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I really feel I must intervene in this debate. In France, there is a long standing tradition of "anarcho-marxism", or rather "Libertarian Marxism", to which I belong. Since the 1950s, groups such as "Socialisme ou barbarie" or the situationists, such thinkers as the great Marxian editor (and re-discoverer of Marx's "Grundrisse") Maximilien Ruben or Daniel Guerin, have pointed out that Marx was indeed an "anarchist" in many of his writings. That is precisely the point council communists try to make, when they oppose Leninism : a true understanding of marxism, of the emancipation of the working class, entails the abolition of class-based authority, and thus the state. The state must be superseded by concils (soviets) which are a direct manifestation of the people's will. If the Leninists have their way, they will simply replace the bosses with bureaucrats who will extract the surplus-value of the working-class for their own, party-orientated ends. Whats's the difference between working 60 hours a week for a boss or for the Party ? You are still alienated from the fruits of your labour. There is even less democracy than before, and you get shot for voicing your dissent. Workers have nothing to gain from Leninism but new chains. They must form their own councils and run their affairs themselves. they may indeed institute a kind of "state", that is a federation of all councils, in order to coordinate production. This is what the CNT did during the Spanish Civil war before they, as the "Trotskyite" POUM, were anihilated by Stalin's Comunist Party. The Spanish CNT was composed of many different tendencies (some of which were in fact marxists). It was, after all, a "mass" organization of over 3 million members. It defined itself as "revolutionary syndicalist", and its aim was "libertarian communism". It actually managed to militarily defeat the Comunist Party of Spain in some regions, rushing to battle with the cries of "Death to Hitler ! Death to Stalin ! Deeath to Mussolinni". In other regions, it cooperated with the PC. The CNT decided, after a national Congress, to send three ministers to participate in the revolutionary government. At the time, a large faction of the CNT saw this as a betrayal of anarchism, but a still larger faction saw this as a necessary step to ensure that the worker's councils would not be utterly destroyed by a CP(Stalinist)-led government bent on defeating workers' control because worker's control was not directed by the Stalinists. Historically, every time workers have enjoyed autonomy and self-managment that was not subservent to a Leninist party, the latter has arrogantly condemned the former for "anarchism". In the eyes of Leninists, "anarchism" is a catch-all phrase that means refusal to understand the need for a MArxist-Leninist party to control the government and enforce obedience. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
