Thinking about Anarchism

What is Anarchism

ANARCHISM IS a much maligned and 
misunderstood set of ideas.  It has 
come to symbolise, to many people, a 
society of destruction and disorder.  
Yet nothing could be further from the 
truth.  Anarchism has been 
deliberately slandered and 
misrepresented, not only by those 
running this society but also by most 
on the Left.  Deliberately, for the 
reason that its uncompromising and 
radical critique of society and how to 
change it poses a challenge that can 
not be met except by slander.  Its roots 
and association with the working 
class of all countries tells the real 
truth.

Anarchism views society, what it is and how 
it should be, on the basis of two fundamental 
pillars.  These are the economic nature of 
society and the manner in which political 
power is organised.  We believe that the 
economic system under which we presently 
live must be abolished.  We also say that the 
political institutions of capitalism, which are 
hierarchical and authoritarian, must go too.  
These institutions serve the employer class 
and will have to be replaced with ones based 
on mass participatory democracy and freedom.

WORKERS COUNCILS

In the new economic order the workers of the 
world will own and share all the wealth they 
produce.  Decisions will be made through 
workplace and community councils which will 
be federated at all levels and centrally co-
ordinated.  Thus political power will not be 
organised in a hierarchical manner, where a 
central government tells everyone else what 
to do.

Those socialists who follow the ideas of Lenin 
hold that such a society can only be built by 
using the State structures, albeit a "workers 
state", under the leadership of their Party.  
Anarchists reject this since both the State 
and Party are hierarchical and authoritarian.  
They are diametrically opposed to the aims 
and organisation of the new society.  

STATE CAPITALISM

Rather than building a real socialist society 
where both economic and political power 
would be everyone's possession and nobody's 
property, these people end up building 
societies that are no more than State 
Capitalism like Russia was and China still is.  
In these countries ordinary people do not 
have any say in how things are run or in the 
decisions that effect them.  They are ordered 
about and exploited just as happens in the 
"free world".

Anarchists predicted this long before it was 
confirmed by the betrayal of the Russian 
revolution, when the workers' soviets and 
factory committees were suppressed by the 
Bolshevik state.  After all, the means you use 
and what you end up with are connected.  
Thus, if the structures used to build socialism 
are hierarchical and undemocratic you should 
not be surprised if the society you end up 
with is hierarchical and undemocratic.  This 
scientific law seemingly escapes some self-
proclaimed followers of "scientific socialism".

FREEDOM

The question of freedom is not just a subject 
for some mere philosophical debate.  It is at 
the very heart of revolutionary change and 
socialism.  A successful revolution is not just 
a shift in economic power from the employers 
to the workers.  

It is a time of real freedom.  It is a time when 
the shackles of the old oppressive order are 
thrown off and the workers movement 
explodes into a recreativity as it copes with 
organising every facet of society so that the 
needs of all are met.  Everyone can get 
involved, through their assemblies and 
delegate councils, in decision making and 
planning that used to be the sole concern of 
central government.  Freedom of ideas, 
criticism and input will not only be a practical 
reality but a necessity.

Capitalist society is organised in a top-down 
way.  Orders come from the top and those at 
the bottom obey them.  The institutions by 
which the bosses rule, the Government and 
the State, are built so that the rule of a 
minority over the majority is possible.  
Control of political freedom, ideas and 
information is fundamental to their working.  
Participation is strictly limited so that most 
people never have any say.

WORKERS STATES

That is why we wish to abolish these 
structures.  They can never be used to create 
socialism but instead will actively sabotage 
the workers' cause.  The "workers states" 
advocated by the Leninists for the transition 
to socialism have proven to be its greatest 
enemy.  Only workers' councils can form the 
basis of the new society.

We stand uncompromisingly for a new world.  
One which will be owned and managed by all 
those who work.  It will be organised from 
the bottom up and production will be to meet 
peoples' needs, not for the private profit of a 
few.  Anarchist society will make real the old 
call "from each according to ability, to each 
according to need".  Every individual will 
enjoy complete control of her/his life with no 
limit on their freedom as long as they do not 
encroach on the freedom of anyone else.  
Now, isn't that something worth struggling 
for?

Kevin Doyle
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at 
     PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland

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