o_195qg5dto17o4rbc85q1ge61i84a.pdf

what is anarchism? 31
as reflections of economic power, Marx was wrongly led to believe
that it was possible to abolish the state simply by changing the form
of government – by placing the control of government in socialist
hands. Unlike Marxists, he argued, anarchists were not merely opponents
of the transitory power of a particular regime or constitution.
They opposed the decision-making apparatus or system of rule that
all these regimes monopolized. His practical concern was that Marx
had underestimated the threat of what Bakunin had called ‘red
bureaucracy’: the potential for socialism to create a new form of
oppression based on the control by workers’ representatives of the
state apparatus. Malatesta explained
Social democrats start off from the principle that the State, government,
is none other than the political organ of the dominant class.
In a capitalistic society, they say, the State necessarily serves the
interests of the capitalists and ensures for them the right to exploit
the workers; but that in a socialist society, when private property
were to be abolished, and ... class distinctions would disappear, then
the State would represent everybody and become the impartial
organ representing the social interests of all members of society. 52
A second set of criticisms examined the state role as an instrument
of revolutionary change. These critiques had two variations:
one focused on the idea of dictatorship and the other on the theoretical
assumptions that underpinned the parliamentary strategy. The
first line of attack followed as a corollary to the Bakuninist critique
of bureaucracy. Anarchist critics noted that the dictatorship of the
proletariat, endorsed by Marx as a necessary means of securing the
victory of the workers, was supposed to be both temporary and nondictatorial.
Yet by placing workers’ representatives in a position
where they could use violence against designated class enemies,
critics argued that it would inevitably become a permanent form of
oppression. As Rocker argued:
Dictatorship is a definite form of state power ... it is the proclamation
of the wardship of the toiling people, a guardianship forced
upon the masses by a tiny minority. Even if its supporters are animated
by the very best intentions, the iron logic of facts will always
drive them into the camp of extremest [sic] despotism ... the pretence
that the so-called dictatorship of the proletariat is something
different ... is only a sophisticated trick to fool simpletons. Such a
thing as the dictatorship of a class is utterly unthinkable, since there