Graham R (Ed.) - Anarchism - A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas Volume One - From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE to 1939)

198/ ANARCHISM
or monastery-like approach, because that will never lead to anything but despotism.
One takes possession of freedom by exercising it. And those who preach emancipation
to the workers and subject them to authoritarian regulation and deliver them up
like sheep to an administrative junta-turned-Executive Authority are deceiving, lying
to, suborning, duping and betraying the workers.
Essentially it is up to the trades federation to ensure success in the workers'
struggle against capital; the local federation, in addition to this labour solidarity,
also boasts a more direct social aspect, intervention in public affairs, albeit in defence
of workers' interests; there we have the commune in action, the people acting
out its duty and its rights; in this respect, its importance may be great and should be
greater with every passing day ...
Issues without number come within their direct purview, not to mention all social
issues ... all of them matters that may and should occupy the workers, mobilizing
public opinion, and channelling all exertions and efforts towards the whittling down
to nothing of the activity of the public authorities, this being the war of freedom
against tyranny, fo r the more authoritarianism dwindles, the more firmly ensconced
freedom becomes and, with it, the safer the welfare of society .
...[T]he local fe deration [should] be set up along the lines of the revolutionary
commune, ongoing, pro-active action by the working people in every matter that impacts
upon their freedom and their lives.
Instead of a local council, it seems to us thdl lhese fUllctiul\s wouid be better performed
by a local assembly; it would be a vigilant representative of the people, since the
latter cannot be permanently on hand, given that under normal circumstances it does
not have the material time to do so, and knows that even though its day to day work occupies
all its time, there are good comrades available to keep it briefed on developments
so that, should the need arise, it can rally round and directly exercise a right of which it
may not be divested even for a single minute, not having given such power away to anyone.
Thus the local councils are prevented from turning into parodies ofthe municipal
corporations or councils, insofar as the local assembly represents the people in action ...
The local federation, starting from the notion of labour and operating as a social
organism, lays the groundwork for the society of the future.
To what did the International aspire Intelligent action of the proletariat the
world over, without regard to race, creed or nationality ...
So, what do we require for a worldwide federation offree communes, that being
the natural tendency of the local federations