This article on anarchist thought comes from this link.
Anarchist-Communism, being in direct contradiction to the institution of the state, cannot employ parliamentary tactics as a means towards its realization.
It casts aside as useless and dangerous the idea that a series of gradual and legal changes can bring about the fall of Capitalism, or usher in a new society.
The great struggles in the First International between Marx and Bakunin represented two directly opposing points of view on the tasks and tactics of the working class.
In the main, as far as tactics were concerned, they differed in the following respects.
The Marxian faction advocated political action, ie., electing labor representatives who would support petty reforms.
The believed in the centralization of the affairs of the labor bodies into a single directing agency.
They advocated the alliance of trade unions with a political party.
They conceived of the Socialist State as the necessary link between Capitalism and a free society.
The Bakuninist faction advocated the direct economic action of the working class, i.e., general strikes, sabotage, and armed resistance, through the organized power of the masses, such as revolutionary industrial unions, peasant organizations, etc.
They conceived of the labor movement as a federation of workers and farmers bodies, possessing the greatest amount of local autonomy, and the federation of these decentralized units for common action and solidarity as the most desirable form of organization.
They held that any state is in its very nature reactionary, and therefore proposed that the mass organizations replace the state in the transitional period between the old and new society.
The history of the labor movement in every country and in every period, shows how well the Bakuninists understood the nature of reformism.
What has become of the reformist labor movement?
Why have they failed to live up to their “Historical Mission?”
Despite the fact that the British labor movement was strong enough the paralyze England in the general strike of 1926, we see it reduced to beggary, chasing after doles, dominated by the politicians of the “labor” party, and advocating the most reactionary policies.
The British labor movement is standing idly by while British Imperialism is crushing their brother workers in India, Ireland and other colonies.
The great labor movement of Germany, despite its numbers, is helpless in the face of the Fascist menace.
Like the labor movement of England it is the plaything of the traitorous Social-Democratic Party.
Deprived of its initiative and its revolutionary spirit at a low ebb, it has allowed the politicians to dupe them so that reaction has gained the upper hand.
There is no doubt whatever that the World War would never have been fought were these self-same reformist unions revolutionary, and free from the deadening influence of opportunism.
Wherever we turn, in Italy, in Spain, in Germany, we see reaction in the saddle; the revolution thwarted.
The greatest obstacle in the path of the revolution has been not so much the conservatives, as these Judases, the “socialists” who are in reality the last bulwark of Capitalism.
The Communist Party of Germany is in a large measure responsible for the rise of Fascism.
When the crying need of the hour was a united front of all class conscious workers regardless of party, when only the united working class fighting on the economic field was important, when only the armed resistance of the workers was capable of crushing the reaction, the Communist Party of Germany, by the order of the Moscow bureaucrats, took a long step backward.
Knowing that a united front was impossible without them, they laid down the law: either rule or ruin.
They insisted upon dominating the entire labor movement of Germany.
When the labor movement refused to accept what they called a “united front,” the resulting lack of unity among the workers gave the fascists an opportunity to consolidate their forces.
The situation was and still is most critical.
Either the united front or fascism.
The communists refused the united front.
The interests of the bureaucracy outweighed the interests of the working class.
Even a revolutionary movement is rendered ineffective when it is dominated by a centralized bureaucracy.
When the labor movement is dominated by a political party, it inevitably becomes the football of politics.
It is clear to all except “those who will not see” that the downfall of Capitalism, and the establishment of a new society, cannot be accomplished by the use of such tactics.
It is clear that political action is one of the greatest impediments in the path of the coming social revolution.
Only a fundamental change in the political, economic and social relationships of man, only the social revolution can accomplish what the reformists have failed to do.
Nor is a social revolution in itself a guarantee that Anarchist-Communism will be realized.
A social revolution can stop short of its objectives, can like a stream, be diverted from its course.
The failure to understand the goal of the revolution, or a labor movement brought up in the authoritarian school trained to leave all in the hands of a bureaucratic and corrupt leadership, can so distort the character of a revolution as to render it harmful to the further progress of mankind.
The Russian Revolution shows that despite the heroic struggle of the masses, the revolution failed to achieve its objectives – liberty and well being for all.
The Russian labor unions have become blind pawns in the hands of a party dictatorship.
The masses are being ground to dust by the Communist steam roller.
The revolution failed because the labor movement was unprepared.
They did not understand that the delegation of power into the hand of the state meant the death of the revolution.
There is no record of any great change, any great victory of labor that was won through parliamentary means.
The eight hour day, the right to organize, the right of free speech, were the triumphs of direct action.
The early history of the American labor movement is replete with examples of militant direct action.
The struggles of the Knights of Labor, the struggles of the Black International which culminated in the Haymarket tragedy, the struggles of the Western Federation of Miners, and of the I.W.W., etc., were mainly responsible for whatever progress the movement has made in America.
On the other hand, what has been accomplished by the reformist American Federation of Labor?
The degeneration of the modern labor movement is nowhere so apparent as in the present happenings in the Illinois coal fields.
The officialdom of the United Mine Workers of America has joined the bosses and the state in crushing the revolt of the militant rank and file against the bureaucracy of the A. F. of L.
What really important victory was gained without the direct economic pressure of the working class?
To this question history answers – none.
In the light of the struggles and hard won gains of the workers all over the world, the position taken by the Anarchist-Communists is basically sound and therefore fully justified.
The goal of the working class must be the social revolution.
The workers must be prepared to overthrow Capitalism through a Social Revolution; must be prepared to conduct the economic life of the country when the time comes.
In order to do this, they will be obliged to organize into mass movements such as industrial unions, artels, agrarian co-operatives, etc.
The solidarity of the working class must be attained through the federation of autonomous bodies, instead of centralization from the top down.
The tactics must correspond to the ends in view.
The masses, permeated with the revolutionary spirit, must make use of the general strike, sabotage, armed resistance, expropriation, etc.
The revolutionary labor movement must become the militant vanguard who by their deeds and intelligence will show the rest of the masses how to help themselves, how to establish a new society.
The militant vanguard consisting of mass organizations of workers and peasants takes the place of the bureaucratic party and renders the state unnecessary in the transitional period.
The revolution will be successful to the extent that the workers are prepared for it.
A good deal will depend upon the extent to which Anarchist ideas have permeated the social body.
A period of intense propaganda and revolutionary struggle is necessary in order to influence the masses.
Outside of the labor movement as such, Anarchist-Communism must be propagated among the intelligent youth through study groups, propaganda centers and through the dissemination of literature.
The field of education, the co-operative movement, the anti-war leagues, every mass organization, must be invested with a revolutionary character.
Anarchists must turn them into organs of successful social revolution.
In a very real sense, we are facing a momentous period in human history.
The inevitable social revolution will determine the paths in which mankind will tread for a long time.
All depends upon a correct conception of the nature of our tasks and the manner and spirit in which we approach them. “Anarchist-Communism,” as Kropotkin so aptly said, “must be the goal of the revolution of the twentieth century.”
This series of posts will insure that these anarchists' works live on in living memory.
If only a few.
There is a reason these facts are not taught in the modern skools.
Setting rewards to burn only burns the author portion of the payout.
The crowd isn't silenced.
Please cheer loudly, if that is your thing.
If you think this type of content should be eligible for author rewards, make your voice heard in this discord: https://discord.gg/t4VRHD8MXt.