In the morning hours of July 18,1936, General Francisco Franco issued the pronunciamiento from Las Palmas in Spanish North Africa that openly launched the struggle of Spain’s reactionary military officers against the legally elected Popular Front government in Madrid.
The Franco pronunciamiento left little doubt that, in the event of victory by the Spanish generals, a parliamentary republic would be replaced by a clearly authoritarian state, modeled institutionally on similar regimes in Germany and Italy. The Francista forces or “Nationalists,” as they were to call themselves, exhibited all the trappings and ideologies of the fascist movements of the day: the raised open-palm salute, the appeals to a “folk-soil&rdqu... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Note: This article, from the book "Fragments: a memoir",
by Sam Dolgoff (Refract Publications, 1986) recounts a trip
to Israel by Sam and his wife Esther, to meet the anarchists
there.
In the mid-1970s Esther and I embarked on a two-week
tour of Israel, not merely to see the sights, but to contact our
anarchist comrades publishing their organ Problemen. We also
wanted to contact Israeli settlers whom we already knew at
home. We felt that the trip was all the more necessary because
altogether too many comrades did not even know that there
were a few anarchist groups in Israel, much less an anarchist
publication there.
We immediately contacted the editor of Problemen, Joseph
Ludin, a prolific writer, himself an anarchis... (From: Flag.Blackened.net.) CONTROVERSY: ANARCHISTS IN THE SPANISH REVOLUTION
by Sam Dolgoff
In 1974, or early 1975, I reviewed in the English anarchist paper Freedom
a book by Carlos Semprun Maura, Revolution and Counter-Revolution in
Catalonia (French edition). In my review I criticized both Semprun Maura
and Vernon Richards' book Lessons of the Spanish Revolution for presenting
a distorted, over-simplified interpretation of events- a scenario. This
provoked a heated rejoinder from Richards (three or four articles in
Freedom).
Over forty years after the tragic defeat of the Spanish Revolution - 1936
to 1939 - the question of anarchist participation in the Republican
government and the role of anarchists in a revolution is a fundamental
prob... (From: Flag.Blackened.net.) As pointed out in my introduction to Bakunin on Anarchy (Alfred A. Knopf, 1972), the clash of personalities between Marx and Bakunin was not the essential element in their running controversy during the congresses of the International. The debates transcend petty personal squabbles' and embody two diametrically opposed tendencies in the theory and tactics of socialism, the authoritarian and libertarian schools respectively, the two main lines of thought that helped shape the character of the modern labor and socialist movements.
Unfortunately, Ulli Diemer's articles Anarchism vs. Marxism and Bakunin vs. Marx (Red Menace, Spring 1978) really do not deal with the main issues involved in the debates. A discussion of these issues is beyo... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) In this little essay our esteemed comrade Frank Fernandez traces the influence of anarchist ideas on the Cuban people, the development of the Cuban labor movement traces back to at least the middle of the 19th Century, Anarchism was not a small and isolated sect. It was a real people's mass movement. The anarchist movement and the labor movement were inseparable. They grew up together. A history of the Cuban people is not worth reading If it does not include the history of anarchist struggles for the free society.
Although brief, this essay reveals information which I did not have in my book about the Cuban Revolution ['The Cuban Revolution' by Sam Dolgoff (200 pages), not yet available in electronic form, but it can be ordered from ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Between reactionary "pro-Batistianos" and "revolutionary Castroites,"
an adequate assessment of the Cuban Revolution must take into account
another, largely ignored dimension, i.e., the history of Cuban Anarchism
and its influence on the development of the Cuban labor and socialist
movements, the position of the Cuban anarchist movement with respect to
the problems of the Cuban Revolution, and libertarian alternatives to
Castroism.
Today's Cuban "socialism" differs from the humanistic and libertarian
values of true socialism as does tyranny from freedom. There is not
the remotest affinity between authoritarian socialism or its Castro
variety and the libertarian traditions of the Cuban labor and socialist
movements.
The character... (From: Anarchy Archives.) PRELIMINARY REMARKS
Fears, tensions and insecurity are sapping our vitality; they are beclouding and twisting our lives. There is a growing realization that nuclear war may soon annihilate us all. This colossal waste of the earth’s riches, this criminal perversion of human life and human labor, violate the deepest, noblest feelings of humanity. Millions of men and women everywhere are today questioning the sanity of the social systems that make such catastrophes possible.
Those who had hoped that Russia might lead the way to a better and freer world have been bitterly disappointed. Khrushchev’s “exposures” of Stalin have not deterred him from following the same general course. The revolts in Eastern Eur... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Ann Allen: Why don't you start and say a little about where you came from and first started working and how you got into the labor movement?
Sam Dolgoff: When I was about fourteen or fifteen, I lived in the Bronx in New York. And the Socialist Labor Party, the Socialist Party, used to have street meetings around the neighborhood. And I became very enthusiastic; they appealed to me very strongly. They popularized everything. They explained all about Karl Marx and the economic question, surplus value. I think that was the time when Morris Hillquit was running for mayor or he was running for the assembly. There were five socialists, socialist party members, who went to the assembly. And I remember; when they went to the assembly, they w... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The cry for a Labor Party in the United States is again being heard from various sides. Some of the Socialist Party people are agitating for it. The Trotskyists are currently in favor of it, and Meany, President of the AFL-CIO, climbs on and off of the bandwagon as the spirit moves him or as policy considerations of the moment appear to dictate.
Agitation for a Labor Party is almost as old as the labor movement itself. Numerous beginnings in this direction have at times been made. In 1829, the “Workingmens Party” in New York received 6,000 out of 21,000 votes, a higher proportion than any other independent movement has since achieved.
At times the sentiment for a Labor Party has been confined to small radical and l... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Anarchism Is Not Absolute Anti-social Individualism
Anarchism does not connote absolute, irresponsible, anti-social individual freedom which violates the rights of others and rejects every form of organization and self-discipline. Absolute individual freedom can be attained only in isolation- if at all: “What really takes away liberty and makes initiative impossible is the isolation which renders one powerless.” (Errico Malatesta, Life and Ideas, Freedom Press, p. 87)
Anarchism is synonymous with the term “free socialism” or “social anarchism.” As the term “social” itself implies, anarchism is the free association of people living together and cooperating in free communities. The... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) In their polemics with the Marxists the anarchists argued that the state subjects the economy to its own ends. An economic system once viewed as the prerequisite for the realization of socialism now serves to reinforce the domination of the ruling classes. The very technology that could now open new roads to freedom has also armed states with unimaginably frightful weapons for the extinction of all life on this planet.
Only the social revolution can overcome the obstacles to the introduction of the free society. Yet the movement for emancipation is threatened by the far more formidable political, economic and social power and brain-washing techniques of the ruling classes. To forge a revolutionary movement, inspired by anarchist idea... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) This pamphlet is the second printing of an expanded version of an article that appeared in a 1970 issue of "Libertarian Analysis". It is the first pamphlet published by "Soil of Liberty". A second pamphlet, "A Critique of Marxism", also by Sam Dolgoff, is also available ($0.55). Bulk rates are available for both. Sam has been active in the anarchist movement since the 1920s and is a re- tired house painter living in New York City. "Soil of Liberty" offers a literature service through the magazine and a partial listing is available. Magazine subscriptions are $3 - $4 per year.
Soil of Liberty POB 7056 Powderhorn Station Minneapolis, MN 55407
First Printing - August 1977 Second Printing - September 1979
NOTE: ABOVE LISTED PRICE... (From: Spunk.org.) This work concerns the political, economic and social institutions set up after World War II in economically underdeveloped “Third World” states, dealing primarily (for space reasons) with African states.
Without in the least endorsing the imperialist policies of either the American or Russian power blocs or trying, in any way whatsoever, to justify their crimes, the widespread notion the “Third World” is a satisfactory alternative must be dispelled. The pattern of events was already foreshadowed by the anarchist Rudolf Rocker before World War II, in this prophetic passage:
“...the same nationalities which before World War I, never ceased to revolt against the foreign oppressor, reveal themsel... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
