sectarian notes

Who was Makhno and what did he stand for?
Vladimir Morozov
In Defense of Marxism
September 30, 2009

“To this day anarchists hold up Makhno as the true champion of the workers and peasants of Russia after the 1917 revolution. This myth ignores the real nature of the Makhnovite army and the social layers that it represented. Because Makhno did not base himself on the working class but on certain layers within the peasantry, he ended up with what amounted to a reactionary position.”

A fairly standard critique, prompted by Bakunin-knows-what, and unreferenced. The ‘International Marxist Tendency’ (IMT) is a Trotskyist mob, who for a brief period appears to have had some followers (follower) of late in Australia. See also : “Destroy the Makhno movement”: The Bolsheviks’ secret war against Nestor Makhno and his insurgents, Volodymyr Horak, The Day, June 2, 2009 | The Nestor Makhno Archive.

Marxism versus anarchism
Carlene Wilson
Permanent Revolution (No.3)
July 18, 2007

Established only a coupla years ago, PR is a split from Workers Power. Dunno if they’re still active in Australia. Carlene’s critique is, again, fairly standard.

Anarchism and the Movement for a New Society: Direct Action and Prefigurative Community in the 1970s and 80s
Andrew Cornell
Perspectives 2009

“The international anarchist movement was reborn on new footings in the wake of the global insurrections of 1968, nearly all of which were decidedly libertarian in character. In the United States, the decade that followed was a time of experimentation and consolidation, as a surprising variety of groups sought to develop and adapt different aspects of the anarchist tradition to contemporary conditions. Sam Dolgoff and others worked to revitalize the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), alongside new syndicalist formations like the Chicago-based Resurgence group and Boston’s Root & Branch; Bookchin’s Anarchos collective deepened the theoretical links between ecological and anarchist thought; the Fifth Estate drew heavily on French ultra-leftist thinking and began pursuing a critique of technology by decade’s end. Meanwhile, the Social Revolutionary Anarchist Federation connected individuals and circles across the country through a mimeographed monthly discussion bulletin. Just as influential to the anarchist milieu that has taken shape in the decades which have followed, however, were the efforts of the Movement for a New Society, a national network of feminist radical pacifist collectives that existed from 1971 to 1988.”

One of the products of the Movement was New Society Publishers. A number of NSP titles are available for purchase through Anarres Books.

Bonus Metal!

[For Dean & Paul (the communists).]