	Workers Solidarity No. 42
	  Irish Anarchist Paper

              Net addition

                   Making changes happen

                  Evolution and Revolution

THE IDEA OF evolution has always been important to 
socialists. Except for a handful of utopians most have 
thought of socialism in terms of human progress and 
improvment. This idea was given a scientific basis in 
the nineteenth century by socialists who saw society as 
evolving through stages towards socialism (not that it 
would stop here socialism would just be the end of pre-
history real history could then begin.) Most socialists 
believed that the struggle towards socialism was a 
striving of people to develop and move forward.

So socialists have been united by the idea of the human 
race advancing towards a better society. They have been 
divided about how to get there. A major division has 
arisen between does who believe that socialism can 
evolve passively through education and example and 
those who believe it has to be fought for.

CAN CHANGE OCCUR BY ITSELF?

As capitalism began to develop during the nineteenth 
century small groups began to question the system and 
whether it ran in the interests of everyone. Most of 
this criticism was moral. capitalism was seen as evil 
because it dennied humans their through potential and 
freedom. One of the first practical solutions put 
forward was to build a new society from within 
capitalism. This was the idea of forming socialist co-
operatives.

Some of these settlements were models of socialist 
ideas in practice with all goods held in common and an 
equal say for all. For example a Co-op set up at 
Rahiline Co. Clare in 1831.

This was founded when the owner John Scott Vandeleur 
donated his 618 acre estate to the orginal tenants. The 
Ralahine Agricultural and Manufacturing Co-operative 
Association was an instant success. All land was held 
in common and workers were paid in labour notes. These 
could be redeemed for supplies from the committee but 
such was the abundance they were hardly required. The 
committee was elected by all the ex-tenants and was 
made up of both men and women.

Unfortunately Vandeleur lost all his money gambling 
and the estate was sold to pay debts. The worker's 
signed a declaration"We the under-signed members of the 
Ralahine Agricultural and Manufacturng Co-Operative 
Association have experienced over the last 2 years 
contentment, peace and happiness.........." (quoted in 
P. Berrisford Eliss History of the Irish Working Class)
The area quickly settled down to the old pattern of 
police and landlord violence and agricultural revolts 
exactly as before. Despite the best intentions of the 
co-operativists few wanted to follow their example and 
just hand land to the peasants. None of their schemes 
led to socialism though some gave a clue as to how it 
might work in practise. In Ireland today modern farm 
co-ops are just limited companies. Many are among the 
most sucessful capitalist enteprises in the country. 

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

Unfortunately these isolated social experiments are 
doomed to failure. There can be no islands in the 
stream of capitalism. Any such group has to enter into 
economic relations with the modern capitalist economy 
eventually.

The only other choice is total self containment and 
isolation like the religious colonies of Hutterites, 
Menonites and Amish in America. Though these societies 
spurn war and violence and hold all goods in common 
they are also conservative, sexist and rooted in 
tradition. They have basically stood still for 400 
years and ignored the world around them. They cannot 
move forward because progress and evolution is 
ultimately based on social and human contact.

IS THAT A BALLOT BOX IN YOUR POCKET?

So socialism won't evolve from islands within 
capitalism. Neither will it evolve from example, 
education or voting to put the "good guys" in power. 
Only a total idiot (and I've met a few in my time) 
could believe that voting social democrats into power 
could bring about socialism. A study of parliamentry 
democracy in Western Europe between 1970 and 1985 noted 
that "all European parties of any reasonable size have 
enjoyed at least one period of power in this period." 
"Socialists" have been in government everywhere! Yet 
through out Europe it has been business as usual. No 
matter what party was in power economic policty 
remained unchanged In the election in Australia last 
year a panel of leading economic experts could not see 
any difference between the Labour party and neo-
thatcherite Liberal party on economic policy. 

The striking thing about parliamentry democracy is 
its entirely undemocractic character. John Stuart Mill 
the 19th century liberal philosopher saw democracy as a 
form of government in which "the intellectual classes 
would lead the government and the government would lead 
the stupid classes" Whatever about the intelligence of 
"democratic" governments they certainly rule in the 
interests of a minority class. The "stupid classes" get 
to mark a card every few years and otherwise put up or 
shut up. Capitalist democracy is merely an exercise in 
mass disefranchisement.

BIOLOGICAL CRISIS

So how do we anarchists see socialist ideas evolving? 
Evolution is not necessarily a smooth and even process. 
The modern veiw of evolution in biology is a story of 
long periods of stability with little change separated 
by brief crisis periods. Within this short periods of 
evolutionary time there were huge waves of evolutionary 
change along with mass extinctions. During this time 
hundreds of species perished and hundreds of new ones 
evolved. This idea was first put forward by a 
materialist zoologist; Stephen J Gould. It is to the 
idea of materialism that we turn to for our veiw of how 
societies evolve.

Society does not progress slowly and smoothly but 
after long periods of evolution there are briefer 
periods of revolutionary change. Capitalism, for 
example, evolved slowly from within feudalism. However 
the actual transition from feudalism to capitalism was 
marked by upheaval and social revolution throughout 
Europe. A new class of merchants and capitalists 
overthrew an old order of lords and monarchs. Democracy 
and the nation state replaced a network of earldoms and 
dukedoms losely bound together by a king or queen. 

REVOLUTIONS

Our view is that, unfortunately, major social change 
does not happen quickly or easilly. Anarchism won't 
just happen. It will only succeed when the majority of 
society have the ability and the wish to run it in 
their own interests.

In practice we see revolution as building from the 
ground up. Workers infringing more and more on the 
bosses' profit margins and eventually questioning their 
right to make a profit on the backs of the working 
class and taking over their workplace. As the struggle 
progresses more workers setup workplace commitees, 
councils and eventually defence militias. Groups begin 
to federate upwards on the basis of democracy, 
delegation and recallability. This is a revolution 
desired by many not imposed by a few (as most past 
revolutions have been.)

 Inevitably when faced with a major challenge the 
bosses and state will be ready to fight to defend their 
wealth and power. We have to be ready to fight to 
defend and forward the revolution.

With good organisation, most people on our side and 
much of the army coming over we would hope this would 
not be a long or bloody fight. We are certain the 
system can't be reformed out of existence. It has to be 
destroyed. We are revolutionaries not out of blood lust 
or because we think it sounds cool. We are 
revolutionaries because it is the only way forward.

Des Mc Carron

This is the sixth part of the latest issue of Workers Solidarity, 
produced by the Irish anarchist group, the Workers Solidarity 
Movement.  We are changing the format for this posting to 
two parts consisting of short articles and then posting longer
 related articles separately.  They should arrive on this 
list/newsgroup over the next few days.  Some lists/
newsgroups will only get postings relevant to them.  To
get other parts reply to this address with a request or
watch out for them on alt.society.anarchy between the
13th and 24th of June.


The parts and their contents are.

Workers Solidarity 42 (Editorial and shorts) 1/6    
   For starters
   That's Capitalism
   Stake your claim to cash
   PLC students demand grants
   Telethon - A hypocritical sham
   If the cops don't like you
   French show how to fight... and win!
   Bosnia, Rwanda and UN intervention.

Workers Solidarity 42 (More shorts) 2/6

   Significant minority say NO to union leaders
   Don't vote...it only encourages them
   Letter
   Prepare to Sink the service charges
   Find Out More

WS 42 Gay Pride 3/6         

   Loud and Proud
   The reasons Emmet Stagg should resign

WS 42  Ireland, Sinn Fein and the peace talks. 4/6

   Yes to peace

WS 42 Year of the Family 5/6

   Parents, puritans and poverty
   Gas masks and pantyhose

WS 42 Evolution and revolution 6/6
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

or by anonymous e-mail to an64739@anon.penet.fi

Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive

             by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
              or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")

in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM
