o_195qg5dto17o4rbc85q1ge61i84a.pdf

More documents

Recommendations

Info

anarchy 109 well-tested fields of action raise important questions about scope of anarchy, democratic decision-making and, picking up the point from the previous chapter, the potential to realize liberty in community. anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalists argue that there is direct and intimate relationship between the struggle against capitalism and the organization of anarchy. For Ferdinand Pelloutier, the founder of the school, syndicalism was a vehicle for anarchy. Anarchists, he argued, should not wait for a revolutionary situation before developing alternative economic systems. To the contrary, if they were to succeed in organizing production and distribution, workers should develop these systems in the body of capitalism. The commitment to build an anarchist alternative to capitalism through syndicalist organization remains the central tenet of the modern anarcho-syndicalist movement. The British Section of the International Workers Association, the Solidarity Federation (SolFed), encourages association in ‘locals’. Locals provide a platform for anti-racist, anti-sexist and environmental campaigns in both community and workplace. They spread information in meetings, through bulletins, leaflets and the web, thus encouraging the development of more locals. In the workplace, members of locals working in the same sector form ‘networks’ to promote worker solidarity and improve working conditions. And the aim of this activity is to build the framework for anarchy: As Locals and Networks grow, they practise community and workers’ self-management. Eventually, industries will be run by producers and consumers. In other words, by workers (in Networks) and people in the wider community (Locals) who want the goods and services they provide. And this is not flight of fancy or text-book dream. As the solidarity movement grows in members and influence, so does the scope for action. 35 Assessments of anarcho-syndicalism have often revolved around the experience of the Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), especially in the period leading up to and including the Civil War (1936–39). There are several reasons for this. First, the CNT is one of only a few revolutionary syndicalist organizations to identify with anarchism. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth
110 anarchism: a beginner’s guide centuries enthusiasm for syndicalism swept through Europe, Scandinavia, Canada and across the Americas. Yet most of the resulting organizations prioritized working-class unity over ideological commitment. Indeed, the member’s pocket book for the US International Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies) includes the following resolution: That to the end of promoting industrial unity and of securing necessary discipline within the organization, the IWW refuses all alliances, direct and indirect, with existing political parties or anti-political sects, and disclaims responsibility for any individual opinion or act which may be at variance with the purposes herein expressed. 36 The founding congress of Belles Artes in 1910 defined the CNT in similarly neutral terms. The CNT was designed to help the working class ‘gain its complete freedom, by means of the revolutionary expropriation of the bourgeoisie’. 37 Yet a significant number of militants within the CNT understood that revolutionary action implied a commitment to anarchy and the milieu within which the CNT operated was shaped by anarchist ideas. At the 1936 Zaragoza conference the CNT accepted a detailed plan for anarcho-communist organization as the basis for revolutionary action. The CNT was also a powerful organization. At its peak, it had an estimated 800,000 members. Moreover, it had a well-developed federal structure, and although there were arguments within the CNT about the priority attached to industrial federation or local autonomy, it remained an effective focus for revolutionary action. Above all, in the revolution prompted by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the CNT got the opportunity to test the practicality of anarchist principles of organization. Anarchists evaluating the CNT’s civil war experience fall into one or two strongly contrasting camps. Its staunchest defenders acknowledge weaknesses in the CNT’s programmes of land collectivization and worker self-management, admit that some sectors of the economy worked better than others and that the co-ordination of economic activity was dogged by serious problems. But in Catalonia – and Barcelona in particular, where the CNT predominated – they also argue that the workers proved themselves more than capable of taking control of the economic apparatus. In the first days of the civil war, workers provided arms and ammunitions for militias, as well as milk and bread for citizens. As the revolution
Page 2 and 3:
anarchism a beginner’s guide
Page 4 and 5:
anarchism a beginner’s guide ruth
Page 6 and 7:
contents Acknowledgements vii intro
Page 8:
acknowledgements A number of people
Page 11 and 12:
2 anarchism: a beginner’s guide a
Page 13 and 14:
4 anarchism: a beginner’s guide r
Page 15 and 16:
6 anarchism: a beginner’s guide a
Page 17 and 18:
8 anarchism: a beginner’s guide w
Page 19 and 20:
10 anarchism: a beginner’s guide
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
chapter two anarchist rejections of
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68: 58 anarchism: a beginner’s guide
Page 95 and 96: chapter three anarchy We have alway
Page 117: 108 anarchism: a beginner’s guide
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
chapter five concluding remarks Stu
Page 181 and 182:
Page 184 and 185:
index Page numbers in italic denote
Page 186 and 187:
index 177 Farrow, Lynne 119 fascism
Page 188 and 189:
index 179 and state 30, 45-6, 50, 5
show all

o_195qg5dto17o4rbc85q1ge61i84a.pdf

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?