Marxism and anarchism

An olive branch to anarchists?

By Jordan As an anarchist I would like to congratulate Yves Coleman on his article What Trotskyists should know about today’s young anarchists ( Solidarity 224), and the AWL for publishing it. It’s obviously a generalisation, as the author admits, but it captures parts of reality that it would be a mistake to miss. I’ve been reading the releases on the AWL website for a while now. It’s the first time I’ve found something that feel genuinely talks about anarchists (other than anarchist rebuttals that occasionally appear), not endless strawman attacks on particular individuals within the...

Five things Trotskyists should know about today’s young "anarchists"

« When I cook for the Occupy the City move­ment in London I contri­bute to change the world. » A guy inter­vie­wed on RFI radio. The fol­lo­wing is an exten­ded ver­sion of my brief inter­ven­tion at the AWL’s congress [22-23 October 2011]. I would like first to thank the AWL for its invi­ta­tion. As far as I know, the AWL is the only orga­ni­sa­tion in the European Far Left which is trying to seriously debate with other refor­mist or revo­lu­tio­nary cur­rents. I don’t share the AWL’s dog­ma­tic reve­rence toward Leninism and Trotskyism but at least we have some­thing impor­tant in common...

Black Blocs in France

By Yves Coleman In France, the Black Blocs [see Theodora Polenta’s article on Greece, Solidarity 222] are a very broad current. This current groups together, or in it can be grouped, people who participated in the squatting movement in the 80s and 90s, Italian refugees in France who have contact with Italian insurrectionists, radical youth who want immediate action and are impatient to fight the police, and some supporters of late-period Toni Negri (called “garantistes” because they are for a guaranteed basic income for all). In short, these are people who in general do not vote, and who are...

We should work in mass organisations

Stuart Jordan responds to North London Solidarity Federation (SolFed) in our continuing debate on the differences and similarities between Marxist and anarchist traditions. SolFed’s contribution to our debate on anarchism and class struggle ( Solidarity 3-204) makes good use of the “straw man” technique of debate. This is arguably a bigger block on healthy debate in the anti-capitalist movement than the “inhibitions” caused by a “hierarchical structure”... whatever that means. Before we can explore the interesting points of difference, it is necessary to clear away some of the straw. We are...

Anarchism and the Commune

Anarchism and the Commune This is the third and final part of a review article on Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism , by Michael Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt. It covers the history of the First International, the workers' movement in which Karl Marx was active from its founding in 1864 and the anarchist leader Mikhail Bakunin was active from 1868. It reviews the split in the International, in 1872, in which Marx and Bakunin were the leading figures on opposing sides, and the broad outlines of anarchist development since 1872. Click here to download...

Anarchism and a classless society: response to AWL from North London Solidarity Federation

Recent issues of Solidarity have carried debate on the differences and similarities between Marxist and anarchist traditions. Here, North London Solidarity Federation (an anarcho-syndicalist group) responds to “Working-Class Struggle and Anarchism” which appeared in Solidarity 3/195. Anarchism, as the author points out in Working Class Struggle and Anarchism , is a rather broad label, so it would be hopeless to try and identify a single tendency with all of its various groupings. Similarly Marxism, historically and currently, has a million and one offshoots ranging from North Korea and Open...

How anarchism parted ways with Marxism

This is the second part of a three-part review article on Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism , by Michael Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt. The first part (Solidarity 203) discussed the many point on which Schmidt's and van der Walt's version of anarchism is closer to Marxism than to traditional anarchism; their claim that Marxism equals proto-Stalinism; and their claim that "the broad anarchist tradition" is equivalent to "socialism from below". Click here to download all three parts as pdf . Part 1: All feathered up: a new defence of anarchism Part 2...

Direct action and class struggle

Much of Bobi Pasquale’s response to our “Open letter to a direct action activist” ( Solidarity 3/202) was made up of statements no leftist could object to (workers and students in struggle good; the cuts, coppers and Labour careerists bad). And while the Socialist Party, for instance, believes the police are “workers in uniform”, and has as its “priority” in the labour movement “moving through elected positions” — these are certainly not accusations you can make at the AWL. They are not relevant to this debate. I’d urge everyone interested in this debate to read “Can we build a revolutionary...

All feathered up: a new defence of anarchism

Review of "Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism", by Michael Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt (AK Press). Click here to download all three parts as pdf . Part 1: All feathered up: a new defence of anarchism Part 2: How anarchism parted ways with Marxism Part 3: Anarchism and the Commune Variants of revolutionary syndicalism were major influences in the labour movements of several countries between the 1890s and World War One. Their activists reckoned the work of the "political" socialists who spent much time on parliamentary electioneering to be deficient...

Anarchism, direct action and class struggle

“A riot is the language of the unheard” (Martin Luther King)... Currently “direct action” seems to be used mechanically for any action outside the once standard, ignored, tedious and silent marches. There is an important differentiation between vandalism and violence — neither of which ought necessarily be condemned — but the argument differs slightly. On the question of direct action — occupations, strikes, civil disobedience and yes, sometimes property damage —I find it difficult to comprehend the arguments against this method to stop cuts that will rocket up child poverty, homelessness...

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