent
- Unwanted physical contact or touching
- Sexual assault
Discrimination and Hate Toward Sexual Minorities
We respect everyone’s sexual orientation and gender self-determination.If you are unsure how to address someone, ask them and respect their choice.
We oppose all forms of homophobia. We also recognize that although homophobia and biphobia overlap, bisexual people face unique forms of discrimination. For example, saying that “bisexuals are just confused and are really either gay or straight” is a form of such prejudice.
We respect everyone’s right to determine their own gender and recognize non-binary identities—identities that do not conform to the male-female binary. We should all be mindful that people who are going through gender transition often experience a particularly difficult period in their lives.
Racism
We oppose all forms of racism and discrimination based on race, religion, skin color, or country of origin. Migrant workers from countries poorer than South Korea face various forms of discrimination, but they deserve equal rights with Korean nationals. Members should make a conscious effort to show warmth and solidarity toward migrants and refugees, who often facediscrimination in employment, education, and other aspects of life. This includes special attention to migrant women suffering from domestic violence.
We reject stereotypes that portray migrants or refugees as potential criminals, or as people who take jobs and welfare from locals. It is Islamophobic to assume that Muslims are inherently dangerous or that Muslim women wear hijab only because of male coercion or a patriarchal worldview.
As of the end of 2019, there are about 30,000 North Korean refugees living in South Korea. They have often been used by the South Korean ruling class as a tool to prove the supposed superiority of Western imperialism and South Korean capitalism. We must ensure that their suffering is not exploited by the right.
Members should seek to understand the economic, linguistic, and cultural challenges faced by migrants—including differences in food, clothing, and religion.
Ableism (Discrimination Against People with Disabilities)
“People with disabilities” include those who experience physical or sensory impairments, learning difficulties, cognitive disabilities, chronic illnesses that affect daily life, neurodivergent conditions1, or mental distress.2
Discriminatory behavior toward people with disabilities includes using insulting language or excluding disabled members from activities. We must ensure that no member is prevented from participating in organizational events because of a disability, and we should be attentive to members experiencing mental distress.
What to Do If You Experience or Witness Unacceptable Behavior
All members should feel empowered to raise concerns if unacceptable behavior occurs—whether it happens online, in person, or involves a leading member.
If the issue is relatively minor, it may be often the case that the issue will be first addressed informally (for example, talking directly with the person involved) at local branches or other sections of the organization where we regularly organize and discuss politics. If that fails, a formal report should be made using the contact information below. All members must take concerns regarding inappropriate behavior seriously and may seek assistance from the Disputes Committee or the Steering Committee.
Any issue that may require disciplinary action—such as suspension, change in membership status, or other disciplinary measures—must always be reported to the Disputes Committee or the Steering Committee.
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Current Disputes Committee procedure: https://ws.or.kr/page/procedure-and-terms
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Disputes Committee contact: ws.dc.mail@gmail.com
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Steering Committee contact (National Secretary): ws.no.mail@gmail.com
If you are unsure about the nature of an incident—whether what happened constitutes a violation—you can seek help from the Disputes Committee to clarify the issue and decide on next steps. It may also be helpful to speak with a trusted friend or a professional counselor who can maintain confidentiality.
Complaints or reports involving inappropriate sexual behavior should be submitted without delay to the Disputes Committee.
Appendix: External Support Organizations
(The following are organizations recommended by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family as of September 2023.)
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Women’s Emergency Hotline 1366
Provides crisis counseling and emergency shelters for victims of violence.
☎ 1366 (available 24 hours) -
Counseling Centers for Domestic and Sexual Violence Victims
http://www.mogef.go.kr/inc/fs_fsc_s003.do?mid=fsc300 -
Sunflower Center (Haebaragi Center)
Provides psychological, medical, investigative, and legal support for victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, and sex trafficking, as well as their families. -
Workplace Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Reporting Center
Anonymous counseling before filing a report: ☎ 02-735-7544 (Weekdays 10:00–17:00.
On holidays, contact Women’s Emergency Hotline 1366.)
Supplement to the Code of Ethics for Workers’ Solidarity Members
The Members’ Code of Ethics focuses on maintaining healthy and constructive relationships among members. However, from the outset, we rejected the resolutist approach of attempting to address every conceivable specific case, and instead focused on inappropriate conduct related to major forms of discrimination, including those based on gender, sexuality, race, and physical or mental conditions.
Looking back, our organization has had a tendency to live a political life that is only outward-looking and forward-driven. We have devoted ourselves to engaging with social conflicts and, above all, to participating in workers’ struggles. As a result, we have sometimes neglected to look inward or to pay careful attention to relationships among individual members.
Our experiences over the past years have shown us that we must be more sensitive to such issues. We have been slandered as an “organization responsible for sexual violence” (“secondary aggression against a victim of sexual violence” to be more precise). At the same time, some radical feminists—with their fixation on denouncing individual men under the banner of fighting sexual violence—harbor deep hostility toward Leninist politics and organizations. In our dealings with such people, we have been painfully reminded of how the profound fragmentation of capitalist society alienates people from one another to such an extent that many individuals succumb to individualism and selfishness, falling prey to relativist, pragmaticist attitudes that care little for the truth.
We have also realized, anew, that we are not immune from the influence of the society around us. Even members of a revolutionary organization internalize, to some degree, the unevenness of consciousness within the working class as a whole. Thus, we are not completely free from the backward ideas held by broad layers of people. This may not be a new phenomenon, but our recent experiences have made us feel its impact more acutely.
Under such conditions, we need not only the virtue of patience, but also norms that regulate relationships among individual members, in order to prevent the formation of strained or conflict-ridden personal relationships. Some members may display an insensitivity to personal gender awareness and sensitivity, especially as a reaction to strands of radical feminism that focus almost exclusively on sexual violence and blame individual men. Whereas feminism of that kind is excessively individualistic, neglect of individual gender sensitivity is a form of insensitivity. Those who are insensitive fail to recognize that women who join a socialist organization—precisely because they experience discrimination in society—may still feel personally slighted or disrespected by certain men within the organization. Women members must never feel inside the organization the same sense of discrimination they sometimes or often experience in their families, schools, or workplaces.
A good socialist rejects individualism but never rejects personal autonomy or individuality. If individualism means selfishness and acting without regard for others, autonomy and individuality are essential components of socialist politics.
It is in this spirit that the Members’ Code of Ethics has been written. Merely following the Code in a formal sense will not, by itself, prevent conflicts or tensions among members. What truly matters is putting into practice the spirit embodied in the Code and its individual provisions.
At the heart of that spirit lies political trust among members. Lenin emphasized that no amount of talk about democratic centralism can substitute for political trust between comrades. One particularly difficult situation arises when an organizer lacks competence. In this case, as Gramsci noted, the proper starting point for improvement is the recognition that “leadership is not domination.” If ‘leadership’ is mistaken for ‘domination’ (control), a leader may easily behave like a workplace boss. True leadership, as Tony Cliff once described, resembles the relationship among fellow members of a strike committee: leadership should not be assumed infallible, nor should it resemble the hierarchical relationship between a superior and a subordinate. Comrades should discuss, debate, and cooperate constructively. Refusing to cooperate because of debates, or avoiding debate for the sake of cooperation, are both unproductive and lead to destructive outcomes and relationships. On the basis of mutual trust, the Members’ Code of Ethics can serve as a valuable guide.
February 10, 2020
Workers’ Solidarity
- The term “neurodiversity” refers to natural variations in human brains that affect sociability, learning, attention, mood, and other mental functions. It rejects the pathologization of conditions such as autism or Asperger’s syndrome and emphasizes that neurological differences should be accepted and respected like any other form of human diversity.↩
- Disability advocacy groups define disability as the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by the way modern society is organized—when it fails to accommodate people with physical or mental impairments. Terms such as psychological distress, mental health problems, or mental illness are used by mental health professionals and some of mental health services users to describe the range of human mental symptoms and experiences that may be painful, confusing, or considered outside the norm.↩