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Aren't we for building a true revolutionary program?

category international | anarchist movement | debate author Thursday February 01, 2007 06:02author by Manuel Baptista (personal capacity) - «Luta Social» Colective and «AC-Interpro» Unionauthor email manuelbap at yahoo dot com Report this post to the editors

We need to understand that our discourse and our phraseology are pointless to the overwhelming majority of workers...


Aren't we for building a true revolutionary program?


We need to understand that our discourse and our phraseology are pointless to the overwhelming majority of workers. But this doesn't mean that we have to reform deeply our fundamental views on socialism, revolution, class struggle and other related topics. On the contrary, there are too many instances where our insights, our intuitions or our scientific analysis has proved to be the most adequate, though despised by most of the authoritarian left, or else ignored and then adopted without credit being given to the true authors.

This means that we are fundamentally right in most issues, but despite that we are hardly able to make our theories and analysis understood by the public at large.

It's true we have been confined for decades in a ghetto, but it is also true that for about a decade now, we have been going through a revival in many countries, we have broken the walls of silence and we can speak almost freely in most of the rich countries and in a few of the so-called Third World countries.

But to go beyond this, we urgently need to give ourselves some new tools. One of those tools, is - I believe - a common international program, that can rally under our banner not only the people who already share part or all of our ideas, but most importantly the many millions who really have no idea about what we stand for.

This is the reason why I write this letter to you all, because I am deeply convinced that it would be very positive if our local collectives joined a discussion on a program, pointing out what it should be like and how to put it into practice in widely varying conditions and in various countries. And it seems to me that Anarkismo.net is the ideal place and time to launch the debate on this issue.

The anarchist and revolutionary movement has been devoid of any serious attempt to build a revolutionary program. The last serious one was the (in a sense, failed) attempt by the authors of the "Organizational Platform".

It is clear that the conditions today are totally different from those of the late 1920s, and we are still in a fog concerning many important questions. But all these points have to be cleared up so that we can take the challenge of anarchist-communism into the struggles of the 21st century. Below are a few points I think this discussion could fruitfully address.

- We do want the revolution: we have to know exactly what we are talking about.

- We know that oppressive methods become more and more sophisticated. We should also be able to cope with them and be even more sophisticated in our revolutionary practice.

But we know as well that for revolution to be successful, we also need a building pathway, including our own institutions, or wider class institutions, focused on the various fields of the class war.

And finally, we are really committed to a deep and meaningful change in society, worldwide, because we know there are enormous advantages at individual, group and humanity levels that come with such changes. We need to describe some variables of the future organization of society, even if we lack - and don't want - something like a "model".

Even if you disagree with the way I have phrased my ideas, I think you might agree with me that it could the right moment to launch such a discussion. We can hardly ignore that the existance of such a program, accepted by the wide majority of the anarchist communist collectives world-wide, would enhance our organisational capacity, it would improve our strategies for struggle, etc.

We could arrange some meetings on this subject; we could even call a congress or similar if it were considered worthwhile and were endorsed, at least, by some of our organisations.

Waiting for your feedback

Solidariedade (solidarity),
Manuel Baptista
(in personal capacity)

manuelbap@yahoo.com

author by nestor - Anarkismopublication date Thu Feb 01, 2007 23:55author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This article in French:

Related Link: http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=4799
author by nestor - Anarkismopublication date Wed Feb 14, 2007 21:20author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This article in Italian:

Related Link: http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=4905
author by nestor - Anarkismopublication date Thu Feb 15, 2007 21:54author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This article in Portuguese:

Related Link: http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=4912
author by Kim Keyser - Anarkismopublication date Tue Feb 27, 2007 00:14author address Oslo, Norwayauthor phone Report this post to the editors

You raise some very important and constructive issues Manuel. Like you say, an international progam could potentially be of tremendous value. It have to be well formulated and persuading, unequivocal and clear, concise and at the same time comprehensive, and last but not least it must possess the ability to rally all libertarian communists through consensus (it must be voted upon as well, but it should be good enough for people to just adopt naturally, because of its universal application). And it should serve as the ideological foundation of a stable international libertarian communist organization.

You wrote that Anarkismo.net seems to be the ideal place, and now seems to be the ideal time, to launch this debate. Well, maybe you're right about the place, but I think you're wrong about the time (as evidenced in the few responses hitherto). The local, regional and national organizations are unfortunately still minuscule. The development and decision making process behind such a program would therefore require more of our scarce resources than what it would give back.

If someone - whether a person or group - writes such an excellent suggestion that the collectives and organizations will adopt it naturally, it would be damn nice! (the "Organizational Platform" currently works as such a rallying point, but it's obviously inadequate). However, this will probably not happen. I think we deliberately have to start such a colletive process you're talking about.

The right time for this would be when at least a few of the regional/national organizations are big enough to put aside resources for such a project (I don't want to set an artificial limit here, but at least three organizations with at least 500 active members each, seems to me to be a reasonable minimal requirement). In the meantime Anarkismo and other places work alright for informal discussion and coordination. Also in the meantime, it's each organization's responsibility to harmonize programs, names, principles, logos, graphic profiles, websites, etc. as much as possible, without neglecting local work and without sacrificing too much of their valuable time in "paper internationals" (this is a point which I think could be improved).

I think the "Building an Anarchist International" policy paper of the Workers Solidarity Movement in Ireland basically puts it well (http://wsm.ie/story/848):

"[...] 6. Such an international organisation is more than a loose network of like-minded groups. It is not a paper body. It only has a purpose if it can contribute to the anarchist movement. Therefore it only becomes real when based on a number of sizable organisations. Anything less would need finance, administration, translation, publications, and conferences but would not be capable of making the return necessary to justify this expenditure of resources."

So to sum it up: I totally agree with you about the need for such a program, but I think it's premature. Do you agree?

One last point I want to address: Your claim that "We need to understand that our discourse and our phraseology are pointless to the overwhelming majority of workers..." are unfortunately true, straight to the point and can not be exaggerated(!). Here in Norway I try to formulate our tendency not as revolutionaries who want to crush the state by armed insurrection, in order to establish Anarchy (as you said: "pointless to the overwhelming majority"). I rather try to formulate our tendency as ultra-democrats who'd like to see the economic dictatorship we live in replaced by economic democracy trough a directly democratic mass strike, in order to reach a society based on direct democratic councils (at least a bit more relevant to most people, I hope).

I'd be interested in learning more about how you think the way we communicate with our fellow (non-anarchist) workers, students, residents, friends, etc. can be improved (at least that won't be premature to discuss - rather long overdue!)

author by Manuel Baptista - Luta Socialpublication date Wed Feb 28, 2007 04:13author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Happy to discuss with you this important and relevant subject.

But why are you telling it is not the right time for it?~It seems to me that it is...

But let's discuss the thema instead of whether it is the right moment or not...

Comradly,
Manuel Baptista
(pers. cap.)

 
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