Neo-Luddism
John Kinsella
ABC Unleashed
May 15, 2009
“Technology isn’t the deliverance of humanity, it is its damnation. ‘Progress’, used as a noun, becomes the linchpin of technological propaganda. Computers aren’t a tool of liberation, but of destruction — look to the power they are chewing, the materials that go into making them, the pollution engendered in their manufacture, especially of batteries for laptops, despite the propaganda of ‘greener’ models, the radiation they emit and the health risks associated with associated wireless technology are being constantly debated.
As an anarchist, I believe firmly that ‘small’ is necessary (or, as Andrew Fleming on his anarchist blog notes, ‘local’, or what I might call ‘regional’), that rights are best protected on a community level and without centralised hierarchies as delivered by the State; that rights come out of consensus (all members of a community having an equal say and all members’ agreement being necessary to making ‘change’ within the community — we might understand this within the usual dynamic as a shift in ‘policy’, but it is fundamentally different)…”
“Cultural change necessarily involves resistance to change. The term Luddite has been resurrected from a previous era to describe one who distrusts or fears the inevitable changes brought about by new technology. The original Luddite revolt occurred in 1811, an action against the English Textile factories that displaced craftsmen in favor of machines. Today’s Luddites continue to raise moral and ethical arguments against the excesses of modern technology to the extent that our inventions and our technical systems have evolved to control us rather than to serve us and to the extent that such leviathans can threaten our essential humanity…”
“Primitivism is the pursuit of ways of life running counter to the development of technology, its alienating antecedents, and the ensemble of changes wrought by both. This site is an exploration into primitivist theory, as well as various works that contribute to an understanding of the tendency.”
“This new type of man… turns his interest away from life, persons, nature, ideas — in short from everything that is alive; he transforms all life into things, including himself and the manifestations of his human faculties of reasoning, seeing, hearing, tasting, loving. Sexuality becomes a technical skill; …feelings are flattened and sometimes substituted for by sentimentality; joy, the expression of intense aliveness, is replaced by “fun” or excitement; and whatever love and tenderness mankind has is directed toward machines and gadgets. The world becomes a sum of lifeless artifacts; from synthetic food to synthetic organs, the whole man becomes part of the total machinery that he controls and is simultaneously controlled by. He has no plan, no goal for life, except doing what the logic of technique determines him to do. He aspires to make robots as one of the greatest achievements of his technical mind, and some specialists assure us that the robot will hardly be distinguished from living men. This achievement will not seem so astonishing when mankind itself is hardly distinguishable from a robot.
The world of life has become a world of “no-life”; persons have becomes “non-persons”, a world of death.”
~ Erich Fromm, The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, 1974
SBS-TV News, May 11, 2009. Members of the fascist group ‘Golden Dawn’ what arranged with Greek police an assault upon an immigrant squat in Athens are described by fashionista Lee Lin Chin as “right-wing anarchists”.
In another world — often referred to as ‘reality’ — anarchists attempted to attack the fascist scum — with some degree of success — while Athens police did what Athens police do best — protecting the little pea-brained fascists from violent retribution.
A 39-year-old Perth man has been charged under Western Australia’s racial vilification laws in relation to a series of videos posted on the internet website YouTube. It is alleged Maylands resident Brendon O’Connell shot video while making anti-Semitic comments in front of Perth’s Bell Tower and a South Perth supermarket. O’Connell has been charged with conduct intended to incite racial animosity or racist harassment. It is believed he is only the second person to be charged under the laws, which were introduced by the previous state government. The maximum penalty for the offence is 14 years’ jail.
Note that the legislation in question was introduced following a previous wave of racist stupidity conducted by a little gang of fascists called the ‘White Devils’; they acted as a kind of publicity machine for former Australian Nationalists Movement (ANM) leader Jack Van Tongeren. Several went to jail following a police crackdown. The first person charged under the legislation was not a nutzi, however, but an Aboriginal teenager who vilified a white woman — these charges were later dropped, partly at the insistence of her alleged victim. See : Racial vilification in WA, September 15, 2006.
“REVISIONIST historian” Fredrick Toben has been given a three-month jail term for contempt of court – but has also won a 14-day reprieve to file appeal papers…
Fifth teen nabbed for attack in former Austrian concentration camp
dpa
May 12, 2009
Vienna – A fifth teenage suspect has been nabbed for having attacked and hurt participants at a memorial event of a former concentration camp in Austria, an Interior Ministry official confirmed Tuesday. The 14- to 17-year-old suspects have largely confessed the incident at the Ebensee camp in Upper Austria province on Saturday, in which they allegedly fired plastic ammunition on a group of French visitors, likely including one survivor of the camp.
One member of the French group was reportedly hurt, regional Interior Ministry official Alois Lissl told the German Press Agency dpa.
The male teenagers later shocked a group of Italian participants with Nazi salutes.
Interior Minister Maria Fekter on Tuesday announced an investigation into a possible rise of extremism in Austria, and about the contributing factors. Austria’s police intelligence regularly monitors the neo-Nazi scene.
However, the suspects do not belong to such groups, according to police investigators.
“The youths did not say what moved them to do such things at such a young age,” but they indicated they had wanted to provoke, Lissl said.
The five could face charges of committing National Socialist activities, bodily harm, and disturbing the peace of the dead.
Of the 27,000 men from all over Europe who were deported to Ebensee, around 8,500 perished in the camp run by the Nazi SS.
Note that there are positively shitloads of nutzis all over Blogger, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and other popular blogging and social networking sites. Speaking of which, the Digital Liberty Coalition brings together a really curious admixture of individuals; its President, ‘Mr. Andrew Kellerman MA’, being one of the most fascinating, and oddly familiar, figures.
“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” ~ Thomas S. Szasz
Released on nettwerk records, 1993. The first solo release by Adam Sherburne, vocalist for Consolidated. The title of the release echoes that of John Stoltenberg’s (1945–) 1989 book Refusing to Be a Man: Essays on Sex and Justice. Also of interest is Australian scholar R.W. (Raewyn) Connell‘s (1944–) Masculinities (1995/2005): “In its first edition, Masculinities provided one of the most important voices in feminist scholarship by men. Connell argued that there is no such thing as a single concept of masculinity, but, rather, that many different masculinities exist, each associated with different positions of power. In a world in which gender order continues to extend privilege to men over women, but that also raises difficult issues for men and boys, Connell’s account is more pertinent than ever.”
Update (May 20): Two — not one — Bulgarian police have testified that Jock acted in self defence and in defence of a Romani. Originally, ten police officers did so, but eight later changed their testimony in court. Further, two pieces of video evidence have been referred to in court: one was ‘lost’. The prosecuting attorney offered a different (false) version of what was on the first piece of tape; the other video footage is still ‘lost’, however the presiding judge ordered for it to be found, and if not, for a report to be written as to what happened to it. To cut a long story short, Bulgarian police failed to secure the tape within a four-day period, and it was deleted. Subsequently, Jock’s lawyer requested that the HDD onto which the footage was recorded be examined. Somewhat miraculously, the HDD then up and exploded (the alleged result of a power surge). Then, when asked to have the HDD examined, it was instead — again, somewhat mysteriously — thrown into what is reportedly Bulgaria’s largest rubbish dump. Finally, it should be noted that, according to court documents, having been tested, there was no evidence of Jock having any traces of illicit drugs in his system, and he was recorded as having a blood alcohol reading of 0.1. Andrei, on the other hand, had a BAC of 0.29, and Anton a BAC reading of 0.19. In other words, of three individuals — Jock, Andrei and Anton — Jock was the most sober, and the only individual among a group of 20 arrested — this despite the fact that the mob attacked police when they attended the scene.]
For those of you coming in late…
Jock Palfreeman is an Australian citizen currently on remand in prison in Bulgaria. He stands accused of the murder of Andrey Monov and the attempted murder of Antoan Zahariev on the night of December 28, 2007. According to the prosecution, on that evening Jock launched an unprovoked attack upon Andrei and Antoan, possibly while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. According to Jock’s defence, Jock acted in self-defence, his action being prompted by an assault upon him by a large group of fascist football hooligans, one preceded by an assault by the same group upon a Romani.
Jock’s case is still making its way through the Bulgarian court system. At recent hearings, evidence has been produced by his defence which lends support to Jock’s claims. Thus:
One policeman has testified that police who were initially present at the scene informed him that Jock had gone to the defence of two Roma, under assault by a group of men, and that this same group then turned upon Jock.
Another witness has testified that he saw Jock running away from this group and that upon catching him members of the group proceded to beat him.
Video footage — which had previously been ‘lost’ — has been found and played in court. It shows a group of approximately 20 men chasing a Roma. Other footage shows the group throwing stones at the same person. Importantly, the footage was taken prior to the incident involving Jock in which Andrei was killed.
Also of interest: in February, local fascists organised a rally in Sofia, demanding that Jock be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. A local journalist who attended the rally was threatened by the protesters.
More generally, attacks against Roma have spiked in recent years, and much of the far right, in a number of European countries, have declared that the eradication of Roma from their territories is of utmost political importance. The anti-Roma campaigns include both propaganda and violence. (See : Fascism, the next generation, Anna Porter, Globe and Mail, May 9, 2009 ~versus~ May Day: Festival against racism.)
For further infos, see : The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), “an international public interest law organisation engaging in a range of activities aimed at combating anti-Romani racism and human rights abuse of Roma. The approach of the ERRC involves, in particular, strategic litigation, international advocacy, research and policy development, and training of Romani activists.”
For further information on Jock’s case, please see:
German neo-Nazis scream for ice cream… vanilla ice cream.
It was curious to note that on May Day in Germany a trades union rally was attacked by a mob of 300 or so neo-Nazis. An account of this incident is available by way of the Trotskyist World Socialist Web Site: Germany: Neo-Nazis attack May Day demonstration in Dortmund, May 9, 2009.
Two points of interest are that the social democrats on the march were seemingly unprepared to face the nutzi mob, while German authorities — despite having the obvious capacity to monitor any preparations for such an assault — appear to have allowed the attack to proceed: the policeman who kicked a Turkish demonstrator in the head while he lay prone on the ground perhaps embodying the attitude of the institution social democrats rely upon to protect them from the nutzi menace.
Approximately 300 neo-Nazis attacked a demonstration organised by the DGB, the German trade union federation, on May 1 as it set off from the square in front of the old synagogue towards Westphalia Park…
Armed with sticks, firecrackers, stones and lumps of clay containing glass fragments the Nazi thugs attacked a contingent of Kurds and Turks at the rear of the demonstration, injuring several people, including some police officers. One demonstrator was said to have received serious injuries after being hit by a bullet-like projectile.
The DGB demonstrators attempted to defend themselves. The relatively few police officers present, who were poorly equipped, tried to separate the two groups. Some of those on the DGB demonstration were treated with extreme brutality by the police, as is shown in photos published in the press and in one video, which clearly shows a prostrate Turkish demonstrator being kicked in the head by a policeman in full riot gear…
On the bright side, an action which would no doubt bring a smile to Tim Blair’s face.
Not unexpectedly, our correspondent infantilises the ‘misguided young “left” Autonome’ who engage in direct confrontation with the state and its little helpers the nutzis, but is less sanguine on the manner in which the German left might protect itself from attack at future public events — a certainty given the size and growing strength of militant fascist groups.
A communiqué from Autonome Antifa Freiburg, on the other hand, is a little more direct: Beat the Fascists wherever you meet them! (Schlagt die Faschisten, wo ihr sie trefft!) It identifies the ‘autonomous’ or ‘free’ nationalists — essentially, the extra-parliamentary far right — as being “a new form of right-wing radicalism in Germany”, one which first came to major media attention only last year (but which has been developing slowly for many more years). Aside from its rejection of close stewardship by the leading neo-Nazi party the NPD, the autonomists distinguish themselves by way of their aping the tactics of their ‘antifa’ opponents. The protection the German state provides their public assemblies, and the impatience many on the far right have with the arrogance and corruption of the NPD, have proven attractive to a number of racist youth in Germany. Given that, in one study, almost 5 per cent of boys ‘said they belonged to a “right-wing group or Kameradschaft“, the future is looking rosy for the ANs.
On the other hand, as some local punk conservatives have observed, ‘who gives a shit about Germany’, and if I’m so interested in Germany, ‘why don’t I go live there’? (On ‘conservative punk’, seeLiz Worth, ‘From the White House to the Punk House’, Punk Planet, No.72, March/April 2006; some Melbourne punks are also rather conservative.)
On May Day 2009 around 1,000 Nazis marched through Ulm (Baden-Württemberg) and Neu-Ulm (Bavaria) where they were confronted by 5,000 counter demonstrators. On this day there were further fascist demonstrations, with a total of 3,000 participating Nazis. Despite the militant resistance in Ulm, the only Nazi march that could be prevented was in Mainz. The march in Ulm was organised by the youth organisation of the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), the young national democrats (JN). A broad spectrum of fascists participated at the march.
While in Ulm autonomous Antifa were subjected to excessive police violence, they were yet again betrayed by the “German Confederation of Trade Unions” (DGB) but received solidarity only from Kurdish as well as communist demonstrators. The DGB has yet again placed itself in the tradition of May Day 1933. Even then the Nazis attempted to transfigure the international workers day into the “day of national work”. On the 2nd of May 1933 they devoured the trade union movement while on the day before part of the trade Union movement went on the streets together with the Nazi Party. Every year the Nazis try to claim May Day for themselves so that its roots will be forgotten: The anarchist assembly in 1886 at the Haymarket in Chicago to promote a general strike for an 8 hour working day.
May Day 2008 became a signal for a new form of right-wing radicalism in Germany. For the first time the “Autonomous Nationalists” (AN) received attention from the media. It was then that 1,100 Nazis from a militant youth subculture marched through the Barmbeck district of the city Hamburg. Over 9,000 leftists gave resistance, the Nazis concentrated their attacks against members of the press as well as political opponents. The police were surprised and dumbfounded by the new quality of right wing militancy. Within the scene the attention resulted in a greater momentum in the attractiveness of the AN. The AN present themselves as a superficial right-wing rip-off of Autonomous Antifa and are attempting to develop a violent and modern image in order to attract young people. Although they are turning away from traditional repugnant Nazi images such as the narrow minded hair parting (aka Hitler) or the thuggish Nazi-skin, in order to appeal to a new generation, they have however failed to achieve the support of a broad spectrum necessary for a mass movement.
On the 12th of April 2008, 800 ANs had already marched through the town of Stolberg (North Rhine-Westphalia). The reason for this is that on the 4th of April a youth had been killed in a street fight after attending an NPD meeting. The largest rally so far by the Autonomous Nationalists occurred on the 6th of September 2008 when 1,200 Nazis, despite counter-protests from 1,800 left-wing demonstrators, were able to march undisturbed through the streets of Dortmund (North Rhine-Westphalia). The march was to commemorate the German invasion of Poland on the 1st of September 1939. The Nazis have been commemorating the start of the second world war for the past four years, cynically running under the motto of “national anti-war day”. On the 1st of May 2009 the AN marched once again through their stronghold Dortmund, this time 300 of them attacked a Trade union demonstration.
On the 13th of September 2008 1,100 Nazis took part in the 4th “Festival of the nations” (Fest der Völker/Fdv) in Altenburg (Thuringia), they were met by 2,000 left-wing counter-demonstrators. At the annual Rechtsrock (Rock against communism) festival, organised by the NPD, the bands which play mainly belong to the music network “Blood and Honour”. Hardcore Nazis from all over Europe travel to this festival which serves as an opportunity to improve right-wing networks. Many of the Nazis are independent of political parties organised into the so-called “Freien Kameradschaften” (independent camaraderie organisations). The aim of such large meetings, such as the “Festival of Nations”, is to construct so-called “nationally liberated zones” within larger cities, which in contrast to some rural areas will only exist for a limited time.
The largest Nazi demonstration in Germany, since the end of the second world war, took place on the 14th of February in Dresden (Saxony). On the anniversary of the allied bombing 6,500 Nazis, from all over Europe, marched through the city. Although for the first time this year, several thousand left-wing counter-demonstrators also attended, the revisionist event has managed to inscribe itself in the agenda of European Nazis. Just as the marches in Wunsiedel (Bavaria) to the grave of Rudolf Hess or the annual party of the NPD newspaper “Deutschen Stimme” (“German voice”) mostly in towns in East-Germany before, Dresden has become the main annual meeting of European Nazis.
The three main characteristics of the larger Nazi meetings is networking and organising, promoting self confidence in the internal ranks and demonstrating a potency to the outside world. The reason why the Nazis are meeting is unimportant, as long as they serve as an identification function for the whole Nazi spectrum. This is especially the case for historical revisionist themes, where mainly Nazi political strongholds are selected. It is not enough to just stop the larger Nazi meetings, the Nazis have shown that they are able to react flexibly to legal restrictions. Besides fighting against the Nazi ideology present within the society and reporting about Nazi activities it is completely necessary to smash the Nazi structures: every single Nazi has to be attacked by any means necessary.
In Australia, the ‘autonomous nationalists’ have established a tiny foothold among the far right, with the only development of any real significance of late being the announcement of an informal alliance between the ‘New Right’ and boneheads belonging to ‘Volksfront Australia’. The chief architect, in both cases, is the Sydney businessman, German-born ex-NPD member Welf Herfurth. Presumably, the handful of boneheads belonging to Volksfront are intended to supplement the teenyboppers Welf has assembled around the banner of the New Right.
The local Blood & Honour franchise apparently held a gig on April 25 in Perth. Presumably, given media attention and political pressure from the local ‘ethnic’ lobby, police monitored the event, but were otherwise happy to ensure that there was no ‘trouble’. At some point, more details will be forthcoming, but being 2,700kms away from the city in which the gig was held makes it a little difficult to ascertain much of anything.
Bonus!
In Athens, Greece, 300 (100?) or so fascists belonging to Chryssi Avghi (‘Golden Dawn’) have enjoyed whinging and whining in public about 500 or so immigrant workers currently squatting a building in the city. Despite being fuckwits, bums and lowlifes, the ‘foreign’ squatters were joined in attacking the pea-brained racists by a group of anarchists, while other leftists also counter-demonstrated. Naturally, police had to intervene in order to ensure the fascists were able to beat at least some immigrants before making a safe exit; sadly, it appears that a number of the squatters were injured during the confrontation, although whether by fascists in uniform or out of uniform is not known [BBC video]. Further disco on the collaborative efforts of Greek neo-Nazis and Greek police is available @ the blog clandestinenglish: Police and Neo-Nazi scum collaborate once more in Athens…, May 10, 2009.
…The neo-nazis when obstructed from doing the demo started beating randomly immigrants with iron bars in Menandrou street. The police all the time looked but not intervened. Their collaboration got even tighter when the neo-nazis moved towards their headquarters, which is located near the Court of Appeals building at Socratous Street. Under the protection of the riot police, from their hq’s roof and then from the street, the neo-nazis attacked the building where immigrants find refuge with stones and flash and sound grenades. The neo-nazis were all wearing helmets, this at a time when in Greece the state attempts to illegalise hoods in protests. They tried to invade the building but the immigrants defended it with stones. Four protestors and many immigrants were injured. A girl was arrested…
On the history of the Wobblies (IWW) in Australia, see Verity Burgmann’s Revolutionary Industrial Unionism: The Industrial Workers of the World in Australia, Cambridge University Press, 1995 and Frank Cain’s The Wobblies At War: A History of the IWW and the Great War in Australia, Spectrum, Melbourne, 1993. The contemporary IWW has a website here.
Denis O’Hearn makes reference to the continuing relevance of the ideas of The Anarchist Formerly Known as Prince Peter Kropotkin, in particular those contained in his classic 1902 text Mutual Aid. Harry Cleaver, author of Reading Capital Politically, has written an interesting essay on Kropotkin and autonomist Marxism, ‘Kropotkin, Self-valorization and the Crisis of Marxism’. Also of note in this context is Andrew Giles-Peters‘ translation of ‘Ten Theses on Marxism Today’ by Karl Korsch, originally published in Telos, Winter 1975/6, and ‘Karl Korsch: A Marxist Friend of Anarchism’, originally published in Red & Black, No.5, 1973. On Karl Korsch, see Douglas Kellner, editor, Karl Korsch: Revolutionary Theory, University of Texas Press, Austin & London, 1974 (PDF). On Ireland, prisons and anarchism, seeJohn McGuffin (1942 – 2002).
Cindy Milstein (see : Cindy Milstein on Anarchism, Planes For Baskets, April 20, 2009) rejects what she regards as being the false divide between anarchism on the one hand and Marxism on the other, and prefers to locate herself (and anarchism) within a broader left-libertarian tradition — one which is opposed to ‘authoritarian socialism’. In this context, she cites Gustav Landauer’s (1870–1919) essay ‘For Socialism’ (Aufruf zum Sozialismus, 1911; English translation by David J. Parent, Telos Press, 1978) and recommends the overview of these currents provided by Richard Gombin in The Origins of Modern Leftism (first published as Les Origines du gauchisme (Editions du Seuil, Paris, 1971); English translation by Michael K. Perl, published by Penguin (London, 1975): “…having consigned Marxism-Leninism to the ideological dustbin of history, the modern leftism theory claims to be the expression of current struggle. In this sense, it no longer represents one radical utopia among others, but the theory of a revolutionary movement in full flood.”)
Ziga Vodovnik takes note of the craptastic London conference On the Idea of Communism, at which cryptoneo-Leninist and philosophical superstar Slavoj Žižek was a keynote speaker. (On Žižek, see : Don’t know what i want, But i know how to get it, March 6, 2008 | Resistance is Utile: Critchley responds to Zizek (Harper’s Review, May 2008), May 16, 2008 | Uncle Hugo & the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, February 12, 2009.) Further, that while academic conferences such as the Left Forum may continue to be dominated by ‘Marxist’ and (other) ‘social democratic’ discourses, there is — at least in Europe — a backlash by the authoritarian Left, spearheaded by professional chatterers such as Žižek, with the potential to seriously damage radical social movements. On the relationship between anarchism and Marxism, Ziga also quotes from a letter of Proudhon’s to Mister Marx (1846):
“By all means let us work together to discover the laws of society, the ways in which these laws are realised and the process by which we are able to discover them; but, for God´s sake! (sic!), when we have demolished all a priori dogmas, do not let us think of indoctrinating the people in our turn”; Proudhon points out that he does not want to act like Luther, who replaced the catholic theology by a “protestant theology”. Proudhon “wholeheartedly” consents to presenting all opinions, “let us have a good and honest polemic; let us set the world an example of wise and far-sighted tolerance, but, simply because we are the avant-garde of a movement, let us not instigate a new intolerance, let us not set ourselves up as the apostles of a new religion, even if it be the religion of logic, or of reason. Let us welcome and encourage all protests, let us get rid of all exclusiveness and all mysticism. Let us never consider any question exhausted, and when we have used our very last argument, let us begin again, if necessary, with eloquence and irony. On this condition I will join your association with pleasure, otherwise I will not!” ~ ‘Marx-Proudhon: Their Exchange of Letters in 1846; On an episode of world-historical importance’, Lutz Roemheld, Democracy & Nature, Vol.6, No.1, March 2000.
Ziga also draws attention to Maurice Brinton’s For Workers’ Power (Edited by David Goodway, AK Press, 2004) and David Goodway (editor), For Anarchism: history, theory, and practice, Routledge, 1989. Brinton (aka Chris Pallis: 1923–2005) was an excellent libertarian writer; the other volume is equally interesting.
Note that all of the members of the audience who responded to the panel are male; one of whom makes the point that, in addition to anarchism, other liberatory ideas and movements — including but obviously not limited to feminism and the women’s movement(s); queer theory; ecological re-visionings, indigenous struggles and critical race theory — have embraced some form of ‘prefigurative politics’, antagonism to social hierarchies, and made important contributions to the articulation of a ‘revolutionary praxis’. The latest volume of Robert Graham’s anthology of anarchism further extends anarchist writing beyond European borders and, like many more recent treatments, also locates ‘The Anarchist Current’ among a diversity of movements, and in an array of different social contexts. (See : David Graeber, ‘The New Anarchists’, New Left Review 13, January-February 2002: “Is the ‘anti-globalization movement’ anything of the kind? Active resistance is true globalization, David Graeber maintains, and its repertoire of forms is currently coming from the arsenal of a reinvented anarchism.”)
Authoritarian Marxism is beaten to a pulp in An Anarchist FAQ; as for a synthesis of anarchism and Marxism, French writer Daniel Guérin (1904-1988) had a good honest crack. Also worth examining are Karl Marx and the Anarchists by Paul Thomas (Routledge, 1980) and Change the World Without Taking Power by John Holloway; which, despite basically dismissing anarchism, as indicated by its title, has a very strong libertarian flavour (Pluto Press, 2002) — see also‘A critique of John Holloway’s Change the World Without Taking Power‘ by Colm McNaughton (originally published in Capital & Class, June 2008 but subsequently liberated).
Finally, libcom.org has a wonderful library of writings on anarchism, Marxism, and a whole lot more besides; for communism is also ace; there are an abundance of other materials available for free online, links to some of which may be found in the sidebar.
ezln military base occupation 2001 (chiapas mexico)
…[Socialism] has roots. Coming back to the United States, it has very strong roots in the American working class movements. So if you go back to, say, the 1850s, the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, right around the area where I live, in Eastern Massachusetts, in the textile plants and so on, the people working on those plants were, in part, young women coming off the farm. They were called “factory girls,” the women from the farms who worked in the textile plants. Some of them were Irish, immigrants in Boston and that group of people. They had an extremely rich and interesting culture. They’re kind of like my uncle who never went past fourth grade — very educated, reading modern literature. They didn’t bother with European radicalism, that had no effect on them, but the general literary culture, they were very much a part of. And they developed their own conceptions of how the world ought to be organized.
They had their own newspapers. In fact, the period of the freest press in the United States was probably around the 1850s. In the 1850s, the scale of the popular press, meaning run by the factory girls in Lowell and so on, was on the scale of the commercial press or even greater. These were independent newspapers — a lot of interesting scholarship on them, if you can read them now. They [arose] spontaneously, without any background. [The writers had] never heard of Marx or Bakunin or anyone else; they developed the same ideas. From their point of view, what they called “wage slavery,” renting yourself to an owner, was not very different from the chattel slavery that they were fighting a civil war about. You have to recall that in the mid-nineteenth century, that was a common view in the United States — for example, the position of the Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln’s position. It’s not an odd view, that there isn’t much difference between selling yourself and renting yourself. So the idea of renting yourself, meaning working for wages, was degrading. It was an attack on your personal integrity. They despised the industrial system that was developing, that was destroying their culture, destroying their independence, their individuality, constraining them to be subordinate to masters.
There was a tradition of what was called Republicanism in the United States. We’re free people, you know, the first free people in the world. This was destroying and undermining that freedom. This was the core of the labor movement all over, and included in it was the assumption, just taken for granted, that “those who work in the mills should own them.” In fact, one of the their main slogans, I’ll just quote it, was they condemned what they called the “new spirit of the age: gain wealth, forgetting all but self.” That new spirit, that you should only be interested in gaining wealth and forgetting about your relations to other people, they regarded it as a violation of fundamental human nature, and a degrading idea.
That was a strong, rich American culture, which was crushed by violence. The United States has a very violent labor history, much more so than Europe. It was wiped out over a long period, with extreme violence. By the time it picked up again in the 1930s, that’s when I personally came into the tail end of it. After the Second World War it was crushed. By now, it’s forgotten. But it’s very real. I don’t really think it’s forgotten, I think it’s just below the surface in people’s consciousness…
Two Greek anarchists are making molotov cocktails. One says to the other: "So who will we throw these at then?" The other replies: "What are you, some kind of fucking intellectual?"
