Today's Topics:
1. France, Alternative Libertaire AL Octobre 2017 - Content +
Editorial (fr, it, pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. fda-ifa, KARAKÖK AUTONOME TR/CH: Isyan! Devrim! Anarsi! -
Aufruhr! Revolution! Anarchie! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. US, black rose fed - Rochester: WELCOME TO THE PARTY,
LIBERALS! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. B(A)D NEWS - Angry voices from around the world - Episode 5
(10/2017) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Britain, afed, REBEL CITY #7 Britain, afed, REBEL CITY #7
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. anarchistnews.org: Crossword Puzzle #21: Anti-Globalization
Movement (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. The two octobers - Bolshevics Versus Workers - Workers
Solidarity Movement (Ireland) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
Government by order ; Deliveroo ; Gaillac ; SNCF 2018 ; Migratory corridors ; University
selection ; Jean-Michel Blanquer ; Lycées in Seine Saint-Denis ; Collectif des
DesTerresMINées35 ; Mining projects ; Decolonial feminism ; LDCs ; Sex education ; Trade
unionism in Italy ; Michael Schmidt ; United States / North Korea ; Spanish anarchists ;
Bibliography on the Russian Revolution ---- Editorial: What spark ? ---- Spotlight:
Workers: Getting Organized ! ---- Orders: Block everything in the unit to win ! ----
Deliveroo: We will not pedal the empty stomach ! ---- Brussels: How bike precariat is
organized ---- National education: The absurdity strikes Gaillac. ---- SNCF: Fighting
today to prepare 2018 ---- Social ---- Immigration: the false good idea corridors ----
Selection University: The red line not to be crossed ---- Jean-Michel Blanquer: Back to
school under the sign of the failure of
Seine Saint-Denis: The students want to set fire to the plain
Ecology
Interview with Daniel of the collective DesTerresMINées35: "We have proof that the
techniques have not changed".
Mining projects: a challenge from local to global
Antipatriarchate
Americas: decolonial feminism is organized in Abya Yala
The PMA for all: it is left for a turn ?
Schoolgirls, mental excision and the return of stick
International
Italy: Basic unionism is still there !
South Africa: why Michael Schmidt was banned ?
United States / North Korea: Sparks in a powder magazine
History
80 years ago: Education and emancipation among Spanish anarchists
Culture
Essay: "The Neoliberal Novolang" by Alain Bihr at Syllepse Editions
Documentary: "The Assembly" by Marianne Otero
Bibliography to discover the Russian Revolution
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alternativelibertaire.org%2F%3F-AL-d-octobre-est-en-vente-420-&data=02%7C01%7Ccreuzadema%40hotmail.com%7C1508998586844e5f834008d5186bfecb%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636441774483997390&sdata=gb25Tbvi2V%2FSvQ7Hrk8F6MJ3UxwwYzQGrEUj0FC20nM%3D&reserved=0
Edito: What spark ?
With the proliferation of social attacks and communication based on a contempt of assumed
class, the Medef government has clearly committed itself to a strategy of fat jokes.
The idea: to pass in force by betting on the sideration of the adversaries. But, in
reality, these big burmes turn out to be little ponies. Unaware of their own political
fragility and the smallness of the ivory field on which they reign, their triumphant
neighing borders on ridicule and only a fraction of the population adheres to their
publicity and their politics.
Faced with attacks, the hotbeds of anger continue to multiply and the country has become a
real barrel of powder. The main concern ? The dispersion of those who want to fight. The
mixed successes of the September strike days and especially the dispersion of trade union
strategies reflect the difficulties of federating social struggles where there is
certainly a certain anger. The situation is not new but the ferocity of the attacks
requires more than ever to remedy it ; especially since the political context is far from
unfavorable.
What spark will fire the plain ? The potential is numerous and the coming weeks should
provide answers. There is no doubt that the mobilization of youth and of certain combative
sectors will provide a basis for mobilization.
Alternative Libertaire, October 5, 2017
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Message: 2
we hope your keeping well. herewith we send you our call for solidarity against the war in
Iraq ---- Immediate call to all our comrades Anarchists and Libertarians wherever they are
---- A direct and special call to our comrades Anarchists and Libertarians Arabic-speaking
---- No to State, No to war. Yes for self-administration and the Social revolution ----
For years and years we, anarchists and libertarian in Iraqi "Kurdistan", Europe and other
countries all our publicities and our slogan have been about Yes for self-administration
in everywhere and for all the communities , but No to State. ---- We raised our voice
against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its very recent scenario of referendum
on "independent Kurdish State". We are very sure the other anarchists among Arab, Turkish,
Assyrian and others had the same attitude. We also believe the same attitude from our
anarchist comrades throughout the world to say no to State, authority, nationalism and to
be against the nationalist and against pro-fascist war.
Iraqi "Kurdistan" has been going through a very difficult time since Oct 2015. The wages
of public sector employees have been reduced to less than a half, the number of
unemployment has increased sharply, the price of everything has gone up, business and the
government services have dramatically been cut off. This all happened in addition to the
war with Isis and disputes between (KRG) and the central government over the budget and
the disputed lands and city like Kirkuk and the others.
So many strikes, demonstrations and boycotting work during this couple of years took
place. Some of them lasted for few weeks even months. KRG instead of resolving all these
problems tried to divert the attention of people from the real problems by announcing in
July the referendum of independent Kurdistan, state of Kurdistan, on 25th of Sep.
Masoud Barzani the head of KRG set up the day of referendum without consulting Iraqi,
neighbourhood countries, US and European countries. Once he called for referendum, all of
them rejected it and told him that he will not get any support.
After the referendum of 25th of September Iraq, Iran and Turkey governments came together
against it and threaten KRG with economic sanction. Iraqi government asked KRG to withdraw
the decisions of the referendum and get back to the Iraqi constitution in taking any
decision. Haider al-Abadi , the Prime Minster of Iraq gave Barzani warning that if he does
not back down, the Iraqi government will take over control of Kirkuk province's oil wells
that are at the moment under the control of KRG.
Three days ago the Iraqi government sent a huge numbers of Police, military and Hishdi
Shaibe[the Siha paramilitary group]with various of heavy weapons to take positions on the
city's approaches.
The civil war now very imminent between Peshmarga, KRG forces, and the above forces of
central government.
We are asking for support and solidarity from our comrades anarchists to protest, making a
statement against this war, show their anger against the war and solidarity to Iraqi people.
We are anti State because we are against the current political system. We are
anti-political party and anti-authoritarian ideology from left to the right, because we
are anti class superiority, and anti-private ownership and exploitation of the labour. All
the wars in history happened due to protecting class superiority, private ownership and
labour exploitation.
We are against war, weapons and hatters between the different cultures and between
different ethnic minorities. War in general produces death and slavery. The outcome of any
war does not support starting the social revolution, in fact it damages and weakening the
revolution climate. In the meantime, war opening a very big market for selling/ buying
weapons and destroying the environment. War makes the poor people poorer and class
superiority lasts longer.
While we are against war, we are very much in favour of people self-administration
wherever they are living communally and working collectively. We are also aware wherever
the state exist there is no freedom, wherever political party is, there is no
self-thinking and individual independency. Wherever the businessmen and money are, there
are slavery wages and exploited people.
In Iraqi "Kurdistan" there has been a strong authority for the last 26 years, there has
been the bourgeois in power. For the last 26 years people deprived from the real freedom
and from making the decision by themselves. For the long time the ruler has done very
little for the people in "Kurdistan" in term of providing services. They encouraged people
to move from the rural area to the towns and cities, making so many business contracts
with the foreign oil company and corporations for their own profit, sold all the public
lands and many more. In short "Kurdistan" became the home of many multinational companies,
the financial institutions and the spies network of the neighbourhood countries and
others. Since then they acted like a proper state in whatever they wanted to do. So why
should we expect different when they set up their own "independent state" and think it
will be better than what the people have it now?
We ask all our anarchist comrades to support and have solidarity with us to prevent this
war. It is true that your opposition to the military and nationalist war in Iraq, if
happens, may not as effective as our opposition, however, your solidarity will be crucial
and greatly appreciated.
We again are calling our whole comrade anarchists especially Arab, Persian, Turkish and
Assyrian speakers to raise their voices and act to stop this viscous war that is not in
the interest of working class and poor people in Iraq and "Kurdistan". Being silent and
not be serious about it, is directly or indirectly serves the politicians, the big
corporations and the capitalist system. We therefore have no choice but fighting back the
system, its action and its war. We also expect the other anarchists wherever they are to
stand with us, firm and to support the children, elderly and the disable people in Iraq.
No to war
No to State
No to nationalism and patriotism
No to capitalism system
Yes to solidarity and unite against the war
Yes to self-organise
Yes to the social struggle
Yes to social revolution
Yes to social uprising
Yes to self-administration
Kurdish-Speaking Anarchist Forum (KAF)
15t Oct 2017
Website:
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Facebook page
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Twitter
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Email
anarkistan@riseup.net
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Message: 3
With the election of Donald "Orange is the New White" Trump, there has been a new
outpouring of social justice activity across the United States. The Women's March, airport
demonstrations in support of immigrants and refugees, the People's Climate March, millions
of dollars in new donations to the American Civil Liberties Union are all part of this
bump in activity. Even Keith Olbermann is now calling his show "The Resistance!" ---- In
many ways this is inspiring and exactly what we need to be seeing as a far-right
infant-sociopath takes office. Thousands of people pouring their time, energy and money
into movements and organizations that are opposing the agenda of the Trump regime. As
we've said many times in this paper, it's the concerted activity of everyday people
organizing and fighting back that has any real hope of bringing about a more sane and just
world.
That said, when you're new to the party, there are some things to avoid and some things to
learn. And in Rochester, there have already been some real mistakes made by those
stumbling into the party, already wasted, demanding their own (shitty) music, and puking
on the ones who have been holding down the party. We're looking at you, Action Together.
Here's the thing. We probably want you at the party. Especially the ten reasonably chill,
kind of confused people that came in behind your obnoxious friend. And, the reality here
is that we probably need you.
There have been some impressive movements over the last few years, from Occupy to the
Fight for 15 and Black Lives Matter. These movements have been critical to changing the
way many people see the society they live in. They've helped win some critical demands
that have improved many people's lives. But ultimately they aren't enough.
For us to build the sort of real mass movements that we're going to need to defend against
the emboldened far-right, we're going to need the active participation of a whole lot more
people than these movements have brought together so far. But if we do that right, we have
an opportunity to build the kind of movement that can go so much father than simply
defending. We can begin to advance a new world free of exploitation and oppression.
So, if you're part of this new crew jumping on the resistance train, we've got a few
lessons we'd like to share from over the years.
Power matters.
Engaging in resistance movements is not simply about "making a statement." I know, I know.
Your sign is super fucking clever. I see what you did there. What a great pun. Funny how
the revolution hasn't popped off after everyone read it, don't you think?
Too many people come into this world believing that the statement is all that really
matters. The reality is that those in power rarely care about opinions of anyone other
than others in power.
Protest is not simply about making a statement, it often has to be about active disruption
of the interests or activities of those in power. One striking worker is worth thousands
of your awesome sign-puns. If you have hundreds at a protest but only a couple willing to
engage in potentially arrestable disruption, those in power aren't likely to notice you
for long. Good messaging is important, but isn't everything.
We have to build the power of those people fighting for a better world and those people
facing the worst attacks from the current system. This means building organization and
vision. This means finding what kind of leverage you have against those in power, and
guess what: your vote isn't one of those.
Your candidate sucks.
I get it. You think they're really cool and totally going to change things. Unfortunately
for you and for them, the game is rigged. Let's assume your candidate isn't just saying
what feels popular to get elected (as nearly all of them clearly are). Even if your
candidate makes it into office, the new game of getting a significant enough majority to
pass laws is another rigged game. Even if they get there, crafting and enforcing
legislation that really benefits all of us is another rigged game.
More often the story of "The Great Progressive Candidate" isn't even as good as all that.
It's usually some candidate with halfway decent positions on a few questions, awful
positions on a few other questions, and a great story about why they just can't be that
vocal on the most important issues of the day.
The short answer is this: the electoral arena is the illusion of democracy and popular
power. It's a distraction meant to keep us pouring effort into campaigns that ultimately
don't threaten the interests of the wealthiest and most powerful in our country and world.
Your candidate and your campaign, intentionally or not, are a part of that problem.
So your candidate either sucks or is good and driving loads of energy into a futile
strategy for change - and therefore sucks.
The cops aren't your friends.
The cops love showing up to demonstrations and saying things like: "We're just here to
help keep people safe. We want to make sure you get your message across without any
problems. We're just here to make sure you don't break any laws."
What they really mean to say is this: "Let the status quo keep chugging along and we'll
allow you to say whatever you want. Get out of line and we'll fuck you up."
Of course, at some point you'll realize that simply making a statement doesn't create
change. At some point you'll realize that social change can only come with disruptive
action. When you do, you'll also realize that your city has a local army on standby to
take whatever oppressive actions necessary to try and stop you.
The purpose of police has always been pretty clear: maintain and defend the power of the
current standing government, its policies and the interests of those that government
serves (trust me, this isn't you).
This underlying mission of the police is all the more clear to some of the most
marginalized people in our communities. To Black and Latino communities, the homeless, and
undocumented immigrants the police already act as a daily oppressive force, keeping whole
communities living in fear.
If you think that you're working in solidarity with these communities, you're going to
need to quickly destroy the mythical idea of the heroic police. The thin blue line is
actually a map to white supremacist and fascist hangouts.
Prioritize poor and marginalized people.
So Trump is pushing forward some new plan to further attack immigrants throughout the
country. Maybe, just maybe, you and your wealthy white suburban friends shouldn't be the
primary voices at the rally against the policies. Maybe it shouldn't be led by politicians
that you and yours are comfortable with. Perhaps the message and tactic shouldn't be
determined by you.
What you might find through some listening is that these poor and marginalized
communities, communities of color, immigrants, workers and many others have actually been
fighting against the oppressive policies that you're now waking up to for years. You're
likely to find out that they aren't all that pleased with the past politicians that you
thought were the good guys. You'll probably find out that they often deeply understand the
issues impacting them and have a serious analysis of what it will take to change things.
Their answers might make you uncomfortable. Good.
Remember, most of us are glad that you're showing up now. If we have any real hope of
massive change, we're going to need you. But since you're new to the resistance party,
maybe you should take a minute to listen and understand before jumping out front.
Love really doesn't trump hate.
What a clever sign. It's utterly meaningless. I know, it sounds good. I get that it's a
nice feel-good line that makes it sound like you're the good guy here. But really, what
the fuck does it mean? Should we go hug Steve Bannon? You first.
Either this is an argument for loving the people around you despite the hateful notions
being given a platform by Trump and his goons or it's an argument that we should come
together with the other side, understand each other better, and stop all the political
divisions in our country. Frankly both of these arguments are moronic.
The fact that you invite your immigrant neighbors over for dinner doesn't matter if you
aren't actively standing up against their deportation. When your Black friends get
harassed, assaulted, and possibly killed by police your love isn't saving them. Hate is
currently taking the form of an organized political movement. Your feelings aren't going
to do shit to stop them. What will? An organized mass resistance that actively stands in
the face of oppressive policies.
If you're arguing that we need to better understand the far-right to find our common
ground and just stop all the divisiveness, go look up Vichy France. The far-right thrives
on shallow efforts at negotiation, understanding, and collaboration. The vision of the
world that they are putting forward is antithetical to basic notions of justice and
equality. Again, organized mass resistance will trump hate.
Fuck the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party is largely to blame for us being where we are today. The policies
pushed forward by the leadership of the Democratic Party have created and maintained many
of the inequalities and injustices that persist today. In some cases they actively
supported the same horrible policies as their supposed opponents (see: corporate
globalization, mass deportations, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bank bailouts, etc). In
other cases they offered a pathetic excuse for an opposition to the far-right ideas
emerging out of the Republican Party.
There are some people that don't seem to realize how bankrupt the Democratic Party really
is. They are trying to rebrand the standard Dem-politics as resistance in an effort to
capture the growing movement energy and redirect it to putting Democrats back in power.
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Message: 4
"B(A)D NEWS - Angry voices from around the world" is a monthly news program from the
international network of anarchist and antiauthoritarian radios, consisting of short news
segments from different parts of the world. Length: 1:15h ---- Content: ---- * 98fm: Laws,
actions and repression in Greece ---- * A-Radio Berlin: The Anarchist Days in Dresden,
Germany ---- * Radio Fragmata: Struggles in Greece ---- * 105fm: Immigration struggles,
gender violence and other topics from Lesvos, Greece ---- * The Final Straw: Interview on
the case of Hermann Bell in the USA ---- * Bilda Kedjor: Antifa action in Gothenburg,
Sweden ---- * Radio Kurruf: Mapuche hungerstrike and repression in Chile ---- * Dissident
Island: DSEI arms fair in London and October Revolution 1917 ---- * Frequenz A: Update
about repression and solidarity related to the protests against G20 in Hamburg
You can download the short introduction to the idea of Bad News at: archive.org (wav | mp3
| ogg).
Here you can listen to it directly:
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffda-ifa.org%2Fbad-news-angry-voices-from-around-the-world-episode-5-102017%2F&data=02%7C01%7Ccreuzadema%40hotmail.com%7C1508998586844e5f834008d5186bfecb%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636441774483997390&sdata=44ovdZRvHJWBX19K8tNq7%2BCbckCTsG%2F5bzlggzzMDCk%3D&reserved=0
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Message: 5
Nottinghamshire group of the Anarchist Federation - We're not from London, but ......
check out the latest from London AF group (co-published with Haringey Solidarity Group,
IWW, Solfed and others) with their 16-page paper Rebel City, now at 7 issues:
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fafed.org.uk%2Frebel-city-7-london-afs-regular-paper-is-available-for-free-download%2F&data=02%7C01%7Ccreuzadema%40hotmail.com%7C1508998586844e5f834008d5186bfecb%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636441774483997390&sdata=Bbg8hx%2BGTdML4olAbrJ%2FCNTPTibNJceo4irbHwoGGdU%3D&reserved=0
---- Front page title ‘FED UP? THEN RISE UP!'. Full contents: Housing, benefits, IWW,
Community struggles & self-organisation, Corbyn & Momentum, Land justice, The Grenfell
Tower Inferno & Mutual Aid, Antifascism in the time of Trump, Memory in history, London
Anarchist Bookfair, Direct Action Environmentalism. ---- The latest issue of the London
regular 16-page anarchist newspaper Rebel City ‘FED UP? THEN RISE UP!' is available for
free download - click to download October 2017 issue no.[7]
Co-published by London AF group, Haringey Solidarity Group, IWW, Solfed and others.
Contents: Housing, benefits, IWW, Community struggles & self-organisation, Corbyn &
Momentum, Land justice, The Grenfell Tower Inferno & Mutual Aid, Antifascism in the time
of Trump, Memory in history, London Anarchist Bookfair, Direct Action Environmentalism.
Back issues online:[6][5][3][2][1][no. 4 coming sometime!]
PDF link URL: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fafed.org.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F10%2Frebel_city_07.pdf&data=02%7C01%7Ccreuzadema%40hotmail.com%7C1508998586844e5f834008d5186bfecb%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636441774483997390&sdata=TacG23sgrE6ooZry%2BWAKExHHU6tgUQTLJPQek%2FewKqQ%3D&reserved=0
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Message: 6
This weeks crossword puzzle is on the Anti-Globalization Movement. ---- Download it here:
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fanarchistnews.org%2Fcrossword%2Fcrossword21.pdf&data=02%7C01%7Ccreuzadema%40hotmail.com%7C1508998586844e5f834008d5186bfecb%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636441774483997390&sdata=gDS217TYylO2F0rDoyW0YVp7UCDxqba%2Fnf5R0GWkPbE%3D&reserved=0 ---- From LBC about the book: ---- For
those anarchistnews fans who miss Worker's acerbic and insightful bon mots on modern-day
anarchy and anarchists, here is a fix (however temporary) for you. ---- Fifty crossword
puzzles of occasionally ludicrous difficulty (there are scattered puff questions
throughout also, for those of you, like me, who are terrible at these kind of games) are
featured for your education and amusement. ---- Anarchistnews.org is the most popular,
utilized, and non-sectarian news source pertaining to anarchists in North America. Its
open commenting system continues to be one of the few spaces in which anarchists,
nationally and internationally, converse about topics of the day, challenge each other,
and critically engage with a wide variety of issues and events.
Worker retired from running the site after eleven years... Since then they have reflected
on their time in the daily trenches of running the site, and this book is the result.
These crossword puzzles speak to the years of comment threads, the ridiculousness and
wonderfulness of the anarchist space in North America, and finally the absurdity of
working with cantankerous, stubborn, and self-righteous people by way of essay or manifesto.
These puzzles should probably be done by a reading group or a group of friends. They are
supposed to make you think, laugh, and perhaps smack your head. A more perfect metaphor
for North American anarchism cannot be found.
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flittleblackcart.com%2Fbooks%2Fculture%2Fworkers-book-of-50-sectarian-c&data=02%7C01%7Ccreuzadema%40hotmail.com%7C1508998586844e5f834008d5186bfecb%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636441774483997390&sdata=UtloOjii1evHAfVMZzJxkJFV4sqGCoruxNJ%2BFbHx5B8%3D&reserved=0
[Here are the solutions! Don't peek!: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fardentpress.com%2Fcrosswords%2F&data=02%7C01%7Ccreuzadema%40hotmail.com%7C1508998586844e5f834008d5186bfecb%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636441774483997390&sdata=WJQd2mUhQUOYrpuBII%2BUu5ZqmAHgurRmGp6O0xb6AFY%3D&reserved=0
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Message: 7
The metal worker Pjotr Arshinov was one of the more prominent anarchists during the
Russian revolution. For the 10th anniversary he wrote this important essay 'The Two
Octobers' looking at the conflict between the workers revolutions of land occupations,
factory committees and soviets and the top down dictatorial government imposed by the
Bolshevik party. At the time of writing he was in exile in Paris but he returned to the
USSR to be disappeared and shot in 1937 having been accused of seeking to restore
anarchism into Soviet Russia. ---- The Two Octobers ---- The victorious revolution of the
workers and peasants in 1917 was legally established in the Bolshevik calendar as the
October Revolution. There is sane truth in this, but it is not entirely exact. In October
1917 the workers and peasants of Russia surmounted a colossal obstacle to the development
of their Revolution. They abolished the nominal power of the capitalist class, but even
before that they achieved something of equal revolutionary importance and perhaps even
more fundamental. By taking the economic power from the capitalist class, and the land
from the large owners in the countryside, they achieved the right to free and uncontrolled
work in the towns, if not the total control of the factories. Consequently, it was well
before October that the revolutionary workers destroyed the base of capitalism. All that
was left was the superstructure. If there had not been this general expropriation of the
capitalists by the workers, the destruction of the bourgeois state machine - the political
revolution - would not have succeeded in any way. The resistance of the owners would have
been much stronger. On the other hand, the objectives of the social revolution in October
were not limited to the overthrow of capitalist power. A long period of practical
development in social self-management was before the workers, but it was to fail in the
following years.
Therefore, in considering the evolution of the Russian socialist Revolution as a whole,
October appears only as a stage - a powerful and decisive stage, it is true. That is why
October does not by itself represent the whole social revolution. In thinking of the
victorious October days, one must consider that historical circumstance as determined by
the Russian social revolution.
Another no less important peculiarity is that October has two meanings - that which the
working' masses who participated in the social revolution gave it, and with them the
Anarchist-Communists, and that which was given it by the political party that captured
power from this aspiration to social revolution, and which betrayed and stifled all
further development. An enormous gulf exists between these two interpretations of October.
The October of the workers and peasants is the suppression of the power of the parasite
classes in the name of equality and self-management. The Bolshevik October is the conquest
of power by the party of the revolutionary intelligentsia, the installation of its ‘State
Socialism' and of its ‘socialist' methods of governing the masses.
The workers October
The February Revolution caught the different revolutionary parties in complete disarray
and without any doubt they were considerably surprised by the profound social character of
the dawning revolution. At first, no one except the anarchists wanted to believe it. The
Bolshevik Party, which made out it always expressed the most radical aspirations of the
working-class, could not go beyond the limits of the bourgeois revolution in its aims. It
was only at the April conference that they asked themselves what was really happening in
Russia. Was it only the overthrow of Tsarism. or was the revolution going further - as far
as the. overthrow of capitalism? This last eventually posed to the Bolsheviks the question
of what tactics to employ. Lenin became conscious before the other Bolsheviks of the
social character of the revolution, and emphasised the necessity of seizing power. He saw
a decisive advance in the workers' and peasants' movement which was undermining the
industrial and rural bourgeoisie foundations more and more. A unanimous agreement on these
questions could not be reached even up to the October days. The Party manoeuvred all this
time in between the social slogans of the masses and the conception of a social-democratic
revolution, from where they were created and developed. Not opposing the slogan of petit-
and grand-bourgeoisie for a Constituent Assembly, the Party did its best to control the
masses, striving to keep up with their ever-increasing pace.
During this time, the workers marched impetuously forward, relentlessly running their
enemies of left and right into the ground. The big rural landowners began everywhere to
evacuate the countryside, fleeing from the insurgent peasantry and seeking protection for
their possessions and their persons in the towns. Meanwhile, the peasantry proceeded to a
direct re-distribution of land, and did not want to hear of peaceful co-existence with the
landlords. In the towns as well a sudden change took place between the workers and the
owners of enterprises. Thanks to the efforts of the collective genius of the masses,
workers' committees sprang up in every industry, intervening directly in production,
putting aside the admonishments of the owners and concentrating on eliminating them from
production. Thus in different parts of the country, the workers got down to the
socialisation of industry.
Simultaneously, all of revolutionary Russia was covered with a vast network of workers'
and peasant soviets, which began to function as organs of self management. They developed,
prolonged, and defended the Revolution. Capitalist rule and order still existed nominally
in the country, but a vast system of social and economic workers' self-management was
being created alongside it. This regime of soviets and factory committees, by the very
fact of its appearance, menaced the state system with death . It must be made clear that
the birth and development of the soviets and factory committees had nothing do with
authoritarian principles. On the contrary, they were in the full sense of the term organs
of social and economic self-management of the masses, and in no case the organs of state
power. They were opposed to the state machine which sought to direct the masses, and they
prepared for a decisive battle against it. "The factories to the workers, the land to the
peasants" - these were the slogans by which the revolutionary masses of town and country
participated in the defeat of the State machine of the possessing classes in the name of a
new social system which was founded on the basic cells of the factory committees and the
economic and social soviets. These catch-words circulated from one end of workers' Russia
to the other, deeply affecting the direct action against the socialist-bourgeois coalition
government.
As was explained above, the workers and peasants had already worked towards the entire
reconstruction of the industrial and agrarian system of Russia before October 1917. The
agrarian question was virtually solved by the poor peasants as early as June - September
1917. The urban workers, for their part, put into operation organs of social and economic
Self-management, having seized from the State and the owners the organisational functions
of production. The October Revolution of the workers overthrew the last and the greatest
obstacle to their revolution the state power of the owning classes, already defeated and
disorganised. This last evolution opened a vast horizon for the achievement of the social
revolution putting it onto the creative road to socialist reconstruction of society,
already pointed at by the workers in the preceding months. That is the October of the
workers and the peasants. It meant a powerful attempt by the exploited manual workers to
destroy totally the foundations of capitalist society, and to build a workers' society
based on the principles of equality, independence, and self-management by the proletariat
of the towns and the countryside. This October did not reach its natural conclusion. It
was violently interrupted by the October of the Bolsheviks, who progressively extended
their dictatorship throughout the country.
The Bolshevik October
All the statist parties, including the Bolsheviks, limited the boundaries of the Russian
Revolution to the installation of a social-democratic regime. It was only when the workers
and peasants of all Russia began to shake the agraro-bourgeois order, when the social
revolution was proved to be an irreversible historical fact, that the Bolsheviks began
discussing the social character of the Revolution, and the consequent necessity of
modifying its tactics. There was no unanimity in the Party on questions of the character
and orientation of the events which had taken place, even up to October. Furthermore, the
October Revolution as well as the events which followed developed while the Central
Committee of the Party was divided into two tendencies. Whilst a part of the Central
Committee, Lenin at its head, foresaw the inevitable social revolution and proposed
preparation for the seizure of power, the other tendency, led by Zinoviev and Kamenev,
denounced as adventurist the attempt at social revolution, and went no further than
calling for a Constituent Assembly in which the Bolsheviks occupied the seats furthest to
the Left. Lenin's point of view prevailed, and the Party began to mobilise its forces in
case of a decisive struggle by the masses against the Provisional Government.
The party threw itself into infiltrating the factory committees and the soviets of
workers' deputies, doing its best to obtain in these organs of self-management the most
mandates possible in order to control their actions. Nevertheless, the Bolshevik
conception of, and approach to, the soviets and the factory committees was fundamentally
different from that of the masses. While the mass of workers considered them to be the
organs of social and economic self-management, the Bolshevik Party looked on them as a
means by which it was possible to snatch the power of the sinking bourgeoisie and
afterwards to use this power to serve the interests of the Party. Thus an enormous
difference was revealed between the revolutionary masses and the Bolshevik Party in their
conceptions and perspectives of October. In the first case, it was the question of the
defeat of power with the view of reinforcing and enlarging the already constituted organs
of workers and peasants self-management. In the second case, it was the question of
leaning on these organs in order to seize power and to subordinate all the revolutionary
forces to the Party. This divergence played a fatal role in determining the future course
of the Russian Revolution.
The success of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution - that is to say, the fact that
they found themselves in power and from there subordinated the whole Revolution to their
Party is explained by their ability to substitute the ides of a Soviet power for the
social revolution and the social emancipation of the masses. A priori, these two ideas
appear as non-contradictory for it was possible to understand Soviet power as the power of
the soviets, and this facilitated the substitution of the idea of Soviet power for that of
the Revolution. Nevertheless, in their realisation and consequences these ideas were in
violent contraction to each other. The conception of Soviet Power incarnated in the
Bolshevik state, was transformed into an entirely traditional bourgeois power concentrated
in a handful of individuals who subjected to their authority all that was fundamental and
most powerful in the life of the people - in this particular case, the social revolution.
Therefore, with the help of the "power of the soviets" - in which the Bolsheviks
monopolised most of the posts - they effectively attained a total power and could proclaim
their dictatorship throughout the revolutionary territory. This furnished them with the
possibility of strangling all the revolutionary currents of the workers in disagreement
with their doctrine of altering the whole course of the Russian Revolution and of making
it adopt a multitude of measures contrary to its essence. One of these measures was the
militarisation of labour during the years of War Communism - militarisation of the workers
so that millions of swindlers and parasites could live in peace, luxury and idleness.
Another measure was the war between town and country, provoked by the policy of the Party
in considering peasants as elements unreliable and foreign to the Revolution. There was,
finally, the strangling of libertarian thought and of the Anarchist movement whose social
ideas and catchwords were the force of the Russian Revolution and orientated towards a
social revolution. Other measures consisted of the proscription of the independent workers
movement, the smothering of the freedom of speech of workers in general. All was reduced
to a single centre, from where all instructions emanated concerning the way of life, of
thought, of action of the working masses.
That is the October of the Bolsheviks. In it was incarnated the ideal followed by decades
by the revolutionary intelligentsia, initially realised now by the wholesale dictatorship
of the All-Russian Communist Party. This ideal satisfies the ruling intelligentsia,
despite the catastrophic consequences for the workers; now they can celebrate with pomp
the anniversary of ten years of power.
The Anarchists
Revolutionary Anarchism was the only politico social-current to extol the idea of a social
revolution by the workers and peasants, as much during the 1905 Revolution as from the
first days of the October Revolution. In fact, the role they could have played would have
been colossal, and so could have been the means of struggle employed by the masses
themselves. Likewise, no politico-social theory could have blended so harmoniously with
the spirit and orientation of the Revolution. The interventions of the Anarchist orators
in 1917 were listened to with a rare trust and attention by the workers. One could have
said that the revolutionary potential of the workers and peasants, together with the
ideological and tactical power of Anarchism could have represented a force to which
nothing could be opposed. Unhappily, this fusion did not take place. Some isolated
anarchists occasionally led intense revolutionary activity among the workers, but there
was not an Anarchist organisation of great size to lead more continuous and co-ordinated
actions, (outside of the Nabat Confederation and the Makhnovchtina in the Ukraine). Only
such an organisation could have united the Anarchists and the millions of workers. During
such an important and advantageous revolutionary period, the Anarchists limited themselves
to the restricted activities of small groups instead of orientating themselves to mass
political action. They preferred to drown themselves in the sea of their internal
quarrels, not attempting to pose the problem of a common policy and tactic of Anarchism By
this deficiency, they condemned themselves to inaction and sterility during the most
important moments of the Revolution.
The causes of this catastrophic state of the Anarchist movement resided in the dispersion,
the disorganisation and the absence of a collective tactic - things which have nearly
always been raised as principles among Anarchists, preventing them making a single
organisational step so that they could orientate the social revolution in a decisive
fashion. There is no actual advantage in denouncing those who, by their demagogy, their
thoughtlessness, and their irresponsibility, contributed to create this situation. But the
tragic experience: which led the working masses to defeat, and Anarchism to the edge of
the abyss, should be assimilated as from now. We must combat and pitilessly stigmatise
those who in one way or another, continue to perpetuate the chaos and confusion in
Anarchism, all those who obstruct its re-establishment or organisation. In other words,
those whose actions go against those efforts of the movement for the emancipation of
labour and the realisation of the Anarchist-Communist society. The working masses
appreciate and are instinctively attracted by Anarchism, but will not work with the
Anarchist movement until they are convinced of its theoretical and organisational
coherence. It is necessary for everyone of us to try to the maximum to attain this coherence.
Conclusions and Perspectives
The Bolshevik practice of the last ten years shows clearly the
counter-revolutionary[role]of their dictatorship of the Party. Every year it restrains a
little more the social-and political rights of the workers, and takes their revolutionary
conquests away. There is no doubt that the ‘historic mission' of the Bolshevik Party is
emptied of all meaning and that it will attempt to bring the Russian Revolution to its
final objective: State Capitalism of the enslaving salariat, that is to say, of the
reinforced power of the exploiters and at the increasing misery of the exploited. In
speaking of the Bolshevik Party as part of the socialist intelligentsia, exercising its
power over the working masses of town and country, we have in view its central directing
nucleus which, by its origins, its formation, and its life-style has nothing in common
with the working class, and despite that, rules all the details of life of the Party and
of the people. That nucleus will attempt to stay above the proletariat, who have nothing
to expect from it. The possibilities for rank and file Party militants, including the
Communist youth, appear different. This mass has passively participated in the negative
and counter-revolutionary policies of the Party, but having come from the working-class,
it is capable of becoming aware of the authentic October of the workers and peasants and
of coming towards it. We do not doubt that from this mass will come many fighters for the
workers' October. Let us hope that they rapidly assimilate the Anarchist character of this
October, and that they come to its aid. On our side, let us indicate this character as
much as possible, and help the masses to reconquer and conserve the great revolutionary
achievements.
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