3. ON DEFENSE OF THE REVOLUTION Within the context of the debate that has taken place among our comrades from many lands regarding the Draft Platform of the General Union of Anarchists, published by the group of Russian anarchists abroad, I have been asked from several quarters to write a piece specifically devoted to the issue of the defense of the revolution. I shall strive to deal with it most diligently, but, before I do, I think I have a duty to inform comrades that this is not the central issue of the Draft Platform: the crux of it is the necessity of achieving the most consistent unity in our libertarian communist ranks. That portion asks only for amendment and completion before implementation. Otherwise, if we do not strive to marshal our forces, our movement will be condemned to succumb once and for all to the influences of liberals and opportunists who haunt our circles, if not outright speculators and political adventurers, who, at best, can...
Voline (18821945) by Rudolf Rocker Introduction: Some Essential Preliminary Notes Preface Part I. The First Fruits (18251905) Chapter 1. Russia at the Beginning of the 19th Century; Birth of the Revolution Chapter 2. Repression, Violence and Failure; Development Continues (18251855) Chapter 3. Reforms; Resumption of the Revolution The Failure of Czarism and the Failure of Revolution; Reaction (18551881) Chapter 4. The End of the Century; Marxism; Rapid Evolution; Reaction (18811900) Chapter 5. The 20th Century; Hasty Development; Revolutionary Advance; Results (1900...
fChapter 3. Other Disagreements Beside the great divergences of principle which separated the Anarchists and the Bolsheviks, there existed differences of detail between them. Let us mention the two most important incidental points of variance the question of the purported workers control of production and that of the Constituent Assembly. Contemplating the workers problem, the Bolshevik Party prepared to begin [moving toward a solution] by instituting the so-called workers control of production that is, the introduction of workers into the management of private enterprises. The Anarchists objected that if this control were not to remain a dead letter, and if the workers organizations were capable 6f exercising effective control, then they also were capable of guaranteeing all production. In such an event, private industry could be eliminated quickly, but progressively, and...