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

446 / ANARCHISM
ism. But with respect to historical materialism, it is necessary to say quite frankly
that its deterministic conception of history has caused huge damage to the
anti-capitalist movement because it has weakened considerably the revolutionary energies
of the working class, which believed that it could trust some pre-established
historical laws that were to lead more or less automatically towards a better fu ture
for humanity. In this process of social development the proletariat would merely
have to unite around its political party in order to wait fo r the hour of revolution and
to transform society at a given moment by means of a political movement, while the
economic transformation was already taking place organically in the heart of capitalism
itself, which was, according to Marx, its own grave digger. Anarchism, by contrast,
has always emphasized the supreme value of revolutionary will, of the task of
education of the working class and the preparation of the individual revolutionary
fo r the concrete tasks of social reconstruction. Anarcho-syndicalism calls fo r direct
action in the daily struggle and the abolition of all authoritarian tendencies in union
organization, in order to assist in the mission of creating a proletariat conscious of
its own strength and capable of employing it practically, free from the guidance of
so-called leaders. Let LIS now see what the psychological neo-Marxism of Reich says
on this question of revolutionary will, and we shall see yet another confirmation of
our old criticism of historical materialism:
"Men, certainly, make up society but they succumb to the laws that dominate
them. independently of them. History teaches us that if we try to change only the
spiritual structure of men, society resists. If we try to change only society, men resist.
This shows that neither of the two elements can be substituted fo r the other since ...
tile sllbjective structure of man and the objective structure of society do not only correspond
to one allother-they are identical."
In my opinion, the special value of Reich's work is this aspect of his research ...
With respect to the psychoanalytic thesis of the author in the narrow sense of
the term ... one can naturally be rather skeptical. .. A completely healthy and
well-balanced individual in terms of his sexual life may be a long way offfrom being a
perfect socialist and a convinced revolutionary fighter. It could be said that no one
could be a true revolutionary if they had not yet freed themselves from antiquated
bourgeois sexual concepts and from authoritarian prejudices which are rooted in reactionary
sexual morality. On the other hand, an individual completely free of bourgeois
sexual prejudice may lack all sense of human solidarity. We recognize that
Freud errs a great deal in not taking into account the political significance of sexual
repression in the conservation of exploitative regimes. We must also recognize the