What do revo .Iutionsries do? This question has dogged and divided is a contentious question which haA dogged and divided the lef t for decades. Written from an Anarchist Communist perspective, this pa•phlet deals with issues like What is working class spontaneity ? How should the revolutionary organisation relate to the working class ? What are the tasks of the revolutionary organisation7 and who makes up the revolutionary organisation, and how should the organisation ht" structured? Coraplete with cr.i tical int. roduction.

FURTHER READING ON THIS TOPIC: *Revolutionary Organisations, by Class War Federation I excellent and accessible discussion) . *Anti Hass: methods of organisation for collectives (deals wit .h building a revolutionary organisation). *Tra.gedy of the Russian Revolution, by Alexander Berkman (Anarc hiRt . eyewitness account of the Bolsheviks role in the Russian Revolution, with Appendix critiquing the concepts of the "vanguard party" and thP "workers state").

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THE ROLE

OF THE

REVOLUTIONARY ORGANISATION'

INTRODUCTION REVOLUTIONARY

TO "THE ROLE OF ORGANISATION"

THE

The role of the revolut ionary organisation is a contentious question which has dogged and divided the left for decades. This pamphlet presents an Anarchist - Communist perspective. The issues it covers include a dis cussio n of working class spontaneity,the relationship betwe en the revolutionary organisation and the working class, the tasks of the revolutionary organisation before and during revolution, and the composition and structure of the re vo lut ionary organisation.

One point to which we want to draw attention to is the reference to a "libertarian front " composed of a variety of revolutionary groups and structures(p.6). This is an important point to note, because it shows that, while the pamphlet refers to the revolutionary organisation, it conceives of this as part of a wider grouping, wh ich we have called, in our other pamphlets the "revolutionary lor libertarian) movement . " Please note that this is not the same as the mass movement of the working people as a whole.

Although an undoubtedly important document, this pamphlet is unfortunately no t without its problems. Firstly it f ai l s to present any sustained critique of the Leninist conception of revolutionary organisation, which remains the predominant view on the Left. We have dealt with this question more thoroughly in our pamphlet The Tragedy of the Russian Re1 ·ol ution, based on the testimony of the great Anarchist Alexander Berkman.

Secondly,the distinction drawn between a revolutionary organisation and working class movement- grassroots organisations leg. squatters groups) and revolutionary bodies leg. workers councils)- is a bit arbitrary. For example, an Anarcho - syndicalist organisation !Anarchist trade union) would seem to have transcended this distinction.

Finally, racism and sexism tend to be simplistically treated as ruling class ploys to "divide" the working class. Actually, its more likely that race and sex oppression are forms of oppression separate from, but interl inked with, class oppression. That is, they are not the same as class oppression, but c lass divisions do affect the way they are experienced(eg. are homeland leaders "oppressed"?), and racism and sexism operate in the best interests of the ruling class.

FORWARD TO A WORLD BASED ON NEED, NOT GREED, AND DIRECT DEMOCRACY, NOT POWER!

QQ!) .BQ.E ;_ r\nar~c hist ('o mrnllnJs t F "Rolp o f the Revo l e d e ratton ! Unit ed KJn~dom) Annrc hicot eo . utl _o r~Rry O r gnr, , s n t i o n."

. . mmun,st f-d i tions no. 7

~ll-AWca[!__£_d · t · Intr·o --' ~ - - ;u __ ~on _U/O A · . u1t c . 1 nn nnd .\L1.!..

. C'Ovt>rpJ Pee Addt>d ( 1.. V . I

WE Anarchist Communists have a vision of a revolutionary organisation in bold contrast to t hat of the Leninists and other authoritarians . At the same ti me our concept of revolutionary organisation is in political and organ­isational disagreement with the idea of informal group­ings as advocated by some anarchists .

What truly distinguishes the anarchist communist org ­anisation is its structure , its relationship with the working class, and a theoretical elaboration of that relationship coupled with a precise understanding of class spontaneity . It becomes increasingly important. to attempt this clarification . The cri sis of market capit­alism in the West and state capital i sm in Eastern Europe , China and Cuba on every level (economic , social , cultural and sexual) is reflected in the crisis of the organisat­ions of the revolutionary left . These organisations dup ­licate ruling class values in thei r authoritarianism, their high degree of centralism , their wcrship of hier­archy and the sheep- like submission of the rank and file to the omnipotent and all -wise leaderships .

As the crisis in capitalism ceepens , the related crisis in the left parties becomes more extr eme , with split after split , opport.uni sm end collaboration .,,:i t h the so cial-democratic agents of the bosses , the Labour Party. The Communi st Party is in r uins, some members clinging to the old Stalinist cliches , whilst others move to social -democr atic ideas to the right of the Labo ur Party . Militant seeks to show its respectability , deno uncing anarchists to the police , while the once infl uential Workers Revolutionary Party has shattered into over a dozen fragments . For them , financiaJ corrup~

tion , spying for Middle Eastern regimes , endo rsement of murders of foreign fraternal comrades by the same reg ­imes , the horrific systematic sexual abuse and r ape of young women by top - dog Healy , were the order of the day .

I t is vi tal that a strong libertar ian movement in all areas of social life is created' so that working people can defend themselves against the capitalist onslaught,

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1111<'1 t,,, ,., ., .nl, ,• : 1 , . ,. , ~ , • • c~r~ l f-<•J·r~:lni:'<'ci ::ocirLy . Tn n:>0in L Lll t.h P bu i. LrLLng of s uch a ma s ;~ movement , a libertar-jnn rev o l.Jll.:innRry organisation is necessary , ar. or ­l'(.'ln :i. ~'nt.ion U1nt fi ghts fnr thn co - ordination of all nnt.L-c.'l ri t.nl i nL :1!.rugr:lo:-:. Such nn organisa.Li on mu st hnve a st n1 ctur n !.hat en s ures 1wrma nent political de ­bate mt1st. l>o controlled by Lhe wh ole membership. The ana­rcld st revoluti onary organisation must expo0e the author­itaLi_anism a nd e litism of the Leninist , Marxist a nd soc ­ial - d emocrati c groups .

CL ASS .SFON'I'ANEJTY

"The eman cipation of th e work ers must be brought about by th e vJo 1·k c: rn t.h ems e l v r~ s ." DeclarA ;, ,;_on of th e First J nter­nn t i_c•nn l

"The working c1ass by :its elf can only attain trade union cons ciousn e ss ." Lenin , What is to be Done .

A vas t abyss of th eo ry and pra c tice 1 ies between these t wo statements. We reject the Leninist conc ept whi ch s prings fr om th e managerial strata and th e intelligent ­sia whi c h seek to dragoon the workers into a new form of oppre ssion : the work ers ' state .

The ~oncrrt or work in g clRSS sronta neity han been di s ­t orted and misund erstood for t oe l ong~ We do not take the " unhistorical " attitude t hat some a narchists defend : that t he working clBss spri ngs into revolutionary activity with no Jinks with previ ous struggl e s and no previous agit ­ati on hy r Pvolutionary minorities . On the contrary. the work of r Pvol uti onari e s o ve r many years in taking part in clarifying and co ordinatin g strugg1es in the working class greatl y helps the r evolutionary process .

What we mean by working clas s spontan eity i s Lh e ab­ility of tlwt class to take direc t action nn -j l. s own behalf an d to devel op new fonns o f s truggl e and organ­isation . This ca n be se en in every great r evolutionary upsurge wh ere working peo pl e have thrown up committees

2

Rnd councils ind ependent of " vnnguards ". In this coun-try both the flying pick e t s a nrl the mass picke ts have

1 •

beon developed as weapono of s truggle . ~ore rece~tly, p1t comm and os ' emerged during th e 1984- 85 M1ners Str~k e . Al1 of th.Ls ha s be on don e incl e penn n11 t. o f th e Revolut1~nary Party (whichev e r one that happens t o be ) . Th e actlv-ities o f th e working class have tak en pl ace r egardless o f and some tim es a gain s t the po ntifi ca tions of the r e vo1u­tionary e1i te .

"Let us put it quite bluntly : th e er r ors c~mmit -: ed bY., a truly revoluti onary workers mo vement ar e . h1 s to ~1~a~1y far more fruitfu1 and va1uabl e t.han the 1nfal l 1b111ty o f even the bes t centra1 commit tee ." Rosa Luxembourg , Organisati onal Questions of Russian Socia1 Democracy

Th e experiences of working cJass 1ife constantly.l ead to the d evelopm ent of id eas and action which quest1on the estab1 ished oroer . On the other hand , the ruling class s eeks to reinf orce and perpetuate t he fragm en t ation of working class solidarity through it s control of the media and education and through its perpetuation of racism and sexism . At the same tim e , different sec ­tions of the working cla s s reach different degrees of consciousness . The working c1a ss is neither an amor ­phous mass nor , at the moment , a solid and united class , conscious of itself and :its pow er .

The a narchist revol utionary organisati on under s tands this . It also r eali se::; tha t. t h e on1y possible working class revolution is one wh er e wo rk i ng peopl e u s e mass actio n to smash the state appa r a tu s of th e ru1:L ng class and that c1ass itself . Any o th er r evolu t i on canno t, by its nature, be working c1ass a nd on1y 1eads to the form ­ation of a new ruling c1as s . Under s tanding these facts, the anarchist organisation re cogni se s that it has sev­era1 tasks to perform .

3

L

JDENTl F'ICI\TJ.ON

The a nar ch ·ist o rgRni~~R+~ jon mu " t always see itself as pnd, nf lh n eln ss . Tn nrrlnr t.n strengthen this identi-

f:i c~Jtion it mu s t develop Rnd extend j ts influe nce in the c~ Jn ss . 1\t. l.he snme Lirn n , th e anarchi s t organj_sation must r ecognis e iL self as being in iri eo l ogicaJ ad vRn ce of the c la ss as a whole . Ideological advance should not be con ­fu sed with practical advan ce b ecaus e , as we have said , work ers e v e rywh e r e l earn n e w forms o f struggle and organ­i sat i o n tha~ can b e n efit ath e r wo rk e r s . Th e anarchist r cvo1 t:L i c) rv1ry o r gani sat i o n must always b e r eady to learn fr o m the class and s ho tlld be expec t e d to constantly re­vi se its tnc~jcs with the unfoldi n g situ ation . It should a Jways r onll se that it is no t infallible a nd does not hAve a l I t he ans we r s al l the tim e . It is transformed as t·.Jl!' wo rkinp, c l n~ s i r~ t. r ~1 n ;.fc•rnwrl in the r e voJutionary p l·n c·c' ;· ~-~ .

Pccn u s0 iL i s. pnrt. n f' t.llf • clAss and at. the same time a rli s t. in c t.i ve rrnrlc'ncy wi. thj_n ·iL, the r e vo luti o nary organ·­i :c;~lL.i n n fn~c ~ s a 0<) nLt'ndi ~t·.jon i.n itc:; r elation s hip t o o t·, ho r Hn r·kjn g rwor1 o . Of cou rs e , if j_ t, i s not ra.rt o f Lil e c i a~~,-; t.il e n , ·ljk t: t>t.fwr· gn)up s , it t c ncl s towards • ' !jl . i ~;: •t , vnngunnUsrn nncl cHvorco from c:lR.ss reaJit.y . Th eo ry and pro C't i_c8 mu s t he ro o t e d in concrete condi-t i <1 n;-. Tiwr·"' Arf' cla nP,8rf'. :i n th nst: c o ntradictions 11.nd the rt' vn I ttl . i l 1 tl.': I'Y nnnrc' lij :.d . c rp;:1ni s n t.i o n must~ h0 nw:Jre of this Rt~cl rlrri.vP c; prncti('f' fr o rn thi s Rh'Rr nn ess . This c.-.ntr·nrJi, ·ti •>rl cnn r1 ot ho co mpl PtoJ y rcmo vorl unLj1 the l.ri.l lmr'h o f J 'i.l•rrt.arj an ~n mnlllni_ n t. f:oc i o Ly .

'l'I\ .:;J\ 5' Cl F Tim 1)1\GI\N I SI\TJ ON

Tn 11J1 clerst.r1nd :i ng that the revol uti on mu s t b e made h.y :·iw r~el f-nct i v .i t·.y o f the •-Jo rl{-i.n g cl,q s~; , nnd r e cog­rn s lng r.he abovo c~ontradietj_ o n, :;he ann.rchlst r e volu­tionary organisat.ion has a numbe r of ta s k s to perform. It mu s t ad. as a propaganda grouping , ceas Rlessly and 11ntj ri ngl y pu U , i ng ove r th e messap;c Lhat Lhe working class must d es tro y capitalism and esta blish a lib-

L,

•

ertarian communist soc:iety . It must also show how this can be do~e by giving ideas o f libertari an o r ganisat i on and e xamples of self-activity by working class people . It must sear~h out a nd r ecall th e hi story of past strug -gles , the1r successes and mi s take s , and impart the les­~~~s to ~e lea~ned ~o - th e r es t o f the class . Working class h1story l S dellbe rat ely o bscured and excluded fr o m the books by the_ruling clas s . The revol uti onary o rgani sat ion has t o help 1n the task of rediscov e rin g the se s t r uggl es in l·t s e ff t t h l th . o r ~ s o e D e d e v elopm ent of c:lass c o nscious -n ess .

Wh enever i mpo rtant developments occ ur within the class , the r e volutionary organi sation wust spread the n ews through its link s with o rganisation s in other countries . The r e volutionary organisation is internationali s t and seek s link s with other groupings in order to increase class e ff ective ness.

But th e organi sa Lj on ca niJ Ot seo i Lself solcd y as a propaganda group . Above al l it i s ac assembly o f activ ­ists . It mu s t actively wo rk in all the g ras s r oo ts o rgan­isations of the work i ng class s uch as r a nk and fil e groups ,tenants as socia~io n s , s quatt. e r s and un e mploy ed groups as well as wo me l1f3, bla e k and gay group s . Tt seeks t o make linJ\s b e tween uni o ni sed and no n-uni on ised workers in a struggle for a movem ent at th e base . The organisation seeks to wo rk inside the wo me n s groups and sex ual politics group s to help radicali se th e m and tl) a r gue for. a break with libe ral r e formism a nd Lenini~nn . . JL aims t o h elp :ill i:.he r ecogn i Lion c f t h e essent i a l inL e l· co tm ec t-i o n of sex ual a:1d cJass opp re~sion .. At t,:,,, .. ;wne tim e it r e sp ec ts th e :i.ndependenc:e and Htit o nu n1y o f th t; 1-10 rking cl a ss wom e n s , black and gay mov e me nts •. lL do e s not try to make these mo veme n ts into 1:111 appor~dagc o f Lh c' r vvolu ­Lionary organi ~;a Lion j u:.d, CiS i_ L t· osp<Jc Ls l. lill Ull Ln rlc l!IIY a r,d Stolf-organi ::;a Li on o f Ll, o nud\ a nd fil e t-.1nrkel'S rnovern ont that may d u vuJ op . ,Obvi o u:; ly, Llii_ :.; cl <;<Jc; n o L wean that it doos nol se e k to sp r eao it s i d e u s i11 t.hese rnov e rn ent 3 .

l

The orgAnisation work s for the fullest mass partici­pation inside all these groups and inside the class as a whole , for self-activity and for the self-organisa-tion by working people of every struggle and every fa -cet of life. Only by building such organisations in the course o f struggl e can the working clas s hope to achieve liber ation . The revolutionary organisation itself must · have mass participation and decision-making . It must also be organised as a federali=t structure as only fed ­eralism can hind er bureaucratic degeneration and encourage the active participation of all the members in the organ­isati on.

The anar chist organisation realises that the social revoluti on cannot be won without a struggle at the point of produ ct j o n and a seizure of the means of production . However , it do es not relegate the struggles in other areas o f Jif e (un empl oyed, sexual,ant-racist , environ ­mental and cultural) t o a se condary r ole. All these s trug­gles ar e j_mplici t ly anti-capi t alist and all the se issues ar e clo sely intertwin ed . Th e qu es tioning of on e fac e t of ca pitali sm cnn l e nd t o t o tal r e jection of the sy s t ~m .

The mi l ita nts of th e r evolutionary organisation who are involved in the se groups mu s t se ek to pinpoint in what way s t hP ~ ]a s s s y s t em causes and/or p erpetuates the pro bl em ~ rli ff c r cnt sections of soci e ty are confronting.

It is vitaiJy important that a ' liberta rian front ' of a] 1 th e s e movc·m nnt s and grnllps j_s built . Thus , r evol u­ti onary wo rk ro nsi s t s in part o f linking each area of s trugg l t ', h · i_ng ing o ut aLl th e latent ant i- capi t alist and Jibortnr inn t e nd encj e s t o be f ound th ere . Revolu ­tionary anarchist militants s eek a regroupm ent of all th os e wh o hav e ' gloha]is ed' th eir struggl e , having d evelop ed fr om fighting on one front of capitalism to a total critique . Thi s radical regroupm ent ha s to be striven f o r hy th e r e volutionary anarchis t o rganisation and r e fl ected in all its activiti es a nd publications . It mu s t ne t as a driving forc e of s uc h a grouping , con­stantly d rawin g in radicalj sed e l ement s and helping to build r· mAss movement .

When we say ' driving forc e ' we don ' t mean the Lenin­ist approach of s eeking to dominate such a movem ent by capturing positions and so Porth. We s eek t o minimi s e the organi sati onal contradi ction and look f or a clo se relation s hip with th e ma ss movement . We don ' t want t o take over s uch a movement. Wha t co unt s i s no t so much the num erical increa s e of th e organisation but the developm ent of the whole working class movement . We see the revolutionary organisation as a means of communi­cation and a weapon to be us ed by the working class .

THE LEADERSHIP OF IDEAS

In opposition t o the Lenini s t ideas of leadership, the anarchist organi sation fight s for the ' l eader ship of ideas ' within the class through e xamp1 e and sug­gestion . In a non-re volutionary period the potential revolutiona ry mass es by and large hold con s ervative ideas a nd values. In this peri od th er e needs to be a n organi sation that hold s on t o r evoluti ona ry idea s . In this sense we r ecogni se a ' l ead e r ship o f i~ eas ' . How­eve r, a t the o utbreak o f n v:o J utionr: o r ga n: sati ons, in­variably, a r e tak e n by s urpri se by the a udacity and imagin ati on c f th e r 8volutj ona ry masses . At this s tage a r evolutionary o r ga nisation CO lLI rl act as a brake o n progress . Again, however , a s the r evolutj on progr esses , count erre volutionary f orc es go neratc s t a ti s t a nrl c ivil war option s . The r e vo] uti o nary or gani r1 a t :i on no ~-,• ltas a rol e t o d e f end th e ad vanc ed irl oa s of th ~ ma s s e~ jn their initial r evolutio nary s tage .

This l ead e r s hip of irl eas en tail s a ~ L e R r n r under s tand­ing of hierarchical ~ociety , th e con cep t of self-or g­anised soci e ty and of Lenini r1 m. In th e n trt1ggl e against Leninism and all f orm s of eJiti sm comes the reali sation that th e s truggl e o f i deas mus t be waged at the grass ­roots l e vel. Thi s r eRLi sn tj on i s r e fl ected in rPvol u­tionary anarchi s t th eo ry a nd pr ac tice eg . the call f o r mandation of del egat nc , f or m.ass decision-making and for mas s a c tion .

7

A libertarian communi s t organisation will obviously not be the only organi sed t endency within the working class . Unlike Leninist organi sa t ion s , it does not s ee itself as th e Party but a s one of several organisations which will participate in the mass movement alongside those without affiliation . There may also be autonomo us organi sations of women or black people that will be re­presented in the movem ent and in the councils and other r evolutionary bodies that may develop . However , these sh ould be working clas s organisations as cross class mov ement s hide cla ss differ enc es and imply that the wor k ing class ca n have shared interests with th e ruling class . F'ull emancipa ti on canno t come about without the des truction of ca pital i s m.

THE COMPOSITION OF THE R~VOLUTIONARY ORGANI SATION

All sections of th e working class who r ecognise the need t o overthrow capital ism and who want to create an a na r chi s t-communi s t soci ety will he united in s jde the organi sation . El ement s of oth er classes and s trata who see th e ne ed for th e vi ct ory o f the working clas s will al s o be gath er ed in s id e th e or gani sation . Blue collar a nd wh i te collar worker s , el ements o f the working in­tel ligentsia and scient i fi c s trata will work tog e ther in th e r ealisation of t he re vol ution. The int ell ectual has a r ole t o play in helpi ng to clarify pos i t i on s inside t he organi sation, but h/ s he should never have a priv­il eged position in s ide it. I n fact , th e practi cality of wor ki ng cl as s people very o ften out s trip s t he intellectual in t heo ry a nd in pr ac ti ce . Wo rk e r s mu s t be th e va s t maj ority inside a r evolut io nary or ga ni sati on .

The r e vol uti ona r y o r ganisati on will fi ght i n th e newly crea t 8d wo r kplace a nd ne i ghbourhood s t r uctur es on an irleo l og i ceJ l evel aga i nst a ut l1 ori t a r i a n gr oups . It wi l l wor k within th e wor*in g c la s s t o ens ure that the s e s tructures functi on with t he ful l pa r·ticipati on of all on a n equa1 ba si s and t o fj hL again s t any party or organ­i sa ti. o r, tha t a im s t o t a ke po wt.;r i n th e nam e of th e work­i ng class . If t he Le ni ni sts Lr y a nd use f o r ce to d e -::L r· n y l.IJ , . /';;tin: : <>f' 1,),, . vl<• 1· k i1 11: c l 11: :: : Lh r! n l.hc~ l tnnr c h ·i s t

organi sati on must be fully prepa r ed t o combat them on a ~hysical l e vel a nd t o help o th Pr working class people to prepare f o r thi s ev entuality . It follows on from this that jn th 8 revoluti onary period the anarchi st organisati on mu s t caJ.J for a nd a ss i s t in the arming of aJl working peo pl e f or de fense against their enemies and for th e formati on of workers militias under the control of the mass organj sations .

The anarchj s t organisation does no t di s solve itself immediately after the initial j n s urrectionary phase of the revolution. It mu s t continu e to grow in order t o struggl e until anar chi s t-communi sm i s fully achieved. As this id eal i s r eal ised , th e: or ganisation becomes looser and ev entually disappears compl e t ely .

The anarchis t organisation should s ee itself in the r evolution a ry peri od as a ten~ e n c y within the revolution­ary movem e nt ad vocatin g maximum involvement . It should be pr epar Pd t o ~ xi s t with o th e r tend enc i e s as onJy con­stant de bat e j r1 t he cl ass can ens ure that correct de c­isions are rnAd P .