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Διεθνή / Αναρχικό κίνημα / Ανακοίνωση Τύπου Saturday May 07, 2022 23:58 byΔιάφορες αναρχικές οργανώσεις

Πρώτη Μαΐου 1886! Σήμερα, πριν από 136 χρόνια, η αμερικανική εργατική τάξη δημιούργησε μια ανεκτίμητη εμπειρία για τους μετέπειτα αγώνες των εργατικών τάξεων σε όλο τον κόσμο, λέγοντας "αυτός ο αγώνας είναι ο τελευταίος μας αγώνας!". Παραμένει μια νίκη μέχρι σήμερα. Το αίτημα "8 ώρες δουλειά, 8 ώρες ξεκούραση, 8 ώρες για ό,τι θέλουμε" για να αντικαταστήσει τις 16 ώρες εργασίας και τις επιθέσεις του καπιταλισμού που στόχευαν τις ζωές των εργατικών τάξεων τότε, τον 19ο αιώνα, έγινε γενική απεργία στην Αμερική. Η γενική απεργία ήταν ένα από τα σημαντικότερα όπλα της αναρχικής δράσης που συνέβαλε στην ιστορία της ταξικής πάλης.

Για τους αναρχικούς, ο αγώνας για το 8ωρο δεν θεωρήθηκε ποτέ ως ένα απλό αίτημα για μεταρρύθμιση. Οι αναρχικοί αγωνίστηκαν να την αντικαταστήσουν με μια κοινωνική επανάσταση, με τον ισχυρισμό ότι "ανεξάρτητα από τις ώρες εργασίας μας, είτε είναι 2 ώρες είτε 8 ώρες, είναι δουλεία αν δουλεύουμε για τα αφεντικά".

Το κέντρο αυτού του μεγάλου αγώνα ήταν το Σικάγο, ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα βιομηχανικά κέντρα των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών εκείνη την εποχή. Το Σικάγο ήταν ταυτόχρονα το σημαντικότερο κέντρο αναρχικής δράσης. Εκατοντάδες χιλιάδες εργάτες έδωσαν το παρόν στα εργοστάσια και στους δρόμους για να αγωνιστούν για το 8ωρο. Οι Pinkertons, ιδιωτική αστυνομία που πληρώνονταν από τους καπιταλιστές, επιτέθηκαν σε απεργούς εργάτες στο εργοστάσιο McCormick. Οι δολοφόνοι έσφαξαν τέσσερις άοπλους εργάτες.

Την επόμενη ημέρα οργανώθηκε διαδήλωση στη Haymarket. Στο τέλος της διαδήλωσης, καθώς η αστυνομία προσπαθούσε να εκκενώσει την πλατεία, ρίχτηκε μια βόμβα. Η ταυτότητα του ρίπτη είναι άγνωστη μέχρι σήμερα. Λίγο αργότερα, όλες οι αναρχικές εκδόσεις έκλεισαν, χιλιάδες εργάτες συνελήφθησαν και η υπόθεση Haymarket πυροδότησε μια συνεχιζόμενη σύγκρουση εναντίον της εργατικής τάξης.

Ο Grinnell, ο αστός εισαγγελέας, είπε: "Η αναρχία κρίνεται. Καλοί ένορκοι, καταδικάστε αυτούς τους ανθρώπους, παραδειγματίστε τους, κρεμάστε τους. Σώστε τους θεσμούς και την κοινωνία μας". Αυτό συμβαίνει επειδή ο στόχος των οκτώ αναρχικών που καταδικάστηκαν σε θάνατο δεν ήταν απλώς το δικαίωμα να εργάζονται μόνο 8 ώρες την ημέρα- ο στόχος τους ήταν να καταστρέψουν τον καπιταλισμό, την κυριαρχία της αδικίας και της εκμετάλλευσης.

Οι Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fischer, George Engel και Louis Lingg καταδικάστηκαν σε θάνατο. Οι Oscar Neebe, Samuel Fielden και Michael Schwab φυλακίστηκαν. Αποδείχθηκε ότι οι οκτώ αναρχικοί δεν είχαν καμία σχέση με τη βομβιστική επίθεση στο Haymarket- κατηγορήθηκαν για αναρχισμό! Οι αναρχικοί στο δικαστήριο δεν υπερασπίζονταν τους εαυτούς τους, αλλά την εργατική τάξη, τον οκτάωρο αγώνα και τον αναρχισμό! Μετά την ανακοίνωση της θανατικής καταδίκης, ο Adolphe Fischer διαμαρτυρήθηκε με τα εξής λόγια:

"Εδώ δικάστηκα για φόνο αλλά καταδικάστηκα για αναρχισμό. Καταδικάστηκα επειδή ήμουν αναρχικός. Αν οι άρχουσες τάξεις νομίζουν ότι μπορούν να συντρίψουν τον αναρχισμό κρεμώντας μερικούς αναρχικούς, κάνουν λάθος. Οι αναρχικοί αγαπούν τις αρχές τους περισσότερο από τη ζωή τους. Οι αναρχικοί είναι πάντα έτοιμοι να πεθάνουν για τις ιδέες τους".
Ο Louis Lingg δεν περίμενε να πεθάνει στα χέρια του δήμιου του. Έβαλε τέλος στη ζωή του αφού έγραψε "Ζήτω η Αναρχία!" στον τοίχο του κελιού του. Οι τέσσερις αναρχικοί πήγαν στην αγχόνη λέγοντας "Ζήτω η Αναρχία". Άφησαν πίσω τους τη θέλησή τους να μη συμβιβαστούν με την καπιταλιστική τάξη και το θάρρος τους να μην παραδοθούν με οποιοδήποτε τίμημα. Και, φυσικά, την 1η Μαΐου, τη Διεθνή Ημέρα των Εργαζομένων!

Σήμερα, όλες οι εργατικές τάξεις του κόσμου πρέπει να γνωρίζουν ότι το 8ωρο κατακτήθηκε μέσα από τον ανελέητο αγώνα, μέχρι θανάτου, των αναρχικών εργατών, παρόλο που οι καπιταλιστές εξακολουθούν να εξαπατούν τους εργαζόμενους. Η Έμμα Γκόλντμαν, η οποία εντυπωσιάστηκε από τον αγώνα των αναρχικών εργατών και έγινε και η ίδια αναρχική, είπε: "Όλα όσα είναι καλά και όμορφα στον κόσμο σήμερα υπάρχουν παρά τα κράτη, όχι εξαιτίας τους". Οι καπιταλιστές ποτέ δεν έδωσαν δικαιώματα στους εργαζόμενους άνδρες και γυναίκες, τα κέρδισαν με τον αγώνα τους.

Ο καπιταλισμός συνεχίζει να καταδικάζει εκατομμύρια εργαζόμενους σε όλο τον κόσμο σε μισθωτή εργασία και πολύωρη απασχόληση, τους σκοτώνει στην εργασία, την εκμετάλλευση, την επισφάλεια, την εργασία χωρίς δικαιώματα και σε συνθήκες δουλείας. Η κατάσταση των καταπιεσμένων τάξεων του κόσμου είναι τρομερή στις διάφορες γεωγραφικές περιοχές, ιδιαίτερα στις χώρες του λεγόμενου "τρίτου κόσμου", όπου η ανεργία, η πείνα και η φτώχεια είναι απελπιστικά μεγάλες σε αυτό το νέο στάδιο της νεοφιλελεύθερης επέλασης. Ο καπιταλισμός που πολεμήσαμε με νύχια και με δόντια για εκατοντάδες χρόνια και η ατελείωτη απληστία του για κέρδος απειλεί όλους τους λαούς του κόσμου και τον ίδιο τον πλανήτη. Ο καπιταλισμός έχει σφετεριστεί τις ζωές των καταπιεσμένων τάξεων κάθε μέρα από την ίδρυσή του, με αντάλλαγμα την επιβίωση και τη συνέχιση της παραγωγής προς όφελος των κερδών και των προνομίων της άρχουσας τάξης. Ο αγώνας σήμερα είναι αγώνας ζωής ή θανάτου για όλους τους καταπιεσμένους. Γιατί σήμερα ο καπιταλισμός παρασύρει τον κόσμο σε μη αναστρέψιμες καταστροφές μαζί με τον παγκόσμιο ανταγωνισμό, τις πανδημικές κρίσεις και τους πολέμους κατά των λαών.

Οι αναρχικοί του Haymarket ήταν μετανάστες εργάτες. Ακριβώς όπως οι σημερινοί μετανάστες που χάνονται στα μακρινά ταξίδια τους στις θάλασσες του κόσμου για να επιβιώσουν, και ακριβώς όπως οι αμέτρητοι μετανάστες εργάτες που βρίσκονται μεταξύ ζωής και θανάτου στα κρατικά σύνορα.

Είμαστε αναρχικοί που αγωνιζόμαστε για τον ίδιο σκοπό σε διαφορετικές γεωγραφικές περιοχές του κόσμου και θα συνεχίσουμε τον αγώνα μας, παλεύοντας με νύχια και με δόντια με την καπιταλιστική τάξη, όπως ακριβώς και οι έντιμοι σύντροφοί μας που είπαν "Ζήτω η Αναρχία!" στην αγχόνη.

Οι σύντροφοί μας ήξεραν ότι θα νικούσαν ακόμα και αν αυτό σήμαινε να πεθάνουν. Γιατί η έναρξη μιας εξέγερσης ενάντια στον καπιταλισμό, ο οποίος, μέχρι την τελευταία σπιθαμή, είναι ένα μαρτύριο, σημαίνει νίκη! Οι κραυγές "Ζήτω η Αναρχία!" των συντρόφων μας αντικατοπτρίζονται στον αγώνα της εργατικής τάξης σήμερα. Και εμείς, ως αναρχικοί και αναρχικοί που αγκαλιάζουμε τον αγώνα τους, πρέπει να μετατρέψουμε αυτή τη φωνή σε μια οργανωμένη δύναμη που μπορεί να σκάψει τον τάφο της καπιταλιστικής τάξης που κλέβει τις ζωές μας.

Αυτή η φωνή δεν είναι κατάλοιπο του παρελθόντος, αλλά το σύνθημα του σημερινού αγώνα. Δεν υπάρχει απελευθέρωση για τους λαούς του κόσμου αν δεν εξαλείψουμε τα κράτη που μας επιβάλλουν καθημερινά νέους περιορισμούς και αν δεν δημιουργήσουμε έναν ίσο και ελεύθερο κόσμο στον οποίο δεν θα υπάρχει εξουσία ή ιδιοκτησία και τα πάντα θα ανήκουν σε όλους. Και ο δρόμος προς αυτή την απελευθέρωση περνάει μέσα από τη σπορά των σπόρων της ελευθερίας σε κάθε χώρα του κόσμου και κρατώντας ζωντανή την ελπίδα μας για έναν κόσμο χωρίς κράτη. Ωστόσο, δεν πρέπει να ξεχνάμε ότι, όπως είπε ο Μαλατέστα, "Η περιστασιακή ατομική προπαγάνδα, η οποία συχνά αποτελεί μια απλή διέξοδο για να καταπνίξει τις ασθένειες της συνείδησης, έχει ελάχιστα ή καθόλου αποτελέσματα στην επίτευξη του σκοπού της. Το χώμα είναι πολύ αχάριστο για τους σπόρους που φυτεύτηκαν τυχαία για να βλαστήσουν και να ριζώσουν". Γι' αυτό ο αγώνας μας πρέπει να φέρει υπευθυνότητα, δέσμευση, αυτοπειθαρχία και αυτοοργάνωση για την επίτευξη της ελευθερίας. Συγκεκριμένα, στη συνδικαλιστική δράση, εμείς οι αναρχικοί και οι αναρχικοί-οργανωτές υποστηρίζουμε την ανάγκη για την ανάπτυξη της καθημερινής εργασίας από τα κάτω για την προώθηση της μαχητικότητας και του πρωταγωνισμού των εργαζομένων ανδρών και γυναικών να αντισταθούν στις επιθέσεις της άρχουσας τάξης και να καταπολεμήσουν την καταπίεση. Σήμερα, που υπάρχουν νέοι τομείς εργαζομένων που εργάζονται άτυπα, με μισθούς πείνας, χωρίς δικαιώματα, πολλοί από αυτούς μετανάστες, είναι απαραίτητο να βοηθήσουμε στην οργάνωση αυτών των εργαζομένων και να αναπτύξουμε μαζί τους μεθόδους οργάνωσης και εργασίας βασισμένες στην άμεση δράση και την αλληλεγγύη.

Πρόθεση της οργανωμένης αναρχικής μαχητικότητας είναι να προωθήσει και να ενισχύσει συνδικάτα με ταξική συνείδηση, μαχητικές ομάδες μέσα στα συνδικάτα που αναπτύσσουν μια άμεση γραμμή δράσης και εμβαθύνουν τη μαχητικότητα και την οικοδόμηση εξουσίας των εργαζομένων γυναικών και ανδρών, συντονίζοντας τις προσπάθειες που αναπτύσσονται στα διάφορα συνδικάτα για να δώσουν σε αυτή τη γραμμή συνδικαλιστικής εργασίας έναν γενικότερο χαρακτήρα που μπορεί να προταθεί ως οδηγός για τους ανθρώπους που αγωνίζονται. Είναι καθήκον του συνδικάτου να προσεγγίσει και να προσφέρει αλληλεγγύη και υποστήριξη στον αγώνα άλλων οργανωμένων κοινωνικών τομέων, προκειμένου να ενισχύσει τους διάφορους τομείς των καταπιεσμένων τάξεων. Αυτή η προοπτική της μαχητικής εργασίας θα μας επιτρέψει να οικοδομήσουμε την απαραίτητη δύναμη των λαϊκών τάξεων για να αναπτύξουμε ένα βαθύ επαναστατικό σχέδιο.

Πιστεύουμε ότι για να εμβαθύνουμε τον αγώνα των καταπιεσμένων τάξεων ενάντια στη μιζέρια, την εκμετάλλευση και την καταπίεση που μας κρατάει το σύστημα της κυριαρχίας, είναι απαραίτητο να οικοδομήσουμε μια οργάνωση από τα κάτω σε όλους τους κοινωνικούς χώρους για να αντισταθούμε στις επιθέσεις της άρχουσας τάξης εναντίον του λαού μας. Μόνο μέσα από την άμεση και οργανωμένη δράση των καταπιεσμένων σε κάθε κοινωνικό χώρο μπορούμε να προχωρήσουμε προς έναν κόσμο χωρίς καταπιεστές και καταπιεσμένους. Μόνο μέσα από μια κοινωνική επανάσταση που θα βάλει τέλος σε αυτό το σύστημα θανάτου για πάντα, θα επιτύχουμε μια ζωή με αξιοπρέπεια. "Αν έστω και ένας από εμάς είναι φυλακισμένος, κανείς μας δεν είναι ελεύθερος"!

Την πρώτη Μαΐου θα είμαστε σε όλους τους δρόμους του κόσμου για να κρατήσουμε ζωντανή τη μνήμη των συντρόφων μας, να εξυψώσουμε τον αγώνα τους και να δημιουργήσουμε έναν ισότιμο και ελεύθερο κόσμο στον οποίο δεν θα υπάρχουν ιεραρχίες και ιδιοκτησίες και στον οποίο τα πάντα θα ανήκουν σε όλους. Χωρίς καταπιεστές και καταπιεσμένους. Θα φωνάξουμε τα λόγια των συντρόφων μας που είπαν: "Θα έρθει μια μέρα που η σιωπή μας θα είναι πιο δυνατή από τις φωνές που πνίγετε σήμερα!" Και αυτή η φωνή θα συνεχίσει να προκαλεί φόβο στην καπιταλιστική τάξη, όχι μόνο αυτή την Πρωτομαγιά, αλλά κάθε μέρα. Πρωτομαγιά, στους δρόμους, στον αγώνα με τη δύναμη του οργανωμένου αναρχισμού!

Ζήτω η Πρωτομαγιά!
Ζήτω ο αγώνας για την ελευθερία της εργατικής τάξης!
Ζήτω η αναρχία! Ζήτω η επανάσταση!

☆ Anarchist Communist Group (ACG) – Μεγάλη Βρετανία
☆ Alternativa Libertaria (AL/FdCA) – Ιταλία
☆ Αναρχική Ομοσπονδία (Anarchist Federation) – Ελλάδα
☆ Coordenação Anarquista Brasileira (CAB) – Βραζιλία
☆ Federación Anarquista de Rosario (FAR) – Αργεντινή
☆ Federación Anarquista Uruguaya (FAU) – Ουρουγουάη
☆ Die Plattform – Γερμανία
☆ Embat, Organització Llibertària de Catalunya – Καταλονία
☆ Federación Anarquista de Santiago (FAS) – Χιλή
☆ Grupo Libertario Vía Libre – Κολομβία
☆ Karala – Τουρκία
☆ Libertäre Aktion (LA) – Ελβετία
☆ Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) – Αυστραλία
☆ Organización Anarquista de Córdoba (OAC) – Ατγεντινή
☆ Organización Anarquista de Santa Cruz (OASC) – Αργεντινή
☆ Organización Anarquista de Tucumán (OAT) – Αργεντινή
☆ Organisation Socialiste Libertaire (OSL) – Ελβετία
☆ Roja y Negra Organización Politíca Anarquista - Αργεντινή
☆ Union Communiste Libertaire (UCL) – Γαλλία, Βέλγιο & Ελβετία

uluslararası / anarşist hareketin / press release Friday May 06, 2022 23:54 byÇeşitli anarşist örgütler

1 Mayıs 1886! 136 yıl önce Amerika işçi sınıfının “bu kavga en sonuncu kavgamızdır artık!” diyerek başlattığı mücadele, ardında tüm dünya işçi sınıfı için paha biçilemez bir deneyim ve zafer bıraktı. 19. Yüzyılda 16 saate kadar varan çalışma sürelerine ve kapitalizmin, işçi sınıfının yaşamını hedef alan saldırılarına karşılık “8 saat iş, 8 saat uyku, 8 saat canımız ne isterse” talebi, 1 Mayıs 1886’da tüm Amerika’da bir genel greve dönüştü. Genel Grev, anarşist hareketin sınıf mücadelesi tarihine kazandırdığı en önemli silahlardan biriydi.

8 saat mücadelesi, anarşistler tarafından hiçbir zaman basit bir reform talebi olarak görülmedi. “Patronlar için çalışıyorsak, 2 saat çalışmak da köleliktir, 8 saat çalışmak da” diyen anarşistler, 8 saat mücadelesini toplumsal devrim mücadelesine dönüştürmek için mücadele ettiler.

1 Mayıs için Enternasyonal Anarşist Bildiri: Yaşasın Anarşizm! Yaşasın Devrim!

1 Mayıs 1886! 136 yıl önce Amerika işçi sınıfının “bu kavga en sonuncu kavgamızdır artık!” diyerek başlattığı mücadele, ardında tüm dünya işçi sınıfı için paha biçilemez bir deneyim ve zafer bıraktı. 19. Yüzyılda 16 saate kadar varan çalışma sürelerine ve kapitalizmin, işçi sınıfının yaşamını hedef alan saldırılarına karşılık “8 saat iş, 8 saat uyku, 8 saat canımız ne isterse” talebi, 1 Mayıs 1886’da tüm Amerika’da bir genel greve dönüştü. Genel Grev, anarşist hareketin sınıf mücadelesi tarihine kazandırdığı en önemli silahlardan biriydi.

8 saat mücadelesi, anarşistler tarafından hiçbir zaman basit bir reform talebi olarak görülmedi. “Patronlar için çalışıyorsak, 2 saat çalışmak da köleliktir, 8 saat çalışmak da” diyen anarşistler, 8 saat mücadelesini toplumsal devrim mücadelesine dönüştürmek için mücadele ettiler.

Bu büyük mücadelenin merkezi, ABD’nin o dönemlerde en büyük sanayi merkezlerinden biri olan Chicago’ydu. Chicago, aynı zamanda anarşist hareketin de en güçlü olduğu merkezdi. Yüzbinlerce işçi sokaklarda, fabrikalarda “8 saat çalışma süresi” mücadelesini haykırıyordu. McGormick fabrikasında, kapitalistlerin paralı ajanları, işçi katili Pinkertonlar, greve çıkan işçilere saldırdı. Silahsız işçilere ateş açan katiller, 4 işçiyi katletti.

Ertesi gün Haymarket’te bir miting düzenlendi. Burada polislerin işçilere saldırması üzerine kim tarafından atıldığı bugün bile belli olmayan bir bombadan sonra, kapitalist sınıfın paralı askerleri işçilere ateş açtılar. Devamında işçi sınıfına karşı başlayan sürek avında ilk önce tüm anarşist yayınlar kapatıldı, binlerce işçi tutuklandı ve Haymarket davası başladı.

Burjuvazinin savcısı Grinnell, “Anarşi yargılanıyor. Jürinin iyi insanları, bu adamları mahkum edin, onları örnek yapın, asın onları. Kurumlarımızı, toplumumuzu kurtarın.” diyordu. Çünkü idamla yargılanan 8 anarşistin hedefi, yalnızca 8 saat çalışma hakkı değil; bir adaletsizlik ve sömürü düzeni olan kapitalizmi tümüyle ortadan kaldırmaktı.

Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fischer, George Engel ve Louis Lingg idama mahkum edildi. Oscar Neebe, Samuel Fielden ve Michael Schwab’e hapis cezaları verildi. Sekiz anarşistin hiçbirinin Haymarket’te patlayan bombayla bir alakasının olmadığı kanıtlansa da, anarşistler bombalamayla değil, anarşizmle suçlanıyorlardı! Mahkemedeki anarşistler, kendilerini değil işçi sınıfını, 8 saat mücadelesini ve anarşizmi savundular! Adolph Fischer idam cezasının açıklanmasından sonra şu sözlerle meydan okudu:

“Burada cinayetten yargılandım ama anarşizmden hüküm giydim. Anarşist olduğum için mahkum edildim. Eğer egemen sınıflar bizi asarak, birkaç anarşisti asarak anarşizmi ezebileceklerini düşünürlerse fena yanılırlar. Anarşistler, ilkelerini yaşamlarından daha çok severler. Anarşistler, düşünceleri için ölmeye her zaman hazırdır.”
Louis Lingg ölümünü celladının eline bırakmadı. Hücresinin duvarına “Yaşasın Anarşizm” yazarak kendi yaşamına son verdi. 4 anarşist, “Yaşasın Anarşizm” diyerek idam sehpasına çıktılar. Arkalarında, kapitalist sınıfla uzlaşmaz bir irade ve ne pahasına olursa olsun vazgeçmeyen bir cesaret bıraktılar. Bir de 1 Mayıs Uluslararası İşçi Dayanışma ve Mücadele Günü!

Bugün tüm dünya işçi sınıfı bilmelidir ki; -kapitalistler hala çalmaya çalışsalar da- 8 saat çalışma hakkı, anarşist işçilerin ölüm pahasına verdikleri amansız mücadeleyle kazanılmıştır. Anarşist işçilerin mücadelesinden etkilenerek mücadeleye katılan Emma Goldman’ın deyimiyle; “bugün dünyada iyiye ve güzele dair olan her ne varsa bunlar devletlere rağmen vardır, onlar sayesinde değil”. Kapitalistler hiçbir zaman işçilere bir şey vermedi. İşçiler, mücadeleyle kazandılar.

Kapitalizm bugün de tüm dünyada milyonlarca işçiyi ücretli emeğe, uzun çalışma saatlerine mahkum ediyor, iş cinayetlerinde, sömürü, güvencesizlik, ve kölelik koşullarında ve hakları olmadan çalıştırarak katlediyor. Dünyadaki tüm ezilenler korkunç bir durumda, başta “üçüncü dünya” ülkeleri olmak üzere kapitalizmin bu yeni aşamasında işsizlik, açlık ve yoksulluk seviyeleri birbirinden farklı coğrafyalarda oldukça vahim. Yüzlerce yıldır dişe diş mücadele ettiğimiz kapitalizm ve onun bitmek bilmeyen kâr hırsı dünya halklarının tümünü ve gezegenin varlığını tehdit ediyor. Kapitalizm en başından beri olduğu gibi ezilen sınıfların yaşamlarını, hayatta kalarak üretimi devam ettirmek karşılığında, ezen sınıfın kâr ve ayrıcalıkları yararına her gün gasp ediyor. Bugün mücadele tüm ezilenler için ölüm kalım mücadelesidir. Çünkü bugün kapitalizm, küresel rekabetle, pandemik krizlerle, halka karşı yapılan savaşlarla; dünyayı geri dönülmez felaketlere sürüklemektedir.

Haymarket anarşistleri, göçmen işçilerdi. Tıpkı bugün, hayatta kalabilmek uğruna çıktıkları uzun yolculuklarda, dünyanın okyanuslarında kaybedilen, devletlerin sınır kapılarında yaşamla ölüm arasında kalan sayısız göçmen gibi.

Bizler bugün, aynı mücadeleyi dünyanın farklı coğrafyalarında yürüten anarşistleriz. Ve sınıfımızın onurlu kahramanları olan ve idam sehpalarında “Yaşasın Anarşizm!” diyen yoldaşlarımız gibi kapitalist sınıfla dişe diş mücadeleyi dünyanın dört bir yanında sürdürüyoruz.

Yoldaşlarımız, bu mücadelede öldürülseler bile kazanacaklarını biliyorlardı. Çünkü tepeden tırnağa bir işkence olan kapitalizme karşı isyanı başlatmak, kazanmaktır! Yoldaşlarımızın “Yaşasın Anarşizm!” haykırışları, bugün hala işçi sınıfı mücadelesinde yankılanıyor. Ve onların mücadelesini sahiplenen biz anarşistlere; bu sesi, yaşamlarımızı çalan kapitalist sınıfın mezarını kazacak olan örgütlü güce dönüştürmek düşüyor.

Bu ses, tarihin derinlerinde bir kalıntı değil, bugünün mücadelesinin de parolasıdır. Bizleri her gün yeni sınırlara sıkıştırmaya çalışan devleti, her saniye hayatımızı çalan kapitalizmi ortadan kaldırarak; her şeyin herkese ait olduğu, mülkiyetin ve otoritenin olmadığı özgür ve adil dünyayı yaratmadan, dünya halkları için kurtuluş yoktur. Ve bu kurtuluşun yolu, devletsiz bir dünya umudumuzu diri tutarak, özgürlüğün tohumlarını dünyanın tüm topraklarına ekmekten geçer. Ancak unutulmamalıdır ki, Malatesta’nın dediği gibi “Çoğunlukla vicdani rahatsızlıkları dindirmek için basit bir çıkış yolu olan ve ara sıra ortaya çıkan tek tek propagandalar, amaca ulaşmada çok az etkilidir ya da hiç etkili değildir. Toprak, filizlenip kök salması için gelişi güzel ekilen tohumlara karşı çok nankördür.” Bu yüzden mücadelemiz, özgürlük için gereken sorumluluğu, özveriyi, özdisiplini ve öz örgütlülüğü içinde taşımalıdır.

Açıklamak gerekirse, örgütsel eylemde, biz örgütlü anarşistler egemen sınıfın saldırılarına direnmek ve baskıya karşı savaşmak için işçilerin mücadeleciliğini ve kahramanlığını teşvik etmek için günlük çalışmanın aşağıdan inşa edilmesi gerekliliğini savunuyoruz. Bugün, kayıt dışı, açlık ücretleriyle, hiçbir hakkı olmadan, çoğu göçmen olan yeni işçi sektörleri varken, bu işçilerin örgütlenmesine yardımcı olmak ve onlarla birlikte doğrudan eylem ve dayanışmaya dayalı örgütlenme ve çalışma yöntemlerini geliştirmek gerekir.

Örgütlü anarşizmin amacı, sınıf örgütleri içerisinde doğrudan eylem hattı geliştirip mücadeleyi derinleştirerek militan bir örgütlenme için işçilerin gücünün inşasını desteklemek; sınıfın farklı örgütlenmelerinde mücadele eden insanlar için bir rehber olarak, daha bütünlüklü bir mücadele çabalarını koordine etmektir. Ezilen sınıfların farklı kesimlerini güçlendirmek için diğer örgütlü toplumsal kesimlerin mücadelesine ulaşmak ve onlara dayanışma ve destek sunmak örgütün görevidir. Bu militan mücadele perspektifi, güçlü bir devrimci pratik geliştirmek için eziln sınıfların örgütlü gücünü inşa etmemizi sağlayacaktır.

Devlet ve kapitalizmin yarattığı sefalet, sömürü ve baskıya karşı ezilen sınıfların mücadelesini derinleştirmek için, egemen sınıfın halklara yönelik saldırılarına direnmek için tüm toplumsal alanlarda aşağıdan örgütlenmenin inşa edilmesi gerektiğine inanıyoruz. Ezenlerin ve ezilenlerin olmadığı bir dünyaya ancak her toplumsal alanda ezilenlerin doğrudan ve örgütlü eylemiyle ilerleyebiliriz. Yalnızca bu ölüm sistemini kökünden kazıyacak toplumsal devrim yoluyla onurlu bir yaşama ulaşabiliriz. “Birimiz bile tutsaksak, hiçbirimiz özgür değiliz!”

1 Mayıs’ta yoldaşlarımızın anılarını yaşatmak, kavgalarını büyütmek ve her şeyin herkese ait olduğu, mülkiyetin ve otoritenin, ezenlerin ve ezilenlerin olmadığı özgür ve adil bir dünyayı yaratmak için dünyanın tüm sokaklarında olacağız.

“Sessizliğimizin, bugün boğduğunuz seslerden daha güçlü olduğu bir gün gelecek!” diyen yoldaşlarımızın sesini, dünyanın tüm sokaklarında haykıracağız. Ve bu ses, kapitalist sınıfın yalnızca bu 1 Mayıs’ta değil, her gün korkusu olmaya devam edecek. 1 Mayıs’ta örgütlü anarşizmin gücüyle sokağa, kavgaya, mücadeleye!

Yaşasın 1 Mayıs!
Yaşasın İşçi Sınıfının Özgürlük Mücadelesi!
Yaşasın Anarşizm! Yaşasın Devrim!

☆ Anarchist Communist Group (ACG) – Büyük Britanya
☆ Alternativa Libertaria (AL/FdCA) – İtalya
☆ Αναρχική Ομοσπονδία (Anarchist Federation) – Yunanistan
☆ Coordenação Anarquista Brasileira (CAB) – Brezilya
☆ Federación Anarquista de Rosario (FAR) – Arjantin
☆ Federación Anarquista Uruguaya (FAU) – Uruguay
☆ Die Plattform – Almanya
☆ Embat, Organització Llibertària de Catalunya – Katalonya
☆ Federación Anarquista de Santiago (FAS) – Şili
☆ Grupo Libertario Vía Libre – Kolombiya
☆ Karala – Türkiye
☆ Libertäre Aktion (LA) – İsviçre
☆ Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) – Avustralya
☆ Organización Anarquista de Córdoba (OAC) – Arjantin
☆ Organización Anarquista de Santa Cruz (OASC) – Arjantin
☆ Organización Anarquista de Tucumán (OAT) – Arjantin
☆ Organisation Socialiste Libertaire (OSL) – İsviçre
☆ Roja y Negra Organización Politíca Anarquista - Arjantin
☆ Union Communiste Libertaire (UCL) – Fransa, Belçika ve İsviçre

international / anarchist movement / opinion / analysis Tuesday May 03, 2022 23:02 byFelipe Corrêa

The present text aims to discuss, from a theoretical-historical perspective, some organizational issues related to anarchism. It responds to the assertion, constantly repeated, that anarchist ideology or doctrine is essentially spontaneous and contrary to organization. Returning to the debate among anarchists about organization, this article maintains that there are three fundamental positions on the matter: those who are against organization and / or defend informal formations in small groups (anti-organizationism); supporters of organization only at the mass level (syndicalism and communitarianism), and those who point out the need for organization on two levels, the political-ideological and the mass (organizational dualism).

This text delves into the positions of the third current, bringing theoretical elements from Mikhail Bakunin and then presenting a historical case in which the anarchists held, in theory and in practice, that position: the activity of the Federation of Anarchist Communists of Bulgaria (FAKB) between the twenties and forties of the twentieth century.

[Português] [Castellano]

ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES WITHIN ANARCHISM

Felipe Corrêa

INTRODUCTION

The present text aims to discuss, from a theoretical-historical perspective, some organizational issues related to anarchism. It responds to the assertion, constantly repeated, that anarchist ideology or doctrine is essentially spontaneous and contrary to organization. Returning to the debate among anarchists about organization, this article maintains that there are three fundamental positions on the matter: those who are against organization and / or defend informal formations in small groups (anti-organizationism); supporters of organization only at the mass level (syndicalism and communitarianism), and those who point out the need for organization on two levels, the political-ideological and the mass (organizational dualism).

This text delves into the positions of the third current, bringing theoretical elements from Mikhail Bakunin and then presenting a historical case in which the anarchists held, in theory and in practice, that position: the activity of the Federation of Anarchist Communists of Bulgaria (FAKB) between the twenties and forties of the twentieth century.

ANARCHISM: SPONTANEITY AND ANTIORGANIZATIONISM?

Kolpinsky, in his epilogue to the compilation of texts by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir I. Lenin on anarchism—a work financed by Moscow in the Soviet context to promote the ideas of Marxism-Leninism—claims that anarchism is a “petty-bourgeois” doctrine, “alien to the proletariat”, based on “adventurism”, on “voluntarist concepts” and in “utopian dreams about absolute freedom of the individual”.[1] Besides this, it emphasizes:
Typical of all anarchist currents are the utopian dreams of the creation of a society without a State and without exploitative classes, through a spontaneous rebellion of the masses and the immediate abolition of the power of the State and of all its institutions, and not through the political struggle of the working class, the socialist revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.[2]
Claims of this kind have been made throughout the history of anarchism, by its adversaries and enemies, and they are still being made, although various recent theoretical and/or historical studies have shown that such claims are not supported by the facts.

Spontaneism[3] and the position against organization are not political-ideological principles of anarchism and, therefore, are not common to all its currents. The organizational question constitutes one of the most relevant debates among anarchists and is at the base of the configuration of the currents of anarchism themselves.

A broad analysis of anarchism in historical and geographical terms allows us to affirm that there is a minority sector opposed to organization and a majority sector advocating it. Anarchists have different conceptions of mass organization, including community and union organization, and different positions about the specific anarchist organization.[4]

THREE ANARCHIST POSITIONS ON ORGANIZATION

Three fundamental positions are evident in the anarchist debate on the organizational question:

1. Anti-organizationism, which is situated, in general, against organization, at the social, or mass level, and the political-ideological level, specifically anarchist, and defends spontaneism or, at most, organization in informal networks and/or small groups of militants.
2. Syndicalism and communitarianism, which believe that the organization of anarchists should be created only at the social, or mass level, and that anarchist political organizations would be redundant, and in some cases even dangerous, since popular movements, endowed with revolutionary power, can carry out all the anarchist propositions.
3. Organizational dualism, which maintains that it is necessary to organize ourselves, at the same time, in mass movements and in political organizations, with a view toward promoting anarchist positions more consistently and effectively within broad based movements.

Anti-organizationism is based on propositions like those of Luigi Galleani, an Italian anarchist militant who believed that a political organization—or, as his countryman Errico Malatesta referred it, an “anarchist party”—necessarily leads to a government-type hierarchy that violates individual freedom:

The party, any party, has its program, which is its own constitution; has its assembly of sections or delegate groups, its parliament; in its governing body or in its sections executives have their own government. Therefore, it is a gradual superimposition of bodies by means of which a real and true hierarchy is imposed between the various levels and those groups that are linked: to discipline, infractions, to the contradictions that are treated with their corresponding punishments, which can be both censorship and expulsion.[5]
Galleani argues that anarchists should associate in loosely organized, almost informal networks, since he believes that organization, especially programmatic, leads to domination, both in the case of anarchist groups and in popular movements in general. For Galleani, “the anarchist movement and the labor movement travel along parallel paths and the geometric constitution of parallel lines is made in such a way that they can never meet or coincide”. Anarchism and the popular movement constitute, for him, different fields; the workers' organizations are victims of a “blind and partial conservatism” responsible for “establishing an obstacle, often a danger” to anarchist objectives. Anarchists, he maintains, must act through education, propaganda, and violent direct action, without getting involved in organized mass movements.[6]

Syndicalism and communitarianism are linked to the idea that the popular movement carries all the conditions for including libertarian and revolutionary positions, such that it would fulfill all the necessary functions for a process of transformation; in this sense, anarchist political organizations are unnecessary or a secondary matter. If the defenders of organization exclusively at the community level are scarce (like the proposals of the North American Murray Bookchin), the same is not true for revolutionary syndicalism and anarcho-syndicalism.[7]

This position is defended by many revolutionary syndicalists, as was the case of the Frenchman Pierre Monatte, who in the Amsterdam Anarchist Congress of 1907 claimed that revolutionary syndicalism “is good enough on its own.” Monatte believed that popular movement initiated by the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) in France in 1895 had made possible a reapproximation between the anarchists and the masses, and therefore recommended “that all anarchists join syndicalism.”[8] Beyond the relevance of this reflection in the historical context after the estrangement between anarchism and mass movements that had taken place in France after the Paris Commune, this position of Monatte was predominant in twentieth century anarchism all over the world, if not in theory, at least in practice.

In that same congress, which can be considered the first historical moment of broad debate on organizational issues within anarchism, other anarchists took a position. Malatesta agreed with anarchist participation in the popular movements, but added: “Within the trade unions we must remain anarchists, with all the strength and breadth implicit in that definition”.[9] That is, anarchism couldn't be dissolved in the union movement, couldn't be swallowed by it and cease to exist as an ideology or doctrine with its own positions and organization. A similar position, but with a more emphatically class basis, was upheld by Amédée Dunois, who defended, in addition to union work, the need for an anarchist organization:

The syndicalist anarchists […] are left to themselves and outside the union they have no real contact with each other or with their other colleagues. They don't have any support and they don't get help. Therefore, we intend to create that contact, provide that constant support; and I am personally convinced that the union of our activities can only bring benefits, both in terms of energy and intelligence. And the stronger we are—and we will only be strong by organizing ourselves—the stronger will be the flow of ideas that we will be able to sustain in the labor movement, which will, little by little, be impregnated with the anarchist spirit. […] It would be enough for the anarchist organization to group, around a program of practical and concrete action, all the comrades who accept our principles and who want to work with us, according to our methods.[10]
The positions of Malatesta and Dunois refer to organizational dualism, which is based on the idea that anarchists must organize themselves, in parallel, on two levels: one social, mass, and the other political-ideological, anarchist. Malatesta defines the “anarchist party” as “the ensemble of those who are out to help make anarchy a reality and who therefore need to set themselves a target to achieve and a path to follow.” “Staying isolated, with each individual acting or seeking to act on his own without entering into agreement with others, without making preparations, without marshalling the flabby strength of singletons”, means for anarchists “to condemning oneself to impotence, to squandering one’s own energies on trivial, ineffective acts and, very quickly, losing belief in one’s purpose and lapsing into utter inaction”. The way to overcome isolation and lack of coordination is by investing in the formation of an anarchist political organization: “If he does not want to remain inactive and powerless, [the militant anarchist] will have to find other like-minded individuals, and become an initiator of a new organization”.[11]

However, for him, the specific anarchist organization is not enough: “Favoring popular organizations of all kinds is the logical consequence of our fundamental ideas and should be an integral part of our program”.[12] In this sense, he points out the need for intense base building work within mass popular organizations:

It is therefore necessary, in normal times, to carry out the long and patient work of preparation and popular organization and not fall into the illusion of short-term revolution, feasible by the initiative of a few, without sufficient participation of the masses. In that preparation, taking into account that it can be carried out in an adverse environment, there is, among other things, propaganda, the agitation and organization of the masses, who must never be neglected.[13]
Organizationist anarchists (syndicalists, communitarians and organizational dualists) have contributed, theoretically and practically, to the debate on the organizational issues within anarchism. Organizational dualism has made theoretical and practical contributions discussed below, through the writings of Mikhail Bakunin and the experience of the Federation of Anarchist Communists of Bulgaria.[14]

ANARCHISM AND ORGANIZATIONAL DUALISM: THE WRITINGS OF MIKHAIL BAKUNIN

Organizational dualism is found in the very roots of anarchism and is formulated in the work of Bakunin, who frequently refers to the practices of the Alliance within the International Workingmen's Association (IWA).[15]

For Bakunin the Alliance had a dual objective: on the one hand, to strengthen and stimulate the growth of the IWA and, on the other, to unite those who have political-ideological affinities with anarchism around some principles, a program and a common strategy.[16] In short, create and strengthen a political organization and a mass movement:

They [Alliance militants] will form the inspiring and vivifying soul of that immense body that we call the International Workers' Association […]; then they will deal with issues that are impossible to discuss publicly; they will form the necessary bridge between the propaganda of socialist theories and revolutionary practice.[17]
Bakunin argues that the Alliance does not need a very large number of militants: “the number of these individuals should therefore not be huge”; it constitutes a political, public and secret organization, of an active minority, with collective responsibility among the members, which brings together “the most secure members, the most devoted, the smartest and the most energetic, in a word, the most intimate ones”, gathered in several countries, in conditions to decisively influence the masses.[18]

This organization is based on internal regulation and a strategic program, which establish, respectively, its organic functions, its political-ideological and programmatic-strategic bases, forging a common axis for anarchist action. According to Bakunin, only “those who have frankly accepted the entire program with all its theoretical and practical consequences and that, together with intelligence, energy, honesty and discretion, still have revolutionary passion” can become members of the organization.

Internally, there is no hierarchy between members, decisions are made from the bottom up, generally by the majority (varying from consensus to simple majority, depending on the relevance of the issue), and all members abide by the decisions made collectively. That means applying federalism—understood as a form of social organization that should decentralize power and create “a revolutionary organization from below upward and from the margin to the center”—to the internal bodies of the anarchist organization.[19]

To encourage the growth and strengthening of the IWA in different countries and influencing it in its program also constitutes, as noted, one of the objectives of the Alliance. This broad international and internationalist mass movement, according to Bakunin “must be the protagonist of the social revolution, since no revolution can succeed if it is not exclusively by the force of the people”.[20] Such a revolutionary process—which cannot be limited to essentially political changes, and must reach the deepest social foundations, including the economy—alters the foundations of the capitalist and state system and establishes libertarian socialism.[21]

The International Workingmen’s Association, faithful to its principle, would never support a political agitation that does not have as its immediate and direct objective the complete economic emancipation of the worker, that is, the abolition of the bourgeoisie as a class economically separated from the mass of the population, nor any revolution that from the first day, from the first hour, does not include social liquidation on its banner. […] It will give to labor unrest in all countries an essentially economic character, setting as objectives the reduction of the working day and the increase of wages; as means, the association of the working masses and the formation of resistance funds. […] In short, it will expand by organizing itself firmly, crossing the borders of all countries, so that, when the revolution, led by the force of things, has emerged, there will be a real force, knowing what it must do and, for that very reason, able to seize it and give it a truly constructive direction for the people; a serious international organization of workers' associations of all countries, capable of replacing that political world of the states and the bourgeoisie.[22]
The mass movement mobilizes the workers through their economic needs and organizes union struggles in the short term through their own organizational mechanisms and worker-created institutions spanning the workplace and places of residence; the permanent accumulation of the social force of the workers and the radicalization of struggles allows for advancing toward social revolution.

Creating a popular association based on economic needs implies “initially eliminating from the program of this association all political and religious questions”, as the most relevant is “to seek a common basis, a series of simple principles over which all the workers, whatever their political or religious aberrations, […] are and should be in agreement”.[23] While the economic question unites workers, political-ideological and religious questions separate; these, although they do not constitute principles of the IWA, must be debated throughout the process of struggle.[24]

This is about encouraging class unity among the workers, through association around common interests of a group of oppressed subjects—workers from the countryside and the city, peasantry and the marginalized in general—for the direct class struggle against the ruling classes, since “the antagonism that exists between the world of the working class and the bourgeois world” does not allow for “any reconciliation.” In the class struggle the workers know “their true enemies, which are the privileged classes, including the clergy, the bourgeoisie, the nobility and the State”, they understand the reasons that unite them with other oppressed groups, they acquire class consciousness, perceive shared interests and learn about political-philosophical issues; all of this constitutes a true pedagogical process.[25]

The mass movement must build the organizational and institutional foundations of the future society and maintain coherence with its revolutionary and socialist objectives. Bakunin underlines the indispensable coherence between means and ends and emphasizes that a “free and egalitarian society will not emanate from an authoritarian organization; therefore, the International, the embryo of the future human society, must be, from now on, the faithful image of our principles of freedom and federation, and reject within its bosom all principles tending to authority, to dictatorship”. The IWA, then, must be organized in a libertarian and federalist way. It is necessary “to bring that organization as close as possible to our ideal”, encouraging the creation of an organizational and institutional scaffolding that can replace capitalism and the State: “The future society should not be anything other than the universalization of the organization that the International has created.”[26]

The Alliance does not exercise a relationship of domination and / or hierarchy on the IWA, but complements it, and vice versa. Together those two organizational bodies complement each other and enhance the revolutionary project of the workers, without the submission of either of the parties.[27]

The Alliance is the necessary complement to the International ...But the International and the Alliance, tending towards the same end goal, pursue different goals at the same time. One's mission is to bring together the working masses, the millions of workers, with their different professions and countries, across the borders of all States, in a single huge and compact body; the other, the Alliance, has the mission of giving to the masses a truly revolutionary leadership. The programs of one and the other, without being in any way opposite, are different by the very degree of their respective development. That of the International, if taken seriously, contains in germ, but only in germ, the whole program of the Alliance. The program of the Alliance is the ultimate expression of the [program] of the International.[28]
The union of these two organizations—one political, composed of minorities (cadres), and another social, composed of majorities (masses)—and their horizontal and permanent organization enhance the strength of workers and increase the opportunities of the anarchist process of transformation. Within mass movement, political organization makes anarchists more effective in the disputes over positions and redirects forces that are aimed in the opposite direction and that may tend to elevate to the status of principle any of the different political-ideological and/or religious positions; minimize the eminently class character of the movement; strengthen reformist positions (which see reform as an end) and encourage the loss of combativeness; establish internal hierarchies and / or relations of domination; direct the forces of the workers towards elections and/or towards strategies of change that imply the takeover of the State; submit the movement to parties, states or other organizations that eliminate, in this process, the protagonism of the oppressed classes and their institutions.[29]

ANARCHISM AND ORGANIZATIONAL DUALISM: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FEDERATION OF ANARCHO-COMMUNISTS OF BULGARIA

Below we present the general lines of anarchist organizational dualism developed by the experience of the Federation of Anarchist Communists of Bulgaria (FAKB) between the twenties and forties of the twentieth century.

In Eastern Europe, anarchists played a decisive role in 1903, during the Macedonian Revolt, where they participated in two events of a libertarian nature: first the Ilinden revolt and the proclamation of the Commune of Krouchevo, followed by the Preobrojenié insurrection and the proclamation of the Strandzha Commune. This was responsible for taking over territory, carried out experiences of self-management for a month and was the first local attempt to build a new society based on the principles of libertarian communism. After the crushing of the revolt and the commune, they founded relevant newspapers in Bulgaria such as Free Society, Acracia, Probuda or Rabotnicheska Misl; various anarchist groups also appeared, and in 1914 a group from Ruse laid the foundations for an anarcho-syndicalist movement. After problems caused by World War I, Bulgarian anarchism resurfaced renewed with the founding of the Federation of Anarchist Communists of Bulgaria (FAKB), in 1919, at a congress in which 150 delegates attended.

In the hot year of 1919, at the height of the global worker’s revolt against capitalism, Bulgarian anarcho-syndicalists (the first groups having been established in 1910) and the core of the old Macedonian-Bulgarian Anarchist Federation (a nucleus of which had been founded in 1909) called for the movement to reorganise. The Federation of Anarchist Communists of Bulgaria (FAKB) was founded at a congress opened by the anarchist guerrilla Mikhail Gerdzhikov (1877-1947), a founder of the Macedonian Clandestine Revolutionary Committee (MTRK) in 1898 and commander of its Leading Combat Body during the 1903 Macedonian Revolt.[30]
In Bulgaria, the FAKB led relevant experiences that involved urban and rural unionism, cooperatives, guerrillas and youth organization: “the FAKB consisted of syndicalist, guerrilla, professional and youth sections which diversified themselves throughout Bulgarian society”. It also helped found and strengthen organizations such as the Bulgarian Federation of Anarchist Students (BONSF); an anarchist federation of artists, writers, intellectuals, doctors and engineers, and the Federation of Anarchist Youth (FAM), which had a presence in cities, towns and all the big schools.[31]

The fifth congress of the FAKB, in 1923, had 104 delegates and 350 observers from 89 organizations, which demonstrates broad anarchist influence, possibly the majority among the workers of Yambol, Kyustendil, Rodomir, town of Nueva Zagora (Khaskjovo), Kilifaevo and Delebets, in addition to the growing influence in Sofia, Plovdiv, Ruse and other centers. The growth of the FAKB attracted severe persecution from the fascist right, which between 1923 and 1931 killed more than 30,000 workers. In this context, many FAKB militants were assassinated and others had to go into exile; even so, those who remained “formed combat detachments known as ‘cheti’ and became involved in a major effort to coordinate an uprising with the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP) in 1923”, and also engaged in guerrilla fighting, in 1925, together with the BKP and the Bulgarian Agrarian Union (BZS).[32]

Between 1926 and 1927, the FAKB adopted the proposals of the Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists, a text published in 1926 by the group of Russian exiles who published Dielo Trudá ('The Workers' Cause'),[33] which called for the need for a programmatic and homogeneous anarchist organization, founded on ideological unity, tactical unity (collective method of action), collective responsibility and federalism. This project had a relevant impact on the development of the FAKB of 1945, the FAKB Platform, which will be addressed later.

In 1930, in Bulgaria, the anarchist influence in the formation of the Vlassovden Confederation, a rural union that was organized around multiple demands: “the reduction of direct and indirect taxation, the breaking-up of agrarian cartels, free medical care for peasants, insurance and pensions for agricultural workers, and community autonomy”. The so-called “Vlassovden syndicalism” spread rapidly—one year after its creation the Confederation already had 130 branches—and accounted for a “huge upsurge of anarchist organising and publishing so that the anarchist movement could be counted as the third largest force on the left, after the BZS then the BKP.”[34]

During the Spanish Revolution (1936-1939), thirty Bulgarian anarchists fought as volunteers in the anarchist militias.

Between 1941 and 1944, an anarchist guerrilla group fought fascism and allied with the Patriotic Front in organizing the insurrection of September 1944 against the Nazi occupation. Meanwhile, with the Red Army replacing the Germans as an occupying force, an alliance was established between the right and the left — called the “red-orange-brown alliance”—who brutally repressed the anarchists.[35] The workers were forced to join a single union, linked to the state, in a policy clearly inspired by Mussolini, and in 1945, at a FAKB congress in Sofia, the communist militia arrested the ninety delegates present, which did not prevent the FAKB newspaper, Rabotnicheska Misl, from reaching a circulation of sixty thousand copies per issue that year. At the end of the 1940s, “hundreds had been executed and about 1,000 FAKB members sent to concentration camps where the torture, ill treatment and starvation of veteran (but non-communist) anti-fascists [...] was almost routine”. Thus ended the experience of the FAKB, which began in 1919.[36]

Taking stock of this organizational experience, we can conclude:

Several types of working class organisation were indispensable and intertwined without subordination: anarchist communist ideological organisations; worker syndicates; agricultural worker syndicates; co-operatives; and cultural and special-interest organisations, for instance for youth and women.[37]
The practice of the FAKB during those more than two decades, as well as the theoretical reflections that occurred in that period, together with the influence of the Dielo Trudá Platform, were reflected, in 1945, in a programmatic document: the Platform of the Federation of Anarcho-Communists of Bulgaria. According to this document, the FAKB envisaged, basing itself on organizational dualism, an anarchist political organization and a mass movement in the city and in the countryside, made up of unions and cooperatives.
The anarchist political organization brings together anarchists around anarcho-communist political-ideological principles, is organized regionally and has the following fundamental tasks: to develop, realize and spread anarchist communist ideas; to study all the vital present-day questions affecting the daily lives of the working masses and the problems of the social reconstruction; the multifaceted struggle for the defence of our social ideal and the cause of working people; to participate in the creation of groups of workers on the level of production, profession, exchange and consumption, culture and education, and all other organizations that can be useful in the preparation for the social reconstruction; armed participation in every revolutionary insurrection; the preparation for and organization of these events; the use of every means which can bring on the social revolution.[38]
Anarchists also participate in mass movements, especially in unions and cooperatives. Unions must organize the force of workers by workplace or job category, and must be based on federalism, direct action and class autonomy and independence. Their core tasks are:
The defence of the immediate interests of the working class; the struggle to improve the work conditions of the workers; the study of the problems of production; the control of production, and the ideological, technical and organizational preparation of a radical social reconstruction, in which they will have to ensure the continuation of industrial output.[39]
Agricultural cooperatives link the landless peasantry and small owners who do not exploit the work of others, and assume the following tasks:
To defend the interests of the landless peasants, those with little land and those with small parcels of land; to organize agricultural production groups, to study the problems of agricultural production; to prepare for the future social reconstruction, in which they will be the pioneers of the re-organization and the agricultural production, with the aim of ensuring the subsistence of the entire population.[40]
Ultimately, the experience of the FAKB, which is reflected in this programmatic document— Platform of the Federation of Anarchist Communists of Bulgaria—presents relevant historical elements for understanding anarchist organizational dualism.

CONCLUDING NOTES

The relevance of the discussion on organizational issues within anarchism is twofold. On the one hand, it is still necessary to approach anarchism seriously, countering arguments held by its adversaries and enemies, with the intention of providing a more substantial knowledge of that ideology and political doctrine and of its main debates. On the other hand, deepening the discussion on organizational dualism can contribute to the contemporary debate on the organization of the oppressed classes,[41] providing elements for reflection for those who are interested in resistance movements and the struggle against domination in general, and against capitalism and the state in particular.

NOTES:

1. Kolpinsky, “Epílogo”, pp. 332-333.
2. Ibid., p. 332, italics added.
3. Spontaneism is the notion that the masses mobilize by themselves, without the need for prior organization, formation or preparation, thus being able to carry out large-scale transformation processes. It differs, therefore, from the notion of spontaneity, an inevitable component of any transformative popular movement.
4. For some studies with a transnational or global perspective that contest these claims by adversaries and enemies of anarchism and collaborate with the debate on majorities and minorities in anarchism, see: Felipe Corrêa – Bandeira negra: rediscutindo o anarquismo; Surgimento e breve perspectiva histórica do anarquismo, 1868-2012; “Dossier Contemporary Anarchism: anarchism and syndicalism in the whole world, 1990-2019”; Lucien Van der Walt – “Revolução mundial: para um balanço dos impactos, da organização popular, das lutas e da teoria anarquista e sindicalista em todo o mundo”; Black flame […]; “Global anarchism and syndicalism: theory, history, resistance”; (Editor with Steven Hirsch) Anarchism and syndicalism in the colonial and postcolonial world, 1870- 1940); Geoffroy de Laforcade – (Editor with Kirwin Shaffer) In Defiance of Bouderies: anarchism in Latin American history; Rafael Viana da Silva – “Os revolucionários ineficazes de Hobsbawm: reflexões críticas de sua abordagem do anarquismo”. As these studies and others point out, popular movements based on the workplace and place of residence have constituted social vectors of anarchism throughout its one hundred and fifty years of history, composed on a class-based, combative, independent, self-managed and revolutionary bases. Those movements strengthened anarchist social intervention.
5. Luigi Galleani, The principal of organization to the light of anarchism, p. 2.
6. Ibid., pp. 3, 6.
7. Based on the transnational and global studies mentioned above (Corrêa, Van der Walt, De Laforcade, Viana da Silva), it is possible to affirm that anti-organizationist positions have historically had a significant echo among anarchists, but they were always a minority compared to organizationist positions. The former frequently incorporated individualistic arguments external to anarchism, by authors such as Max Stirner and Friedrich Nietzsche. During the twentieth century, syndicalism was the hegemonic strategic position of anarchism at a global level.
8. Pierre Monatte, “Em defesa do sindicalismo”, pp. 206-207.
9. Errico Malatesta, “Sindicalismo: a crítica de um anarquista”, p. 208.
10. Amédée Dunois, “Anarquismo e organização”.
11. Errico Malatesta, “A organização II”, pp. 55, 56, 60.
12. Errico Malatesta, “A organização das massas operárias contra o Governo e os patrões”.
13. Errico Malatesta, Ideología anarquista, p. 31.
14. Also based on the studies mentioned above (Corrêa, Van der Walt, De Laforcade, Viana da Silva), it is possible to assert that organizational dualism was historically a minority position compared to syndicalism, at least in practice.
15. In those years the general lines of Bakunin's theory of anarchist organizational dualism were elaborated. The theory of the anarchist political organization was developed by Bakunin, in writings and letters, beginning in 1868, when the Alliance was formed; the writings on the subject elaborated above are not yet fully anarchist and therefore are not used here.
16. Mikhail Bakunin, “Letter to Morago (May 21st, 1872)”. The greatest concrete historical achievement of the Alliance was the creation of sections of the International in countries where it did not yet exist and its impetus where it was already in operation. Such were the cases of Spain, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland, beyond cases in Latin America, stimulated by correspondence.
17. Mikhail Bakunin, “Letter to Cerretti (March 13-27, 1872)”.
18. Mikhail Bakunin, “Letter to Cerretti (March 13-27, 1872)”, “Letter to Morago (May 21st, 1872)”, “Statuts secrets de l’Alliance: Programme et objet de l’organisation révolutionnaire des Frères internationaux”.
19. Mikhail Bakunin, “Statuts secrets de l’Alliance: Programme et objet de l’organisation révolutionnaire des Frères internationaux”; “Statuts secrets de l’Alliance: Programme de la Société de la Révolution Internationale”.
20. Mikhail Bakunin, A política da Internacional, p. 67.
21. Among anarchists it is generally believed that the social foundations of this revolutionary transformation consist in the substitution of systemic domination—especially class domination—by a system of generalized self-management in all three spheres (economic, political and cultural) and a classless society. Through a revolutionary process, anarchists propose to replace: capitalist economic exploitation by the socialization of property, the political domination of the State by democratic self-government, the ideological and cultural domination of religion, education and, more recently, of the media, for a self-managed culture. It is, therefore, a critique of domination in general, with an emphasis on class domination, and a commitment to generalized self-management. See Felipe Corrêa, Bandeira negra: rediscutindo o anarquismo.
22. Mikhail Bakunin, A política da Internacional, pp. 67-69.
23. Ibid., pp. 42-43.
24. This position does not imply a defense of “apoliticism”, but a conception according to which mass movements should not be subordinated or linked to a certain political-doctrinal position. Thus a revolutionary “Anarchist” union—as in the anarcho-syndicalist model, for example— tends to alienate workers who have other beliefs or ideas. It is about taking into account that movements should encompass the different political-doctrinal positions and that a political position cannot subordinate popular movements. Bakunin and the revolutionary syndicalists, anarchists or not, believe that popular movements should organize around concrete flags that unite workers, without a programmatic link to political or religious doctrine. On the other hand, debates between different political positions should take place within movements, although without aiming at the creation, for example, of communist or catholic trade unions, etc. Within a union there should be all workers willing to fight, regardless of their political positions or religious beliefs. (Felipe Corrêa, “Anarquismo e sindicalismo revolucionário”).
25. Mikhail Bakunin, A política da Internacional, pp. 54-56.
26. Mikhail Bakunin, “Aux compagnons de la Fédération des sections internationales du Jura”.
27. Bakunin's proposal for political organization implies a model—drawing on the classic discussion about “party models”—of a “cadre party” that does not compete in elections and that has popular movements as its field of action; prioritize quality and not the number of members and has rigorous selection and admission criteria, unlike the “mass parties”, which prioritize quantity and whose criteria for participation are very broad, so that, in general, whoever can join.
28. Mikhail Bakunin, “Letter to Morago (May 21st, 1872)”.
29. Two fundamental differences can be pointed out between Bakunin's organizational theory and that developed by Lenin years later. The first, in relation to internal organization. While the Bakuninist party is federalist and decisions are taken collectively, from the bottom up, in a democratic and self-managed way, the Leninist party adopts democratic centralism: the bases are consulted but decisions are made by the leadership, from the top down, from the hierarchical dome to the bases, which they are obliged to abide by. The second fundamental difference lies in the relationship between the party and mass movements. The Bakuninist party defends a complementary action between party and movements, without any kind of hierarchy or domination exercised by the party, whose function is to strengthen the leadership of these movements, since it is believed that the masses should be responsible for the revolutionary social transformation; the Leninist party, on the other hand, establishes a hierarchy between party and movement and stands above the people, over which it exercises a relationship of domination. While for the former the agent of revolutionary transformation is the mass movement, for the latter these movements are only capable of short-term struggles and the party must endow them with long-term capacity and lead the transformation itself.
30. Michael Schmidt, Anarquismo búlgaro em armas: a linha de massas anarco-comunista, p. 7.
31. Ibid., p. 9.
32. Ibid., p. 16.
33. Dielo Trudá, “Plataforma Organizacional dos Comunistas Libertários”, 1926.
34. Michael Schmidt, Anarquismo búlgaro em armas: a linha de massas anarco-comunista, pp. 23-25.
35. Ibid., p. 33.
36. Ibid., p. 36.
37. Ibid., p. 42.
38. Federation of Anarchist Communists of Bulgaria (FAKB), “Plataforma da Federação dos Anarco-comunistas da Bulgária”, pp. 61-62.
39. Ibid., pp. 63-64.
40. Ibid., pp. 64-65.
41. The concept of oppressed classes, here, is based on that of Alfredo Errandonea in Sociology of domination. It is about conceptualizing social classes from the category of domination, which includes exploitation. Thus conceived, social classes are not defined solely by the economic sphere and labor relations. The class struggle is characterized by the existence of two broad opposing groups: the dominated classes and the ruling classes, the oppressed and the oppressors. The oppressed classes are made up of salaried workers of the city and the countryside, precarious peasants, marginalized and poor in general; and the ruling classes also include from the bourgeoisie (owners of the means of production), to the rich, to managers of large companies and state managers—such as governors, high ranking military and judges—as well as a significant part of the owners of mass media, religious leaders, and those that strategically monopolize knowledge.

* Translated by Enrique Guerrero-López

Original article: “Questões Organizativas do Anarquismo”. Firstly published at Espaço Livre journal, num. 15 (Goiânia, Brazil, 2010).

international / anarchist movement / press release Tuesday May 03, 2022 22:39 byVarious anarchist organisations

1st of May, 1886! 136 years ago today, the American working class created a priceless experience for the upcoming struggles of the working classes of the whole world by saying “this fight is our last fight!”. It remains a victory till our time. The demand of “8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep, 8 hours for whatever we want” to replace the 16 hours of work and the assaults of capitalism which targeted the lives of the working classes then in the 19th century turned into a general strike in America. General strike has been one of the most significant weapons of the anarchist action as an earning to the history of the class struggle.

For anarchists, the struggle for 8 hours has never been seen as a simple request for reform. Anarchists fought to replace it with a social revolution, with the claim that “Regardless of our working time, whether it be 2 hours or 8 hours, it is slavery if we work for bosses”.

[Castellano]

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST STATEMENT FOR THE FIRST OF MAY, 2022

1st of May, 1886! 136 years ago today, the American working class created a priceless experience for the upcoming struggles of the working classes of the whole world by saying “this fight is our last fight!”. It remains a victory till our time. The demand of “8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep, 8 hours for whatever we want” to replace the 16 hours of work and the assaults of capitalism which targeted the lives of the working classes then in the 19th century turned into a general strike in America. General strike has been one of the most significant weapons of the anarchist action as an earning to the history of the class struggle.

For anarchists, the struggle for 8 hours has never been seen as a simple request for reform. Anarchists fought to replace it with a social revolution, with the claim that “Regardless of our working time, whether it be 2 hours or 8 hours, it is slavery if we work for bosses”.

The centre for this great struggle was Chicago, one of the biggest industrial centres in the USA at that time. Chicago was at the same time the most important centre for the anarchist action. Hundreds of thousands of workers were in the factories and in the streets in the struggle for the 8 hours day. Pinkertons, private police in the pay of the capitalists, assaulted workers on strike at the McCormick factory. The killers slaughtered four unarmed workers.

A meeting in Haymarket was organised the next day. At the meeting’s end, the police tried to clear the square, when a bomb was thrown. The identity of the thrower is unknown to this day. Subsequently, all the anarchist publications were closed, thousands of workers were arrested and the Haymarket case began an ongoing battle against the working class.

Grinnell, the prosecutor of the bourgeoisie, said: “Anarchy is being judged. Good men of the jury, condemn these men, make them an exemplary, hang them. Save our institutions and our society.” This was because the goal of the eight anarchists who were sentenced to death was not only the right to work only 8 hours a day; their goal was to destroy capitalism, the rule of injustice and exploitation.

Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fischer, George Engel and Louis Lingg were sentenced to death. Oscar Neebe, Samuel Fielden and Michael Schwab were imprisoned. It was proven that the eight anarchists had nothing to do with the bomb that exploded in Haymarket; they were accused of anarchism! Anarchists in court defended not themselves but the working class, the struggle for eight hours and anarchism! After the declaration of the death sentence, Adolphe Fischer objected to it with these words:

“Here I was tried for murder but convicted of anarchism. I was convicted for being an anarchist. If the ruling classes think they can crush anarchism by hanging us, by hanging a few anarchists, they're wrong. Anarchists love their principles more than their lives. Anarchists are always ready to die for their ideas.”
Louis Lingg didn’t wait to die by the hand of his executioner. He ended his life after writing “Long live Anarchy!” on the wall of his cell. The four anarchists went to the gallows saying “Long live Anarchy”. They left behind their will that won’t compromise with the capitalist class and their courage which won’t be relinquished at any price. And, of course, 1st of May, the International Workers’ Day!

Today, all the working classes of the world should know that the 8 hour working day was won through the relentless struggle, to their death, of anarchist workers, though the capitalists still try to steal from workers. Emma Goldman, who were impressed by the struggle of the anarchist workers becoming herself an anarchist, said: “Everything that is good and beautiful in the world today exists despite the states, not because of them.” Capitalists have never given any rights to the workers, the workers gained them through their own struggle.

Capitalism continues to condemn millions of workers in the world to wage labour and long working hours, it murders them in work, exploitation, precariousness, work without rights and in conditions of slavery. The situation for the oppressed classes of the world is dire in the different geographies, especially in the so-called "third world" countries where unemployment, hunger and poverty are desperate in this new stage of neo-liberal advance. Capitalism that we fought with tooth and claw over hundreds of years and its endless greed for profit threatens all the peoples of the world as well as the planet itself. Capitalism has usurped the lives of the oppressed classes every day since its very beginning in exchange for surviving and continuing production for the benefit of the profits and privileges of the dominant class. The struggle today is a life and death struggle for all the oppressed. Because today, capitalism drags the world into irreversible disasters along with global competition, pandemic crises, and wars against the people.

The Haymarket anarchists were immigrant workers. Just like immigrants today who are lost in their long journeys in the seas of the world for the sake of surviving and just like numberless immigrant workers who are between life and death on the border crossings of states.

We are anarchists who fight for the same struggle in different geographies of the world and we will continue our struggle, fighting tooth and claw with the capitalist class just like our honourable comrades who said “Long live Anarchy!” on the gallows.

Our comrades knew that they would win even if it meant their death. Because starting a revolt against capitalism which, to its every inch, is a torment means victory! The cries of “Long live Anarchy!” from our comrades are reflected in the struggle of the working class today. And we, as anarchists who embrace their struggle, need to transform this voice into an organised power which can dig the grave of the capitalist class that steals our lives.

This voice is not a residue of the past, but the password of today’s struggle. There is no liberation for the people of the world unless we eliminate states that constrict us with new limitations each day and unless we create an equal and free world in which no authority and property exists and everything belongs to everyone. And the road to this liberation is through sowing the seeds of freedom in every land in the world and through keeping our hope for a stateless world alive. However, we need to remember that, as Malatesta said “The occasional individual propaganda, which is often a simple way out to quell ailments of conscience, has little or no effect in achieving the goal. The soil is very ungrateful to seeds planted haphazardly to sprout and take root.” That is why our struggle needs to carry responsibility, commitment, self-discipline and self-organisation within it to achieve freedom.

Concretely, in union action, we organised anarchists advocate for the need for the development of daily work from below to promote the combativity and protagonism of the workers to resist the attacks of the ruling class and to fight against oppression. Today, when there are new sectors of workers working informally, with starvation wages, without any rights, many of them immigrants, it is necessary to help organise these workers and, with them, to develop the organisation and working methods based on direct action and solidarity.

It is the intention of organised anarchist militancy to promote and strengthen class-conscious unions, militant groupings within the unions that develop a line of direct action and deepen combativity and the construction of workers' power, coordinating the efforts developed in various unions to give that line of union work a more general character that can be proposed as a guide for the people in struggle. It is the task of the trade union to reach out to and offer solidarity and support to the struggle of other organised social sectors, to strengthen the different sectors of the oppressed classes. This perspective of militant work will allow us to build the necessary strength of the popular classes to develop a profound revolutionary project.

We believe that in order to deepen the struggle of the oppressed classes against the misery, exploitation and oppression that the system of domination has for us, it is necessary to build organisation from below in all social spaces in order to resist the attacks of the dominant class against our people. Only through the direct and organised action of the oppressed in every social space can we advance towards a world without oppressors and oppressed. Only through social revolution that ends this system of death at its roots will we achieve a life of dignity. “If even one of us is imprisoned, none of us are free”!

We will be in all the streets of the world on May 1 to keep our comrades’ memories alive, to raise their fight and to create an equal and free world in which there is no hierarchy and property and in which everything belongs to everyone. Without oppressors and oppressed.

We will shout the words of our comrades who said “There will come a day when our silence will be stronger than the voices you drown out today!” And this voice will continue to bring fear to the capitalist class, not just this May Day, but every day. On May 1, to the streets, into the fight, to the struggle with the power of organized anarchism!

Long live May 1st!
Long Live the Freedom Struggle of the Working Class!
Long live Anarchy! Long live the Revolution!

☆ Anarchist Communist Group (ACG) – Great Britain
☆ Alternativa Libertaria (AL/FdCA) – Italy
☆ Αναρχική Ομοσπονδία (Anarchist Federation) – Greece
☆ Coordenação Anarquista Brasileira (CAB) – Brazil
☆ Federación Anarquista de Rosario (FAR) – Argentina
☆ Federación Anarquista Uruguaya (FAU) – Uruguay
☆ Die Plattform – Germany
☆ Embat, Organització Llibertària de Catalunya – Catalonia
☆ Federación Anarquista de Santiago (FAS) – Chile
☆ Grupo Libertario Vía Libre – Colombia
☆ Karala – Turkey
☆ Libertäre Aktion (LA) – Switzerland
☆ Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) – Australia
☆ Organización Anarquista de Córdoba (OAC) – Argentina
☆ Organización Anarquista de Santa Cruz (OASC) – Argentina
☆ Organización Anarquista de Tucumán (OAT) – Argentina
☆ Organisation Socialiste Libertaire (OSL) – Switzerland
☆ Roja y Negra Organización Politíca Anarquista - Argentina
☆ Union Communiste Libertaire (UCL) – France, Belgium & Switzerland

international / workplace struggles / press release Sunday May 01, 2022 19:17 byMACG

The crisis of capitalism won’t resolve itself.  No government can save us. Only the working class can end it for the better. We need to make a revolution.  We need to overthrow capitalism and build libertarian communism, worldwide.  For this, the labour movement needs to be built anew.  We need to organise in the workplace and rebuild our unions from the ground up.  We need direct democratic control, with delegates held to mandates, and a consistent federalist structure. The practices by which we build our movement will be the ones that form the basis of the new society.  And we need to do it now, because time is short.

May Day 2022

May Day 1886

On 1 May, 1886, Anarchist-led unions in Chicago in the US struck for the eight hour day.  A worker was shot dead by a cop, so a protest was called for 4 May.  After an unidentified person threw a bomb, killing a few coppers, the police started shooting.  When the dust settled, seven coppers and at least four civilians were dead.  Some of the coppers had probably died from friendly fire.  A huge anti-Anarchist campaign ensued and eight Anarchists were convicted in a kangaroo court.  The State killed four, while one committed suicide.  The labour movement started a campaign for the exoneration of the Haymarket Martyrs and eventually succeeded.  In the process, May Day became the day of the international workers’ movement.

World in Crisis

Today, the world faces multiple crises.  The most important is climate change, threatening to destroy industrial civilisation and wipe out at least 80% of the human race.  On top of that, the billionaire capitalists continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the working class, authoritarian governments spread and some lurch towards Fascism, a global pandemic continues to kill millions despite the world having the ability to end it, and military powers across the world – in the US, China, Russia, and Europe – are inflaming tensions which could lead to World War III.  We have the ability to end world poverty, but the contradictions of capitalism have never been more acute.

The Working Class Movement

In industrialised countries, the established labour movement continues its long decline.  This is especially true in Australia.  For decades, union leaders have told members to put their hopes in governments and not in the power to strike. Our unions are now hobbled by decades of anti-worker legislation, to which the officials, almost without exception, continue to bow.  Without power in our workplaces, the Labor Party (which exists to enable the union officials to negotiate a compromise between labour and capital), has shifted to the right.  It’s not all bad news, though.  There are few signs as yet in Australia, but struggle is picking up in many countries, sometimes within established unions, sometimes in new independent ones and sometimes as wildcat strikes.  The current wave of unionisation in the US is particularly significant, because it comes in the face of concerted opposition from ascendant capitalist corporations.  Unionising Amazon would be a massive victory.

Revolution

The crisis of capitalism won’t resolve itself.  No government can save us. Only the working class can end it for the better. We need to make a revolution.  We need to overthrow capitalism and build libertarian communism, worldwide.  For this, the labour movement needs to be built anew.  We need to organise in the workplace and rebuild our unions from the ground up.  We need direct democratic control, with delegates held to mandates, and a consistent federalist structure. The practices by which we build our movement will be the ones that form the basis of the new society.  And we need to do it now, because time is short.

WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!

Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group

1 May 2022

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images.jpg imageA Talk on the Ukrainian-Russian War Aug 31 03:36 by Wayne Price 7 comments

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textUSA cambió su política migratoria respecto a inmigrantes endureciendo leyes Jul 03 23:15 by Jorge Sanchez de telegram canal La Jirafa 7 comments

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photo_5368375315598004250_y_1.jpg imageDeclaración Conjunta de Organizaciones Anarquistas Europeas May 01 21:23 by Organizaciones anarquistas europeas 2 comments

photo_5368375315598004250_y.jpg imageJoint Statement of European Anarchist Organizations May 01 21:08 by European anarchist organizations 9 comments

download.jpg imageMay Day 2023 May 01 14:08 by MACG 3 comments

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capitalism.jpg imageCapitalism Is the Disaster Mar 23 06:26 by Pink Panther 4 comments

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Credit: Wall Street Journal imageChinese Workers Fight Back Jan 21 18:16 by MACG 3 comments

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mkflyer.jpg imageMilitant Kindergarten Dec 21 15:03 by The Center for Especifismo Studies 5 comments

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le_libertaire.jpeg imageΓια τον Άνθρωπο, Ά&#... Dec 09 18:12 by Joseph Déjacque 1 comments

hide: imageSocial Anarchism and Organisation English Audiobook Dec 06 07:37 by Reed 0 comments

lib_com_final.jpg image«Μικρό» βιβλίο – Μεγ... Nov 15 20:19 by Αργύρης Αργυριάδης 0 comments

ww1.jpg imageKropotkin and War—Today Nov 13 06:05 by Wayne Price 6 comments

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