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INTERNATIONAL* Writing in hispersonal capacityseries of popular rebellions. In 1936, the CNTand FAI helped stop a military coup, unleashing amassive andprofounds o c i a lrevolutionthat sawmillions ofhectares ofland, andvast partsof industryand servicesp l a c e du n d e rworker andcommunitycontrol.Often governed through CNT structures, the“collectives” were self-managed, highly eficient,and rejected the logic of production for proit;they moved towards the implementation of themaximum programme of anarchist communism.Unfortunately, failures by the CNT and FAI stalledthis programme, and opened the door to itsdefeat.That said, the CNT’s experience from the 1910sto the 1930s highlights the reality that we are, atthis current conjuncture, in fact settling for farless than human beings are capable of creating. Itis in the hands of ordinary people to remake theworld. This should be remembered in movementbuilding: the CNT model that, following in thefootsteps of anarchist luminary Mikhail Bakunin,insisted crisply that “Future social organizationmust be made solely from the bottom upwards,by the free association or federation of workers,”irst local, then inally, “in a great federation,international and universal,” embracing allsuffering humanity, and capable of re-making theworld into one based on social justice, equalityand freedom.Imperial Wars, Imperialismand the Losers:A Critique of Certain ‘Labour Aristocracy’ TheoriesLucien van der WaltAs the 100th anniversary of theoutbreak in August 1914 of WorldWar One fades, let us rememberthat imperialism harms all working classpeople – including those in imperialistand Western countries, and the whiteworking class.It is often said that Western workersbeneit from imperialism, or imperialistproits, or that welfare in the West isfunded by imperialism – but all of theseclaims fall in the face of realities likeWorld War One (1914-1918). This war –between Germany and Britain and theirrespective allies – was, at least in part,fought for a re-division of the Europeanruledcolonies.NOT THEIR CAUSESThe ighting, of course, was largelydone by the working class – againstthe working class. Those who insistthat Western workers beneit fromimperialism should remember the 37million who died: the 10 million-plussoldiers, 7 million civilians, and 23million wounded were heavily drawnfrom the Western working class; theothers were drafted in from colonieslike Senegal, South Africa and India. Thisfollowed a string of wars, including inSouthern Africa, from the late 1800s,like the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, and theAnglo-Boer War (or South African War)of 1899-1902.It was ordinary people who formedthe armies and the victims in all theseconlicts; they fought in wars they didnot create, driven by mighty empires thatruling classes controlled. The conqueredpeoples, like the Zulu and Afrikaners,fought for national independenceand lost. Their ruling elites, however,made peace with the empires: theZulu monarchy becoming part of thecolonial apartheid system, the Afrikanergenerals becoming local allies of Britishimperialism. The elites that controlledthe early African National Congress(ANC) in South Africa were Empireloyalists, too, routinely supportingBritain’s wars.This is not to so say such elites weremere collaborators or ‘compradors’:they acted in such ways in pursuit oftheir own class interests and agendas,changing allegiances as situationschanged.WARS AND WESTERN LABOURNo one would deny that imperialismharms ordinary people in the colonialand postcolonial world. But what ofthe ordinary people in the imperialistZABALAZA: A JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN REVOLUTIONARY ANARCHISM - No. 14 26