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I anarchist fortnightly 11~---/isVol 39 N022 F 20,,
WE WELCOME News, reviews, articles, Mike, Groundswell Farm, Upper Stratton, Swindon, Wilts. letters. cartoons. etc. Copy deadline 7 j for next issue, Monday “.0 No THE prosperous country of Holland (or after Britain's entry into the EEC bega.n demolish the‘ two houses. 1%“-are these to be more accurate, the Netherlands) to pump millions of pounds into the Neth- just a couple of houses, since they con- still faces an enormous housing shortage erlands. For instance, Bovis Properties, tain eight dwellings as well as two shops t ‘Fl affecting all layers of society, particul- which planned to build a huge hotel in the and a community bookshop. One of the arly in Amsterdam. Nieuwmarkt area of Amsterdam, but houses,which was gutted some years The inner city of Amsterdam was had to give way to the squatters and their back has been restored by both the squat- left relatively untouched until the end of large numbers of supporters. The build- ters- and other people from the neighbour- ANARCHISTS do not seek to influence bleating about irrelevances like 5 per Edward Heath, of blessed memory, the war; unlike Rotterdam, there was ings which Bovls were to demolish are hood, who put in hundreds of work hours governments; they seek to abolish them. cent or even unemployment‘. We then ihtroduced the three-day week during no bombing there. But, especially in now lived in by over a hundred people, and thousands of guilders. Why is why it is not only logical but went on to say: ‘If we did we should be his battle with the miners in 1974, the area where the nazis created a jew- who have converted them into homes and Supported by several action groups, essential that they should play no part, demanding a three-day week as more oduc_t_i_on remained the same. » ish ghetto and where many houses were workshops. t the residents have been resisting this neither as candidates nor as voters, in just than the catch-as-catch-can and So many workers are on piece work, kind of office development for eight the election of governments and should based on easily-achieved norms, that left empty as a result of the deportations, On some occasions, even where squatt- differential-squabbling of the unions‘. lots of houseswere demolished. This was _ years. The building proposed will cost say or do nothing that might look like As is the way with FREEDOM‘s cryp- when Ted Heath tried to punish the ' due to a severe fuel shortage during the ers'have lost specific battles, they have about 20 million Dutch guilders and will I advising any government on what would tic front page pieces, this was meant to whole working class by putting them, on so-called ‘hungry winter‘ of 1944. been successful in other ways. Three ' be financed by the life insurance comp- or would not be ‘a good thing‘. Anarch- be provocative or at least thought-prov- short time, they responded by doing the . After the war rebuilding plans were years .ago it took as many as a thousand any mentioned above, Equity Kw Law. ists‘ demands on governments are more oking, _no more than a hint of what we normal five -day's work in three. They police together with armoured cars, bull- not implemented. The authorities contin- The residents want the companies to likely to be that they gap doing some- would demand if we were in the demand- in effect put iwvo fingers up to the be- dozers and water cannon, to evict 300 thing particularly obnoxious - like lock- wildered Ted, whose knowledge of real ued with the demolition of houses to make sell the ground to Amsterdam city coun- ing business '- like, for instance, the new highways, offices, banks, etc. , just people from the Nieuwmarkt and make ing up our friends on trumped-up charges SW P, whom we sneered at for their life is in direct proportion to his ability way for Amsterdam's first underground cil; they also want the council to build - than that they should do something-c. to conduct_'Land of Hope and Glory‘ as in most other European cities. These houses instead of offices, the need for servile ‘Right to Work‘ campaign (and line. But the squatters, who were well- = Anarchist experience: and anarchism whatever happened to that? ) while coming out of Cowes with a splash. plans were prepared by the city council which has been grossly overestimated. is based on experience more than on The_ fact is that employment as we in conjunction with the political parties organised, managed to resist for three Imagine our surprise, therefore, and months and as a result of the furore This is because the expected increase theory-- shows us that when governments yes, embarrassment, when, no more know it has less and less to do with the (from liberal to communist), the unions of employment in office labour did not seem to be doing something, shall we production and distribution of wealth and and the bosses. which the police action caused, several than a fortnight later, the Queen, in the prominent politicians lost their jobs and take place ‘- indeed, the contrary happ- say, sensible, they always do it wrong. course of opening Parliament for the more and more to do with the control of Since the end of the sixties action and ened because of the introduction of mini- This is partly because governments last time-sorry, we'll rephrase that- the population. neighbourhood groups were formed by a. decision was made to abandon building of the six other planned lines. computers, and a recent economic rep- can never give unreservedly. They can for the last session of the present Parl- As we so provocatively indicated in the residents affected, to oppose and ortialculstes that the office buildings only allow. Uoncessions are made; iament, said something to the effect our gra'tui'tous‘etc- little front page postpone these development plans. Not ‘l’E.¥3F_I§.?L‘E..5.E_1‘£_.B’3£°*_EP.T_1‘1_°U.___SE'5 already being put up will be empty for righE§ or privileges are grudgingly that ‘My Government (h_er_s_ you note!) piece on 14 October ‘the technological all the people touched by the housing between six and 14 years. granted; liberties allowed— and always will. . . introduce . . . legislation . . . revolution offers us . . . the abolition of shortage were willing to wait any more This question is asked by thousands of tourists who visit Amsterdam each On 9 September the local residents, only after pressure from below has for . . . encouraging the alternative of hard labour‘. for their turn to be housed; they had got who are still resisting attempts by Grand grown to embarrassing proportions and short-time working . . . ‘ . . The trouble, forxa Labour Government, cynical about the promises made at year. And it is not a surprising one, as you wouldn't expect the house of the fam- Vista to buy them off with offers of other votes, or power even, might be lost. ' And when, next day, details were is that they cannot abide the thought of every municipal election and which were accommodation, payment of removal They give up defending only when their sketched in by somebody or other, we the abolition of labour (ha, ha). No more never fulfilled. They decided to solve ous l'?th century painter to be situated position is totally indefensible, and on a mini motorway with a massive off- costs and a couple of rentfree years, learned that the Government was actually can the Tories, Liberals, Communists their housing problems by themselves, organised a demonstration along the even then they make compromiseswhich suggesting the introduction of a four- or Fascists, Moonies or Seventh Day and occupied some of the many empty ice block opposite. (Or would you?) do not solve the problem but, maybe, day week, with the fifth day's wages paid Adventists. For they all must - absolutely Next door to the Rembrandt house is road with music, exhibits on housing properties in the city. and speakers from different neighbour- take some heat. out of the argument. partly by the employer and partly by m_ust- control the labour force in the Within the last 10 years the Amsterdam a large renova.ted office building which One reason why governments cannot the Government, as an alternative to se17w7ice of their private profits or their has been empty for four years, despite hoods. On the 25th, at dawn, a strong- squatters‘ movement has gained a lot of arm group from Grand Vista tried to give unreservedly is simply because redundancy. . state power. experience. At the present time there a huge sign outside saying it is to let by they have nothing of their own- except Our embarrassment, however, was WORK ETHIC RULES OK? So when ‘James Lang 8: Wooten‘ (who act as lett- evict the occupants of the community are between 8-10, 000 squatters in Amst- bookshop, which is in the basement of power. And even that is theirs only on extremely short-lived, for what had the Queen tells you that. Her Government ierdam. In the inner city, especially, L ing agents for the English/Dutch property sufferance, tolerated only by people who seemed at first glance to be a Labour is going to do something to you that developers Grand Vista, in which Equity one of the condemned houses. But the during the last few years, squatters have ' alarm system, fortunately, worked well don't know what to do about it. But they Government striving after that well- looks on the surface as though it might resisted the demolition of houses which 8: Law have a majority shareholding). make nothing, create nothing; all they known impossibility of Social Democracy, contain some benefit for you - look at it Adjacent to these properties there are and woke up the rest of the neighbourhood planners and developers have wanted to thus ensuring the failure of the assault. do is to manipulate the wealth created more freedom for the working class, verycarefully through a fine tooth comb. replace with hotels,. offices, roads and two houses, standing at some distance by others and sullenly handed over under which would have upset some anarchist Even the right things are done for the from eachother - the houses in between The houses have now been put under duress. It's the protection racket writ so on, including the Underground. permanent surveillance by the resident applecarts, turned out to be once more wrong reasons - and they never do the Several times the squatters have re- having been d-emolished years ago. Bet- large and nobody ever expects the prot- a tricky little bit of reformist chicanery right things anyway. ween the houses a big banner is stretched, action group. In the meantime they ask ection racketeer to give anything back. jected the authorities‘ proposals to re- —whatever that is. PHILIP SANSOM reading: ‘250, 000 metres of empty office all sympathisers and well-wishers to All of which is by way of being a pre- For the fact of the matter is that many house them elsewhere, in the knowledge express solidarity with them by writing that once the inner city is demolished space versus 60, 000 homeless people". amble to cover up the fact that we were workers welcome_redundancy. Many a In this street, de Jodenbreestraat, in protest to the firms involved: Equity momentarily embarrassed. We don't loyal wage -slave, after years of clock- the planners and developers will move 8: Law, Korte Voorhout 20, Den Haag; which borders on the militant Nieuwmarkt actually-know if Sunny Jim Callaghan ing on in a dreary factory job, is offer- in and do with it what they will. Such Grand Vista, c/o Delairessestr. 131, reads FREEDOM, but surely it is more ed a sizeable sum of money to sling his resistance has been made against Eng- area, Grand Vista are planning to build Amsterdam . another new office block, and thus to A than a coincidence that one of the prop- t hook and is only too delighted so to do. lish developers-and investors who, osed new joys promised the British In the case of some steel workers, peepul is very much in line with the one sums in excess of £10, 000 are paid to ‘reformist’ suggestion we made in a long-service employees when the plant , He tried to ring the other two support MARTIN WALKER recent gratuitous and embarrassing closes down. More money than they group members but got no reply and a The case of Martin Walker, a member of front page blurb? have ever seen in one lump ever before > little worried drove over there again - the support group arrested outside the In our issue of 14 October last, we and more than they would ever see in Continued from page 1. again he was followed. There was no- court at the remand hearing on 20 July, were saying that anarchists wanted the one lump if they kept on working. one at home but as he left he saw a man transit van. It is evident that the two was heard on Tuesday, 31 October. end of employment as we know it, which If, instead of this instant 'freedom', )\§"') vehicles were in radio contact, for one hiding behind a wal-1 across the street, The magistrate said ' was ‘why we don't join in the general watching the house. He drove home again, workers not temporarily needed are or the other followed him from then on that “In circumstances such as this itis simply put on short-time instead of / till near his home. Before going home followed by the van. At one point he lost every citizen's duty to help and not hind- being paid princely sums to piss off, he decided to see whether the other two it, but it suddenly caught up with him 400 er the police" and fined him I-I60. the employer can benefit in the long //h yards or so from his house - evidently _i ii _ _ 1111mm support group members who lived, near- . t run by hanging on to his skilled labour by were all right - he merely passed the knowing where to make for. He doesn't ERSONS UNKNOWN (London) tell us force, waiting for the upturn in the end of their street but could see nothing think his house was watched. On ringing that they are taking seriously points economy, the government saves its wrong. The car behind him, however, round other support group members, raised about the campaign by Alan West- PLEASE NOTE A t share of the ‘compensation‘ and for a stopped, indicating that it knew where he however, he learned that one of the other fall in hisrarticle on Manchester in the part of one day's pay, savesnthe total might have been making for, and two of people he had given a lift to was under i last issue. Their reply will be in the new RATES o cost of unemployment benefit! And it's its occupants got out. He lost the car in sur-veillance until l am. the next morn- next. . _One year ' £ 6.00 ($i2,,00)‘ all 'your' money anyway. ing. Six months O0 ( $6.00) \\ > alone way system and drove home. What's more, the employer will not . O 1-rglfl -lb) F-i've issues I. 25 ( $2_50) even lose in terms of production, for, if you remember, when the late Mr 4 .1- 1,. 4 FREEDOM FREEDOM’ 5 - That article also pointed out that FREE tacts page supplemented by news items foreign language anarchist press - bear- DOM is unique in the English speaking on new groups starting up, groups fold- ing in mind how little overseas material L-/"\ movementin its frequency and its penet- ing, new publications, etc., together gets translated into English and how ration - just about every group has a i with reports of existing groups‘ activit- much of importance is going on, espec- subscription or contains a subscriber. ies - both regular and occasional -book- ially in countrieslike Spain, Italy, Ger- This makes FREEDOM uniquely able to stalls, film showings, pickets, leaflet- many and Greece. 1-""““" fill the much needed role of ‘in house ings, demos etc (this could be particular- i The Review I would leave substantially journal‘ to the movement at large - for ly useful for giving ideas to people who as it is. which there is a crying need. It is a role want to act but can't think of how to get The overall thrust of the paper would which it already serves to some extent started). then become one of encouraging new act- through theoretical discussion in the ivity of all sorts in the movement and of SINCE MY ARRIVAL in Britain late last I would set aside one page (say page 3 review, the contacts page and some of or 6) for an anarchist commentary on amplifying existing activities. It would year I have been acutely aware of the on- the articles which appear in the body of help to draw people on the fringes of the going debate about the role of FREEDOM the British bourgeois press, as this is A the news section - particularly review particularly useful to overseas readers movement into its active ranks and to - as a publication in and of the contempor- ---""* articles pertaining to the movement in maintain the interests of those already ary anarchist movement. In Australia FREEDOM‘s editors are the only ones who (this is what the front page and much of o_t);er countries like Germany and Greece. the inside is now used for). Also I'd con- involved. In projecting the movement as where I have been active over the past few find much of what they print worth writ- ing about. People rarely see a need to de- But it could be performed with more det- tinue to run review articles about the a vital source of news, FREEDOM could years the FREEDOM Anarchist Fortnightly ermination which would, I think, help the movement in other countries - their be an invaluable back up to the profusion has served as a lifeline for the movement bate the issues even where published views might appear dubious. So FREE- movement in its self activation and imp- _triumps and their problems. of new and/or improving agitational through a period of inactivity and slacken- ant analysis is at best only negative and ‘ papers of the movement instead of,its sceptical, usually it is shallow and unin- DOM‘s outpoiu'ings assume the mantle of rove FREEDOM as a decisive and inter- One important innovation I would make ing support, and I'm sure it has served a , esting newspaper. would be to run substantial articles on present role of frequently turning people similar purpose for isolated individuals teresting and quite often it is palpably pronouncements defining the anarchist HOW THIS MIGHT BE DONE the movement's resources - virtual ‘how on the fringes away, and all too often E and embryonic goups throughout the inaccurate. view on subjects - a situation aggravated boring the people who are already comm- English speaking world. Selling books in g This alienates activists on the fringe by FREEDOM‘s outstandingly long hist- to‘ features - again largely for-the bene- Firstly, the type of story which occup- fit of new or would be activists. For ins- . itted. Sydney's Domain or on the Sydney Anarcho-- of the anarchist movement, several of ory - so that columnists‘ often ill-inform- ed reflections assume an authority which ies the front page should be something tance, a review of an anarchist publisher A CLOSING WORD Syndicalists' other regular bookstalls I whom I know have simply written FREE - primarily of importance to the movement DOM off as a waste of time. It encourag- they surely were not intended to have and - listing their publications with some was frequently asked for copies of FREE - rather than of importance to the world comment - giving some history of their I hope that the FREEDOM collective DOM by people who had previous connect- es the image of anarchism as a purely which many activists instictively mis- at large. For example, I would have trust. activities - instructions on how to go will not take this as a personal attack. ions with anarchism. Its unfaltering reg- negative ideology whiciiis-commonly . seen the large anarchist presence at the I must repeat that I have a great apprec- held amongst those more distant from Furthermore, activists often feel dis- about ordering from them together with ularity and long history have been a great Windscale demo, the anti-fascist carn- details of their prices, discount rates, iation of the ongoing work they do. The reassurance in a political movement which our ranks; and it means that those ‘old inclined to write reports because they ival and/or the Torness rally as front faithfuls' of the movement's hard core- feel their involvements (eg. starting a postage costs etc. , — appeals for funds last thing I want is to start another mind can be isolated and bickering as easily as page material (I apologise for the dated less feud to split the movement. I rather who continue to subscribe, increasingly new university group, selling papers at perhaps where badly needed or appeals it can be exciting and emotionally fulfilling. examples but I've been out of the country for manuscripts where the publisher con- hope that this article will add impetus to " Given the rapid development of the move- tend to ignore the majority of the news work, helping in a woman's refuge etc) for the past three months) - applauding cerned requests it. Obviously you could a much needed debate that might bring ment which has been going on in recent pages, probably only reading the review to be of limited interest for a paper with the strong turn out, commenting on anar- such a broad focus; or even if they are start with Freedom Press itself - but all major improvements for FREEDOM and months and years, and the appearance of section which they find of relevance, and chist banners and handouts and primarily the movement as a whole. - several important new publications - checking the contacts page. involved in a major event - of the scale the other publishers both large and small directing critical discussion towards the would receive occasional detailed cover- ALAN WESTFA LL Qpgn Road, Zero, the Cienfuegos Press The activists are coming to see the of Grunwick for instance - they might role played by the anarchists who were Review - e much improved presentation editorials and featured news items more fear that their viewpoint is too parochial age, from small ones like Bratach Dubh present, drawing lessons from their ex- or Vacant Lots to giants like Black 8: Red, E.')ITO‘7iIA L NOTE and more as the outpourings of armchair for the paper. So instead of providing i-Ii of Hlack Flag and the re-emergence of Derience and hopefully suggesting new Detroit and Cienfuegos. Other resources Anarchy as a regular and useful publicat- theorists, as indeed they are. I do not the copy which might make FREEDOM ideas for future application in similar We refrained from behaving like proper ion, it is hardly surprising that FREEDOM mean this in a harsh sense - I appreciate more like the paper they want to see which could receive similar treatment situations, rather than failing to consider would be film distributors or capitalist editors for iust one more week so that k (which once had the field almost to itself) the work which the editors put in and I they just sit around moaning. This is Alan Westfall's letter could appear not the anarchist way; FREEDOM is a what could be done to improve matters presses or record companies with signif- should-now be going through a major id- realise the need to produce a certain and focussing criticism on the organisers exactly as he ‘wrote it. We hope thereby amount of infill material that arises from paper of the anarchist movement so that icant anarchist materials on their catal- entity crisis. But I was shocked by the or the stewards or the Labour govern- ogues, anarchist theatre groups, badge to encourage some response, for or disdain and abuse heaped on this old time to time with any regular publication; every anarchist has some degree of res- ment (from whom we expect nothing but against, from both loyal readers and however the pre-eminent work of an edit- ponsibility for its character - if we don't makers etc. - friend by many British activists. their predictable shabby behaviour any- Another source of copy I would draw contemptuous activists. The FREEDOM collective have been or should be editing copy, not originating like it.we should work to improve it and way). Obviously these broader aspects So--we should like to know what you it - as~I'm sure the present editors would not just throw shit at the people who are on (particularly for ‘infill’ material) asking long and loud what is their role could receive some consideration in the would be translations of articles in the think, but more briefly, please. in the anarchist movement of the '70s and agree , and when infill material which struggling to keep it alive. But it does tail of the article, but as an anarchist whilst no -one has come up with a satis- might adequately provide a regular col- come down to the editors in their resp- paper the primary concern should be with factory answer I've heard plenty of crit- umn inside the paper comes regularly to onsibility to create an atmosphere con- anarchism and how it operates and pres- icisms of its present practice; they are feature on the front cover then the situat- ducive to this effort rather than an app- earance which is hostile to it. ents itself. Another example of front wide ranging but there is a thread runn- ion might be thought to have got out of page story material would be reports of ing through them which I will try to pick hand. Most FREEDOM front cover art- The last two months or so have seen. major conferences in and of the move- up at one end and follow. icles these days are at best gratuitous and some marked improvements which may make these comments appear unduly ment - again drawing lessons and offer- Several people have expressed person- at worst downright embarrassing. And ing constructive" criticism. As I have al- Au/I/VA av/mfzrse/v47;vz harsh, but I feel that these improvements al differences with the FREEDOM collect- the front cover is crucial in determining ready said, where the concerns of the ive which have made it impossible for » the publication's image and in determin- are largely the result of fortuitous cir- anarchist movement and the bourgeois Dear FREEDOM act. Although we realise we do not have them to work on FREEDOM in the past. ing the number of bookstall sales — which cumstances rather than changed editorial policy and unless this is clearly under- press tend to overlap, FRE-EDOM's pres- Unfortunately I was unable to attend * all the right answers, we do believe that The FREEDOM collective themselves is presently much lower than it‘should be. ent practice is much better. But still, I think the real problem is" that FREE - stood the momentum which has been gen- the recent Manchester conference so I we are moving in the right direction of pay witness to the results of this in their more attention could be paid towards the developing anarchism as a living and frequent complaints that they can't get DOM‘s view is too broad, tending to fo- erated could be lost with the passing of cannot comment on most of Alan West- events just as easily as it could be carr- anarchist response to these things (or fall's review that appeared in FREEDOM decisive force in the struggle of working enough people to submit news copy; but cus on issues of ‘major political signif- lack of it), thus playing a more positive they seem unaware of the growing claims icance‘. Firstly this is an area which ied over into a longer term journalistic (last issue). But I would like to take up people to overthrow capitalism and pat- renaissance. The present circumstances role in these events. the point that he makes in that article riarchy. y P from outside that FREEDOM itself is anarchists see mainly as only a distract- to which I refer are the ‘Persons Un- I see no place at all on the front cover 1- that many libertarians are forced to I would, therefore, like to suggest to pursuing a deliberate policy of isolation ion from the revolution in their day to for frivolities or inconsequential non- and aloofness. As a result they are doing day lives - and so have only negative and known‘ case and the ABC trials. It is work within the Labour Party and SWP Alan and others who see a need for a these kinds of issue, where the focus of issues like Prince Michael's love life, because there -isn't a worthwhile anarch- more organised anarchist movement in nothing to improve their image (or the cynical things to say about them. And nor as a rule for things like Kolwezi. reality behind it). Less and less people secondly, -without having full time journ- anarchist and mass media attention co- ist alternative. this country that they consider joining incides, in which FREEDOM‘s coverage For although the latter are important the ACA. A list of our groups is printed therefore are inclined to contribute, alists to do the rounds of the corridors questions in their own right we have no It was partly for this reason that some which is a supreme irony given that the of power or fly off to the scene of earth- has always excelled; but fortunately, such on the contact page of FREEDOM and particular qualifications or news sources of us formed the Anarchist Communist further information on the ACA can be movement is presently growing at such shattering events we are forced to rely matters are not always of such gravity Association about a year ago. Although as the present cases - rarely making to make our treatment of them so import- obtained from any one of them. * a rapid rate. on the mass media as a primary news ant. It would be different if anarchists the ACA is still relatively small in size, source. FREEDOM thus becomes only a ‘FREEDOM‘s content as balanced and as In solidarity ‘ Now we have reached the absurd situat- were involved or present and writing we are presently involved in support BOB PREW ion where anarchists are involving them- source of views rather than news - at relevant as it currently appears. -first hand reports, but this is not often groups for the Ford strikers and in pro- Birmingham . f selves in a great variety of events which least for the British movement. For What is needed is an editorial policy moting libertarian ideas generally in our which will maintain the present dynamic the case. FREEDOM makes comments or prints overseas readers it provides a handy In the body of the news section I would trade unions, various community camp- rsee next issue: meanwhile addresses reP0rts on9 and Yet the copy in FREEDOM survey of the British media from an an- under less desperate circumstances. aigns and the women's movement. We as follows: Birmigham - Bob Prew, The article ‘Towards a Better Freedom‘ have lesser stories of similar subjects all too often originates with people who archist perspective - but to tailor the to the front page, plus of course substant- have also recently started to publish our -13 Trinity Court, Trinity Rd, Aston, have only third or fourth hand knowledge publication to this purpose is to neglect on page 5 of issue l5 refers to hopes for own ‘monthly paper called Bread and B6. Burnley - Jim Petty, 5 Hollin Hill. a continued improvement in FREEDOM‘s ial letters pages, articles on forthcoming of the matter and therefore end up writing -the needs of the British readership. events of relevance to the movement, to- Roses. Belonging to the ACA has helped Glas ow~- ave Carruthers, 53 Ormonde more about their own stock of cliche- What is more, within the UK these ‘views‘ appearance - but this will only come us to break down our individual ‘isolation Av, G3. London - Gary Holden, 88 through the clear understanding of the gether, where possible, with critical ridden stereotypes (or worse, about the are often regarded with less than a wel- comment on their organisation, etc. I and has enabled us to coordinate our t Speedwell House, CometSt, Deptford, mass media's stereotypes). The result- come appreciation. This is because required editorial initiatives. activities so as to make a greater imp- SE8. would also hope for a much expanded con- > 4 ti 6 FREEDOM FREEDOM 7 The subjectivity is apparent (even though the comparisons of NF racism and state racism are valid) and to decry £60464! the ‘banding round‘ and abuse of words 7 because"they will lose their meanings Dear Editors shows the reaction of the article. Lang»- Marshall Colman misquotes Marx on L /LL‘: / uage evolves, cf. ‘Reactionary‘, ‘State‘ promoted as a channel for conslutation and co-operation. A egoism. What Marx actually wrote was etc. common outcome of this disturbance being a rapid decline of that communists “are very well aware / \ Eventually, it all comes down to why 7 the joint participation committee, so long as proper bargain- that egoism, just as much as seif-sacri- people are against racism and facism, ing channels are available in other ways. fice, is in definite circumstances a nec and it would appear that anti -racism essary form of self-assertion of individ - The existence of collective bargaining and shop stewards becomes what we wish it to be. (and fascism) is a reaction to and against i‘ for negotiating at shopfloor level means that British workers uals“ (my emphasis). Just how I can Taking these two articles (in the last an existing phenomenon, and as such, is‘ IV//7'5/T’ assert myself by sacrificing my self on the terms of that phenomenon and- often already have considerable control over management Marx does not explain. Perhaps he thought issue - eds.) on their own limiting and from below. While workers in this country may lack cramped ground, we find a critiqueof cannot escape that. It does not exist be- control over the long term decisions of management, they it would be clear enough to those initiated cause of an aesthetic of being against INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY, this year's Government White into'the Marxist mystery religion . . . ' the ANL that shows up the short-sighted- have long had control over how managerial decisions are put ness of their views. Unfortunately it does either and does not seek to counter either Paper (1) argued, is necessary to "improve the efficiency of (one one‘s own terms). There is basically our industries and the prosperity of our country. “ The day into practice on the shopfloor, through both their restrictive It should be pointed out that the section not really broach open the chauvinism of practices and their workshop organisation. Industrial demo- of The German Ideology from which this this group. The machismo persona (eg. no freedom in anti-racism (or anti-fasc- after the White Paper was published, The Times editor wrote ism) because the concept of ‘race' is as that "The bane of British industry and TiTd'iI§E"i§I relations cracy as planned by the Government and the employer quotation is taken was written as a reply phallic arrow symbol, predominantly could weaken these other forms of shopfloor control and to The E o and His Own by Max Stirner. male (white?) gang fights, and the more useless as the concept of sex (differences) remains the ingrained attitude of ‘them and us‘. These atti- and until it is realised that the colour of tudes are far less marked in the industries of our main dilute collective bargaining. v Reading gtirner ‘s book had compelled traditional sexism etc.) of the ANL and A Marx to abandon the ethical humanism other ‘fasci -bash‘ groups is there for all one‘s skin is as relevant as the colour of ' competitors. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the E NCR OA CHING C ONTR OL one‘s eyes (maybe I should say ‘irrelev- more formal kinds of industrial democracy which many of .he had championed, but while he gave to see. " Should schemes for participation be rejected as attempts by up his belief in ‘The Essence of Man‘ Few examine the patriarchal views of ant‘, as it has a value system itself in them have developed and enacted contribute positively to this society) there will be racism. their higher rates of productivity. " management to con their workers he replaced it with a belief in ‘The ' the currently popular reggae bands or the Not necessarily! Forces of Production‘ - and tried to machismo of the punk groups that play at So, Martin Spence and like thinking In other words workers will be given more latitude to dev- people,come to the conclusion that one elop their own ways of achieving the ends set for them by the No doubt management intends to use participation as a ‘avoid criticism of his new abstraction the RA‘-2 gigs. Few even examine the _ means of placating their workers. An article in the journal by labelling it ‘scientific’. C whole consumerisation of ANL, RAR or must struggle for one‘s own freedom on bosses. "Do what you want so long as you give us what we one‘s own terms and that both the left, want. “ More productivity and profits. of the British Institute of Management (4) spelled this out in Marxism wins the support of the vast Garden Gnomes against Nazis badges, no uncertain terms: "Soon we must take new measures to majority of its adherents not because of ~ stickers and all the other things common- as well as the right, are anti-life or you COMMON INTE RE ST C ON-TRICK realise the main ideals of industrial democracy whilst safe- the obstruse metaphysics of Gramsci, ly associated with the mindless exploitat- will continue to get nowhere fast. This idea of industrial democracy seen as a tool of manage- guarding the wealth producing industrial framework. " I Garaudy & Co. but because of its promise ion of capitalist advertising techniques | Anon. Brighton, Sussex. ment is not new and even in its Owenite form in the 19th Though the bosses may try to push their “big happy family" of an egalitarian milennium guaranteed as opposed to rational argument. century could be seen as an experiment by managers inten- notion of the firm, workers will also operate from the by the Historical Dialectic. That there The only function of the NF is that it ded to stabilize their labour force. In the late 19th century position of their own practical self interest. In this sense is not the_slightest shred of evidence helps the externalisation of what would, the main concerns underlying participation schemes were not they may be able to turn the machinery of consultation and that this will ever come about no more if they did not exist, be internalised hat- philanthropic but were used to combat labour organisation, participation into another arena for encroaching control and deters the Marxist true believers than reds and reaction which then overflow improve labour productivity and overcome resistance to monitoring management decisions. the fraudulent heaven of Christianity into the streets as racist violence. So same/.//v Even the existing works councils at Courtaulds, though tame deters its true believers. One lot have destroying the NF will only bring about change. And commenting on the growth of the system of MARK Hendy (September 30) gives some Whitley Councils around 1920, J. Child said, ". . . it was in their design, did, I discovered, provide an area in which faith in the ‘Grace of God‘, the other in the reinternalisation of those feelings management may well be challenged by determined workers‘ the ‘Grace of the Revolution‘. but will not bring about the destruction examples of sexual oppression used by becoming obvious that some employers had only dealt with the middle class against the working the idea of shared control as a device to buy time. " (2) representatives. It may well be that in some industries Sincerely of racism and fascism. S Clearly certain forms of industrial democracy - West like textiles, in which the unions are weak and unrepresentative, S.E. Parker As for the Martin Spence article, it is class. He could have mentioned some German and Scandanavian models - are perfectly compatible’ that representative participation may open up the chances of London W2 obvious from the start what is going. to more - prostitution as an overt form, and domestic service as a covert form - with present day capitalist society. There seems little more shopfloor power. be said by the ‘we of the left‘ and (pseudo) doubt that British management generally do not anticipate We can't be dogmatic on this since workers will exPloit scientific posturing; with its inherently but he should have mentioned that sexual that industrial democracy should have the effect of becoming their situation according to the requirements of their own limiting, and whole -heartedly subjective oppression is also used by the working what Rand Smith (3) calls "the effective control by producers practical self interest, and regardless of their managements‘ approach, one knows that nothing new class against itself, and by the middle of thetools and products of their labour." original intentions. will be said (less done) about the whole class against itself. Consider the treat- The employers‘ position as expressed by the Confederation At the same time, as the engineering union (AUEW) pointed _ problem. ment of wives and daughters in all class- of British Industry suggests that for them worker participat- out, the danger exists that union participation on boards may Dear FREEDOM The article is based upon the use of es, or the treatment of children in school, patients in hospitals, inmates in prisons. ion represents the latest fashionable term for management, replace collective bargaining at company level and that union Vol. 39, no. 20 sees yet another set two words, ‘fascism’ and 'nazism'. designed to put over the con-trick of common interest representatives would degenerate into the rubber stamps of Fascism is seen as a mass movement The point is that sexual oppression is of supposed analyses of racism (and not a simple matter of class, but a com- within the firm of workers and bosses. This approach aims management boards. Creating the illusion of power without fascism) in the pages of your comic but against the left and nzism is left undefin- at creating a forum for putting across the management the reality. The AUEW itself has called for the unlimited ed, but both effectively become interch- plex matter of authority. So it is not neither article, nor any other that I can surprising that sexual liberation is not version of reality which would get workers to tone down extension of collective bargaining to the right of unions to remember reading, actually examines i angeable when it is found -to be ‘useful’. their demands and accept the leadership of management. negotiate over areas such as pricing, investment, location, It is said that the NF is both a Fascist a simple matter of class struggle, but a the concept of ‘race' and racism together, complex matter of libertarian struggle. forward planning, sales and profitability. P The concept of ‘race' was w easily in- party and a Nazi party (because “its ' CONTROL FROM BELOW x At a general level, I think we can say that attempts to gain policies are very close to those of the If anything, middle -class reformers vented and accepted as the concept of have been more active in this area than The thing is that there are two rival approaches to industrial industrial democracy as an isolated reform within the exist- ‘racial superiority‘ that followed it. The Ger man Nazi Party“), but that as fascism democracy: the employers‘ stand which holds that all ing set-up is unlikely to provide workers with any substantial is a fossil, the NF will never rule. working-class revolutionaries, the form- genetic differences (sic) that supposedly er frequently seeing sex as central and changes -must be directed at the goal of efficiency for "the control over production in an anarch-syndicalist sense. An exist between so-called ‘races‘ also Reich's works on fascism are even re- accom niamett th i ld ti trl f . ferred to as a justification of this view. the latter generally as marginal. Thus company“, while workers often see democracy itself as the pa n O e mean ngfu emocra C con O O exist to both a greater and lesser ex- ~ objective. Here the issue is one of power, and power is industry by workers must be the restructuring of the A great mistake! Reich viewed Nazism Edward Carpenter and Havelock Ellis, tent, ’as a spectrum within any of the so- the subjects of the book originally re- about whose definition of reality will be made to stick. political-economic framework of society. called ‘races‘ cf. differences in skin/ as a mass movement (which the NF is not and never will be) that comes so viewed by Mark Hendy, contributed more Though. management usually takes the initiativep over . B, B, colour and/or facial shapes. participation, the fact that management in most cases is Race then becomes based upon the through the acceptance of the irrational- to sexual liberation than anyone in the labour movement. reacting to a challenge to its own authority in times of indus- ‘differences‘ that came out of centuries ities of racism, the ‘Party’ and identif- ication with the Fuehrer figure (which The other point is that revolution has asalas:ass:atriai;‘t:s.::s.i":;:f;:;::~ %Jb1?;.¥§§‘i‘ai“§;”“i§%.P*‘”°", , em. . neither Tyndall nor Webster fulfill) on so far led to an immediate increase in of a chance to secure a real advance towards the control by (2) Cycles of Control: Worker Participation in Sociological factors’but whichSuchnow aspersistge.°graph1ca1due to socialba.rI.‘1erS‘fact- top of the irrationalities of the state and sexual freedom followed by a rapid re- labour of its own destiny, at least in the eyes of the workers‘ and Historical Perspective. Harvie Ramsay in Sociolog » , , d . . society. Reich views facism as an irrat- lapse into sexual puritanism. Only a lib- representatives. But when they see the boss try to divert the 1977 (Journal of the British Sociological Association). 0r;’e:; I$fiein%enrn§;?:,fiis;?é (sic) the ional life (self-regulatory freedom of ertarian revolution is likely to have the development) negating force, and Fascism right effect, here as everywhere else. ' idea_ of worker participation into “triviality“ schemes dealing (3) Attitudes towards Workers‘~ Control in France: Evidence ’ , , - .... t- wogf.th issues 1“,e ntea, towels and tonetsnthe novelty wears fSropila sariispqg1 ,of Trade Union. members_ W‘ Rand Smith in. mgconceptas wenof raceas seH_defeatmg_is both self perpetuaAs the NF (both black - right wing, and red - left Meanwhile, the libertarian struggle ag- wing) as the institutiona-lisation of this, - ainst sexual oppression goes on in all Dc -919%! ' sa the mixin of races leads to the The typical course of events is that disruption often occurs (ET n ustrial Democracy“ (British Institute of Management) A Y’ f gh , , S i eg. party and state etc . . . All this is 7 classes and can only be crippled by being slightly at odds with the Martin Spence confined to any one class. when management refuse to allow negotiation of working This article was published in 1968, and expressed concern 0 ‘-“""s!=‘“°‘;‘,§“‘,‘2 It, ese, ‘laces. '. 0 21? , N.W. conditions bonuses etc. in the context of a body they have of British management about the developments in Europe. . somety. 3' a ows e mlxmg 0 faces,’ > analysis. I ’ ‘race' is non-existent. Therefore, race t __ _ 0 ,6 Review Anarchist Review" 11 N be.3./we.2 FreedomINANGEL ALLEY * Press 84b WHITECHAPEL HIGH ST. LONDON E.1 mmBaumann - PHONE 01 247 9249 Angel Alley, 84B Whitechapel High St, London El. (Please add postage as in brackets. The items marked * are published in the USA). ‘WEE iEBE§E§“@laE\‘](§’E l!1._1.?!_=..a}i.==L'l * Carlos Semprun Maura: Rivoluzione e Controrivoluzione in Catalogna. £2. 00 (29p) _ * Jose Peirats: nella Rivoluzione Spagnola (4 vols). £10. 00 (86p) the set. A FEWEYEAY EEFE I_'2.§B€1.Ei.§*l - No 6. May l9“8. lst May special issue.£0. 50p(l9p) No 7. June/July 1978. £0. 50 (l5p) E1..E."§i_%11 - Jeffrey Meyers: A Reader's Guide to George Orwell. 'J9.!.'.§!.i!!.!.'*...?£'.'.!.. ‘£1. 95p (29p). With Statements - John Quail: The Slow Burning Fuse: The Lost History of by HEINRICH BULL the British Anarchists. ‘El. 95p (2-Sp). - K.H. Z. Solneman: John Henry Mackay: The Unique. ‘=1 & DANIEL CONN-BENDIT 53 0. 50p (7p). —~.....-....., Tlidiy “"" --~--...._ _ I ______m__ llfilli * Franz Borkenau: The Spanish Cockpit. £5.i.10p.(36p) fir ‘Q’ IIAYIFAIIB - E.H. Carr: The Bolshevik Revolution (3 vols). £4. 50p (66p) It is a year since the Schleyer kidnapping and the deaths of * Sam Dolgoff: A Critique of Marxism. £0.20p (7p) Red Army Fraction prisoners in Stuttgart and Munich, and this issue concentrates on the topic of guerrilla st:rugg1e in * Sam Dolgoff: The Relevance of Anarchism to Modern Society the Federal Republic of Germany. The common thread runn- ‘E 0. 20p (7p) ing through it is the need for the guerrilla movement to give * Arthur Goddard (ed.): Harry Elmer Barnes: Learned greater emphasis to everyday issues within the FRG itself Crusader £5. 95p (86p) and less to the international anti-imperialist struggle in * F. Oppenheimer: The State. £2. 50 (2.‘>.p). solidarity with the third world liberation movements. The * Len Fulton 8: Ellen Ferber (eds.) Directory of Small first piece is a discussion document from an offshoot of the - George Melly: Rum, Bum and Concertina. £0. 80p (l5p). Magazines, Press Editors and Publishers (9th ed. 1978-79) 2 June Movement, whose authors are writing from prison in A £3. 95p (29p). Berlin, and which has never before been published in English. * Ammon Hennacy: The Book of Ammon. £3. 50p (86p). * Len Fulton 8: Ellen Ferber (eds.) International Directory of Although we may find that the references to the ‘capitalist’ - Gaston Leval: Collectives in the Spanish Revolution. Ppr. Little Magazines and Small Presses (14th ed. 1978-79). and ‘bourgeois’ state do not sufficiently reflect its more com- £2. 00 (66p). Hardback, £4. 00 (86p). Q 5. 50p (54p) plex nature in the second half of the 20th century, and although the call to end the fragmentation of the left is surely easier * Murray Bookchin: The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic made than done, there is much in the analysis that will be of Years 1868-1936. £7. 95p (66p). - Vernon Richards: The Impossibilities of Social interest to anarchists. This review on Germany will be Democrac . New from Freedom Press. §l. U51) followed the issue after next by one on the guerrilla movement * Robert W. Kern: Red Years: Black Years. A Political in Italy, with particular reference to the Red Brigades and Hisotry of Spanish Anarchism, 1911 - 193,7. 53 7. 95. (54p). (5_..p5. ). 142 pp. ppr . The usualterms to the trade on this title. For review see FREEDOM vol. 39 the Revolutionary Action group. *_Etienne de la Boetie: The Politics of Obedience: The no, 9.1, ON THE "TUNIX" MEETING (1) Discourse of Voluntary Servitude. El. 75p (l5p). WE welcome the initiative taken by comrades in setting in motion a long needed debate. We should have welcomed it even more had, through TUNIX, a start finally been made in W" ‘i°")‘ I 10 ' Review elves in a war of competition against the corner deviationist, ABOLISH THE STATE - DON'T REFORM IT}. ever growing potential upon which to concentrate. Schmidt is To develop the struggle from within the context of day-to- the whole anti-capitalist opposition has ended up in a cul-de- being unequivocal when he says that "the terrorists‘ ground day resistance also means, for instance, to attack a police WE must also be critical of the proponents of another point must be drawn out from under them today if tomorrow it is not station or town hall during a demo if an occupied house is sac. I of view, one which has become general especially with the to draw into itself the army of young unemployed". So is Kohl being evicted and pulled down by the fire brigade; THE ALTERNATIVE PEOPLE militants and armed groups: the fixation on the state as the when he observes that they (the state) will "have lost if in the - to set fire to Springer's news stands and delivery vans if THOSE who felt they'd gained a place for themselves in society seemingly uniquely fundamental wrong; that the state needs next five years terrorism is not completely destroyed". And our printers are being arrested; have tried zealously to fill it with so-called alternative pro- only to be removed for a new social order to emerge. the massive rearmament of the state machine is taking place - to hold steal-ins in stores if the cost of living rises (not ‘ jects. In the euphoria of apparent victory they overlooked the These comrades fail to realise that the bourgeois state is not least on account of the weak - as well as economically and forgetting the cash tills); fact that it's impossible to break away from established society not the cause of the prevailing social conditions, but their militarily still extremely ineffective - state of the guerrilla - to strip KOBS (6) to their underpants and tie them to lamp- without altering those same social conditions. Instead of mak- effect. For the readiness of the oft-quoted masses to submit struggle. posts if they're snooping around too much (a sound thrashing ing of theiriprojects a foundation for the expansion of their doesn't only depend on the violence of the state machine. The We will clearly not convince people of the necessity of our would also do the trick; v struggle . . . they were interested only in proving the superior- concentrated power of dis-information through the mass media, revolutionary position if we direct it against them. - or ‘renovate’ the practices of the gynaecologists (7) or fill ity of what they were doing. This attitude led to compromise the schools and fascistic mass literature, the manipulation All of us have distanced ourselves from the fascist bombings them with offal from the slaughterhouse. upon compromise, just to save their project - until it became through control by the representative organisations like the in the railway stations of Bremen, Hamburg and Cologne. trade unions and so-called ‘mass parties‘, the ideological nothing but a caricature of its original concept. What began as We have all, and always, said that guerrilla actions and pol- I an alternative to the establishment ended up as an alternative role -playing and supply of deceptive alternatives to deflect icies are never directed against the people, but against the 1" U‘. discontent and aggression, and above all the social threat of tr- to the struggle. The consciousness of resistance degenerated rulers. _ ) into the mentality of the social worker. Compromise in indiv- unemployment, job disbarment (Berufsverbote) and deportation But: who was actually sitting in the holiday plane on the of foreign colleagues, should not be underestimated as inst- . St idual cases led to a bargaining away of consciousness in gen- cheapest flight to Mallorca?! (5) $ eral. ruments of the ruling class. Thus, those who fix their sights This is what has happened to most projects. The small re- exclusively upon the destruction of the state are making no THE PEOPLE AND THE GUERRILLA mainder have been disciplined or destroyed by other means. social revolution; it is not in this way that the colonised cons- ciousness of the above-mentioned masses will be destroyed. IN January 1975, in an analysis of the ‘anti-imperialist con- There are plenty of starting points, and fantasy knows no THE INSTITUTIONAL PATH In addition, and in fact as a result of the above, this isolated cept‘ o1n- comrade Werner Sauber wrote as follows: bounds. And practical solidarity is best proved through the "A practical discussion with militant workers on the conn- AND where are those who.would t:ransform the institutions project is condemned to failure from the outset because we burning down of firms which supply nuclear weapons to Iran or ection with armed struggle has not been accepted (by the com- South Africa. from within? Either conformed or disappeared. Only the have to be more in numbers. And this we surely shall not be rades). Instead, the comrades presented themselves as rev- people themselves have changed; the apparat Serves 1‘eaCti0H in if we ignore the starting points offered by the social miseries olutionary ‘secret service troops’ who saw their base only in LEGALITY - WHOSE LEGALITY? just the same old way. Which was probably the one foreseeable of people. and their insecurity, instead of intervening and the liberation struggles of the three continents. According to AND, of course, at this point, the other side will again raise thing. For whoever will attain to the key places within the ins- thereby bringing about an all-round confrontation. their anti.-imperialist concept, it would be better to link up with titutions must firstly satisfy the demands of the machine - and In no way do we wish to support the opportunism of relying the question of violence, legality and illegality. a liberation movement of the third world and from that concrete Legality is whatever does not put the ruling order in danger. do so better than others; in other words, they must run the on numbers. If ten people say the sky is a banana and one base fight the metropole. But in this way the comrades are state apparatus, and thus protect the ruling order, better than says it is not, that hardly means the majority will be right Illegality is whatever wants to do away with the capitalist neither fish in the water nor birds in the air. They will work order and, above all, act accordingly . . . . anyone else. And if they reach these key positions that is what for some time to come. We can't say, "The consciousness of with oppressed fringe groups or with the left to gain new blood they will have done. the masses is not yet sufficiently wiedespread" (2) but we Legality has no fixed proportions. Legality is a question of for the anti-imperialist struggle, but not to strengthen the power. Under the Third Reich laws were created for every- These comrades see the state as a technical vehicle which must ask ourselves how this consciousness is, bit by bit, to class struggle of the oppressed in the metropole itself. can be run for all and sundry, a neutral polity within the frame- be aroused. thing. What happened happened within the bounds of the law. work of which class struggles unfold peacefully, and positions It's no different today. Whoever respects the law as such, at of power are to be had for the asking; a running-track where OUR ISOLATION AMONG THE PEOPLE some time or another will respect the legality of fascism. the only thing required is to be first to the tape. AT this point we of the guerrilla movement have also to ask So we are not of those who would define what in this state The comrades forget the fact that the state is an instrument to whatudegreewe our-selves may be blamed for our isolation. is legal(aS1d what is not. with quite specific functions. The role of the bourgeois state The majority of comrades involved in the politics of armed ...... 8 is, after all, to protect and maintain the capitalist order. struggle have dissassociated themselves from the - unfortun- ON THE VIOLENCE QUESTION , l Even if formerly powerless people succeed in obtaining ately far too few - actions like, for instance, those against Kaussen, MAN, BVG, 9.18 (3), and engage only in a straight THE question of violence is in itself superfluous. Daily read- power this state apparat is unchanged - all that signifies ing of the newspapers will show clearly where violence comes is that they were interested in changing roles. A -fundamental military encounter with the state machine. In this way we upheaval of society, with the aim of creating a humane order have accepted allocation to a political ghetto, instead of from . . . We, that is all of us who are, or wish to be, no without rulers, has not the slightest need for this state. breaking out of it. longer compatible with this state, must learn to understand It's in the way. , Certainly the other sections of the left have also contributed that, in the pursuit of our needs and interests, we cannot to the lack of open debate. Because of their fear, the state relinquish the armed revolutionary groups because of the Wern-er Sauber THE FAMILIAR CONTRADICTIOITS could use them against us in a psychological war; criticism presence of a state armed to the teeth. In this respect we was abandoned and police propaganda took its place. have to make it absolutely clear that a violent conflict with THIS is all very general. It's by no means true that every Our arguments were distroted by the equation of the left The struggle must arise from the context of day-to-day re- the state cannot be avoided. This must be understood as a comrade who has struggled for an alternative project or with types like Cohn-Bendit, SB or Langer Marsch (4) who sistance, without which the workers are living under a capit- political necessity , if not as a fetish. taken part in the struggle from within the institutions, has have openly called for the denunciation of comrades or, as in alist siege-state in a worse situation even than is necessary. HOW GO ON? become completely corrupted by the experience. There are Frankfurt, done the job of the bulls (police) for them by draw- All resistance is made concrete only by this connection with "The movement as such, without reference to the goal pur- enough examples of where this hasn't happened. But these ing up a card index of sympathisers. With suchbull - helpers the everyday situation. If instead of this it only engages with the sued, the movement as aim in itself, is nothing to us, the comrades are no longer in the institutions. no further communication on this level can take place. imperialist superstructure, without anchorage in the factories We don't say it's wrong to try, as teachers or social goal is everything! " (Rosa L. ) CRITIQUE OF THE RAF POSITION and neighbourhood areas, the capitalist state can, without workers in schools or children's homes to raise an awareness difficulty, encircle and crush it with straightforward police We don't all ignore one another. And why should we? of their own interests, to clarify to young people the reasons WE see the orientation of armed groups to a new ‘anti-imp- methods. If we want to advance, we shall be obliged to arrive event- for their shitty situation, to propagate resistance as the alt- erialist concept‘ as a form of resignation. The outcome is merely that the work done to establish a ually at the point where resistance is no longer to be separated ernative to conformity and self-denial. The comrades say that owing to the corruption of the mafies Red Army remains in skeletal form. The bombs they throw, from resistance, where comrades no longer feel it necessary 11113 We say that the contradiction between carrying out a man- in the FRG metropole, a broad development of proletarian they hope to throw into the consciousness of the masses . . .. to make divisions between different forms of resistance, We dated function and consistent revolutionary work leads to a counter-power is impossible, and _the building of a social Revolutionary violence is then reduced to a statement. It does should realise that within the manifold layers of conflict we point at which through mere tactism you get lost in reformist resistance movement senseless. Because the peoples of the not issue from the experience of class struggle and oppression do not only have mutual needs but are also dependent on one demands if you're not prepared to draw even the personal third world are the most oppressed and exploited it follows and is consequently not a means of counter-attack . . . " 55“) another. Only uncompromising struggle at all levels will lead consequences. that only these can provide the basis for the development of This assessment remains, in its entirety, true today. to a situation in which, in actual practice, we are ‘one big It follows that legality must be broken through; the pre -ord- a worldwide revolutionary war. They still see the FRG only as Certainly it's difficult and abstract to speak of ‘the workers‘ family‘; in which, at least within the undogmatic left, our ained functions can no longer be carried out; they must be a field of military operations and adjust their politics accord- living in that way. The upward absorption of a large part of differences are nailed to the wood of history and left-wing sabotaged. _ ingly. the working class into the middle class is a fact as neglected philistinism, thoughts of rivalry and acts of hostility have The example of prison makes this especially clear. Anyone We cannot adopt this position. as, on the other hand, the specific situation of women, econ- been overcome. , - intending to unite revolutionary work with the role of gaoler It is obvious that practical solidarity with the peoples of the omic immigrants, the unemployed and young people. I -. FOR AN OFFENSIVE WAR IN ALL AREAS OF LIFE Ii! is, to give the most charitable interpretation, being ridicul- third world and their liberation struggles must form a subst- ous. S/he's locking doors just like everyone else. To draw antial part of our struggle, but the best and most effective THE CONTEXT OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE FOR THE ORGANISATION OF TOTAL RESISTANCE - conclusions would be to unlock the doors, never to shut them solidarity with them lies in the construction of a st:rong revol- THE central point is that the struggle can and must be built on HERE AND NOWI! ' again. Anything less is only a masking of the brutality, a utionary resistance movement here; this would make it imp- reformist tactic of avoiding conflict. Revolutionary politics and developed out of "the context of everyday resistance". In FOR A REVOLUTIONARY GUERRILLA MOVEMENT! II ossible for the capitalist state to implement its imperialist the areas in which this is taking place and in which people are have nothing to do with an ad hoc resolution of conflict but aims. - RGO - Revolutionary Guerrilla Opposition from with sabotage of the functions of the ruling class. Only in this no longer caught up in the criteria of traditional class con- It is fatalism to accept as given and unalterable the present cepts. At its most evident this is to be found among the milit- the bankrupt‘s estate of the 2 Jun-e Movement. way can work within the institutions be seen as revolutionary weakness of the pockets of revolutionary resistance. As the (Spontius Baer, Rowdy Rebel], Carlos Caballo, politics. ants of the anti-nuke movement, incorporating everyone from crisis of capitalism intensifies, it liberates at all levels an farmers to university professors. Satan der Weisse and Tarzant Stepke!) - allprisonfrom(cm?Moabit$19 3 1 . tw- 12 V Review and the ‘assassination’ (or ‘execution‘) of Siegfried Buback. which he attributes to pressure from the left to prove they And finally, the blurb on the back is confusing to say the were political fighters rather than merely ‘criminal’ bank robbers. He equally condemns as Manson-type murder the least. Can it really be true that Bommi “left the June 2nd Movement and the urban guerrilla struggle in 1972, and went killing by the Black June Commando of the student grass Ulrich Schmuecker. In the final chapter, while justifying his underground to write this book"3§ , past actions as right at the time, he makes an oddly simplist- ic division between ‘terror or love’ with love as the new ele- ment of ‘revolutionary praxis‘. Nowhere, with all his prev- Michael Baumann comes from a working class family who vie“! “Qt emigrated to West from East Germany when he was still very lb“ U62es 0 ‘°H WAR ious emphasis on the concrete does he show what he means ow" emgz ere by this in real terms. And he falls into the danger of interpret- young. The main interest of his book lies, as the publishers ing ‘terrorism‘ as a form of suppressed sexuality, a theory point out, in its description of the stages of his, and his friends‘, V~I¢"' '“"“n we already beloved of theestablishment intelligentsia - especially drift, over the turn of the decade, into urban guerrilla activity. iifiafga 1):; He started out as a construction worker, but could find no satis- where women are concerned! faction in a job that wasn't a craft any more but “more and more a screw driver operation“. He found pleasure instead in Baumann‘s book is interesting, for the lay person at least, rock and blues and long hair - all of which put him beyond the and I feel he makes some valid and worthwhile points. But pale of established society and against authority, without that \ one must remember that there is nothing else so far with necessarily being his intention. But it was out of this primarily which to compare it and that, after all, he leaves only a con- physical attachment to the hippy scene that he came into contact \ with left wing ideas. After joining the socialist student federat- fused and ambiguous idea of himself and the alternative he has ‘PI .§=~ chosen (and of which - who knows? - we may one day know ion, SDS, he met the people of Kl, Berlin's first commune - more). He has also left only a very patchy idea of the theoret- people who were more approachable than the straight political types and who had the “right connection of politics and counter- ical basis of the Blues/2 June - but this may be because it ii _ culture“, and a concrete alternative in collective living. Some patchy - and his references to anarchism are very much those --"'7 of the black hat and bomb caricature, with some black magic of these were to form the nucleus of the 2 June Movement. thrown in. 'Bommi‘ got involved in Kl, but the euphoria didn't last - in Since writing this book Baumann has remained at large, his view because it took too long to make a proper alternative while giving various clandestine interviews to the mass press. movement out of it; because, therefore, it collapsed from iso- “So we went in early in the morning and there happened He has not, it seems, denounced his former friends (most of lation and inability to communicate with similar groups. (This to be snow flurries, totally favourable weather. Of them dead or in prison), and expresses sympathy for them would form the basis for his ciriticism of the later guerrilla A course, we had dressed up so noticeably that we almost ‘while continuing to oppose guerrilla actions (Buback, Schleyer, movementalso). L died laughing when we saw ourselves in the glass in Moro etc). Oddly, his descriptions of the intentions of the KI was his apprenticeship. These were the days of the satir- front of the bank. Our own masquerade was just so group he belonged to, as mentioned in Stern, June '78, seem ' Gosuchl wild: Baumann ical ‘happenings’ that have been mainly associated with Fritz impossible again! “ (Cartoon and quote from the book). FAHNDUNG: Georg v. Baud: to have shifted emphasis, i.e. “we saw ourselves as the Fifth I _ _ Teufel (now languishing in Moabit prison), and which were to Column of the Third World and were fairly indifferent about V-Tie alles anfing (How it all began), 'Bommi‘ Baumann, Pulp have their effect on people like Gudrun Ensslin and Andreas Another point is the radical left‘s political machismo, which the working masses" . . . . how on earth does this tally with his Press, Canada l9'7'7. Trans. Helene Ellenbogen 8: Wayne Baader. The burning of the department store in Frankfurt by the writer refers to in the context of the burning of the Frank- these and other subsequent RAF founder members (an act earlier references to the influence of Lotta Continua or Gauche Parker, $3.50. Orig. ed. 1975, Trikont Verlag, Munich. furt store. Baumann detects rivalry among the groups, based Proletarienne and finding “a militant solution to work conflicts THAT this is such a belated review of Wie alles anfing has its which could be traced back, at least in part, to the influence on the principle that "whoever does the heaviest action deter- in the factories" ‘V’! He now also contributes to general anti- advantages; not least that it has pI‘OVld€(T_ETl€-0ppOI‘tll1'lltY of of Teufel's ‘Burn, Warehouse, Burn! ') led to a split in the mines the direction“. It is this form of machismo with which terrorist hysteria by warning the state of the danger of nuclear setting the book in a little more perspective than would other- left. K1 itself published an open letter of dissassociation in he explains the drift into the guerrilla. “The irrational press- blackmail by guerrillas. wise have been possible. Spiegel with which Bommi could not agree. ure to achieve was brought in, which in the final analysis re- Such interviews or statements by ex-guerrillas like Baumann, The American translators are themselves, perhaps inevitab- This division increased with the police killing of Benno Ohne- mains abstract, because it’s a matter of self-assertion, and Klein or Mahler invariably leave a bad taste in the mouth. ly, enthusiastic about it - "the best thing“, they say, “we have sorg on 2 June 1967 during a demonstration against the Shah of it makes the thing increasingly serious and humourless. That's Not because of the fact of their having abandoned the guerrilla seen on the personal development, , otivation and the daily Iran; this and the attempted killing of Rudi Dutschke, after a why the action form of ‘happenings’ failed: not only because ofthe struggle, but because of the way they lend themselves (regard- realities of the urban guerrilla". This may well be. But it's vicious campaign against him in the Springer press, were to opposition, but also because of the internal pressure to achieve. less of actual individual denunciations) to the interests of the a pity that it should be so, and that there's nothing else so far have a marked effect on the ‘first generation‘ of guerrilla So the individual‘s capacity to achieve was overridden, man- mass media and establishment in general. to compare with it - unless one includes the ‘confessions’ of fighters in Germany. “It did a crazy thing to me", says Bau- oeuvring one further and further into situations in which you Klein, current protege of Satre and Cohn-Bendit, has Hans-Joachim Klein. As it is, we know that the 2 June Move- mann, who left Kl for the Wieland Commune where he became didn't know beforehand if you could make it through". recently attributed to the Revolutionary Cells a key role in a ment has rejected the book as essentially false. (It denies, friends with the anarchists Georg von Rauch and Tommy Weis- There were also, of course, political as well as cultural whole series of raids, massacres and hijackings with the Pal- for instance, that the guerrilla group destroyed itself, as becker. Here, among many other things, they pirate-printed and psychological differences between the groups, which can estinians, and called Wilfried Boese the. ‘leader‘ of the Revol- Baumann claims, through its extreme self-isolation and that Bakunin’s Collected Works, and lived on store rip-offs of cav- be illustrated by those between and 2 June (even though utionary Cells. Given that they are, as described in the press, it had continued to be extraordinarily active after Baumann‘s iar and champagne. Here the “first urban guerrilla cell" was much between them was and is interchangeable). Politically "more anarchist than Marxist-Leninist, that they "do not make separation from it, as illustrated, say, by the planning and formed from a smaller group within the commune, and began the RAF have emphasised the anti-imperialist world struggle, an absolute principle of clandestine activity", and that "they method of the Lorenz kidnapping). experimenting with bombs. while the Blues/2 June have given more importance to the advocate the creation of further revolutionary cells to which This isn't the place to go into a history of the publishers ‘ Then the Wieland Commune too dissolved and the era of the search for new life forms, development of ‘concrete utopias‘, full political autonomy in the choice of individual actions is and the general left-liberal struggle with the law to get the ‘hash rebels‘(69/ 70) took over. Things were moving rapidly. direct work in the factories and community within the FRG conceded" (Espresso) Klein's portrayal of them appears not book into general circulation in Germany. FREEDOM has re- The underground anti-authoritarian paper 883 was founded at and particularly within Berlin. But also the RAF “vanished into only remarkably one -sided but highly confusing. Given also ported on the Trikont case in the past and it wouldn't be worth this time, and with it the ironically named_C'€ntral Committee apartments in new developments, with short hair and fat cars that he has, without qualification, attributed Ulrike Meinhof's repeating the facts now. But some mention should be made of of Roaming Hash Rebels became associated. outside the door, and they had shooting irons in their hands". suicide‘ to the torment inflicted on her by Gudrun Ensslin the English language edition which, unlike the original, carries They mixed Bakunin with a strong dash of Black and White The Blues “never operated with weapons, never had any, just (which isn't necessarily to deny there were bitter arguments) statements by Heinrich Boell and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, as well Panther and with Mao (particularly his reference to the robber placed bombs or threw molotovs during street fights". They one can only hope that Sartre‘s Help-Klein bank account will as the translators’ own foreword. bands from which came the first cadres of the Red Army). believed that “logistics have to be simplified, universal. Like enable him to stop giving press interviews in the future . . . In fact the foreword provides a curious contrast with the S From the Central Committee came the Blues, "half counter- the skeleton key in your pocket"; made of everyday, ordinary And what can one say of ex-RAF member Horst Mahler, whose two German statements at the end. Heinrich Boell remains the culture, half political underground“. Some of the group came materials. Their attitude to violence, he believed, was more_ sorry performance we can read if not in the conservative inveterate liberal, above all concerned to promote the book for to London to study the "whole English scene“ and in particular ‘healthy’, more natural and spontaneous, less puritantical and pages of Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung than in the libertar- the way ti will put off "young people who . . . are toying with what was happening with the release houses for drug addicts - dependent on technology, wittier. But the RAF saw the Blues ian ones of Solidarity for ocial Revolution This man, no Underground and anarchist ideas". It's a very unpleasant the London example leading to the creation of Hambiu'g Release, as fools and dilettantes "who handled things in a totally unscr- doubt instrumental in winning several young people to the RAF statement to me. Cohn-Bendit, who was instrumental in the but on a different plane from the Blues. Then there was Jordan/ ious way, and were unpolitical crazies". The RAF were dead as well as writing some of their tracts, abandoned them shortly campaign to get the book re-published after its initial confis- Palestine and the guerrilla training camps. Efforts were mean- straight. No comic strip, quasi-dadaist lingo. No rattling afterwards for a complete espousal of everything he and they cation, is entirely uncritical of Baumann‘s ‘masterpiece’. As while made to continue the half legal, half illegal Blues, but around in a car labelled CAREFUL, DY7.‘?TAlV[['I‘E TRANSPORT- justifiably criticised about the dogmatic left. This repentant opposed to this, the translators’ foreword tends to a glorificat- in the end to no avail. Then the RAF came into prominence; ER! that actually is . . . sage of Tegel prison is now so safe, and such a star example ion of the German underground as a whole. It displays a sing- then the 2 June out of remnants of the Blues. “Our group“, Baumann goes on, "was made up of proletar- to liberals of the way you can get out of the guerrilla scene, ular lack of political acumen in commenting that "The recent ians. The majority were workers, except for Georg and three that a campaign is underway for his release on parole while assassination of Siegried Buback, the chief political prosecut- or four others who were students. RAF, on the other hand, former co-defendants die and rot all over the place. or in the German Federal Republic, is a good example of the ' There's no room to focus on anY but the main P0ints which had only a few workers, and were purely a student group at fiiglgflginflli aplpggagug and the lgrowfth ofhar T83 811111881: may be gleaned from Baumann‘s account of the origins of the the core, all intellectuals. The problem of violence was dealt of Such grgwth this is n6t_"’oe:a'?l3t‘heS '3 -‘-31° 1 3 3 111:3, an urban guerrilla movement. The first, of which he's very much with differently‘! Which again, is not to attack dissent per se from guerrilla a case of that éisturbi N '1 ° em - 3 5° Prov} 95 aware, even though this hasn't altered his own use of exception- It is on violence that Baumann finally takes issue with the war, but the way it is done, and the evident bankruptcy of the ne ewspeak we attack so bitterly In our all make chauvinist lan a e in the book is that the Blues whole guerrilla movement. Rauth's death, witnessed by him, alternatives, if any, that have been chosen. . Y . Gaia °PP°"e"t5 but use '9-1' t°° (men 1" 0'11‘ 01"" Propaganda ' the were a “terrible men's sggctg" and that the oppressive treatment began to change his mind. In his book he condemns the RAF‘s kindthat refers, as here, to the ‘murder’ of Ulrike Meinhof Qf the women contributed to its C011,-,pse_ “insane bombing campaign . . . . against God and the world", 0 it 14 s Review their mark on history“. Malatesta recognised that the revol- From ‘On the Concept of the Urban Guerrilla‘, June 1971 which no revolutionary struggle can mature sufficiently to take advantage of the crisis when it really comes. The guerr- ution must of necessity be violent and illegal, but that the - "We do not say that one can replace legal proletarian org- illas are there not to make the revolution itself but to prepare violence had also to be liberating. . anisations by these illegal resistance groups, the class the ground for it, act as point of transition. They are a van- Which brings me back to the darkness of objective where struggle by isolated acts, political work in the factories and guard, yes, but not from a basic desire to lord it over others; RAF is concerned . . . Are we "sure we know what one another neighbourhoods by armed struggle. We maintain only that the they are a pragmatic vanguard, working deliberately towards wants? development and success of one supposes the other. We are their own redundancy. RZ (the Revolutionary Cells), reputedly neither Blanquists nor anarchists, although we hold Blanqui RAF was all up in the sky about anti-fascism and anti-impv more anarchist, in their current battle cry to build cells erialism, Vietnam and Palestine, and I think that to it has to "be a great revolutionary and we in no way despise the everywhere, do no more than RAF of old in foreseeing an heroism of a number of anarchists“. so far failed, not by my criteria as an anarchist so much as initial revolutionary phase of decentralised, independent, b its own. Yet what it has achieved is considerable. commando groups undertaking commando actions, establishing And I don't mean the “tearing off the mask“ for which RAF - “There can be no process of unification (of socialist intell v relations among themselves and coordinating what they do in has been praised or condemned, but the fact that the complac- ectuals and workers) without a revolutionary initiative, such a way that they can dispose of their forces effectively and ency has gone, or relatively, that the doubts and questions without the practical intervention of an avant-garde formed economically. have grown, that a whole country has lost its fat smile. ' by workers and socialist intellectuals, without a concrete When one looks back on these texts one can't help but wonder From a revolutionary point of view there can be no question anti-imperialist struggle. We maintain that an alliance bet- at th way RAF has become characterised by its obsession of its success in generating new and increased offensives and, with Ihird worldism, by its spectacular clashes with the super- ween them can only be realised through a common struggle, in however indirect a way, debate. What you have done, and structure or, indeed, by its supposed task of actively encour- become, has shaken us to the core. We couldn't ignore you whereby the most conscious fraction of the workers and int- aging fascism. Like 2 June or RZ, RAF sees the necessity ellectuals does not direct the ‘mise en scene‘ but gives the even if we had wanted to. We are learning from your exper- - for militia groups rooted in the factories and community. mmple. “ ience and at your expense, and we must be aware that that is For the need for popular support as pre -requisite of success. so. mean abandoning the field to capitalism without a struggle, And it sees fascism not as a dragon to be taunted from its s In West Germany today the Revolutionary Cells are the most - "The Red Army Fraction affirms the primacy of the pract- guaranteeing its domination until, through its contradictions, lair, but as one which cannot be allowed to just go on lying active, and no doubt the most successful of the guerrilla ical. It is right to organise armed resistance, if it is possible it draws humanity into a catastrophe that will end» in barbar- s there as a pretext for doing nothing. groups. An element of the success is illustrated by the fact to do so, and it is by practical experience that this will be ism . . . That would be suicide through fear of death . . . " As I understand it from a libertarian point of view, the real that at a time when l8 actions alone this year have been attrib- decided. “ problem is the distinction RAF draws between the guerrilla - Trans. from the French, La ‘Bande 5 Baader' ou la uted to them, the authorities are at a loss to know quite what - "We haven't yet had one year of experience. That's too commandos and the militia. Each have their own functions; they are and so how to deal with them. RZ have a paper in violence revolutionnaire, editions Champ Libre 1972; orig. ed. the militia works at ground level, locally, and calls upon the short a time to want already to be judging the result“. Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, Berlin 1971. which they express their ideas and discuss how they can be ‘real commandos‘ when needed to cope with emergencies. carried out. (It had to go underground but it circulates). They - “Urban guerrilla struggle starts from the principle that It is in this distinction between the two groups, and not in the- seem so far to have maintained the loose, decentralised, there is no ready made way by which hypothetical revolution- existence per se of the guerrilla, that the seeds of elitism lie, autonomous, grass roots structure that makes it so hard to aries will lead people, in Prussian order, into revolutionary TO your death the press paid relatively little attention. One and the consequent danger that the commandos will lose touch identify them. One reason for this must be that they have Struggle. Urban guerrilla warfare starts out from the fact respectable French paper even remarked on the lack of with their people on the ground. Even while still talking in resisted the temptation to attract the press through particul- that it will be too late to think of armed struggle when the emotion it aroused. After all, there had been many deaths by terms of independence, self-determination, and equality a arly spectacular acts. For the story of RAF must, to some situation is ripe. It is based on the observation that, even now. And then again, every day and night, someone somehow de facto leadership will surely emerge from this situation, extent, be a story of high drama exploited by the press rather when capitalist development has created better conditions dies in gaol. and will be reinforced, moreover, by the individualist and than vice versa, and that the press made them into their own than those prevailing today, there will be no revolutionary I don't know and it doesn't matter, why later on you and sensationalist attitude of the press. (And is it untrue that this orientation without revolutionary initiatives in a country like pet monsters, and thus into their victims. While RZ have that death of yours began to haunt me . . . Maybe knowing also happened among you in prison, some setting the correct gone for more modest targets, mianly property, but on a Federal Germany where the potential for violence is so someone who had known you very well and who made you more line for others under the heading of survival, and castingoff st:rong and the revolutionary traditions so weak. Urban guerr- very broad scale, causing many millions of marks of damage real; maybe a piece written about you during those summer those who would not conform?) ' and directly relating it to concrete social issues at local illa warfare is the result of the long negation of parliamentary nights in Berlin when you all stood talking and laughing to- The other main point as I understand it is that while it was democracy by its own representatives; it is the inevitable level. The sensitive cord between legality and illegality has gether at the windows (it was before the age of the security ok for old Marxists not to elaborate upon their ultimate goal - not snapped. The essential dialogue with the radical and un- response to the mergency laws and the law on grenades; it is blinds); about your gaiety, your ‘unrelenting strength and the readiness to fight the system with the means the system a stateless communism achieved through the state - as long dogmatic left has been kept up. The perspective has not been energy‘, your readiness to talk with people, your ‘patience’ as they remained comfortably and safely determinist, inured lost on everyday life. But it was the RAF example that gave ~ uses to crush its adversaries. Urban guerrilla warfare is (certainly it was a piece which implied your political and int- in a quasi -religious dogmatism, this cannot apply to voluntar- based on the recognition of the facts and not on their mythif- them much of their initial impetus. ellectual superiority over the ex-prisoner who wrote it! ); or ist methods. Once you have decided to get up and go some- I believe that if the guerrilla struggle is to continue and ication. photographs I saw or letters I read - letters not meant just where you have to be less vague about where you're actually "The student movement already knew in part the potential spread - and, related to this, not cost so much in human for anyone but which told me in a few lines more about the going . . . Towards a free, anti -imperialist, truly communist terms - it must be on the RZ rather than RAF level; and for urban guerrilla struggle. This can give concrete shape to insanity of the world than I had learned in years - as many, society maybe, but merely be the overthrow of the bourgeois the agitation and propaganda to which left-wing work is still further, that groups should develop their own specific inter- almost, as yours - of objectively knowing it. But at the same and imperialist state Isn't there much more to it than that? ests, become largely specialists in particular social, econ- limited. It is viable for the anti-Springer campaign . . . for time they rubbed salt into the running sore of my ignorance, RAF doesn't say. the occupation of houses in Frankfurt, for the military aid omic, ecological areas over anything from prisons and multi- and of my terrible curiosity. I hadn't known you then but now Thus, while rejecting the old dogmatism you hadn't thrown nationals to the sea! They must be totally autonomous. They supplied by the federal republic to the compradores regimes almost did, I hardly thought about you while you lived and it off completely; those bits of it that still clung to your guerr- of Africa, for class justice and the prison system, for the can't afford to be less than shrewd or psychologically cunning. couldn't tolerate your death. It amazed and infuriated me in illa gear impeded the general effectiveness of your action. They must not allow themselves to be put on the defensive. employers‘ police and justice in the factory. Urban guerrilla a peculiarly egoistic way. I who had never lifted more than a Things were not thought through all the way. At least that's warfare can give concrete form to proletarian international- The issues dealt with must be real to the people in the envir- finger to help you, when you died, was drinking Dutch gin and what strikes me when I see RAF catapault straight out of its onment in which they operate. The state can never be destroy- ism by supplying arms and money --- Urban guerrilla warfare exchanging jokes in a restaurant far to the north, across the texts into direct confrontation on the highest and most abst- aims at touching the State apparatus in precise areas, putting ed, or even really dented, by the seeming image of itself. sea. I was angry at first only with you. . . . . ract level . . . . Where then, while these grand gestures are Rather than a machine the state is_an amorphous kind of it-out of working order, destroying the myth of the omnipres- What had you been really thinking? Reports written for made, are the grass-roots militia, the alliance being cement- ence and invulnerability of the system". shadow. A shadow to be quenched by light, far more than a public consumption were, not surprisingly, different from ed between guerrillas and workers in factories, schools, machine to be put out of working order by another. . . . - “To choose urban guerrilla struggle is to refuse to become letters. Their at least seeming refusal to accept criticism hospitals, community at large! Had they really been given a troubled me, yet their very harshness attracted and challenged Already a year has passed. Of this the tv thoughtfully demoralised by the violence of the system". chance? reminds us. We're again shown film of the Stuttgart funeral, I see that there were reasons for your anger and contempt The abstraction itself spelt death; how could it at that level with the critics of the legal left and their protegés still in the burial place set apart from the rest and strewn ‘misguid- break through the psychological barrier dividing you, and us, edly‘ with fresh flowers. And there too is the hesitantly hiding. When I look back on things I myself have said or from people in general? And as the long agony and humiliation smiling face of Manfred Rommel, mayor of Stuttgart - if only From ‘On the Armed Struggle in Western EuroE‘, July 1971 written, and which have sometimes been reprinted, I regret began, much of the left forsook you. Debate became confined, their facility and ignorance. It would have been better to young people would be more reasonable . . . . - “Unlike putchism, terrorism is no political short cut, but on the whole, to internal prison memoranda. Later ‘commun- A year later and the circumstances of what happened are criticise on the basis of the RAF texts themselves. iques‘ from commando groups outside were parodies of what the point of departure for political work; the guerrilla must The charges against RAF of ‘vanguardism‘, ‘elitism’, still obscure. People who could have thrown some light have become a school of political training, forging the revolution- had been; their actions were technically competent but intros- refused. Disturbing questions of detail have not been answer- ‘militarism’, ‘authoritarianism’ all have to be placed in con- pective, unrelated to the fundamental aims. To achieve the ary cadres, elaborating on the spot the transitional programme text. Otherwise they are mere empty labels. Nor is it good ed. I think of all the years you spent, while I wasted my life- which is to be adapted to the level of consciousness of the necessary psychological break they should have been more outside, you who had always been so full of energy and anx- - enough to do as anarchists have done and simply regurgitate concrete, specific and localised, appealing more to the wit masses and recreating it constantly as this level rises, by - sometimes at length - the old anarchist arguments against ious to do things, struggling for sheer preservation of dignity. means of the struggle“. and imagination. ' I see you in that special ‘security’ cell ideal for ‘suicide’ i the old Marxist ones. That is to miss the point. While RAF It comes down to a question not of violence/non-violence, - "When the enemy is obliged to gather together its forces to may have based itself on the criteria of Marxist-Leninism and the old pain and astonishment swells inside._ There are but of the kind of violence, at least where exemplary actions times, they say, when a part of oneself dies with someone y contain the oppressed classes, that is not a bad but a good it took from many sources (though its scant references to are concerhed. Among anarchists Malatesta understood this thing; it shows that the proletariat is clouting its class enemy anarchism seem to show a complete misunderstanding or ig- else. It might be just as true that a part also starts to live, perfectly. Rather than say the end justifies the means, say nolonger fearing death as it once did, and in cool anger, in with effect. Fascism is a great evil, the greatest of all capit- norance of it), and its whole philosophy hinges upon the reject- ever end needs its means. Since morality (a profoundly rev- alist evils. But fear of fascism is already part of its victory. ion of Marxist determinism. olutionary motivation! ) must be sought in the ends, the means one‘s own way, N, intent on avenging you and those you loved. The proletariat must not fear it but fight it and repare for the The RAF texts of 1971 are explicit in their belief, shared by are determined. Thus “to have found the right means, herein Bart fight. It would be quite false to renounce, through fear of anarchists, in the necessity for voluntaristic action, the ‘rev- lies the whole secret of great men and parties that have left fascism, the superior forms of class struggle; this would olutionary initiative‘, the ‘practical intervention‘, without I