There is no doubt that capitalism is a reactionary system that enriches a small self-appointed elite while keeping the majority of people poor. At its worst, it is an oligarchic death-system which ruthlessly exploits and abuses the masses, causing war, famine, slavery and misery all over the world.From our perspective the remedy to this is a new world built on universal brotherhood and sisterhood, the basis of which is a commonly owned and mutually shared planet with all its resources. We call this communism, but labels are not really important.
The big question for those of us who are already converts to the idea of world revolution is how do we achieve it?
Our answer is that we have to be self-disciplined and well organised while maintaining genuine democracy – this is the anarchist way. Over the past few years we have been re-studying the likes of the Russian Revolution, Spanish Revolution and post world war two periods and come to the conclusion that the Bolshevik model is the kiss of death for revolution. Bolshevism - in all its forms: Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, Maoism, etc - only ever succeeds in recuperating capitalism and creating new forms of class society and new forms of exploitation, i.e. State Capitalism. Today, for example, China is living proof of the innate degeneracy of this political approach. We do not in any way blame Karl Marx for this, only Lenin and his political heirs.
In short the only true communism is libertarian communism.
Finally it must be stated that while we do not condemn the use of violence as a potential weapon of the class war, at the same time we do not think the movement should make a fetish of it. Insurrections are certainly part of revolutionary history and they will definitely occur again in the future. However, in the first instance, we should all become involved in constructive, grass-roots projects - building independent and democratic proletarian power in our workplaces, independent and democratic civic power in our communities, etc, seriously attempting to nurture a new society of freedom within the shell of the old. This is the real challenge. Fighting in the streets, clad in black, armed with audacity and Molotov cocktails, may well appear as an exciting and romantic adventure to idealistic youth. But the danger is that in years to come we may all look back in anger on what was little more than a grand, though ultimately futile gesture of defiance.
For Social Revolution and Libertarian Communism!
