Anarchism : Anarchist and Anti-Authoritarianism

1927 ~ Reply by several Russian Anarchists to the ‘Platform’, by Voline
Reasons for the Weakness of the Anarchist Movement The Anarchist Synthesis Anarchism as a Theory of Classes The Role of the Masses and Anarchism in the Social Struggle and the Social Revolution The Transition Period Production Defense of the Revolution Anarchist Organization Method of Creating an Anarchist Organization Role and Character of Anarchist Organizations Form of Anarchist Organization Reasons for... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

1943 ~ What is Anarcho-syndicalism?, by George Woodcock
Syndicalism is a method of industrial organization which goes away from all the traditional conceptions of authority and government, of capitalism and the state. While communism in abolishing individual capitalism, creates a worse monster in its place in the form of the economic state, syndicalism leaves all the patterns of administration which have in the past resulted only in the oppression and exploitation of man by man, and sets out to build an organizational form based on the natural needs of man rather than on the interests of ruling classes, based not on the dictates of authority, but on the voluntary cooperation of free and equal individuals in satisfying the economic needs of the men who form society. Syndicalism is the industrial manifestation of anarchism. Anarchism itself is a doctrine which teaches the necessity of a society without government Anarchism advocates, instead of the governmental coercion of the individual, which exists in t... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

1969 ~ Reflections on Decentralism, by George Woodcock
I was asked to write on decentralism in history, and I find myself looking into shadows where small lights shine as fireflies do, endure a little, vanish, and then reappear like Audens messages of the just. The history of decentralism has to be written largely in negative, in winters and twilights as well as springs and dawns, for it is a history which, like that of libertarian beliefs in general, is not observed in progressive terms. It is not the history of a movement, an evolution. It is the history of something that, like grass, has been with us from the human beginning, something that may go to earth, like bulbs in winter, and yet be there always, in the dark soil of human society, to break forth in unexpected places and at undisciplined times. Paleolithic man, food-gatherer and hunter, was a decentralist by necessity, because the earth did not provide enough wild food to allow crowding, and in modern remotenesses that were too wild or unproduct... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

1949 ~ Marie Louise Berneri 1918–1949 - A Tribute, by George Woodcock
Marie Louise Berneri Memorial Committee In Memory of M.L.B. (poem) 1. Introduction 2. Letters (19361937) From a French Comrade. S. Parane, Paris From a letter to her companion. Paris, 19th March, 1936 (in French) To her companion. Paris, 4th October, 1936 (in Italian) A letter from her father After her Fathers Death 3. Her Contribution to Freedom Press Freedom Press Group Fro... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

1954 ~ The Libertarians and the Cold War, by George Woodcock
I believe that there is always need for a perpetual re-consideration of the validity of every aspect of our viewpoints. In left-wing circles, and particularly among Marxists, the word revisionism has often a pejorative sound; I believe that the attitude which this displays merely shows a resistance to growth among the people who hold it. And I am definitely out of sympathy with the romanticism of those last-ditchers who hold their positions out of an illusion of loyalty and a horror of self-contradiction. Every man whose ideas are living and growing must contradict himself many times during his life, and I am with Whitman and Proudhon in finding no reason for shame in this. But I do see reason for shame in holding on to a position unless I believe that, all things considered, it still remains the best and most reasonable. Therefore I acknowledge and respect Macdonalds change in his position on war, and I think we should consider careful... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

1891
From Elise Reclus , Evolution and Revolution, London: W. Reeves, Seventh Edition EVOLUTION AND REVOLUTION By Elise Reclus THESE two words, Evolution and Revolution, closely resemble one another, and yet they are constantly used in their social and political sense as though their meaning were absolutely antagonistic. The word Evolution, synonymous with gradual and continuous development in morals and ideas, is brought forward in certain circles as though it were the antithesis of that fearful word, Revolution, which implies changes more or less sudden in their action, and entailing some sort of catastrophe. And yet is it possible that a transformation can take place in ideas without bringing about some abrupt displacements in the equilibrium of life? Must not revolution necessarily follow evolution, as action follows the desire to act? They are fundamentally one and the same thing, differing only according to... (From : Anarchy Archives.)

1911
SOME twenty-one years ago I heard the first great Anarchist speaker--the inimitable John Most. It seemed to me then, and for many years after, that the spoken word hurled forth among the masses with such wonderful eloquence, such enthusiasm and fire, could never be erased from the human mind and soul. How could any one of all the multitudes who flocked to Most's meetings escape his prophetic voice! Surely they had but to hear him to throw off their old beliefs, and see the truth and beauty of Anarchism! My one great longing then was to be able to speak with the tongue of John Most,--that I, too, might thus reach the masses. Oh, for the naivety of Youth's enthusiasm! It is the time when the hardest thing seems but child's play. It is the only period in life worth while. Alas! This period is but of short duration. Like Spring, the Sturm und Drang period of the propagandist brings... (From : Anarchy Archives.)

1890
Owing to the energetic prosecution of enterprises which have for their object the exploitation of south-central Africa, a large increase of commercial activity is to be observed in this colony. Yet, though more hands are employed, and though the absolute rate of wages has been somewhat raised, no corresponding improvement in the condition of the wage-workers is felt; in fact those who like myself have been in permanent employment for some years find that the cheapening of money is a positive disadvantage to them. This fact having been asserted, the explanation is as follows. The limited and gradual increase in the requirements of the employment market has been more than kept supplied by the number of persons who flock to this country as to an El Dorado, while at the same time the expenses of living, such as rent, food and clothing have increased-the two former items to an enormous extent. The cottage for which two years age I was paying &poound;2 10s. a mouth I am now... (From : AnarchyArchives.)

1905
The greatest excitement has prevailed in Russia for the last few weeks since it became known that representatives of the Zemstvos of thirty-four provinces of the Empire were going to meet at St. Petersburg in order to discuss the necessary reforms in the general political organization of the country. The very fact that such an authorization had been granted was equivalent to an invitation to discuss a scheme of a Constitution; and so it was understood everywhere. When the Zemstvo delegates were leaving their respective provincial towns they were sent off by groups of enthusiastic friends, whose parting words were: 'Return with a Constitution!' Their original intention was to make of their conference a solemn official gathering which would speak to the Government in its official capacity, but at the last moment the Minister of the Interior refused to grant the necessary authorization; and as the Zemstvo delegates declared that they were decided to meet neverthel... (From : Anarchy Archives.)

1927
The Two Octobers by Piotr Archinov The victorious revolution of the workers and peasants in 1917 was legally established in the Bolshevik calendar as the October Revolution. There is sane truth in this, but it is not entirely exact. In October 1917 the workers and peasants of Russia surmounted a colossal obstacle to the development of their Revolution. They abolished the nominal power of the capitalist class, but even before that they achieved something of equal revolutionary importance and perhaps even more fundamental. By taking the economic power from the capitalist class, and the land from the large owners in the countryside, they achieved the right to free and uncontrolled work in the towns, if not the total control of the factories. Consequently, it was well before October that the revolutionary workers destroyed the base of capitalism. All that was left was the superstructure. If there had no... (From : Flag.Blackened.net.)