Black flame : the revolutionary class politics of anarchism and syndicalism / Lucien van der Walt and Michael Schmidt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Van der Walt, Lucien.

Contributor:

Schmidt, Michael (Anarchist-communist journalist)

Series:

Counterpower ; v. 1.

Counterpower ; v. 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Libertarianism--Europe--History.

Libertarianism.

Anarchism--Europe--History.

Anarchism.

Syndicalism--Europe--History.

Syndicalism.

Socialism--Philosophy.

Socialism.

History.

Europe.

Physical Description:

395 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh ; Oakland : AK Press, [2009]

Summary:

Black Flame is the first of two volumes that reexamine anarchism's democratic class politics, its vision of a decentralized planned economy, and its impact on popular struggles in five continents over the last 150 years. From the nineteenth century to today's anticapitalist movements, it traces anarchism's lineage and contemporary relevance. It outlines anarchism's insights into questions of race, gender, class, and imperialism, significantly reframing the work of previous historians on the subject, and critiquing Marxist approaches to those same questions.

Lucien van der Walt teaches at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Michael Schmidt is a Johannesburg-based senior investigative journalist.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction 5

Our Project 8

Beyond Capitalism: History, Neoliberalism, and Globalisation 9

Rethinking the Broad Anarchist Tradition 14

Social Base and Global Reach 15

What Is the Broad Anarchist Tradition? 19

Insurrectionist Anarchism, Mass Anarchism, and Syndicalism 20

Organisational Dualism 22

War, Gender Issues, and Anti-Imperialism 23

Anarchism and Marxism 24

Before We Start 26

Part 1 Theory and Analysis

Chapter 2 Socialism from Below: Defining Anarchism 33

The Meaning of Anarchism: Debating the Literature 34

The Need for a New Approach 41

Starting Again: Socialism, Bakunin, and the First International 44

Against Hierarchy 47

Against Capitalism and Landlordism 48

Against the State 52

The Rejection of State Socialism 54

Elements of the Social Revolution 56

The Popular Classes 56

Internationalism, Social Equality, and Anti-imperialism 60

Counterpower and Counterculture 65

For a New World 67

Crime and Social Order 69

Anarchism Redefined: Socialism, Class, and Democracy 71

In Conclusion: The Modernity of Anarchism 72

Chapter 3 Proudhon, Marx, and Anarchist Social Analysis 83

Cooperatives, Proudhon, and Peaceful Change 83

A Critical Appropriation of Marxist Economics 85

Marxist Economics and Anarchist Communism 87

History, Progress, and the State 92

The Vanguard and the State 98

State Capitalism and Libertarian Socialism 100

Economic Determinism and the Broad Anarchist Tradition 105

The Anarchist Understanding of Class 108

In Conclusion: Toward an Anarchist Social Analysis 113

Part 2 Strategy and Tactics

Chapter 4 Roads to Revolution: Mass Anarchism versus Insurrectionist Anarchism 123

Anarchist Communism versus Anarcho-syndicalism? 124

The Insurrectionist Tradition 128

Mass Anarchism, Possibilism, and Syndicalism 133

Syndicalism: Prefiguring the Future in the Present 133

Against Economism: Direct Action versus "Political Action" 138

Anarcho-syndicalism, Revolutionary Syndicalism, and De Leonism 142

In Conclusion: Building Tomorrow Today 143

Chapter 5 Anarchism, Syndicalism, the IWW, and Labour 149

Bakunin, Sorel, and the Origins of Syndicalism 149

The First International and the First Syndicalists 153

The First Wave: Syndicalism before the French CGT 155

The IWW and Syndicalism 159

De Leon and Connolly 160

The "Glorious Period" of the mid-1890s to mid-1920s 164

In Conclusion: Syndicalism and the Broad Anarchist Tradition 170

Chapter 6 Ideas, Structure, and Armed Action: Unions, Politics, and the Revolution 181

Union Activism, Anarchist Ideology, and Union Bureaucracy 181

Mass Anarchism, Radical Counterculture, and Syndicalism 183

Anarchist Schools and Syndicalist Education 186

Democracy and Direct Action 187

An Iron Law of Oligarchy? 188

Alliances and the Struggle outside the Workplace 190

Defending the Revolution 193

The Question of Power and the Spanish Revolution 198

In Conclusion: Anarchism, Syndicalism, and Counterpower 202

Chapter 7 Dual Unionism, Reforms, and Other Tactical Debates 211

The Antimilitarist Tradition and Popular Revolt 211

Reforms, Laws, and Compromises 218

Boring from Within and Dual Unionism 224

Tactics in Context and Organisational Dualism 228

Syndicalism and Rank-and-file Movements 231

In Conclusion: Reform and Revolution 233

Chapter 8 Militant Minority: The Question of Anarchist Political Organisation 239

Insurrectionists Anarchists, Antiorganisationalism, and Stirner's Ghost 240

Syndicalism and Anarchism without Adjectives 242

Bakuninism, the Organisation of Tendency, and the "Platform" 247

From Bakunin to the "Platform" 253

Rethinking the "Platform" Debate 256

Other Responses to the "Platform" 257

In Conclusion: Militant Minority and Mass Movement 263

Part 3 Social Themes

Chapter 9 The Class Character and Popular Impact of the Broad Anarchist Tradition 271

The Case against "Spanish Exceptionalism" 273

Broader Impacts and Infusions 275

The Class Character of the Broad Anarchist Tradition 279

The Broad Anarchist Tradition in the Countryside 282

Behind the Rise of Peasant Anarchism 283

In Conclusion: Labour Movements and Peasant Revolts 290

Chapter 10 Anarchist Internationalism and Race, Imperialism, and Gender 297

Anarchist Class Politics and Race 300

An International and Internationalist Movement 305

Imperialism and National Liberation 309

Anarchists and Syndicalists in Anti-imperialist Struggles 314

Anarchism, Syndicalism, and Women's Emancipation 321

Women, Class, and Counterculture 323

Anarchist and Syndicalist Women's Activism 328

In Conclusion: Class Politics and Human Emancipation 334

Chapter 11 Conclusion to Volume 1 and Prologue to Volume 2 347.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 349-376) and index.

ISBN:

9781904859161

190485916X

OCLC:

144596882