Anarchist Federation

1919–1946: Gandhi and the national lib...

Mahatma Gandhi is often cited by pacifists as the shining example of how nonviolent civil disobedience works successfully. Unfortunately, these peans of praise leave out a close study of Gandhi’s role in the Indian struggle for ‘independence’, and just as importantly, who were his class allies in that struggle. By 1919 the Indian capitalist class had decided they wanted independence from the British rulers. However, as can be imagined, the British were reluctant to agree to this and a propaganda campaign for withdrawal had no effect. Indian workers and peasants also resented the yoke of British domination. In response to a mass rally at Amritsar in the Punjab, General Dyer ordered the machine-gunning of the crowd, r... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Against Nationalism

Preface This pamphlet has its origins in a particular time and place, with the impetus behind it coming from the Israeli state’s military campaign in the Gaza strip in late 2008 and early 2009. As the record of atrocities and the death toll mounted, coming to a final stop at around 1,500 dead, large protests took place around the world, with a significant protest movement developing in Britain. This movement took the form of regular street protests in cities, a wave of 28 university occupations around the country and occasional attacks against companies supposedly implicated in the war. There were also, depressingly, actions with clear anti-Semitic overtones. [1] Anarchist Federation members were involved in a range of w... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Anarcho-syndicalists in the Mexican revo... : the Casa del Obrero Mundial

During the first twenty years of the 20th century Mexico was engulfed in revolutionary turmoil. Various ‘constitutionalist’ (i.e. democratic) capitalist factions vied for power whilst attempting to overthrow the dictatorship of General Porfirio Diaz . Meanwhile the Agrarian (landless peasant) movement of Emiliano Zapata and the emerging urban working class attempted to defend their own interests amid the chaos. The Agrarians engaged in guerrilla activity against the various ‘revolutionary’ governments with the aim of reclaiming and defending the land of the indigenous population from the landowners. During the years 1906 to 1915 the Partido Liberal Mexicano (P.L.M.) played a leading in role in attempting to bring tog... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Angry Not Apathetic

What anarchists do instead of voting The general election is here, and once again the parties are all over us like a rash, promising that they will fix things. But you don’t have to be an anarchist to know that nothing changes, whoever gets in. This is why politicians are keen on new methods such as postal voting. Labor, Tory, Liberal Democrat, nationalist (Plaid Cymru, SNP, Sinn Fein), ‘principled’ or ‘radical’ (Green Party, or leftists in some alliance), or nationalist-racist (UKIP etc), the fundamentals of the system are the same. Whether we have the present electoral system or proportional representation, or however many people vote or don’t vote in an election or referendum, as we have ... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Beyond Resistance : A Revolutionary Manifesto for ...

Beyond Resistance is the Anarchist Federation’s analysis of the capitalist world in crisis, suggestions about what the alternative anarchist communist society could be like, and evaluation of social and organizational forces which play a part in the revolutionary process. We aim to do three things through this manifesto: To convincingly make the case for a revolutionary social transformation into a libertarian society. To challenge those who are already convinced of this, that a revolution can be best brought about by the creation of organizational structures and a globally united anarchist communist movement. To explain the role we see the AF playing in this process. Preface to the third edition ... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Brexit and Workers

We’ve previously written a few things about the 2016 referendum which led to the process of Britain’s exit from the European Union. As the time gets closer we look at what the currently uncertain situation means for workers. Before we get on to the specifics, we make some more general points about Brexit. In Organize 97 (Winter 2016) we said: Much media space is devoted to speculation about what Brexit will mean. There is even some doubt about whether despite May’s strong assertions that she will make Brexit work, that it will go ahead. She certainly is taking her time about it. After all, key sections of the British ruling class did not want Britain to leave the EU. They want the chea... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Class Struggle Anarchist Analysis of Pri...

Aims and definitions The purpose of this paper is to outline a class struggle anarchist analysis of Privilege Theory. Many of us feel “privilege” is a useful term for discussing oppressions that go beyond economic class. It can help us to understand how these oppressions affect our social relations and the intersections of our struggles within the economic working class. It is written by members of the women’s caucus of the Anarchist Federation. It does not represent all our views and is part of an ongoing discussion within the federation. What do we mean – and what do we not mean – by privilege? Privilege implies that wherever there is a system of oppression (such as capitalism, patriarchy, white... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Climate Camp

At the 2008 Climate Camp in Kingsnorth an open letter was circulated by anti-capitalist campers raising concerns that the movement was increasingly being by influenced state-led approaches to tackling climate change. A more developed version was later published by Shift magazine. The original argued broadly that the camp should adopt anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian principles and objectives. The 2009 Climate Camp, sited this year in Blackheath, London, saw continued debate over the future direction of the struggle against climate change. As a part of this, anarchist and libertarian communist activists hosted a debate on what we saw as a growing trend towards Green authoritarianism within the movement. Key concerns discussed inclu... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Coronavirus and Emergency : We Don’t Forget Which Side o...

The following article was written about one week ago by our comrades in the Italian Anarchist Federation (Federazione Anarchica Italiana) and translated by them (original in Italian). Much of this will ring true for those of us living in the UK or elsewhere in Europe. We are seeing some differences, notably the strikes of factory, construction and other workers over the neglect of their safety by bosses, whereas many of these same workers are casualized or self-employed and not unionized in UK. And prisoners are rioting. But the deadly effect of an minimally funded health system under neoliberal policies is a clear warning for those of in countries who are catching up with Italy on the exponential spreading of illness. The British media, in... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Government and COVID-19 : An Ideology of Inequality

Three weeks after our article More of the State You’ve Got, the UK government has accepted, as in Italy and elsewhere, that containment and the still to be widely available use of testing kits along the lines of World Health Organization advice is a better strategy to allow health services to cope. But so much was already known globally earlier in this century with similar coronaviruses MERS and SARS. These outbreaks required global collaboration to stop their spread between people and to protect healthcare workers. As the death rate in UK has been doubling every 3–4 days and the number of confirmed cases is doubling every 6 days at the time of writing, massive field hospitals are being built in exhibition halls with basi... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Grave Error, A : The Mexican Syndicalists

The birth of the workers’ movement in Mexico was profoundly influenced by anarchism. This movement proclaimed independence from the political parties and the State. Yet in 1915 a pact was signed with the Constitutionalists led by Carranza. Organize! Looks at why this might have happened. The workers’ movement in Mexico was relatively young and inexperienced. At the time the population counted 11 million who lived in the countryside as opposed to 4 million who lived in urban centers a comparison with Russia during the 1917 Revolution could be made). The first two decades of the 20th century were marked by a radicalization of the Mexican workers’ movement, with an influx of Spanish immigrants, bringing with the... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Interview: Anarchism, the USSR, alternat...

The AF recently hosted a meeting of the International of Anarchist Federations. Two comrades, Pauluk and Maryna, from the BAF, an organization applying to join the International, attended the meeting and made a presentation on the situation in their country at the 2005 London Anarchist Bookfair. The collapse of the Soviet Union has resulted in yet another repressive regime taking power, making it extremely difficult for anarchists and others to operate politically. This interview focuses on the history of anarchism in Belarus, as seen through the personal experiences of these two comrades. It provides insights into the situation for anarchists in the ex-Soviet influenced countries and shows how anarchist ideas and practices emerge in... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

In The Tradition : Where Our Politics Comes From

ACF: the first ten years THE SHIPWRECK OF anarchist communism in the late 70s meant that there was no anarchist communist organization, not even a skeletal one, that could relate to the riots of 1981 and to the miners strike of 1984–5 as well as to mobilizations like the Stop the City actions of 1984. But in autumn 1984 two comrades, one a veteran of the ORA/AWA/LCG, had returned from France where they had been living and working and where they had been involved in the libertarian communist movement. A decision was made to set up the Libertarian Communist Discussion Group (LCDG) with the aim of creating a specific organization. Copies of the Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists, left over from the AWA/L... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Kurdistan Shoras Resistance, The

Outbreaks of resistance spread rapidly across the north of the Iraq, towards the end of the Gulf War I, and were completely spontaneous, popular insurrections free from, and in spite of, the influence of Kurdish nationalism and leftist splinter-politics. What they would have achieved if they had been joined by returning Iraqi soldiers massacred along the now infamous road to Basra in the south of the country, and if the too short-lived revolt there had lasted long enough to link up the struggle, is another question. The Northern Uprising The main centers of the northern revolt were in the regions of Sulaimania, Kirkuk and Hawlia. As Iraqi soldiers deserted the front in their thousands (30,000 in Sulaimania!), thousands more took t... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

“Madurization” of Chavismo, The : An anarchist statement on Vene...

By the Anarchist Federation of Central America and the Caribbean From Where and Whom We Support For us, as anarchists who live in lands adjacent to Venezuela, what is going on in that country doesn’t seem distant or is indifferent to us. Our dependent economies have received for almost two decades the generous fuel subsidies from PetroCaribe agreements with Venezuela. That is why almost all States and a large portion of the civil society actors of the Caribbean region now offer a complicit silence regarding the neo-liberal, authoritarian, repressive, and militaristic apotheosis resulting from the government of Nicolás Maduro. We will not deny the value of such agreements for our societies, but we will not turn ... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Mexican Revolution, The

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. Organize! investigates this extremely important and much-misunderstood event. Mexico in 1910 was a land where an emerging working class was adopting radical forms of organization and struggle, where the indigenous peoples were still continuing their resistance against three hundred years of rule initiated by Spain, and where the bourgeoisie itself was attempting to develop and consolidate its power against the establishment institutions of the old regimes and the Catholic Church. The regime directed by Porfirio Diaz represented the interests of the small group of rich owners of vast agricultural estates, and in addition served the interests of foreign capital, in... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

More of the State You’ve Got : (While Mutual Aid Grows to Tac...

As various governments leap into action, or not, over the reality of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s evident that the different approaches to containment and delay have a heavy ideological component. The mass surveillance approach of China has seen blocking of criticism of the state on the widespread social media platform WeChat and citizen reporters being taken off the streets, whilst the e-commerce app Alipay (like Paypal in UK) platform has been commandeered to build and track individual movements. It is doing this by assigning a ‘Alipay Health Code’ status of Red, Yellow or Green which is then being used to control access to work, public facilities and movement in general. In the UK, the central government... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Moscow workers revolt against Bolsheviks

The food shortages in Bolshevik-controlled Moscow in 1921, including staples like bread, ignited a whole set of demands among the working class. From January this discontent was voiced through mass meetings in plants and factories. Bolshevik repression was denounced and the call for free labor as opposed to militarized labor was raised. When Bolsheviks at meetings suggested that the discontent was just about “stomachs” they were shouted down. The Bolsheviks responded with increased repression, unleashing the Cheka, the secret police. But it was the Moscow Cheka who had been one of the causes of the discontent. Between December 1918 and November 1920 they had shot 578 people, and arrested 40,000, 6 percent of the adult cit... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Noe, Ito, 1895–1923

Ito Noe Born 1895 — Kyushu, Japan, died 1923 — Tokyo, Japan Ito was born in 1895, to a family of landed aristocracy, on the southern island of Kyushu. After graduating from Ueno Girls High School, she was forced against her will into an arranged marriage in her native village. She soon ran away to Tokyo. In Tokyo, women had been developing progressive ideas since the 1870s. Hiratsuka Raicho founded the Seitosha (Blue Stocking Society) and brought out its magazine Seito (Blue Stocking) which gave space to women to develop their literary, esthetic and political capabilities. Ito joined this group in 1913, at the age of 18, and became one of its editors from 1915 to 1916. Skilled in several languages, including Eng... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Revolutionary Women

This pamphlet is dedicated to all those revolutionary women who have passed without mention in the history books. Thanks also go to Nick Heath for his attempts to uncover their stories, reminding us that beside every well-known individual there is a whole movement aiming towards libertarian communism. Introduction The compatibility of anarchism and women’s liberation is clear: opposition to all hierarchy is a requirement of any movement demanding emancipation and equality. Despite this, everywhere that women joined the early anarchist movement they were forced to fight against the prejudices of their male comrades. Not only did they fight, they prevailed, becoming the spearhead of many revolutionary situations. Emma G... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Role of the Revolutionary Organisation, ...

The Class Struggle ‘There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.’ – Warren Buffett, capitalist and the world’s wealthiest person in 2008 Before we start to look at the revolutionary organization itself, we first need to explain what we mean when talking about class. The term class is commonly used to describe a cultural identity that comes from a mixture of elements including family background, education, workplace history and access to/denial of different opportunities throughout life. This complex web of factors gives rise to different social labels (e.g. working class, lower middle class, etc.)... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Short Introduction to Anarchist Communis...

What We’re Fighting: Capitalism and Hierarchy Capitalism, in essence, is a system of exploitation. It is a class system where a majority, the working class, is exploited by a minority, the ruling class. The ruling class own and control the places that we work & live, the land that produces our food, and everything that makes life possible. They make the decisions about what kinds of products the factories make or what kinds of services are provided, and they make the decisions about how this work is organized. The rest of us, the working class, must work in the fields and the factories, the call centers and the office blocks, or else get by on benefits or scrape together what we need to survive. We, the workin... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Social Anarchism and Organisation

By the Anarchist Federation of Rio de Janeiro The first Congress of the FARJ was held with the principal objective of deepening our reflections on the question of organization and formalizing them into a program. This debate has been happening within our organization since 2003. We have produced theoretical materials, established our thinking, learned from the successes and mistakes of our political practice it was becoming increasingly necessary to further the debate and to formalize it, spreading this knowledge both internally and externally. The document “Social Anarchism and Organization” formalizes our positions after all these reflections. More than a purely theoretical document, it reflects the conclusions realized a... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Thought and Struggle

By the Anarchist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland History The AF has its roots in a number of small anarchist groupings active in the 1970s. In addition, the founding members were inspired by the rich anarchist tradition on the Continent, especially in France. Taking what we thought was best from the past and from abroad, the goal was to create an anarchist communist organization, firmly based on the class struggle or social anarchist tradition. The project received crucial impetus with the bringing on board of the innovative magazine Virus. The Anarchist Communist Discussion was then launched at the Anarchist Bookfair in October 1985. We received remarkable interest in our project and by April 1986,... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Union Makes Us Strong?, The : Syndicalism: A Critical Analys...

Part 1 – Origins The ACF has never, despite what some of our critics may have suggested, made our criticisms of syndicalism, including its anarcho variety, a “distinguishing characteristic” (see Black Flag Issue 211) of our politics. In a world-wide ‘labor movement’ dominated by social democratic ideas and practice and thoroughly integrated into capitalism, our focus of attack has not been on the relatively tiny syndicalist and ‘alternative’ union structures which exist. Rather, our arguments have been against trade unionism and forworking class self-organized struggle. However, anarcho-syndicalism remains the majority current within class struggle anarchism and is, despite various spl... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Work

Wage Slavery: Making Profit for Others ‘When the highwayman holds his gun to your head, you turn your valuables over to him. You ‘consent’ alright, but you do so because you cannot help yourself, because you are compelled by his gun. Are you not compelled to work for an employer? Your need compels you, just as the highwayman’s gun.’ – Alexander Berkman, ‘What is Anarchism?’ When we go to work our activity, our labor, is used to create a service or product that our employers make money from. In return we are given a wage. The amount of money in our wage is unrelated to the usefulness of our job or the amount of money we make for the employer. Instead we get paid just en... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

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All Nearby Items in People Abbey, Edward ACME Collective Against Sleep And Nightmare Al-Djouhall Aldred, Guy - Guy Alfred Aldred had worked ceaselessly at his propaganda, writing, publishing and public speaking, he took on injustices wherever he saw it. He had spoken at every May Day for 60 years except the years he spent in prison. Alston, Ashanti Alternative Libertaire Anarchist Black Cross Anarchist Communist Group Anarchist Federation Anarchist Revolutionary Movement (ARM) Anderson, Andy Anderson, Benedict Richard O'Gorman Andie Nordgren Andrews, Stephen Pearl - He moved to New York, where he became interested in linguistics, and later equitable commerce. He established a utopian community in New York City called Unity Home, and it was during this time that he began to formulate his philosophy of universology. Anonymous Antonov, Alexander Aragorn! Archet, Anne Argentine Libertarian Federation