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A Question of Class Anarchist Communists

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A Question of Class Anarchist Communists Anarchist Communism is not the pure fruit of some intellectual adventure. It is not the result, happy as it may be, of certain individuals who, sheltered from history, have meditated on humanity’s destiny. It is not the (generous) answer of a few utopians to the ills of contemporary society and to its patent injustices. It is not the search for an ideal of perfection which can satisfy the need for harmony of minds requiring abstract ponderings. Anarchist Communism was born both from and within the struggles of the proletariat and has therefore little to do with the innate aspirations of man towards less iniquitous forms of social organization. Hence, we will not be searching for its roots in the philosophical systems of more or less ancient ANARCHIST times (even though they may have provided food for thought, as is also the case with certain other forms of political thought born COMMUNISTS around the same time, such as Marxism or liberal ideology). We will concentrate only on the stratification of ideas laid down in one component of the workers’ and proletarian movement beginning with the First International (1864) and continuing until today. A QUESTION OF 116 CLASS1 Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici Studies for a Libertarian Alternative 1. We Are All Anarchists Against the Wall 2. Anarchist Communists: A Question Of Class 3. Class War, Reaction & The Italian Anarchists: A study of the Italian anarchist movement in the first quarter of the 20th century 4. What A State To Be In This series of pamphlets is produced by the FdCA and made freely available for download in PDF format. Repro- Saverio Craparo is a teacher who has been an anarchist commu- duction is permitted provided the source is indicated. nist since first he became interested in politics. He is a member of the Study Committee of the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici For more information about the FdCA, visit our website and has lived in Florence since 1971. www.fdca.it 2 115 munism, Zabalaza Books, Johannesburg (www. zabalaza.net/zababooks) Preface to the English edition Chapter 5.6 The Federation of Anarchist Communists (FdCA) was § Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici, Il "programma founded in 1985 on the principle of the theoretical and minimo" dei Comunisti Anarchici - Atti del V° Con- strategic unity of its members, a principle which it still gresso della Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici, holds to and will continue to do so. This principle means CP, Florence 1998. (Also available at www.fdca.it) that the FdCA is based on its positions which are shared by the entire federated membership. Chapter 5.6.1 § Ai compagni sulla Cina, CP, Florence, 1972 These positions are set out in a number of original Theo- § Luigi Di Lembo, Saverio Craparo, Giancarlo Leoni, retical Documents which represent the unity of the Fed- Pasquale Masciotra, Marco Paganini, Giovanni Cim- eration and its policies. They also represent the unity of its bale, Ai compagni su: capitalismo ristrutturazione e militants, federated into a single political organization and lotta di classe, CP, Florence, 1975 individually and collectively responsible for the political life § Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (a cura Ufficio and the political decisions of the FdCA. Studi), Equivoco Globalizzazione, Quaderni di Alter- nativa Libertaria, n.13. (Also available at www.fdca. Our Theoretical Documents are divided into Theory, Basic it - English version forthcoming) Strategy, Political Strategy and General Tactics. Chapter 5.6.2 The documents which go to make up our Theory repre- § Maurizio Antonioli, Errico Malatesta, l'organizzazione sent the unique, united and characteristic identity of the operaia e il sindacalismo, in Ricerche Storiche, a.XIII, Federation. They set out the Federation’s revolutionary n°1, January-April 1943, ESI, pp.151-204 role and its political function as historical memory and ac- tive minority, a role which has been indicated by the ex- Chapter 5.6.3 perience of the revolutionary proletariat throughout the § Nino Malara, Antifascismo anarchico 1919-1945, Sa- history of the class struggle. pere 2000, Rome, 1995 Adriana Dadà, Class War, Reaction and the Italian Anar- Our Theory currently consists of two documents: “Teoria chists, Studies for a Libertarian Alternative dei Comunisti Anarchici” and “Comunisti Anarchici: Una questione di classe”. This booklet is a translation of the latter of these documents which was first published in 2003. Basic Strategy consists of those documents which set out the long-term strategic role of our class enemies the role of the mass organization and the political organization and 114 3 Chapter 5 the tasks of these organizations during the transition to § Errico Malatesta, La rivoluzione in pratica, in Umanità communism. Political Strategy consists of documents Nova, 7 October 1922. Now in Errico Malatesta, which set out in the short term the social, political and eco- Scritti scelti, Samonà e Savelli, Rome, 1970, pp.173- nomic context of the class struggle and the strategic role 177. of the mass organizations and the political organization, while our General Tactics are concerned with the immedi- Chapter 5.1 ate role of these organizations within the current context of § George Woodcock, Anarchism: a history of libertarian the class struggle. ideas and movements, Meridian Books, Cleveland and New-York, 1962 This system of Theoretical Documents was conceived so that the FdCA would always be in a position to understand Chapter 5.2 the nature of its role and its actions and so that it can en- § Maurizio Antonioli (ed.), Dibattito sul sindacalismo. gage in a continuing process of strategic reflection and Atti del Congresso Internazionale anarchico di Am- analysis, learning always from the class struggle, promot- sterdam (1907), CP, Florence, 1978 ing internal debate and thereby avoiding ideological rigid- ity. Chapter 5.2.1. § Unione dei Comunisti Anarchici Toscani, I comunisti On our website at www.fdca.it you can find most of our anarchici e l'organizzazione di massa, CP, Florence, Theoretical Documents in Italian and several documents 1984 of Basic Strategy and General Tactics also available in English. Chapter 5.2.2. § Autonomia e organizzazione, CP, Florence, 1975 § Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici, La Teoria dei Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici comunisti anarchici, Quaderni di Alternativa Liberta- International Relations Office ria, fuori programma June 2005 Chapter 5.3 § Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (Studies Com- mission), What a State to be in, Studies for a Liber- tarian Alternative Chapter 5.4 § Wilhelm Reich, Character Analysis, Simon & Schus- ter, New York, 1972 Chapter 5.5 § Georges Fontenis, The Manifesto of Libertarian Com- 4 113 litzsch der ökonomische Julian, oder Capital und Ar- beit, R.Schlingmann, Berlin, 1864 Anarchist Communists: A Question of Class Chapter 4.2 Contents: § Louis-Auguste Blanqui, Oeuvres complètes (Coup pour coup), Éditions Galilée, Paris, 1977 1. Theoreticians 1.1 Bakunin (or, Origins) Chapter 4.4 1.2 Fabbri (or, Maturity) § Leon Trotsky, Revolution Betrayed: What Is the So- 1.3 Berneri (or, Innovation) viet Union and Where Is It Going, Pathfinder Press, New York, 1973 2. Events 2.1 The Paris Commune (1871; an improvisation) Chapter 4.4.1 2.2 Ukraine (1917-1921; an idea) § Ida Mett, The Kronstadt Uprising 1921, Black Rose 2.3 Spain (1936-1939; a project) Books, Montréal, 1971 § Israel Getzler, Kronstadt 1917-1921, The Fate of a 3. Why Communist: what we have in common with the Soviet Democracy, Cambridge, 1983 left 3.1 Method (historical materialism) Chapter 4.4.2 3.2 Classes (the protagonists) § E.H. Carr, A History of Soviet Russia, Macmillan, 3.3 Class Struggle (antagonism) London, 1978 3.4 A Society of Free Equals (communism) Chapter 4.4.3 4. Why Anarchist: what divides us from the left § The Book of Lord Shang, Lawbook Exchange, New 4.1 Struggles in the Bourgeois State Jersey, 2003 4.2 Political Struggles and Social Struggles 4.3 The Role of the Vanguard Chapter 4.4.4 4.4 The State § Arthur Lehning, Anarchismus und Marxismus in der 4.4.1 The Problem of the Dominant Class russischen Revolution, Verlag für Sozial- 4.4.2 The Defence of the Revolution Revolutionäre Schriften, Berlin, (n.d.) 4.4.3 The Management of the Economy 4.4.4 The Death of the State Chapter 4.4.5. 4.4.5 Dictatorship and Bureaucracy Various, Un'analisi nuova per la strategia di sempre, L'anti- stato, Cesena, 1973. 5. Why Anarchist Communist: what distinguishes us Various, I nuovi padroni, Antistato, Milan, 1978 from anarchists Guido Montana, La rivoluzione egualitaria post-industriale, 5.1 Organization Silva, Rome, 1971 5.2 Organizational Dualism 5.2.1 The Mass Organization is not a carbon copy 112 5 § Gruppa Russkikh Anarkhistov Zagranitsei, Organizat- of the political organization sionnaya Platforma Vseobshchego Soyuza Anarkhis- 5.2.2 The Political Organization is not only for tov - proekt, Paris, 1926. Published in English trans- propaganda lation by Workers Solidarity Movement, Dublin 1989 5.3 On the State and Collectivity under the title "The Organizational Platform of the 5.4 The Methods Libertarian Communists" 5.5 The Evidence 5.6 The Programme Chapter 2.3 5.6.1 Phase Analysis § José Peirats, The CNT in the Spanish Revolution, 5.6.2 Gradualism vol.1, Meltzer Press, Hastings, 2001 5.6.3 Alliances § José Peirats, La CNT y la revolución española, 3 vols., Madre Tierra, Madrid, 1988 6. Appendices § Camillo Berneri, Guerra de clases en España, 1936- 6.1 Appendix 1: Historical materialism and dialectic mate- 1937, Tusquets, Barcelona, 1977 rialism 6.2 Appendix 2: Anarchist communism and libertarian Chapter 3.1 communism § Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Collected 6.2.1 Historical Materialism as an instrument of Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Lawrence analysis & Wishart Ltd, London, 1975 6.2.2 Organizational Dualism § Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, System of Economic Con- 6.2.2.1 The Mass Organization tradictions: or, The Philosophy of Misery, Arno Press, 6.2.2.2 The Specific Organization New York, 1972 6.2.2.3 Relationship between Vanguard § History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Mass (Bolsheviks), Moscow, 1938 6.2.3 Anarchist Communism and Libertarian Com- munism today Chapter 3.3 § V.I.
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