Social revolution and revolutionary organization

This article is published for the purpose of discussion. The editorial board of the journal Heretic does not agree with certain views of the author. In particular, we consider that it was not Bolshevism but Stalinism — a complete break with Bolshevism — that distorted the meaning of the word “communism.” In addition, Bolshevism itself fell victim to the Stalinist regime. At the same time, we see in this article many valuable ideas. We fully support the critique of trade unionism; we also support the author’s conclusion regarding the necessity of a revolutionary organization for the class struggle. But the author correctly observes that this organization cannot and must not replace the self-organization of the working class. We hope that this publication will give our readers food for thought.

SOCIAL REVOLUTION AND REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION

The organization isn`t an objective in itself

but only a means for achievement of setting objective

An old anarchist true

The FORIST alternative

We are communists. But not in this vulgarized and deformed sense which appears us always from pages of papers, from TV channels and broadcasting waves (“communist regime”, “Communist State”, “Communist Party” etc.). The true communism is anarchist, stateless and without authority, free, libertarian. Only hundred years ago, by the meaning of Communists, one can be almost for 100 per cent sure that the matter concerns Anarchists. Just in 1917, this word was stolen by Bolsheviks and it was later crippled by them and made a laughing-stock of entire World…

We are Communists in this old sense which wasn`t stolen yet: in the sense of free Commune and Association. When concerned people together and jointly (in general assemblies) take decisions about how they live and what is to make aiding mutually. When they use the present and produced goods of Earth in common – like people use the shine of Sun which shines for all, as Sylvain Marechal, anarchist poet of 18 century spoke. 

Hurricanes and inequality

It’s now a week since Hurricane Sandy hit large coastal areas of the northeastern United States. At least a million homes were still without heat and power when a snowstorm followed a few days later. Relief has yet to reach some of the areas affected, such as the Far Rockaways, where survivors are fending for themselves as best they can.

Workers held captive

True, some manage to fend much better than others. Holed up for the duration in a first-class hotel on the island of Manhattan, the business and cultural centre of New York City, David Rohde in The Atlantic(October 2012) dramatically contrasts the position of wealthy guests staying at the hotel with the plight of the hotel workers.

Declaration for revolutionary organization, Belgrade (2011)

ICC introduction

Throughout the 1990s, the territory of the former state of Yugoslavia was the scene of a series of horrifying massacres justified by the ideology of ethnic chauvinism. The war in the Balkans brought imperialist slaughter closer to the heartlands of capitalism than at any time since 1945. The local bourgeoisies did all they could to whip their populations into a frenzy of ethnic and nationalist hatred, the precondition for supporting or participating in the bloody slaughter of the Yugoslav wars.

These hatreds have not been eliminated by the uneasy peace which now reigns in the region, so it is all the more heartening to see signs that there are those in the region who look for a way forward in the social movement against capitalism and not in any dreams of national aggrandisement. We have seen, for example, a number of struggles by students in Serbia and Croatia, which should be seen as another expression of the same international tendency which we have seen in Western Europe and in the USA with the indignados and Occupy movements. And we are now witnessing the development of a genuinely internationalist politicised minority in both countries, a which openly rejects national divisions and seeks cooperation among all internationalist revolutionaries.

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Flooded New Orleans: who are the looters?

From the editorial board of the journal Heretic:

The following article is about the tragic events in New Orleans in 2005. Although several years have passed since this tragedy, we considered it necessary to recall these events because nothing has changed since then. Throughout the world people remain defenseless in the face of natural disasters solely because on the one hand the state impedes self-organization from below, while on the other hand it does not want to spend money to provide effective security for the population. Modern technologies and scientific achievements make it possible if not to make people completely safe from natural disasters then at least to minimize their harmful consequences. This shows that the chief problem facing mankind is capitalism and the state that guards it. This fact is clearly highlighted by the author of the article, Stephen Shenfield.