Organise! #30

8 Pages·1993·24.6 MB·English

by  ACF/AF Anarchist Communist Federation/Anarchist Federation

.i
THE WHOLE DEBATE about crime is most crimes and that women hardly figure in and other destructive behaviour. Such people
hopelessly confused and confusing. One the crime statistics. Men are socialised from should be cared for as far as possible within
thing is certain, in the population at birth to be aggressive, violent, hard and tough, the community. This approach has nothing in
large, there is a fear of crime which pol- whilst women are socialised to be submissive common with the current dumping ofthe men-
iticians, especially the Tories but increas- and caring. This sort ofupbringing does untold tally disturbed onto the streets. In ‘face to face’
ingly Labour, are exploiting for political psychological violence to boys as they are communities everyone will recognise their
gain. There is an ever growing demand by shaped by their parents and society to struggle neighbours and take on a collective and indi-
reactionaries of all kinds to “get tough and fight. vidual responsibility for social care and con-
with crime". It is an easy slogan to make Add to this a strict and regimenting school trol. Psychiatric and medical help will he
which guarantees attention but, despite a system, a future ofunemployment or dead-end aimed at the integration of disturbed individ-
dozen years of authoritarian Tory con- jobs together with boredom and you have a uals and the promotion oftheir welfare. There
trol, crime is nowhere near to being de- mixture which invites trouble. This is not to are no easy solutions to some disturbed and
feated. Why is this? excuse macho behaviour but is an attempt to obsessive behaviour such as sexual assaults,
In capitalist society, what crimes actually place it in perspective. Crime and capitalism arson etc. But the approach to such problems
are is determined by the state. They may, or are inseparable. will have to be approached in an enlightened,
may not, coincide with what working class Ifcrime is a part ofcapitalist society, what not a punitive way.
people think is wrongbehaviour. People ‘living’ will happen in an anarchist communist so- This leads us to a discussion ofpunishment.
on social security benefits cannot survive on ciety? Anarchist communism is based upon the Punishment, the infliction of violence for so-
what is available to them. They have either to principles ‘of a classless society in which free- called crimes, has been a feature of virtually
get involved with some form of‘criminal’ beha- dom arises out ofcommunity solidarity and an every society from the earliest recorded his-
viour, whether this means social security enlightened system ofsocialisation and educa- tory. The Old Testament approach to punish-
fraud, shoplifting or worse. And most working tion. Private property will be abolished and the ment in which not only the ‘guilty’ are harmed
class people who have jobs ask few questions goal of production will be for the fulfilment of but also their relatives and descendents is to
when offered goods which have ‘fallen off the human need, not the accumulation of private be found in many societies. Aspects of this
back of a lorry’. wealth. Goods and services will be planned by approach have come down to us today in Is-
Their attitudes change when they become the active communities working with similar lamic law and in the Tory government’s initia-
the victims of crime. It is an unfortunate fact communities elsewhere. The individual will be tive inblaming andpunishing parents for their
that some working class people are quite happy encouraged to take part in decision-making. In children’s crimes.
to steal from or abuse their own kind. Stealing this way, goods and services will be provided There are several justifications given for
television sets and videos on council estates or to meet everyone’s needs, so far as this is punishment, all ofwhich are seriously flawed.
racial or sexual attacks are examples ofcrimi- possible. Also, many services will be provided Revenge is the most primitive, being based on
nal behaviour which is not acceptable to the by the community just as public libraries are the desire to ‘get even’ with the criminal. The
working class. today, so that entertainment, transport etc will ‘retributive’ approach starts from the assump-
Does this mean that there is a double stand- be on the basis of free access. tion that individual crimes deserve punish-
ard operating here? Not at all. The point about ment; murderers deserve to be executed,
crime is that it must be seen in class terms. Moneyless rapists deserve castration. Apart from the
Crime is defined and combatted largely by the problem of gauging what is an appropriate
state acting in the interests of maintaining Communism requires the abolition of punishment for each and every crime in a
their order and protecting property. The main- money and exploitation. With a moneyless so- whole range of circumstances, this approach
tenance of order is presented as being in the ciety there will be no possibility to accumulate assumes that one act of inflicting pain (rob-
interests of all classes but in reality provides wealth beyond that which a person can poss- bery, assault etc) is to be condemned whilst
stability for the promotion ofcapitalism. Capi- ibly hold on to. Since goods are free, there will another, that of punishment (which might be
talism itself is based upon a form of robbery: be little point in stealing and therefore most, if equally brutal eg stoning ofadulterers) is fine.
exploitation. But this is not definedby the state not all, crimes against property will disappear. It also accepts that a higher authority, ie the
as crime. Similarily, we all have personal In a caring society which will do away with state, has the right alone to inflict punishment.
property to protect but the state is mainly the desperate struggle for everyday survival, Linked to the vengeance justification for
concerned with the protection of private many ofthe material bases ofwant will disap- punishment is the idea of deterrence. Indeed,
property, ie the instruments oflegal robbery -—- pear. The revolution will consciously want to the two are usually cited together in determin-
the banks, factories, shops etc. Working class eliminate anti-social behaviour and so educa- ing a ‘suitable’ punishment in the courts. The
people are generally aware ofthis. It is a com- tion and the socialisation of children will be idea that criminal behaviour will be reduced
monplace to hear that there exists “one law for directed towards tolerance, equality and shar- by the threat of punishment on being caught
the rich and another for the poor”. ing. Violence, which is an ever present under- does not standup. Firstly, many serious crimes
So far, from an anarchist communist stand- current of life today, will be discouraged take place on the spur of the moment when
point, we must be skeptical, to say the least, through the development of cooperative play people lose self-control through anger, jeal-
about the whole debate about crime. We are and education. The current obsession with ag- ousy or drugs. There is no thought of the con-
clear about one thing; anti-social crime, gressive individualism combined with glorifi- sequences of such acts.
meaning anything which oppresses, robs or cation ofmale assertiveness probably accounts Secondly, premeditated criminal acts are
does violence to the working class, must be for much of male violence, especially among not deterred by the thought of an eventual
opposed. We cannot wait until ‘after the revol- younger people. Whilst individualism as a punishment. What concerns criminals is the
ution’ to fight the active enemies ofthe people. means ofachieving personal fiillfilment is to be likelihood of getting caught. If such an event
Racist attacks, sexual assaults, muggings are encouraged, it must be done so in a positive seems on balance to be possible, the proposed
not acceptable and we have to find solutions to way. Gain for the individual is a gain for society crime is aborted. A few hundred years ago
these problems here and now. This will mean as a whole. The point ofanarchist communism pick-pockets were executed at public hang-
vigilence and self-defense by the affected com- is not to stifle individual effort but to channel ings. Active among the enthralled crowds were
munities. Middle class crimes and assaults on it in constructive directions. professional pick-pockets! So much for deter-
the working class by asset strippers and specu- In present day society, most people are cut rence.
lators, though often invisible, are also insid- off from their neighbours. Very few real com- The idea that society will be better off by
ious and must be opposed collectively, where munities survive and those that do are deeply carrying out punishments misses the point. An
possible, in this long dark night of capitalism. imbued with the values ofcapitalist society. In unequal, unfair society creates its own crimi-
Interestingly, their activities are not often seen an anarchist communist society, community nality. What needs to be eliminated is the
by the state as crimes at all, or ifthey are, they and solidarity will bind society together. social and economic base for crime. Similarily,
carry relatively light punishments. Despite education and other means of so- the idea of reforming criminals within the
Anti-social acts are a direct expression of cialisation there will be isolated acts of vi- prison system is a sick joke. There is preciolls
predatory capitalism. Selfishness, bullying, vi- olence, sexual assaults and other anti-social little enlightenment in Britain’s repressive
olence and legalised robbery are all inherent in behaviour. Many ofthese will be carried out by prison regime. In modern Britain, it is not the
the system. The tentacles of class society and people who are emotionally disturbed. The criminals that need to be ‘reformed’ but society
its ethics have entered into every part of life. community has a right to protect itself and itself, which needs to be changed, lock, stock
It is not accidental that men are responsible for steps will have to be taken to eliminate violent and barrel.
16 Organise! No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993
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WANT TO JOIN THE ACF?
WANT TO FIND OUT MORE‘?
ORGANISE! IS THE national magazine of the Anarchist Com- p I agree with the ACF’s Aims and Principles and I would
munist Federation (ACF). Organise! is a quarterly theoretical like to join the organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
journal published in order to develop anarchist communist
I would like more information about the Anarchist
ideas. It aims to give a clear anarchist viewpoint on contempor-
Communist Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ary issues, and initiate debates on areas not normally covered
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I am particularily interested in the Anarchist
All articles in the magazine are by ACF members unless
Communist Federation’s views on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
signed. Some reflect ACF policy and others open up debate in
worsen. The government and
undiscussed areas, helping us to develop our ideas further. PRESIDENT IIESELTINE
I I Q I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
the boss class hope that pit
Please feel welcome to contribute articles to‘ Organise! —- as has seemingly backed
Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
closures can take place in a
down over the threatened
long as they don’t conflict with our Aims and Principles we will
camouflaged way with the fur-
publish them. (Letters, of course, need not agree with our A&Ps Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . closures of 31 pits. His an-
ther quitting of the industry
at all.) . nouncement at the end of
by many miners, fed up with
Deadlines for next issue are 22nd February for features and March was hailed as a fa-
the worsening work condi-
reviews, and 5th March for letters and news. mous victory for the min-
Please tick/fill in as appropriate and return to:
tions.
All contributions for the next issue should be sent to: in8 communities by much
ACF c/0 84b Whitechapel High St, London El 7QX.
ACF, clo 84b Whitechapel High Street, London E1 '7QK. ofthe ruling class press. These supposed ‘conces-
sions’ have been hailed by the
national press, in a campaign
Who We Are... 1 Gloomy picture
A "I
to defiise the situation. Along-
side these manoeuvres by the
But a closer look at what
THEANARCHIST COMMUNIST
boss class, are the actions of
was actually promised shows
Federation is an organisation of ORGANISE! continues the tradition of criticism and analysis of
a much gloomier picture for the trade unions, including
class struggle anarchists. Its all the major problems in developing both revolutionary theory
the miners. Some 12 pits are the TUC and the NUM. As we
structure is based on groups and
and movement. We think that Organise! has an important role
still doomed, six are moth- pointed out in Organise! 29,
individual members. We have
to play in the growth ofa real revolutionary movement. We know
balled and one is ‘in limbo’. the TUC called several days of
members in the following areas:
from rising sales that many of our readers feel the same.
action, supported by many
Aberystwyth — What this means is that these
But we need your support to help keep the furnace burning.
Ashford, Aylesbury . pits are to be supposedly kept thousands, to take the heat
out ofthe situation. They were
in running order, with no mi-
Sell Organise!
aware of the rising tide of
ners actually working in
chestemeld still available, from the London
them! The 12 pits supposedly working class anger, and
che5ter'le'street group address, as are a few copies
Although our sales are rising, we need to keep boosting
made steps to let a little steam
saved might not be open in a
c°Ve|'|t|'Y of its forerunner Virus. They cost
circulation, so try and take a bundle to sell to friends or work-
be let off. The anger is still
year’s time. 5,800 miners are
Derry, Devon 20p & sac each and include:
mates. By selling Organise! you can help our ideas to reach more
there, and so they have been
Gateshead ‘ to lose their jobs, on top of the
and more people.
Hexham 8,000 who have left the indus- forced to take what at first
You can help to make Organise! yours by writing letters and
sight seems like more radical
Leeds, London Issue try since October. The pits will
articles.
forms of action.
Manchester Numbers be privatised at the earliest
Subscribe to Organise! Why not take out a sub to Organise! other sections of the working On the face of it, the strike
Merthyr Tydfil _ _ possible opportunity and
Middbsbmugh ' Organise! 233 Iracj Intervlew; Better still take out a supporter’s sub. Get your friends to working practices will be Courts class. The NUM issued no ap- of April 2, involving miners,
subscribe or treat them to a sub!
peals for solidarity action to rail workers and London bus
tightened up, with more hours
Newcastle ' grl:;f1?.is;lN Pltliiep\iiihcWorld being spent underground. The NUM has concen- those workers directly or indi- workers, was a positive step,
Order; Children; BCCI; Clause Feedback with workers going from inef-
Since the end of the miners’ trated on mobilising ‘public rectly threatened by the pit
25.
opinion’ and going through the closures. Now, the NUM has fectual demonstrations to
strike of1984-5, National Coal
safimn Walden v Organise! 25: Columbus; Free-
Organise!will improve through a two-way process ofcriticism
courts to stop the pit closures. developed other methods of strike action and united soli-
Board management have
smckpun dom; SWP; Filipino Interview.
and feedback, and will better reflect the reality of struggle
As we pointed out, this was containing the actions by mi- darity action with other wor-
adopted increasingly ag-
Stoke-on-Trent ' Organise! 26: Women & Revol-
through readers communicating with us. Please write in with
gressive attitudes towards the designed to head offany direct ners. Seven pit camps have kers. But the fact is that these
Worcester ution; Direct action; US
your ideas.
action amonst the miners and been set up by women of the one-day strike actions are an
miners, and now this will
The ACF promotes the build- Greene-
Please send all feedback, contributions for Organisel, re-
mining communities outside effort by the union leaders to
ing of a strong and active an'- ' Organise! 271 LARi°l?5;Y118°5'
quests for papers and Press Fund money (payable to ACF) to the
archist movement in Britain and lavia; Malcolm X. threatened mines, along the limit action. They know that
The Friends of Durruti
London address.
internationally and has contact " Organise! 231 ER-M; Re¢B55i011; lines of the Greeenham Com- rising discontent must force
with like-minded anarchists over- Detective Fiction. mon Camp. Women took an them to call what appear to be
seas.For all contact write to:ACF, "' Ofgtmiee! 291 Debate ell the active role in the Great Mi- more radical actions. But
c/o 84b Whitechapel High Street, Unions; Italian Workers Fight New pamphlet! ners’ Strike, and now their ac- Scargill, and the rail union
London E1 TQX. Beeli-
tivities have been harnessed leaders like Knapp and Ful-
LONDON ACF have produced a pamphlet on the Friends
by the NUM bureaucracy to lick, often decribed as ‘lefts’by
NOW IS A difficult time to be asking for money, with many out of Durruti, a much misunderstood group that attempted their public relations’ cam- Leninist organisations, are
of work or wondering if they're going to get the chop. Cash is in to defend and extend the Spanish Revolution of 1936. In
paign. Unless the actions of politically tied to the rest of
short supply. their criticisms of the leadership of the anarcho-syndical-
the women ofthe mining com- the union leaderships and are
But Organise! desperately needs money to continue to appear ist unions they represented an important moment in an-
munities break free of the as much part ofthe apparatus
and to improve. We need money for our projected pamphlets, for archist history. Included are an historical introduction
stranglehold of NUM bureau- of social control as the ‘right-
Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the stickers and posters and leaflets we intend to produce. So we written by an ACF member, and two political statements
cracy, the camps will be just a wing' leadership of the TUC.
are asking you, dear reader, to think about sending something from the Friends themselves. This will be the first in a
cover for NUM failure to ac- Scargill called for strike ac-
Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
in, no matter how small, to help us continue the fight for series of pamphlets in the Stormy Petrel series. Coming
tually take any action, includ- tion on both 19 January and
anarchist communism. We know that many of you value the up will be a pamphlet on the Italian Factory Councils of
ing strikes and occupations 18 February. Both times he
I G I I l I I I I I I I I I I I i I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I l I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
ideas presented in Organise! So please help us by sending in 1920-21 . and active solidarity from backed down, after conversa-
POs, IMOs, or cash. You can even send us a standing order to Co I ies ofthe Friends ofDurruti pamphlet will be avail-
I I I I I I I I l l I I I I I i I i i I I I I i I I I I I I i I i I I i I l I I I I l I I I I I U P other workers. The pit camps tions with the TUC leader-
I enclose £3 for a four-issue sub, or £6 for a four issue our account to regularly support Organise! Write to London able from: could be transformed into ac- ship. Each time miners pre-
address for account details. Dig into your pockets now! Thanks tive centres to galvanise ac- pared for action, and each
supporting sub). Add 25% for overseas subs or institutions. ACF (London) .;/o 84b Whitechapel High St, London s
Return form to: ACF, c/o 84b Whitechapel High Street, to all those who contributed to the Press Fund this issue: El at 50p plus postage. tion, but at the moment this time they were left demor-
£60, Sheffield; £210, London; £5, Pontypool; £8, Suffolk; £7,
London E1 7QX. seems far from the case. alised.
Nuneaton; £4, Barrow-in-Furness; £6, Gateshead.
I A s Organise! No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993 3
2 Organise. No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993
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Anarchist Communist Editions
TI-[E SLAUGHTER OF rail workers forced them to call a the Twyford Down cutting. threaten many species of bird campaign to the Government
TWYFORD DOWN IS a
lines byBritish Rail will re- ballot for the one-day strike on ACE pamphlets are available from c/o 84b Whitechapel High ‘Green celebrities’ like Porritt and ruin the livelihood ofhun- and the Queen! The Dongas
beautiful area of high
sult in job losses of 40,000 April 2. Street, London E1 7QX. ground lying SE of Win- and Bellamy as well as the dreds of fishing families; the Tribe, to their credit did at-
with reductions to up to 40 Making Progress. Describes how and why the ACF was Friends ofthe Earth lent their funding of250 dams in Spain, tempt to use direct action to
chester in Hampshire.
services. Fares are set to Blame formed, and the continuing evolution of our ideas and prac- support to the campaign and which will destroy more than stop the development. What
It is rich in historical fea-
rise by 10% and the unified tice. A ‘beginner's guide’ to ACF! 30p & SAE. tures such as the site of an direct action to save the Down 100 ecological sites; the fund- was lacking however, was a
national timetable is set to The unions are attempting Manifesto of Libertarian Communism by Georges Fon- Iron Age village, pre-Roman was even mooted by the thor- ing of a large bridge over the mass mobilisation, so that the
disappear under BR pro- to get off the hook with wor- tenis. Akey text ofanarchist communism. Though flawed, the oughly respectable Residents’ Tagus in Portugal, where the cutting could be physically
field systems, and ancient
posals. kers by blaming each other. So best features need to be incorporated into modern revolution- trackways known as the Don- Association and Twyford most environmentally damag- stopped due to weight ofnum-
The rail unions colluded the RMT blames the traindri- ary libertarian theory and practice. 60p & SAE. Down Association. But this ing ofthree routes was chosen. bers. There is an urgent need
gas, which a group of protes-
with BR management on the vers’ union ASLEF for lack of Myth ofLabour’s Socialism. Labourism, the ideology that was all rhetoric and was, un- The fight against the Twy- to link up the fight against
tors have named themselves
forthcoming privatisations, solidarity, whilst ASLEF holds the Labour Party together is decaying. This pamphlet suprisingly, never put into ford Down cutting has relev- road schemes to the fight of
after. They have been camped
and accepted the Organisa- turns round and does the explains why, and examines what opportunities will be op- on the site to defend it since at practice when the DOT with ance to the fightbacks against railworkers and bus workers.
tion for Quality document that same. In this way effective ened up by the collapse of the Labour myth. 60p & SAE. least last summer and con- the hired security men ruth- roads in the rest of Britain. A The car economy promoted by
established business and solidarity between railwor- Role of the Revolutionary Organisation. Anarchist com- lessly evicted the Dongas pro- nationwide fightback against capitalism has to be directly
stant actions have been going
profit centres. kers is undermined. munists reject the Leninist model of a ‘vanguard’ party as on with locals, Friends of the testors. roads would include mobilisa- related to the attacks on pub-
The leader of the biggest More and more railworkers counter-revolutionary. What then is the role of a revolution- tions against the Oxleas Wood lic transport, and the vision of
Earth supporters (who soon
rail union RMT, Jimmy are seeing clearly what the ary organisation‘? This pamphlet sets out to explain. All development and the M1 1 link a new society which would be
dropped out) and above all Class Struggle
Knapp, is famous for his fight- role of the unions is. There is libertarian revolutionaries should read this fundamental road through Hackney Mar- geared to environmental har-
Earth Firsters who have been
ing talk. In practice, however, a growing awareness of their text. 60p & SAE from ACF c/o 84b Whitechapel High St, consistently in action against To many, Twyford Down shes. It would need to link up mony and the expansion of a
he wholeheatedly agreed to connivance with the Labour London E1 7QX the proposed M3 eight-lane may seem like another Not in with the developing opposi- free public transport system.
the new structures of negotia- Party. motorway beside the already My Backyard (NIMBY) of tion to road schemes and other The fight in the countryside
tion, giving management a They remember how the little relevance to class forms of ecological damage has to go in tandem with
freer hand to impose new RMT called off the strike last struggle activists. But the throughout Europe. inner-city actions against
rules and conditions. April so that it would not dam- Twyford Down affair, like the The fight at Twyford Down road schemes, such as Carm-
Now the RMT and the age Labour’s election chances. planned destruction of Oxleas was bogged down in legalistic ageddon mass blockages of
white collar union TSSA are They look back to the days of Wood for similar reasons, is appeals to the European roads that are beginning to
j. -:-
TI-IE POST OFFICE plans sionment with the union has
t11rning to the ‘public opinion’ the ‘Left’ GLC with their part ofan international attack Court, and a letter-writing develop.
to sack 16,000 workers by resulted.
tactic, lining up solidly behind Fares Fair plans for London on the countryside and the en-
March 1996. Whilst the Back in 1988 postal wor-
the public relations tosh ofthe Transport, which resulted in vironment for the needs of
amount ofmail has gone up kers went out in 12 days of
‘Better Rail Campaign’. In- productivity deals and speed- capitalism. The British State
50% in ten years, nine wor- unofficial action which terri- Fl I 3|" DITITGC S
ups.
creasing anger from the rail- will tolerate no opposition to
kers are now expected to fied management and the
its plans, and will use State
do the work of ten. These union. This could happen
4"’
violence if it feels it to be
attacks are in line with He- again, indeed it must. fr
f_ cc:-"' necessary. The government
seltine’s review pointing to As can be seen by these .-“'1' ""
has the powerful backing of
break-up of the postal ser- briefreports on various indus-
_I' in
G. the road lobby, and has need
, .1
vices and privatisation. tries, only united action, out-
z-,1
of a road infrastructure IN OUR LAST issue we had port. They have legal costs of
side the control of the unions,
__ .- fir--' geared to compete with the an article on the repress- about US$12,000. Send con-
can provide an effective way to
The working class of Lon- Disillusionment
THE TEN COMPANIES existing four-lane bypass near high-speed rail link to the ion and imprisonment of tributions — either Interna-
fight.
don can expect the same situ-
which make up London
Channel Tunnel. Besides the libertarian ocialistsof tional Money Orders or UK
Winchester College. Their tac-
Buses Ltd have demanded ation, with worsening traffic In the face of this, the Links have to be built be- tics include sabotage against Twyford Down, there are over the Awareness League of bank cheques by express to:
pay cuts of20%, increase in chaos, the axing of many UCW, the posties’ union, tween railworkers, bus and
the main construction com- 15 new road schemes in prep- Nigeria. Awareness League c/o Samuel
the working week and job routes, the end of concessions could only call for redundan- tube workers, and miners as a
aration or under construction. Mbah, PO BOX 28, Agbani,
pany slowing down work and
losses. for pensioners and yet more cies not to be compulsory and priority. Beyond this, united
Government expenditure Legal costs Enugu State, Nigeria.
a national Day of Action last
fare rises. to express surprise at the action must come with other
London ACF mounted a
November in which they on road schemes has gone up
Bus workers will face in- number ofprojectedjob losses! workers under threat from the
Sell off stopped some destruction of phenomenally since 1979. A On 29 January the four picket and handed out leaflets
creasing workloads, longer All this, after the UCW had State and the bosses, like
landscape. vast number of historic and comrades were released after about the imprisonment out-
They are justifying this by hours and greater stress and negotiated a pathetic 2.5% health workers and postal
Then on 9 December Win- environmental sites are under eight long hard months. Ac- side Nigerian Airlines office.
saying that if they do not cut pressure. pay rise. Increasing disillu- workers.
chester College got an eviction threat. And this is just in Bri- cording to the Awareness Pickets and demonstrations
operating costs, they will lose The principal busworkers’
tain. The road scheme here is League, the comrades looked also took place in Dublin,
order from their land which
contracts to private operators union, the TGWU, has re-
they had sold to the Depart- part of an international plan “badly emaciated, weak and Hamburg and New York. Let-
lljl
in April. This is in line with sorted to the usual tactics.
ment of Transport. Group 4 to provide Europe with a mod- sick”. The four were released ters of protest and petitions
plans to de-regulate and sell They organised a march and
Security guards were hired ernised road system geared to on bail but have to report were sent from Germany, S.
off London bus services by the lobby of parliament, which
j-gltil-__"-‘W-W and physically fought with the the free trade principles ofthe weekly to the secret poice. It is Africa, S. Korea, Turkey,
it-jinlli-{-_.W-—
end of 1993. they deliberately failed to ade-
Single Market. France plans feared they may be re-ar- India, Brasil, Italy, Canada,
protesters and brought in
Four of the six garages in quately publicise.
bulldozers. There was consid- to double its road system by rested any time. The Aware- USA, Russia, Bulgaria, Nor-
East London have already erable violence on this day, in- the year 2000, including driv- ness League asks for conti- way, Spain, Estonia and Po-
closed and the London Forest Enquky
ing a road through the Massif nued moral and material sup- land-
cluding some alleged sexual
bus company has collapsed.
Central mountains. The Euro-
assaults on women protesters.
These worsening conditions in They tried to head offstrike
Now the earthmovers have pean Commission plans a 50%
i
London are reflected in other action by calling for a select
nI""' moved in as of 23 February to growth of the road infrastruc-
cities throughout Britain. committee to launch an en-
ture. 1
start the destruction of the
l V \'
Fares have shot up, and pas- quiry!
Down. This is not all. The Euro- __, .3
senger use has dropped. Mass meetings in the gar- "\\:_"L"'n|'!'-"
. I 5 \-
The fight to save the Down pean Community is providing
r ~ .1
The private operators in ages showed the strength of
lasted a week, with the protes- funds for several environmen-
cutthroat competition have anger ofbusworkers and their W ii-I""'
tors finally being evicted with tally damaging hydro-electric
aggravated traffic congestion willingness to fight, and the '?-!','17?..'-¢!4!.""""\!!‘_'"lé"f-¥':~I-!.""3"".,,:‘!"!"-1‘1'1
great brutality. In one opinion projects. These include the
in city centres whilst country union was forced to organise a
poll only five per cent of Win- diversion of the Aeheloos
services have been annihi- ballot, much as the RMT had 3, I‘,-"'
River in Greece, which will
chester’s population wanted
.1-nllli
lated. done.
In -II-Ifi K ‘1
4 Organise! No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993 Organise! No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993 5
I-I — i | — — -
i _
Operation Restore Oil
The US petrol companies actively pushed Bush to mount
the Operation Restore Hope in Somalia.
YOU CAN USUALLY find some saving grace in any reli-
gion. Islam for example stresses community solidarity,
Concessions
Christianity love of our fellow (sic) human beings, whilst
Buddhism has concern for every living creature, and so
Four major American companies (Conoco, Amoco,
on. On the basis of religious inspiration some of the
Chevron and Phillips) obtained concessions for prospect-
world’s greatest art has been produced from the beautiful
THE MEDIA HAS func-
ing nearly two thirds of Somalia just before the pro-US
Mosques of Isfahan to the wall paintings ofAjanta to the
tioned well in both Europe
president Siad Barre was overthrown in January 1991.
1__ Thank you, SIR! frescos on the Sistine Chapel. However, the damage
and the United States in
The chaos that followed interrupted profitable investiga-
caused by religions both as philosophical systems and in
putting the joint US-Euro-
tions for oil in a country classed by the World Bank as one
their practical application makes them a serious enemy
pean intervention in So-
of the two most promising African countries in terms of
of human freedom.
malia over as a humanita-
petrol resources.
It is dangerous to generalise about religions since they vary
rian act. The 36,000 troops
iii!‘ The head offices of Conoco in Mogadishu were trans-
enormously in very many respects, but from an anarchist view-
who landed in Somalia
formed into a base of operations for the US forces several
point they must all be seen as obstacles at best, or more usually
weren’t there to protect
=r
days before the arrival of the Marines. Operation Restore
E;j%// \ as enemy beliefsystems. Bakunin in his work God and the State
the Somali population
Hope? More like Operation Restore Oil! .
has some interesting criticisms to make, but it is almost entirely
against the ravages of the
-_.-IIIIl"""
devoted to a discussion of Christianity and is mainly concerned
local warlords. They were
llfl
__§\§\
with its application in Europe. Marx in characterising religion
there to protect the inter-
f ___,,..-I
ests of their own ruling lowed by attempts by Ogaden whilst France gives its sup- as the “opium of the people” is half right, in respect of national
or state religions. The idea of the ‘divine right of Kings’ and the
classes. and Tigre to break away from port to a pro-French opposi-
For example in France the central government. tion. sickening sight ofpriests blessing troops before they go offto face
M-X
there was a massive exposure -"'..‘-I-"-‘-'F""“'.--. it Alongside these secessionist This rivalry between the death at the front are obvious examples of this.
.1-I-I-In
of photogenic Somali babies l ,,pI-\-I- movements is the menace of Western powers and the in- His view that religion is “the fantastic reflection in men’s
dying of hunger in silence. 1 Islamic fundamentalism. In creasing domination of the minds” (sic) ofthe material world is an interesting starting point
1"‘?-
Public opinion was manipu- Somalia, this is well organised USA points to the growing which has some validity. He made the point that in the so-called
lated to allow the French par- in the Al Ittihad movement, ‘everyone for himself’ attitude religions of the ‘Book’, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, god is
\\}______ '
ticipation in the adventure. fm which has recruited through- among the different fractions seen as the great father in the sky, reflecting the earthly reality
i
/":=III
of the international ruling of male domination. Engels too, in his article on the Book of
Since the landing there has out all the clans and factions.
class. Revelation offers an intriguing analysis ofthat mystical work in
been little footage of children In Egypt, the Muslim Brother-
and women dead from hunger gon and the CIA, who allowed General Aydid, who broke could control the Middle East hood is an increasing threat to In attempting supremacy terms oflanguage analysis, proving it to be a coded description
but plenty of well armed mili- him to re-establish himself in with Mahdi and heads his own which it regards as its patch. the govemment. In Sudan, the in what were the economic of Christianity in the Roman world.
tary supermen. Somalia. M Abchir, leader of faction, are two of the richest It can now better support its Koranic Law has been adopt- and political reserves of The difficulty with materialist analyses of religions is that
the Somalian Democratic men in Somalia, thanks to faithful ally Moubarak in ed as a constitution and Khar- France, the USA is attempt- they usually ignore or reject psychological and cultural factors
Inevitable Socialist Front was armed their control of food distribu- Egypt, increasingly under in- toum has become the refuge ing to weaken and destabilise and in doing so underestimate their power. The Marxist, August
by the West via their allies in tion and traffic in drugs. temal threat. The USAis wor- and the base for Algerian and the European bloc, of which Bebel, proposed a crude evolutionary theory ofreligion in which
The wave of sympathy and the Middle East (Egypt, the The US government, after ried that the stability ofEgypt Tunisian fundamentalists. France along with Germany he believed it would disappear as science and society develop. In
solidarity with the starving of Gulfmonarchies). The interim its demonstration of military is in jeopardy as a pro-West- are the most important ele- our present world where science and technology have been used
Somalia was cynically ex- President, Ali Mahdi, was might with Operation Desert ern state in the Arab world. Humanitarianism ments. to dominate the planet and its people, religion remains as strong
ploited by the boss classes and supported by Italy, who de- Storm in Kuwait and Iraq, did Added to this is the deter- Whilst they are aware of as ever. In fact we are seeing a religious resurgence on a world
the State apparatuses of the livered 10 tonnes of arms and not want to rest on its laurels. mination to get over the hu- An intervention by West- this, the French ruling class scale. For example, the resur-
US and the West, so that mili- three tonnes of bank notes to It wanted to confirm its role of miliation of the Vietnam war, ern troops, under the cover of has no choice but to range gence of Islam in the Middle
tary intervention could be ac- him via Kenya in exchange for world leader by digging in in a process that started with the humanitarianism, is designed themselves behind the banner East may in part be due to the
cepted as the inevitable logic letting him use Somalia as a this part of the world. The So- intervention in the Gulf. In to limit and counter these me- of Uncle Sam. They have to effects of international capi-
by many ordinary people faced dumping ground for toxic malian operation allowed this this way the ‘Vietnam syn- naces. This precious alibi has associate themselves with the talism, but equally is surely
with the feeling of powerless- waste. to take place. Somalia is now drome’ that shackled any been useful for hoodwinking US operation to defend their an expression of the despair l
II_--_‘_I_i_d_I__’,
II-i,..i_:——-'‘ M.-I
ness. Behind the warlords are the base camp and aircraft American military interven- public opinion at home by own interests and attempt to felt by many of all classes in ll
Alongside the images of their Western godfathers. If carrier for the defence of the tion abroad can be countered. saying: “For the first time, the reinforce their own influence the face of decaying culture.
emaciated children were those the famine in Somalia has interests ofAmericanbig busi- The Somalian operation will United Nations is intervening over the new Somali leaders Fundamentalist Islam is an
of a country delivered over to been aggravated by the war ness. It overlooks the searoads also help on an international for purely humanitarian rea- that the USA will impose. attempt to reclaim feelings of
chaos, where the chiefs ofmili- between the different clans, it ofthe petrol tankers, it is close level, with people getting used sons, to do good, to feed the They are conscious of US su- self-worth. How else can the
tary clans let loose their Mad remains above all the work of to the Gulf and the Middle to US invasions. starving, protect the defence- premacy in Somalia. Out of widespread Islamic militancy
Max men at arms on a popula- the Great Powers whose ‘hu- East, and is situated in the Under cover of humanita- less and open the way to pol- 36,000 men deployed by the by women in Iran and else-
tion that they starved and manitarian’ intervention dis- zone ofinfluence ofFrench in- rianism, the arrival of West- itical, economic and social rec- Western powers, 28-30,000 where be explained? Why else
crushed beneath the wheels of guises objectives that are less terests coveted by Washing- ern troops is to counter the onstruction in Somalia”. are American against 2,000 do they embrace a belief sys-
their armoured Toyotas. openly admittable. It should ton. chaotic political situation due The US intervention in So- French troops. tem which enslaves them?
to the collapse of the central
This picture was partly be remembered that the le- malia points to a clash be- The Somali masses, com-
true, but did not reveal the gacy of civil war throughout Intervene government in Mogadishu. tween the Western powers, in prising a small urban working Conflicting
whole story. The warl-ords Africa was inherited from the This is seen as a dangerous particular between France class and a vast number of
have close links with the rivalry between the Soviet This forward camp for the example for the neighbouring and the USA, over their inter- poor peasants, have already Religions are not reducible
West. The National Move- Bloc and the Western allies, USA on the East African coast countries ofEgypt to the north ests in this part of Africa. scented the real reason for to pseudo-scientific analyses
ment of Somaliland (NMS) who armed different factions. can allow it to intervene in and Kenya to the south. On 18 After having lost its zones of Western intervention. The as touted by Marxists. Reli-
has a provisional government Now that the cold war has this zone against the interests May 1992 the tribal chiefs of influence in the Lebanon and fleeting joy amongst some gions often contain conflicting
seated in Paris and accuses ended, and the Soviet bloc has of the French (or European) the north proclaimed the in- Iraq without any replace- that the West would deliver qualities which can either re- E
the United Nations of making foundered, these armed fac- ruling class. It could intervene dependence of Somaliland ments, France sees the areas them from the warlords has inforce or undermine the
tions are left without funding, in Chad, in Zaire, throughout and the division of Somalia. A that it has regarded as its own now disappeared. There is status-quo. Christianity has
them submit to the central
power of Mogadishu S Barre, increasingly pillaging the North Africa where French in- little later, on 28 May, on the for a long time as under growing hostility to the occu- been the most successful reli-
who was overthrown in population and robbing the terests are under threat, in other side of the border, Eri- threat: Algeria, Chad, and pation forces, sometimes gion in terms of numbers. It is
January 1991, but who main- humanitarian aid provided by particular in Algeria. It could trea proclaimed its inde- Djibouti where the govern- breaking out in outbursts of supposed to be a source of sal-
tained links with the Penta- the West Ali Mahdi and attack Libya or the Sudan and pendence from Ethiopia, fol- ment is now backed by the US violence vation for the poor and op
6 Organise! No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993 Organise! No. so Apr-Jun 1993 7
—
-|
Russia and China both
granted semi-divine
status to its saints.
Lenin, Stalin and Mao
were all preserved by
so-called revolution-
WITHIN TI-IE ACF the article ‘Eco- traced back at least as far as the estab- of profit-making concerns and its sale
aries for the masses to
logy and Class’ has initiated an on- lishment of patriarchal christianity in limited to licensed premises at particular
worship. So far, only
going series of articles in Organise! Western Europe, the idea ofthis relation- hours. Measures such as these were in-
Stalin has been buried.
which has attempted to give-ca class ship takes on its greatest significance in tended to make a wild, hedonistic and
The other two lie frozen
struggle anarchist analysis to the the philosophy of the 18th century En- irresponsible class into a controlled,
in their tombs in Mos-
issue of ecology. So far we have lightenment. The ideas of the Enlight- sober, consumerist workforce.
cow and Beijing.
examined the related roles of the enment, which were crucial for the devel- Women, who had been ‘others’ for cen-
Many religions
IMF, World Bank, transnational cor- opment ofmodern capitalist society, focus turies, found this view strongly rein-
claim universal status
porations and the State within capi- on the importance of rational, scientific forced by the new bourgeois ideology. Vic-
in that they are meant
talism, with its logic of profits, analysis as a means of liberating ‘man’ torian values portrayed women as evil
to be applicable to all of
growth and competition, and how from the constraints ofsuperstition, irra- and irrational and as needing to be locked
humanity. There are
this works to produce the current tionality and nature. Enlightenment up within the prison ofthe bourgeois fam-
plenty of exceptions to
ecological crisis. We have also been thought held that a strange and danger- ily. Their purpose was to reproduce a
Koran prescribes a system of beatings this rule, Judaism is meant for Jews and
developing a critique of the respon- ous world should be analysed, classified willing, happy-to-be-exploited workforce.
which husbands can apply to their wives Hinduism is for the people ofIndia. Chris-
ses to this crisis such as lifestylism, and brought within the control of ra- The great ‘other’ to Western culture,
(this is clearly spelt out in the Penguin tianity and its warring factions, Islam
green consumerism, pressure groups tional, western man. This is the era that Nature, was similarily seen as a force to
edition whilst the ‘official’ translation and Buddhism (insofar as this is a true
and the Green Party. saw the first encyclopedia compiled in be tamed, reined in and subjugated in the
aimed at a western audience interprets religion) all claim to have the message for
In concentrating our analysis on the which nature was described as ‘red in service of the developing urban and in-
the Arabic text in milder terms). Hin- all of us. Accordingly, there is little room
way capitalism is responsible for our en- tooth and claw’. It was also the era which dustrial needs of a commodity-based so-
pressed, yet historically the picture is duism is a very conservative religion in for compromise between them, especially
vironmental degradation and, therefore, produced the French Revolution and saw ciety.
more complex. On the one hand it was terms of the role of women. An aspect of when these religions are taken in the
the necessity of overthrowing capitalism, the historic rise ofbourgeois capitalism.
embraced by slaves during the Roman its practice actually involves the murder fundamentalist sense ofdivinely inspired
are we assuming that the exploitation of Within the world-view of bourgeois, Consolidation
Empire, but when it became the Empire’s ofwomen. The so-called voluntary suicide truth. To an extent this explains religious
the environment would end automat- educated western man, oppositions were
official religion it was used to justify of widows who burn themselves to death wars such as the Crusades, though the
ically in a post-revolutionary society? We established between his own internal This entire process develops and in-
slavery. For the last 2000 years Chris- on their husband’s funeral pyre is illegal prospect of loot and power also played a
don’t believe that this would necessarily world ofculture and the menacing ‘other’ creases its grip on every aspect of life as
tianity has been both a justification for in India, but cases still occur, especially part. When religious intolerance is allied
be the case. of nature which must be tamed and capitalism consolidated itself in the late
class society and the state and a reason in rural areas ofIndia. How many women to nationalism, then violence is the likely
It is important to recognise that capi- brought within the comprehension and 19th and 20th century. More and more
for their overthrow. Christianity as rebel- have been forced to choose this particu- outcome. The long term animosity be-
talism is able to function because it uses service of his interests. So, for example, sophisticated techniques of control and
lion has a long history including the Le- larly disgusting form of death will never tween Protestantism and Catholicism
ideas within our culture which are shared the colonised people of Africa, America surveillance are produced. Military
vellers, Diggers etc., during the English be known. has a strong measure of national-reli-
throughout the social structure. Like and Asia were represented as being powers and capabilities increase as the
Civil War. Islam has had a similar dual Hinduism, with its caste system, is gionism in it, accepting the imperialist
racism and sexism, ideas of nature as a ‘other’, savages, closer to nature, less nation states of the West exert their con-
quality. For example the Wahabbi sect of also well known for its sanctioning ofrigid involvement as well. In the former Yugos-
threat to be controlled and exploited are evolved, irrational and thus incapable of trol over the rest of the world and fight
Islam was the most communitarian and social inequality. From the Bhramins lavia, Catholic-nationalism confronts
deeply ingrained in our attitudes and cul- running their own affairs. This served to each other over the plunder. The com-
egalitarian example of Islam, but when it downwards every Hindu has a pre-or- Islam and Orthodox Christianity. In
ture, often unconsciously. These ideas justify their exploitation by the rational, modity market becomes globalised
was successful in Arabia it became trans- dained role eg, soldier, carpenter, farmer India a growing nationalism combined
need to be challenged and changed if we cultured man of the West. The working through developments in transport and
formed under the Saud family into an etc., which can only change on death and with a resurgence of Hinduism has
are not to reproduce the same antagon- and peasant classes were also seen to be communications. Huge cities emerge
ideology of hypocrisy and repression. re-birth. What is less well known is that caused thousands of deaths and extreme
isms and power relations in a post- capi- ‘other’ and their behaviour and customs while the countryside is turned over to
Islam (as an ideas system) barely tol- many Christians and Muslims in India intolerance for other religions. National-
talist society. So we need to look at how was a threat and hindrance to their use the farming ofvast monocultures. All this
erates government —- we need only sub- also preserve the caste differences. In ism and fundamentalist Islam has led to
these ideas have developed historically, by capital. Football, originally played by bears witness to the efforts of bourgeois
mit to God. Yet in all of the Islamic Tamil Nadu, for example, untouchables the repression of the Bahai faith, and so
whose interests they serve and how we huge numbers in the streets, was ideology to establish itself as the single
worlds, the most repressive states pre- are prevented from entering churches on.
can move beyond them. removed to a specified rectangle of grass method of social organisation and the
vail. On the other hand such states are which are run by high caste Christians.
surrounded by stands and seats at which single way ofunderstanding the world —
extremely unstable, being essentially il- This is an interesting example ofignoring
Health warning
huge numbers of working class people as ‘civilisation’ itself.
Antagonistic
legitimate since none of them fulfil the religious doctrine for social and economic
could now only watch and pay to see just However, there are voices, including
requirements of the Koran. ends. The idea of social inequality is an In the end we have to conclude that
Although the antagonistic relation- 22 men playing the game. The production those of the marginalised ‘others’ in so-
Most religions are opposed to the in- essential feature of Islam. It accepts religions are highly dangerous and
ship between culture and nature can be of alcohol was concentrated in the hands ciety, who argue that since World War II
terests of women. On a trivial level the slavery as a perfectly reasonable system deserve an anti-government health warn-
we live in an era in which there is a
Church of England is split over the of ownership and enshrined in the notion ing. When we come to the issue of sex,
fundamental crisis in this world-view.
ordination of women. The Catholic of ‘zakat’ (ie., charity to the poor) is the religions become especially intolerant.
How sane and rational is a society that
Church has turned the hatred of women acceptance ofwealth and poverty, though Though Hinduism has its temple women
produced the genocide of the holocaust
into a fine art. Through the glorification the poor shouldn’t be too poor! Chris- for the use of the ‘priests’, like the three
and the bombing ofHiroshima and Naga-
of womanhood which is unattainable it tianity in its semi-official form in Britain main monotheistic religions Ju@ism,
saki or that tolerates the mutually as-
justifies their slavery. The cult ofthe Vir- is deeply attached to the state. The Queen Christianity and Islam, any sex carried
sured destruction of the arms race while
gin Mary as a central element of Catholi- is head of the Church of England and the on outside marriage is banned. Homosex-
millions starve? What about the conti-
cism has aided the spread ofa male domi- bishops sit in the House of Lords. Al- uality, incest, masturbation, you name it, '§p-.1i-‘q--‘F*-=--"-Iii pd,‘ -'*.¢L/_v)
nuing world recession, homelessness and
nated religion. The Catholic bureaucracy though the divine right to rule is no longer it’s wrong if not okayed by the religious I'1"'~. :1
poverty which is provoking social unrest,
is led by old men. The Pope and the cardi- accepted, a cosy relationship between the texts...and that usually means lifetime
.-\F-1 most recently in the LA riots? Most signi-
"15’-2"
nals etc., pontificate on matters which are monarchy and the Church ensures their heterosexuality between the dominant
£4: T’-:~"'_ ‘Ti .--5
TZ‘I:__’_' IinI"JI-I..lz."l_,1.iI.f.--J1-‘I’.- | A 1-Ill ficantly, don’t the ecological threats of
oflife and death proportions. By banning mutual benefit. Pity the royal brats with man and his wife (wives). The result has - - "'1:-5.; ‘W __ -cl--.I-L
--_—|-." |H_.__'I||-' --_.1' %=’%&’ I deforestation, acid rain, depletion of the
In-l 1"
abortion and contraception the Church their marital problems, divorce etc., have been untold misery and repression for ‘_:"L"‘!
7.,..,_
ozone layer and the poisoning of our air
""'-.'-I . -'-' -.-.--._’m__._...-1|? _d_-“:*3 ‘flirrtl
forces millions of women to continually somewhat undermined the ‘sanctity of millions. 5 -|--|--In-Ir‘-i-i-I-o -it
and water call into question the whole
wear out their bodies through repeated marriage’. Religion needs to be fought vigorously. -I-Q.
idea of growth and ‘progress’? All these
child bearing. Islam clearly oppresses The psychological comfort it gives has to
1
factors symbolise a society which is ill at
-I"
women. The role of women is to run the State Religion be weighed against the damage it does. It U‘ . _-H" ’ /J I‘-R5:
."".'-1T1"'!- F ' i' 4?!."‘2-- - i 3 ease with itself, whose claims to have
household and raise children whilst it is is not enough to state as Lenin did, hypo- 1* ---gm -""m"li'f-Tl-'
tamed nature for the benefit of all and
I'll{'-
the responsibility for men to provide for What is interesting is how an osten- critically, that religion is a private mat- AIIt1'3’Eg" "i
whose vision of the never-ending march
them. Islam accepts the superiority of sibly atheistic belief system should have ter. Religions are not private if they seek *Ԥ r_r
of progress of Western civilisation have
husbands over their wives and prescribes become transformed into something like world conversion to their particular and 1l- ”'=1“":=._.-EHyi-if 7"
been seriously undermined.
_ .1-3
t If "3 iju,-,;.'.|¢ I
clear rules ofbehaviour. For example the a state religion. Marxism-Leninism in exclusive creed. fr ""” "!'.!..'.=!";IIII‘“"""
Symptoms of the loss of confidence in
,4.“ i 1 l"i""*-1.Il"\'
8 Organise! No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993 Organise! No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993 9
?.
i —— -
"-'-'1'!‘
a bright future are in evidence all 1C
throughout our culture. The Terminator
@
films show a vision ofthe future in which
0
the world and its population have been
half-destroyed in a war between hu-
manity and a military technology which
has taken on a life of its own, believing
itself to be superior to humanity. While
4 I Illl llllll /
the future looks bleak, people turn to the
? CLASS STRUGGLE PERMEATES could never be similar because they grew
past and the countryside for comfort and
every area of social life. It affects from different social forms.
reassurance. Home owners ‘personalise’
what we eat, how we live and deter- In Britain this divide was sharpened
their ’60s council flats with plastic ‘oak mines who we are. It also shapes the in several ways: by the use of Latin for
beams’ and leaded windows. The number music we make and the music we religious song and by a division of lan-
of museums has doubled in the last two
listen to. guage on a class basis after the Norman
decades with one opening every two
In, ‘patural’ society music is created to Conquest. The division was also high-
weeks. We even have a minister of ‘herit-
express emotions, to celebrate, to mourn lighted by the kinds ofinstruments avail-
age’.
or to revel in the sheer joy ofbeing alive. able to the rich as opposed to the simple
In the more ‘advanced’ societies, music folk instruments of ordinary people.
Autopilot developed different forms — a formalised Because it wasn’t written down and
11%
music which reflected the concerns of the because it didn’t glorify people with
On the other hand there is capitalism,
ruling class — the glorification of the power, much of this early people’s music
are intimately connected and mutually on common interests but celebrating
ever more dependent on fictitious capital.
monarch and the glorification of the god hasn’t survived. From the fragments that
reinforcing”. And as Peggy Kornegger in diversity and opposing all forms of domi-
Independent of nation states, it is run-
of the ruling class. Music became for- remain, we can see that one aspect of
nation and violence”.
ning on autopilot, oblivious to our human her essay, Anarchism: the Feminist Con-
malised, codified and identified with popular music was resistance. The early
nection says, “What feminists are dealing What we can take from this analysis is
crisis or the threats to the planet and all single composers. Performance became ballads about Robin Hood are an example
with is a mind-fucking process — the a critique of all power relation and of the
its life, except, of course, when they can ritualised, in contrast to the popular and the song, ‘The Cutty Wren’, another.
male domineering attitude towards the urge to control and dominate. We can also
be used as a marketing tool for increasing music of ordinary people, which dove- From the later music of the English
-—-F‘-J.’
external world, allowing only subject./ob- begin to recognise the importance of
profits. _ tailed with everyday life and events in the Civil War period (the 17th century, when
ject relationships. Traditional male poli- diversity and of a harmonious relation-
How do we, as anarchists, respond to
lives of ordinary people — festivals, wed- ordinary people thrust their political
tics reduces humans to object status and ship between culture and nature rather
this situation? Obviously proclaiming
dings, harvest, births and deaths. ideas onto the political stage), we can see
then dominates and manipulates them than seeing nature as an ‘outside’ threat
“the end is nigh!” and thus further en-
This music drew on the music of pre- that music was used to confirm and cel-
couraging people’s pessimism and cyni- for abstract ‘goals’. Women, on the other to be controlled. These ideas, as well as
vious generations, was not written down, ebrate resistance and revolution. Dig-
hand, are trying to develop a conscious- those from marginalised and suppressed
cism about the possibility of real change
was changed by each person who played gers like Gerard Winstanley composed
ness of‘other’ in all areas. We see subject voices, such as those of native peoples,
won’t help. We must continue to call for
it. It evolved anarchically and was played songs of defiance: tem, making music, requires access to
resistance and ultimately a class uprising to subject relationships as notonly desir- hopefully tell us there is no single un-
spontaneously in contrast to the for- Your houses they pull down. capital.
to overthrow capitalism and then to cre- able but necessary. Together we are problematic way of comprehending the
malised rituals that accompanied ruling Stand up now. Of course, people develop strategies to
working to expand our empathy and un- world and that a post-revolutionary so-
ate a free communist society. But how can
class music. As your houses they pull down so the get round the worst effects of capitalism,
derstanding ofliving things and to ident- ciety would need to respect difference and
we ensure that the same dangerous
gentry must come down. share and swap instruments, rehearse in
ify with entities outside ourselves, rather diversity in culture and nature, en-
values and power relationships are not Parallel Stand up now. garages and so on, but increasing techno-
than objectifying and manipulating countering and relating, not dominating
carried over into the new society? How And the poor shall wear the crown. logical sophistication continues to push
them. At this point, a respect for all life is and exploiting.
can we persuade others that things won’t The two forms of music existed and Stand up now. home-made music into the margins.
a prerequisite for our survival”. This is not simplistically to dismiss
turn out just the same or worse than
developed in parallel, each influencing The production of music as a com-
King, in Toward an Ecological Femin- every single aspect of Enlightenment
before? _ _ the other. However, their purposes and The growth in literature and changes modity has replaced and destroyed much
We believe the answer lies in lrstemng ism and a Feminist Ecology goes on to thought or to romanticise non-Western
trajectories were different. Indeed, they in printing technology have resulted in of the music that was based on folk com-
to the voices of those ‘others’ that have explain how the lack of diversity in pa- cultures and ‘woman’ as having special
the survival of more songs of resistance- munity. The destruction of music has
been marginalised and suppressed by triarchal capitalist society is mirrored in access to wisdom and being ‘closer to na-
from the 18th and 19th centuries than been accelerated by the destruction of
the threat to diversity in nature. She ture’. The point is to have a critical aware-
Western civilisation. One ofthe most use-
from earlier periods: songs like the ‘Col- community that results from capitalism’s
‘i "-
writes, “A healthy balanced ecosystem, ness ofEnlightenment thought which en-
ful critiques for this purpose is that de-
"hi- liers’ March’, ‘General Ludd’s Triumph’ transformation of human relationships.
including human and non-human inhabi- ables us to see how capitalism makes use
veloped by some elements of feminism.
and the ‘Chartist Anthem’. Ifyou’re inter- As capitalism causes class struggle by
tants, must maintain diversity...wiping ofits emphasis on rationality and science
Many of the ideas already referred to are
ested in hearing them, listen to Chum- dividing society into classes, and because
out ofwhole species corresponds to reduc- to oppress and exploit. But we must not,
taken from such feminist thought, some
bawamba’s record English Rebel Songs people are not the passive economic ca-
ing human diversity into faceless workers consequently, leap in an anti-rational or
of which has simultaneously developed a
1381-1914. tegories that economists would like them
critique of the exploitation of women and or to homogenisation oftastes and culture anti-science direction. Neither would we
What about our own century and our to be, they resist, and music reflects and
nature since both are treated in our so- through mass consumer markets. Social wish to abandon Enlightenment ideas of ".-' own music? Does a culture of resistance strengthens that resistance. This is why
-...-ln-.'P____,.i"
life and natural life are literally simpli- the desirability ofactive human struggle, t ' "‘
ciety as irrational, threatening, in need of still exist? there is a history of songs of resistance,
fied to the inorganic for the convenience based upon the criticism and analysis of
taming and objects of exploitation. Music has certainly been changed by and why every struggle leaves its own
of the market society. Therefore we need existing conditions, to bring aboout
As Ynestra King has written, “The
capitalism, transformed into just another legacy of music and songs to inspire.
a decentralised global movement founded change.
hatred ofwomen and the hatred ofnature
commodity. The vicious class repression that fol-
However, what this analysis of En- »»
Its accessibility as a commodity, lowed the crushing of the Paris Com-
*2?-sis
lightenment thought and its use by capi- ‘
through records, CDs, tapes, television mune in 1871 saw strikers and demon-
I\-I
talism helps us to do is to focus on how
and radio has generated a spurious and strators shot down in the streets, but also
various hierarchical exploitations of
superficial democracy. Music seems generated an active and assertive an-
class, gender, race and nature are related
available to all, but even so there remain archist movement. The movement left an
in the concept of ‘other’ in Western bour- r
1 hierarchies of consumption with people arsenal ofanarchist songs with titles like
geois ideology. Consequently, we can see
on low incomes given restricted access ‘The Breakers of Images’, ‘No More Gov-
|r'””
that the idea of exploiting nature is not a \-
(varying prices ofconcert tickets and even ernment’, ‘I don’t like the Police’ and
neutral concept that can be employed by
if CDs are available in libraries, the ‘Ravachol’s Hymn’.
_ _ol__1- _.'J:-If __ _.
capitalists and revolutionaries alike, but
I f. I I I equipment costs more). This was the period when Eugene Pot-
r ‘ - I‘I’ I-1" ‘Ti’ T
one which can, and will, be used as a - . \_l'lI.|I,IrIF‘I‘'_' .r1If,k-I gjr _1‘,.:
- _ '#' ‘ .3 ,_ ” i . Technological capitalism has also alie- tier, a French woodworker from Lille
.-1' ‘,.',i,‘;‘:--*.v-" "
model for the exploitation of others by a . -_ -. I;-‘L___‘_$;w. . _ 1-|_
nated many people from the production of wrote the ‘International’. “We have been
-____ -__ _"_." J _"_-1 _
ruling elite (capitalist or other) which
r I 1!"; ’ "'\"&flL:.,. -1”; .3- music and transformed them into ,consu- naught, we shall be all”, those were the
ir-|l;.§,-1.-gr? --=1-I_,,_.
uses claims to rationality and science to
mers fof a centrally produced product. sentiments that echoed down the years
maintain and universalise its hierarchi- I
lr.--ri.i". Like everything else, entry into the sys- and appealed to the Chinese students and
.,_.,
”T1I-‘"?!
cal power. ‘T ‘Isl-4-a-..i"'-._\..l'l'..|I--'
Organise! No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993 11
10 Organise! No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993
‘I’
I _
young workers in Tiananmen Square are produced collectively. Folk music ‘Dirty Old Town’ which describes how
DEAR ORGANISE! ness you say it is. Declining union does your espousal of libertarian
who made the chorus of the ‘Interna- and punk are two obvious examples. love transforms our perception of our en-
membership is almost entirely politics and indeed a public de-
Wrong again, I am not a full time
tional’ their anthem: Punk music grew out of the desperation vironment, heightens our experience and due to the fact that the industries nunciation of Leninism excuse
official of the Yorkshire Area of
Tis the final conflict experienced by young people during the strengthens us in our daily fight for sur- in which mass 100% membership your writing a column in the Daily
the NUM nor ever have been. The
Let each stand in his place early years of Thatcherism, and reflects vival in the teeth of capitalism. Yorkshire Area has only three full was a tradition, have been deci- Worker. If anything it makes it V _
the anger and determination to fight This isn’t a Moon/June love song time officials. I am none of these. mated. Heavy industry, coal min- doubly damning. The Communist
The international party
ing, shipyards, engineering fac- Party ofGreat Britain proudly de-
back. Punk’s emphasis on raw raucous which sells make-up and yoghurt; this is The S. Yorkshire NUM Panel of
Shall be the human race.
tories, docks, merchant shipping fends Bolshevism. No conscious
which I am the Vice CHAIR is an
energy overrode musical niceties. Musi- a revolutionary song which empowers
etc. Mass unemployment in areas libertarian revolutionary can con-
unofficial assembly ofNUM bran-
cal form and structure became subser- people and inspires them to change the
where unions were a way of life, tribute a column to its paper with-
ches, and meets once a month, it
vient to the political message: world.
Resistance
has almost on its own accounted out seriously compromising them-
is not in any way ‘fulltime’. It just
We’re knocking on your door The revolution in music takes place on
happens, although I am an for the drop in membership. Such selves. The CPGB will use people
Resistance isn’t just expressed in the We're taking no more a daily basis as individuals and groups of new work that has come along has like you to gain credibility in mi-
elected, part time official of my
sentiments of song lyrics, but also in the For this is class war. music-makers take what they like from been low paid, part time, in non ners’ circles and recruit among
local branch (the Delegate), I am
form of the music. Jazz, for example, (The Apostles) other musical traditions, add to it, change a rank and file worker. I work on union services or in get rich quick them. So on one hand you lambast
grew out of an underclass, its free forms it, and play it. So the Kronos Quartet the coal face, and do the normal greenfield sites in areas with no Leninism, whilst on the other you
and breaking of musical conventions ex- Folk music appears on the surface to breaks out of the confines of classical days, evenings, afters and mid- industrial tradition or experience give them succour by writing in
with unions. To some extent, the their publications. ‘public arena’. We never offer any
be the complete opposite to punk-— quiet, music, playing pieces by Terry Riley, nightssshift cycle. This is the nor-
pressing the desire for freedom. Little
spread of Thatcherite, individua- No, we never said that the de- information to anyone, other than
mal situation for all NUM branch
wonder that jazz was banned in Nazi reflective and avoiding confrontational Jimi Hendrix and fuses with African
delegates. list, consumerist ‘values’ has cline in union membership was anarchist-communist comrades
Germany, its spontaneity an anathema posturing, but it shares with punk a dis- music as in ‘Pieces ofAfrica’. Rural blues
blocked communal, solidarist, col- due to rising class consciousness. we already know and trust. Our
Secondly “Having my own col-
to the totalitarian impulse and its crea- like of complexity and musical artifice. transform into urban blues. Big Bill
umn” is not like having your own lectivist sentiments necessary for Read our reply to your last letter only sources of information about
tivity a challenge to the dead hand of Like punk, folk requires no expertise. Broonzy, Howlin’ Wolf, the crackling Rolls you know, it doesn’t mark the forming of unions or estab- again. Of course some of the fall- the activities ofthe left (thus far)
fascism and a vibrant refutation of Nazi Anyone can get up and do it, but folk sounds of old Leadbelly recordings and lishment of membership. Add to ing membership is due to rising have come from the pages of the
me offas not being a rank and file
theories ofthe cultural inferiority ofother music goes beyond punk in the range of the songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson worker as you seem to imply. In this the wickedly anti union laws, unemployment. But as we said, published left press.
races. Hardly suprising that teenage re- emotions it can express and in spite ofthe speak across the years, across continents, fact I am a supporter of Class and employers ever ready to sack many are not joining unions or What ‘confidential’ informa-
bels in Germany’s anti-fascist resistance fossilised cat crap about nut gathering and across generations, talking about a War. I was offered a column in you and blacklist you for the rest failing to renew membership be- tion does DD believe Trotwatch
ofyour life, and a decline in union cause they see that the unions are has disclosed via Organise!? DD
identified withjazz and saw it as a symbol and the like that is frequently presented shared desire for change. What can their Daily Worker, paper of the re-
membership is hardly surprising not defending their interests and has written signed pieces in the
formed CPGB because they have
of their own rebellion. Nor is it suprising as folk music, is far more politicised. national anthems, their ‘Blood and Hon-
is it? This is however neither a indeed are opposed to their inter- Heavy Sta/j‘; and his column in the
made a heavy focus on the develo-
that Czech Stalinists arrested and im- Alex Glasgow’s powerful songs ex- our’ drivel say that matches that?
ping pit struggle, and wanted the sign that workers in general have ests. No, we are not scabs. In our Daily Worker includes both his
prisoned members of the underground plore the suffering that forms the basis of
grass roots information as it hap- abandoned unions because they book that means any one who be- name — and a photograph. IfDD
‘Jazz Section’ or that ‘Township Jazz’ is capitalism. Stop the City pened. This was and is done on a have all embraced Tory values trays class solidarity. We have and Trotwatch decide to pursue
one of the most potent forms of cultural Close the coal-house door, lad, there’s (which is what the Tories say) or never done this. Cut out the abuse the issues raised here, we will
non-sectarian basis — it in no way
opposition to South African apartheid. blood inside. Speaking personally, one of the most that they are becoming more class and the crap about being on the publish our debate in the next edi-
compromises my political views,
What the State cannot successfully Blood from broken hands and feet profound moments I’ve experienced was or theirs for that matter. Their conscious (which is what you wrong side of the class line. The tion of Trotw atch out in the
ban and forbid, capitalism transforms Blood that’s dried on pit-black meat during a Stop the City demonstration paper is circulated to every pit in said). unions are betraying the workers, autumn.
I concede that right wing and even the sacred NUM, and as
into a commodity — takes the form, Blood from hearts that know no beat during the early ’80s, when in the middle Britain, the support groups and
throughout the labour movement. moderate unions do piss people events unfold over the next period DEAR COMBADES,
drains it of its rebellious elements, re- Close the coal-house door, lad, thereb of London, outside the Stock Exchange,
It has been a good way of infor- off. Single union, no strike deals of struggle, we will soon see who Unfortunately I have not seen the
packages it and sells it back to the people. blood inside. hundreds of anarchists under siege from
such as those signed with the is on the wrong side of the class
ming the ‘movement’, my fellow recent articles upon the recession
George Melly has written a perceptive the police suddenly burst into song — a
miners andour supporters ofwhat Japanese car firms on Wearside line. which may or may not have simi-
account of this process Revolt into Style, While Pete Seeger says straight out: short four-line song which had been dis-
is going on in this area. It is after and elsewhere produce very small lar perspectives as mine. The ar-
a book title that neatly summarises the I hate the capitalist system. tributed at some of the planning meet- all a news column. I am not engag- union memberships even in areas TROTWATCH adds: ticles upon the ‘New World Disor-
ings:
social mechanism that enables capital- ing in a polemic or theoretic dis- ofhigh union traditions. This un- It would have been better if the der’ left much unsaid. What was
ism to rejuvenate itselfby being parasiti- We’re gonna Stop the City cussion on the value or non value doubtedly is because workers can ‘credit’ published at the end ofthe not absolutely explicit was that it
cal on the creative activity of us all. Love We’re gonna Change the World. of the ‘party’. If your Organise! see no point in joining and engage article in the last Organise! had appears that capital has no way
was published on a daily basis in other forms ofstruggle at work been the one we suggested -- out of its carrent crisis. Capital
Because of this process of recuper-
with a similar wide circulation instead. However this is only a “Thanks to Trotwatch for infor- needs to grow, to accumulate, but
ation, the transformation of revolt into Folk also allows the expression of And we will, because, as was said of
and you unconditionally offered very marginal factor, the main mation on the Leninist/Daily it seems that all its avenues of
style, musical radicals need to constantly other revolutionary emotions, like love. the murdered Chilean singer Victor
me a column to keep people in- reason is because unions and the Worker” rather than the one that growth have now been explored
push back the boundaries of acceptable English folk singer, Ewan McColl wrote Jara: “You can kill the man but not his
formed of the rapidly changing working class have been bashedto got printed -- “Thanks to Trot- and exhausted. It has created and
art, to go outside the experience of capi- the classic ‘The First Time Ever I Saw song when it’s sung the whole world
and tactically unfolding nature of bits andbashed out ofunions, this watch for information on Dave filled its markets world-wide for
talism in order to gain the creative space Your Face’ and also the ever popular round”. the pit struggle, I should take it is not a progressive fact, and is the Douglass”. When we heard Or- its commodities, its means ofpro-
necessary to sustain rebellion. without hesitation. reason why I reacted so angrily to ganise! was publishing a debate ducing these commodities, and fi-
That would not however mean your ‘anti union’ advocacy. between the ACF and DD on the nally its credit (its fictional capi-
By the way on the subject of
Frontiers I had become one of your suppor- union question, we sent in a copy tal). It has reaped profit from its
ters; neither does it with the blacklists. I know my name ap- of one of DD’s regular columns welfare society, its deficit spend-
CPGB. My view of Leninism and pears on the lists circulated by from the Daily Worker with some ing, its exploitation of cheap raw
In our own time the anarchist com-
Trotskyism is well known. FreedomAssociation and Aims comments of our own about the materials, by dumping com-
poser John Cage has extended the fron-
Ifyou describe yourselfas ‘anti ofIndustry etc, but I didn’t know issues raised by DD’s support for modities in the poor world, by ex-
tiers Of 1'l111$i¢, by taking the smlllds Of Bundles of this poster can be got from London address. Please send a donation.
union’, not anti union bureaucrat, Trotwatch provided a similar Class War, his role as contact for ploiting cheap labour there, by
eVB1'Yda3" life and allowing them W in‘ Or get a single copy and photocopy ’em. but anti union, and ifyou were to service to the Anarchist left, espe- ‘Class War Colliers’ and his role as selling arms the world over (even
trude into music, as in ‘Finnegan’s Wake’.
act on that within the class i.e. cially when they get my job, posi- columnist for a Leninist party to the poorest and most vulner-
Later Cage transformed random every- Leaflet trying to break the union, getting tion and politics wrong, newspaper. We sent no other in- able) by creatingnew technologies
day sounds into music. In the mistakenly . -_'._-'-7' ' ‘*1-1---Q people to leave the union, or not revolutionary greetings, formation about DD’s job or his and so new toys for consumers, by
i“
..-~.-~;
derided (by capitalist hacks and critics) caennu . London ACF have also produced a join the union, sorry comrades David Douglass, position in the NUM. hawking credit, financial services
4’33” of 1952 he structured silence so that means ' - - small concertina leaflet explaining the whichever way you put it that it National Union 0fMineworkers The suggestion that Trotwatch and investment to the poor world.
an nmunnun u
would be scabbing, and most cer- ..and still bloody proud ofit. helps in some way in the compil- But where is capital conti-
inadvertent sounds within the listener’s till _ PhiIII‘ basic ideas of anarchist communism.
Iliilil
(Letter slightly edited)
' nu lillllillfl tainly be a sign that you were on ing of ‘blacklists’ of socialists is nuing to grow now? Unemploy-
hearing range are experienced as music. Fil-[Iii IIt|.il.'iIiiII'r L; Again, send a donation for a bundle to
i ansIn ‘+1 the wrong side of the class line. I complete nonsense. Trotwatch is ment is rising world-wide — not
As an anarchist Cage never composed 1 nu sans _ the above address.
nununisuuuunl -
think you do need to radically re- ORGANISE!Editors’ reply: an “anarchist commentary on the only in the sick areas of Europe
nlmunm K
works that required an authoritarian "i-f ":1-lm Our last lot of six different stickers
or-|l'll= inll ___-.__ _ I’.‘-I'||-1'11-F“L||—.-i.1 think your position on unions, as Yes, we were wrong about your life of the left”, our purpose is to and America, in the previously
lllhlfIn the . .
conductor, or even a lead instrumentalist has now sold out. So we’ve produced a
'1 In -'_ if you are confusing its progressive, position in the union. We based publish critiques ofcontemporary cast-iron economy ofJapan, but in
.
who functions apart from a back-up ‘"0 new series of nine different stickers defensive and strategic role in the our information on the Wildcat leftist ideas and practice, from a the poor world, particularly Afri-
'§ii_.
group. (anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, ecology working class, with its negative, pamphlet (reviewed in this issue). revolutionary communist per- ca, we are witnessing levels ofpov-
IQ
Avant-garde music like Cage operates etc). parasitic and often reactionary However, this does not drastically spective. Sometimes ourjokes are erty and degradation which are
on the fringes of daily experience, so al- I.1-ll-I _-_...,-|~=1' Again, bundles can be obtained bureaucracy. alter our criticisms of your role quite funny as well. We have not indescribable. The attempts to
.1?--'-7-‘ll’
»r£ss
Declining membership in the within anarchist circles, that is, to publicised any information about restart the world economy by re-
though it can extend and transform ideas I\'-}?l‘>;-.__..I ‘*-‘vs from London address, if you enclose
-1;.
unions is not some progressive defend trade unionism, at a time the political affiliations ofindivid- viving world trade through the
about music it is difficult for it to reflect donation.
-ill‘;
I-
symptom or far from the indica- when some, perhaps many an- uals involved with leftist organi- GATT talks are becoming ever
the joys and miseries ofeveryday life. The
tion of growing class conscious- archists are breaking with it. Nor sations that was not already in the more drawn out. Indeed there is
musical forms that do so most effectively
12 Organise! No. so Apr-Jun 1993 Organise! Ne 30 Apr~J1m 1993 13
——-- -
- _
continuing talk of trade war as feel that the class struggle will As such, it was a portent of the out Leninists are anti-union,
three new capitalist blocs crystal- necessarily intensify over the revolutionary storm to come in when they are great supporters of —'
coming years as capital continues 1968, plugging in equally to the unionism. Many Leninist mili-
lise — Bush began it, Clinton
seems to be continuing it, over to fail to deal with its own de- riots of poor blacks in Watts, the tants keep union branches going,
steel, aircraft, cars and more. We generation. anti-VietnamWarresistance, and as Wildcat wittily remarks: “the
must wait and see particularly This may seem to be an odd the flowering hippy counter-cul- Leninist intellectuals of and by
how the two most intransigent perspective to be held by a liber- ture. It was aware ofother devel- themselves can only achieve a
players in this dangerous game, tarian communist, but this seems opments throughout the world trade union consciousness”. 1. The Anarchist Communist emancipation cannot be cannot become vehicles for 8. Genuine liberation can only
France and the USA continue the to be the only logical analysis of like the French Situationists and Douglass implies trade unions Federation is an organisation achieved without the aboli- the revolutionary transforma- come about through the revol-
brinkmanship. Even though Clin- current trends. But there is one the English Heatwave group. In- are somehow the property ofwor- ofrevolutionaryclassstruggle tion of capitalism. tion ofsociety. Theyhave to be utionary self-activity of the
ton has taken the helm, American task which must be undertaken, deed in many ways it echoed the kers: “Canyou wonderthat indus- anarchists. We aim for the 4. We are opposed to the ideo- accepted by capitalism in working class on a mass scale.
capital continues to sink further framing means by which revol- development of the French Situ- trial andunionised workers ident- abolition of all hierarchy, and logy of national liberation order to function and so can- An anarchist communist so-
into its own degeneration — the utionaries can usefully engage in ationists in that a revolutionary ify more with their Trade Union work for the creation of a movements which claims that not play a part on its over- ciety means not only co-oper-
Rust Belt is still rusting, the Sun what must be a coming expansion critique of Art developed into a branch, lodge, shop stewards com- world-wide classless society: there is some common interest throw. Trades unions divide ation between equals, but ac-
Belt continues to undermine the of the class struggle. In this en- revolutionary critique of society mittee or whatever than they do anarchist communism. between native bosses and the the working class (between tive involvement in the shap-
previous centres of US capital. gagement we will have to negate as a whole. with the revolutionary donkey 2. Capitalism is based on the working class in face of employed and unemployed, ing and creating of that so-
The only area of US strength all ofthose tendencies towards so- Up Against the Wall Mother- constructed out of somebody’s exploitation of the working foreign domination. We do trade and craft, skilled and ciety during and after the rev-
though is its military ——- but US cial democracy which have in- fizcker was a continuation of the Book of Revolutionary Organisa- class by the ruling class. But support working class unskilled, etc). Even syndical- olution. In times of upheaval
capital cannot cure its ills by sim- fested the working class -— the Black Mask, with a mixing ofthe tion”. Douglass uses a valid attack inequality and exploitation struggles against racism, ist unions are constrained by and struggle, people will need
ply policing or bullying the rest of unions, the Labour Party, the most combative of the counter- on vanguardism to disguise his are also expressed in terms of genocide, ethnocide and pol- the fundamental nature of to create their own revol-
itical and economic colonial- unionism. The union has to be utionary organisations con-
the world. pseudo-revolutionary Trotskyists culture with the previous political defence of unions. The unions he race, gender, sexuality,
After the passing of the Rus- who are ready to bury class con- developments. Unfortunately the cites appear to lack union bureau- health, ability and age, and in ism. We oppose the creation of able to control its membership trolled by everyone in them.
sian bloc and the spectre of so- sciousness and class struggle in concentration on dope and acid, a cracies, operating as networks of these ways one section of the any newrulingclass.Wereject in order to make deals with These autonomous organisa-
called communism, the Western dogma and substitutionism. It symptom of the times, seems to independent local branches. working class oppresses an- all forms of nationalism, as management. Their aim, -tions will be outside the con-
other. This divides us, causing this only serves to redefine di- through negotiation, is to trol of political parties, and
world has turned to a variety of will be our task to aid the class as have affected the form and con- Using the classic line spouted by
ideologies to motivate and explain it struggles, hopefully moving tent of the Motherfiickers’ politi- any trade union leftist, he says alack ofclass unity in struggle visions in the international achieve afairerform ofexploi- within them we will learn
from class consciousness to revol- cal statements. Long, shapeless that if members were to mobilise that benefits the ruling class. working class. The working tation of the workforce. The many important lessons of
its actions. We have witnessed
Oppressed groups are streng- class has no country and na- interests ofleaders and repre- self-activity.
both the promotion and death of utionary consciousness. rants praise the ‘Hip Community’ they could determine policies.
tional boundaries must be sentatives will always be dif- 9. As anarchistswe organise in
democracy — in Russia and Italy We face considerable ob- and Ying-Yang symbols are Wildcat points out that the 1977 thened by autonomous action
eliminated. We seek to build ferent to ours. The boss class all areas of life to try to ad-
which challenges social and
respectively. We are seeing the stacles, though, the working class dotted throughout. We have such productivity deal, which divided
economic power relation- an anarchist international to is our enemy, and while we vance the revolutionary pro-
rise of a variety of nationalisms: is hardly at its most combative. It statements as the “hip tribal na- miners between regions, engin-
ships. To achieve our goal we work with other libertarian must fight for better condi- cess. -
the extreme right in Germany; will not simply be a question of tion forms as the eventual re- eered by ‘workers’ friend’ Tony
must relinquish power over revolutionaries throughout tions from it, we have to re- We believe a strong anarchist
Serbian, Croatian and others in turning up wherever we can but placement of ameril-tan all-gover- Benn, was pushed through by the
each other on a personal as the world. alise that reforms we may organisation is necessary to
what was Yugoslavia; America ofcarefully considered action, in- ment”. Illusions in the counter- NUM executive despite a national
well as a political level. 5. As well as exploiting and op- achieve today may be taken help us to this end. Unlike
First in the USA; the various na- tervention, which will raise the culture as a means to both fight ballot rejecting it. In 1983 NUM
pressing the majority of away tomorrow. Our ultimate other so-called socialists or
3. We believe that fighting
tionalisms of the breakup of the profile of the revolutionary idea and replace the capitalist set-up leaders ignored an 80% strike
racism and sexism is as im- people, Capitalism threatens aim must be the complete communists we do not want
USSR. Avariety ofhumanitarian- and give the class confidence inits marginalise the Motherfilckers. vote in SouthWales. In April 1984
portant as other aspects of the the world throughwar and the abolition of wage slavery. power or control for our or-
isms are being promoted, for in- own capacity to act and create. We The earlier Black Mask articles Lancashire leaders held an area
class struggle. Anarchist-com- destruction of the environ- Working within the unions ganisation. We recognise that
stance the Somalia adventure of will have to relate ourselves to the about the Newark and Detroit delegate meeting to send Lanca-
munism cannot be achieved ment. can never achieve this. How- therevolution can onlybe car-
the USA, whereas Angola andMo- interests of the working class as riots, the discussions on art, sex- shire miners back to work. 30 mi-
while sexism and racism still 6. lt is notfipossible to abolish ever, we do not argue for ried out directly by the work-
zambique are being treated to they develop, to aid and inform as uality, the youth revolt are far ners then occupied Bolton HQ.
exist. In order to be effective Capitalism without a revol- people to leave unions until ing class. However, the revol-
US/South African sponsored in- much as we can. More than any- more interesting and coherent. Douglass makes out that sup-
in their struggle against their ution, which will arise out of they are made irrelevant by ution must be preceeded by
surgents. thing else we will have to negate The book lets the two groups port of the unions is better than
oppression both within so- class conflict. The ruling class the revolutionary event. The organisations able to convince
Here in Britain we are every possible destructive in- speak for themselves through support ofthe Leninist parties be-
ciety and within the working must be completely over- union is a common point of people of the anarchist com-
promised national recovery and fluence we can — nationalism, so- their articles and leaflets. How- cause the latter has more loyalty
class,women andblackpeople thrown to achieve anarchist departure for many workers. munist alternative and
we are given a budget supposedly cial democracy etc. ever, a little more information from the class. Ifwe followed this
may at times need to organise communism. Because the rul- Rank and file initiatives may method. We participate in
to provide it. Our beloved ‘man in It may not be apparent to about how the groups formed, and logic, then support for the Labour independently. However, this ing class will not relinquish strengthen us in the battle for struggle as anarchist com-
grey’ even has to Promote the i'dea everyone, but the time is coming, what happened to them would Party or a love of royalty should
should be as working class power without the use of anarchist-communism. munists, and organise on a
on TV to help us swallow the idea yours, libertarian communist have been appreciated. also be uncritically supported. women and black people, as armed force, this revolution What's important is that we federative basis. Wereject sec-
even though we have the inkling greetings, As Wildcat point out, unions cross-class movements hide will be a time of violence as organise ourselves collective- tarianism and work for a
that all is not well: rising unem- J.C. (Shefiield) REFRACTED PERSPECTIVE. are not workers’ self-defence or-
real class differences and well as liberation. ly, arguing for workers to con- united revolutionary an-
ployment, in reality over four mil- The Lefl, Working Class Trade ganisations but structures to
achieve little for them. Full 7... Unions by their very nature trol struggles themselves. archist movement.
lion; wages held down, public sec- DEAR ORGANISE! Unionism and The Miners. negotiate the rate of exploitation
Dave Douglass. 60p. 12 pages. by the bosses of the workers.
tor wages pegged to 1.5%; conti- Ta for Organise! 28. A good issue.
OUTSIDEANDAGAINSTTHE Negotiation is not just an econ-
nued attacks on the poor, VAT I especially liked ‘Reading the De-
Why we still need a counterposed to the establishment of a The war in ex-Yugoslavia, the strife in
UNIONS. A communist re- omic activity, it is a political one
extended to fuel, to be only 50% tectives’. Not so sure about
national revolutionary anarchist organi- Russia, the millions ofunemployed in the
compensated. Capital can only in- sponse to Dave Douglass’ text. — is a form of political repre-
‘Against Exploitation’ article. In
national revolution-
sation, we must argue that they are no West, the famine and wars in Africa, the
crease its exploitation ofthe work- Wildcat. 40p. 15 pages. sentation. Representing people is
particular the sentence.."an-
ing clas as it scrambles for The first pamphlet was a text de- not about fighting for their inter- substitute for the building of such a body. deepening ecological problems, are all
archist-communists find no room
ary organisation
answers to the crisis of the boss for such objectivity". To base our livered to Class War’s Interna- ests. It is about maintaining the The Class Struggle Anarchist Network signs that a world social system, capital-
class. I can see no answer to the politics instead on morality puts tional Conference in 1991. It loyalty ofa passive ‘constituency’ and many local Solidarity Groups have all ism, cannot deliver the goods and endan-
crisis, nor can anyone else — a us on very shaky ground. We have claims to address the Socialist Wildcat point out the NUM dif- collapsed. The attempt to establish bo- gers us all. Unlike many, we are not pre-
THE ANARCHIST Communist
new Keynesianism won’t work, as Workers Party, orthodox Trot- fers from other British trade
to explain ourselves when we use rough-wide coordinations in London in pared to give in to pessimism and nihil-
Federation has consistently argued
has been mooted even by ‘morally unjust’ otherwise we skyists, and "elements ofthe situ- unions in being radical and left- 1992 was more or less still‘-born. ism. We know that things can and will
the need for a national revolutionary
Japanese economists, nor will a come across as liberals. ationists". As the Wildcat wing. This is because ofthe exist-
All round Britain revolutionaries change for the better if new social move-
organisation in this country. We con-
new and improved monetarism. pamphlet points out, its purpose ence of a militant rank and file.
K. (Vancouver, Canada)
share similar positions to ours. We urge ments can be galvanised into action. If
tinue to stand by this argument.
The other classical route out of m-_---i_----_- was to "stifle criticismlof trade The rhetoric of officials protects
such crises is war. Both world unionism in and around the an- them and helps them keep con- We have always opposed the localist them to consider joining the ACF. We you feel the same, then have a good think
wars and various ‘police actions’ BLACKMASK & UP AGAINST archist movement". Much ofDou- trol. But many ofthe most import- and parochial ideas that have been ar- have survived the present bad times be- about joining the ACF and help create a
have come to the aid ofcapitalism THE WALL MOTHERFUCK- glass’s pamphlet is taken up with ant strikes among miners were gued for within anarchist circles. We cause of our devotion to the need for a new society based on social justice, eco-
in the past but this seems not to ER. 144 pages. Unpopular Books justified criticisms ofthe Leninist unofficial, or started out as such. know that attempts to set up local and revolutionary organisation and because logical harmony and equality.
be an option now — the level of and Sabotage Editions. (No price vanguards, and he does criticise The debate on the unions will we have valued the development oftheory
regional networks, if they are not tied to
destruction required would be too given on review copy). Box 15, 138 the NUM bureaucrats including continue, ofthis we are sure. Rev-
alongside an outgoing practice. Now
the need for national organisation and
great. Barbarism, of one form or Kingsland High Rd, London E8 King Arthur. He defends mass olutionary anarchists need to
consistent revolutionary theory,are there are possibilities in the coming few
the other, seems the only future. 2NS. pickets and hitsquads against the take a long hard look at the hand
years if the signs of increased militancy
doomed to failure. We are all for the es-
Barbarism or the revolution- This book is a collection of ar- criticisms ofthe Left. However he of trade unionism with its
-"'..-1"-"'
in the working class (at Fords, the fire-
ary transformation of society are ticles published in the two maga- tries to amalgamate Leninists weakening grip on both the class tablishment of local coordinations that
fighters, the railworkers and the miners)
usually counterposed as alterna- zines mentioned in the title. Black with ‘situationists’, that is, as and revolutionary militants. So enable revolutionaries to pool their ef-
-"'9'
herald a new willingness to struggle. We
tives. I believe this to be the case Mask was created by the New Wildcat says “a code word for read these two pamphlets and see forts and resources. However, ifthese are
now, although these alternatives York Surrealist Group and the class struggle militants who are whether the struggle should be put forward as the solution to the present need to be there to put over our ideas of
are not being voiced generally or New York Anarchist Group against the unions from a com- inside the unions or ‘outside and lack of progress of libertarian revolution- self-organisation, and the more of us
even in part by working class. I do and appeared from 1966 to 1968. munist point of view”. He makes against’ them. united in one body the better. --I-"'::::’
aries, and indeed if these are actively
14 Organise! No. 30 Apr—Jun 1993 Organise! No. 30 Apr-Jun 1993 15