User:Eduen/Anarchism and organization

Anarchists have widely dissagreed on what is the best form of organizing themselves for social struggle and change. Since the early 20th century there has appeared 4 main tendencies on this debate: individualist and insurrectionary informalism, anarcho-syndicalism, anarcho-communist platformism and synthesis anarchism based on anarchism without adjectives principles. Since the establishment of the First International, anarchists have also debated on the merits of national and transnational organization.

History of the debate

Main article: History of anarchism

Mikhail Bakunin "was historically important to the development of an anarchism that focused its force in insurrection. Unlike Marx, who built his support in the First International, mostly within the central executive structure, Bakunin worked to build support for co-ordinated action though autonomous insurrections at the base, especially in Southern Europe. And since Bakunin's time insurrectionary anarchists have been concentrated in Southern Europe." Later in 1876, at the Berne conference of the First International, "the Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta argued that the revolution "consists more of deeds than words", and that action was the most effective form of propaganda. In the bulletin of the Jura Federation he declared "the Italian federation believes that the insurrectional fact, destined to affirm socialist principles by deed, is the most efficacious means of propaganda"." But after Peter Kropotkin along others decided to enter labor unions after their initial reservations, there remained "the anti-syndicalist anarchist-communists, who in France were grouped around Sebastien Faure's Le Libertaire. From 1905 onwards, the Russian counterparts of these anti-syndicalist anarchist-communists become partisans of economic terrorism and illegal 'expropriations'." Illegalism as a practice emerged and within it "The acts of the anarchist bombers and assassins ("propaganda by the deed") and the anarchist burglars ("individual reappropriation") expressed their desperation and their personal, violent rejection of an intolerable society. Moreover, they were clearly meant to be exemplary , invitations to revolt."Such acts of rebellion which could be individual were in the long run seen as act of rebellion which could ignite en masse insurrection leading to revolution. Proponents and activists of these tactics among others included Johann Most, Luigi Galleani, Victor Serge, and Severino Di Giovanni. "In Argentina, these tendencies flourished at the end of the 20s and during the 30s, years of acute repression and of flinching of the once powerful workers movement –this was a desperate, though heroic, of a decadent movement."

The earliest expressions of anarcho-syndicalist structure and methods were formulated in the International Workingmen's Association or First International, particularly in the Jura federation. In 1895, the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) in France expressed fully the organizational structure and methods of revolutionary syndicalism influencing labour movements the world over. The International Workers Association, formed in 1922, is an international anarcho-syndicalist federation of various labour unions from different countries. At its peak, the International Workers Association represented millions of workers and competed directly for the hearts and minds of the working class with social democratic unions and parties. The Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo played and still plays a major role in the Spanish labour movement. It was also a decisive force in the Spanish Civil War, organizing worker militias and facilitating the collectivization of vast sections of the industrial, logistical, and communications infrastructure, principally in Catalonia. Another Spanish anarcho-syndicalist union, the Confederacion General del Trabajo de España, is now the third largest union in Spain and the largest anarchist union with tens of thousands of members.

Russian anarchists seeked to address and explain the anarchist movement's failures during the Russian Revolution. The Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft) was written in 1926 by Dielo Truda ("Workers' Cause"), a group of exiled Russian anarchists in France. The pamphlet is an analysis of the basic anarchist beliefs, a vision of an anarchist society, and recommendations as to how an anarchist organization should be structured. The four main principles by which an anarchist organization should operate, according to the Platform, are ideological unity, tactical unity, collective action, and federalism.

The Platform attracted strong criticism from many sectors on the anarchist movement of the time including some of the most influential anarchists such as Voline, Errico Malatesta, Luigi Fabbri, Camillo Berneri, Max Nettlau, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman and Gregori Maximoff . Voline along with Molly Steimer, Fleshin, and others wrote a reply stating that to "To maintain that anarchism is only a theory of classes is to limit it to a single viewpoint. Anarchism is more complex and pluralistic, like life itself. Its class element is above all its means of fighting for liberation; its humanitarian character is its ethical aspect, the foundation of society; its individualism is the goal of mankind." Two texts made as responses to the Platform, each proposing a different organizational model, became the basis for what is known as the organisation of synthesis, or simply "synthesism". Voline published in 1924 a paper calling for "the anarchist synthesis" and was also the author of the article in Sebastian Faure's Encyclopedie Anarchiste on the same topic. The main purpose behind the synthesis was that the anarchist movement in most countries was divided into three main tendencies: communist anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, and individualist anarchism and so such an organization could contain anarchists of these 3 tendencies very well.

As the 20th century continued and the 21st century arrived platformism, synthesis anarchism and insurrectionary anarchism kept on debating what was the best way of anarchist organization in different countries. The International of Anarchist Federations (IAF/IFA) was founded during an international anarchist conference in Carrara in 1968 by the three existing European anarchist federations of France (Fédération Anarchiste), Italy(Federazione Anarchica Italiana) and Spain (Federación Anarquista Ibérica) as well as the Bulgarian federation in French exile. These organizations were also inspired on synthesist principles. Currently alongside the previously mentioned federations, the IAF includes the Argentine Libertarian Federation, the Anarchist Federation of Belarus, the Federation of Anarchists in Bulgaria, the Czech-Slovak Anarchist Federation, the Federation of German speaking Anarchists in Germany and Switzerland, and the Anarchist Federation in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Organizational tendencies

Informalism and insurrectionary anarchism

Main article: Insurrectionary anarchism

Italian American anarchist Luigi Galleani, influential activist of violent insurrectionary propaganda by the deed tactics

Insurrectionary anarchism is a revolutionary theory, practice and tendency within the anarchist movement which emphasizes the theme of insurrection within anarchist practice. It is critical of formal organizations such as labor unions and federations that are based on a political programme and periodic congresses. Instead, insurrectionary anarchists advocate informal organization and small affinity group based organization. Insurrectionary anarchists put value in attack, permanent class conflict, and a refusal to negotiate or compromise with class enemies.

The Italian Giuseppe Ciancabilla (1872–1904) wrote in "Against organization" that "we don't want tactical programs, and consequently we don't want organization. Having established the aim, the goal to which we hold, we leave every anarchist free to choose from the means that his sense, his education, his temperament, his fighting spirit suggest to him as best. We don't form fixed programs and we don't form small or great parties. But we come together spontaneously, and not with permanent criteria, according to momentary affinities for a specific purpose, and we constantly change these groups as soon as the purpose for which we had associated ceases to be, and other aims and needs arise and develop in us and push us to seek new collaborators, people who think as we do in the specific circumstance."

Contemporary insurrectionary anarchism inherits the views and tactics of anti-organizational anarcho-communism and illegalism.

Anarcho-syndicalism

Main article: Anarcho-syndicalism

Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union (syndic meaning administrator), from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος (syndikos) which means caretaker of an issue. Syndicalism is an alternative co-operative economic system. Adherents view it as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society, democratically self-managed by workers.

In contrast to a separate State apparatus exercising external agency, anarcho-syndicalists argue for the creation of organisational forms built from below, united through federalism and confederation. Stemming from anarchist principles, this has entailed experiments with organisations based on self-management and direct democracy - that is the use of mandated, binding and rotatable delegates always accountable to the base. Such organisational forms include, but are not limited to, networks of militant workers, economic fighting organisations and specific propaganda groups. These organisations can range from being permanent minority networks (eg: specific networks of libertarian workers) to the expression of heightened levels of class struggle itself (eg: strike committees, workers councils', revolutionary unions).

Anarcho-syndicalism originated close to the beginning of the twentieth century, and it remains a popular and active school of anarchism today and has many supporters as well as many currently active organisations. Anarcho-syndicalists, being social anarchists, vary in their points of view on anarchist economic arrangements from a collectivist anarchism type economic system to an anarcho-communist economic system.

Platformism

Main article: Platformism

Platformism is a tendency within the wider anarchist movement originally theorised by the Dielo Truda group's Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft). The document was based on the experiences of Russian anarchists in the 1917 October Revolution, which led eventually to the victory of the Bolsheviks over the anarchists and other groups. The Platform attempted to address and explain the anarchist movement's failures during the Russian Revolution. The book drew both praise and criticism from anarchists worldwide.

Today there are platformist groups in many countries including those who founded the now defunct International Libertarian Solidarity. The website Anarkismo.net is run collaboratively by Platformist organisations from all over the world. Platfomist organizations also founded the now defunct International Libertarian Solidarity. The website Anarkismo.net is run collaboratively by Platformist organisations from all over the world.

The Platform has 4 key organizational features which distinguish it from the rest of the anarchist movement. They are:

• Tactical Unity - A common tactical line in the movement is of decisive importance for the existence of the organization and the whole movement: it avoids what it sees as the disastrous effect of several tactics opposing each other; it concentrates the forces of the movement; and gives them a common direction leading to a fixed objective.
• Theoretical Unity - "Theory represents the force which directs the activity of persons and organizations along a defined path towards a determined goal. Naturally it should be common to all the persons and organizations adhering to the General Union. All activity by the General Union, both overall and in its details, should be in perfect concord with the theoretical principles professed by the union."
• Collective Responsibility - "The practice of acting on one's personal responsibility should be decisively condemned and rejected in the ranks of the anarchist movement. The areas of revolutionary life, social and political, are above all profoundly collective by nature. Social revolutionary activity in these areas cannot be based on the personal responsibility of individual militants."
• Federalism - "Against centralism, anarchism has always professed and defended the principle of federalism, which reconciles the independence and initiative of individuals and the organization with service to the common cause."

Synthesis anarchism

Main article: Synthesis anarchism

Synthesis anarchism, synthesist anarchism, synthesism or synthesis federations is a form of anarchist organization which tries to join anarchists of different tendencies under the principles of anarchism without adjectives. In the 1920s this form found as its main proponents Voline and Sebastien Faure. It is the main principle behind the anarchist federations grouped around the contemporary global International of Anarchist Federations. The International of Anarchist Federations (IAF/IFA) was founded during an international anarchist conference in Carrara in 1968 by the three existing European anarchist federations of France (Fédération Anarchiste), Italy(Federazione Anarchica Italiana) and Spain (Federación Anarquista Ibérica) as well as the Bulgarian federation in French exile. These organizations were also inspired on synthesist principles. Currently alongside the previously mentioned federations, the IAF includes the Argentine Libertarian Federation, the Anarchist Federation of Belarus, the Federation of Anarchists in Bulgaria, the Czech-Slovak Anarchist Federation, the Federation of German speaking Anarchists in Germany and Switzerland, and the Anarchist Federation in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Under anarchism without adjectives principles synthesis anarchism adopts a pluralistic specific anarchist approach to organization. The main purpose behind the synthesis was that the anarchist movement in most countries was divided into three main tendencies: communist anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, and individualist anarchism and so such an organization could contain anarchists of these 3 tendencies very well.

Voline along with Molly Steimer, Fleshin, and others wrote a reply to the reductionism and sectarianism of the Dielo Truda platform stating that to "To maintain that anarchism is only a theory of classes is to limit it to a single viewpoint. Anarchism is more complex and pluralistic, like life itself. Its class element is above all its means of fighting for liberation; its humanitarian character is its ethical aspect, the foundation of society; its individualism is the goal of mankind." Sebastien Faure in "Anarchist synthesis" exposes the view that "these currents were not contradictory but complementary, each having a role within anarchism: anarcho-syndicalism as the strength of the mass organisations and the best way for the practice of anarchism; libertarian communism as a proposed future society based on the distribution of the fruits of labour according to the needs of each one; anarcho-individualism as a negation of oppression and affirming the individual right to development of the individual, seeking to please them in every way.

A good example of synthesis anarchist organization is the base principles of the Francophone Fédération Anarchiste which were written by the individualist anarchist Charles-Auguste Bontemps and the anarcho-communist Maurice Joyeux which established an organization with a plurality of tendencies and autonomy of federated groups organized around synthesist principles.

Theoretical and tactical differences

Formal federations and organizations vs. informal affinity groups

Main articles: Affinity groups, Propaganda by the deed, and Illegalism

Insurrectionary anarchism and illegalist anarchists as well as some individualist anarchists have had reservations againts permanent large federations such as those proposed by both platformism and synthesis anarchism. Insurrectionary anarchism points out that ": thus we are against the party, syndicate and permanent organization, all of which act to synthesize struggle and become elements of integration for capital and the state." Instead the view that "organization is for concrete tasks". "The informal anarchist organization is therefore a specific organization which gathers around a common affinity.".

Pluralistic anarchism without adjectives vs. theoretical and tactical unity

Main article: Anarchism without adjectives

A main point of dispute between synthesis anarchism and platformism is the issue of the diversity of schools of thought within anarchism. Synthesis anarchism is a form of organization which tries to join anarchists of all tendencies under the same organization adhering to a pluralistic stance. On the other hand platformism has been explicit in its being mainly an anarcho-communist tendency which rejects within its organization individualist anarchists. It also adheres to a position which calls for "theoretical and tactical unity".

Anarcho-communism

Main article: Anarcho-communism

Anarcho-communism is the economic tendency that mainly motivates insurrectionary anarchism. Platformism regards itself as mainly an anarcho-communist tendency. Nevertheless anarcho-communists have also joined and participated in synthesis anarchist organizations alongside people from other tendencies. and the main proponents of synthesis anarchism, Voline and Sebastien Faure were anarcho-communists while the "Programa Anarchico" (Anarchist Program) of the synthesist Unione Anarchica Italiana and later also adopted by the Federazione Anarchica Italiana was written by the important theorist of anarcho-communism Errico Malatesta.

Individualist anarchism

Main articles: Individualist anarchism, Egoist anarchism, and Union of egoists

The question of individualist anarchism is also an important matter of dispute between organizational tendencies. Individualist anarchists have supported both informal affinity groups and participation in large synthesis anarchist federations. Platformist organizations explicitly reject individualist anarchism. On the question of anarcho-syndicalism, individualist anarchists have both rejected and participated on anarcho-syndicalist organizations. Individualist anarchist Max Stirner spoke of unions of egoists as a form of free association between individualists and so that idea has been interpreted in many ways which have gone as far as how individualists can associate even in economic and sexual and love relationships.

National and International organization

Main articles: First International, International Workers' Association, International of Anarchist Federations, and International Libertarian Solidarity

In 1993 the Italian insurrectionary anarchist Alfredo Bonanno writes For An Anti-authoritarian Insurrectionalist International in which he proposes coordination between mediterranean insurrectionists after the period of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and civil war in the ex-Yugoslavia.